It’s report card time. Report cards are a great way to show student growth BUT you can spend a lot of time doing report cards. And if you don’t handle report cards just right, your best intentions can backfire and make your teacher life pretty miserable. Looking for the free Report Card Word and Phrase Bank with Report Card Template?  Here's the link: www.makingthebasicsfun.com/reportcardcommentbank Here are the 6 Report Card Dos & Don’ts. Keep reading to get more info on each.  Don’t rely completely on a number in a grade book. Do have a student folder with work samples to su ..read more

Using puppets to teach (or reteach) classroom rules can help your students stay engaged and able to remember the classroom rules.  A puppet is magical. Today you will get some tips and how-tos when it comes to making the most of puppet friend.  ..read more

Trailer- Hello teacher friends. It’s Angie, inviting you to an episode of Rockin’ This Teacher Thing podcast show.   Listen, if you are a kindergarten or first grade teacher,  Rockin’ This Teacher Thing podcast show is for you. Being a teacher in an early primary classroom has its own set of challenges.  It’s a fun job but let’s face it sometimes we need a quick little something-something to keep us going and at  RTTT podcast show we are here to encourage, equip and energize you.   No one can do this job alone.  That's why we’ll have teacher guests, who are ju ..read more

Making a classroom job chart and assigning your students classroom jobs is a complete waste of time.  If you have a job chart in your classroom it’s time to stop how you are doing classroom jobs and do this instead. You might feel like you have to set-up classroom jobs for your K-1 students.  There’s the  traditional way and the smart way. You don’t need jobs like librarian, weather reporter, line leader, or paper passer assigned to your students.  They are either going to forget to do their jobs or you will have to remind them. Do you even know who’s the weather reporter ..read more

You’ve set up your independent work station system in your classroom. The rotation chart is up. You’ve designated areas in your classroom for each station. Now you are asking yourself the hardest question of all. What are the best activities for my students to do during independent work stations? Listen in while we look at 6 stations that will make station time stress free.  1)Picture book with finger lights 2) Independent word games- Buggy Wuggy 3) Magnetic Alphabet 4)Pocket chart sentence building  5)Independent game from TpT 6) Fine-motor station  ..read more

Student behavior issues during independent work stations can make your life miserable. If kids can’t behave then your role of teacher shifts to judge and jury.  That’s no fun. But how can you get your students to behave? You have to teach it.  We will talk about set-up/clean-up, rotation, noise level, and partner problems. I’ve lived and fixed the mistakes so you don’t have to.  Let’s dive in and get you started.  ..read more

The Not So Obvious Basics Of Setting Up Independent Work Stations In Kindergarten and First-Grade Setting up independent work stations in kindergarten and first-grade is might be a bit more complicated than you might think.  We will talk about the basics of stations How big should each group be? What should you think about when grouping kids? How many stations? Is it okay for students to revisit a station? When and how should you swap out stations? How long should each rotation last? Lots of tips from a teacher who's been there.  ..read more

What Do You Need To Set-up Stations in Kindergarten and First-Grade? If you want your students to be totally independent during station time you’re going to need to set-up your classroom with a few essential classroom supplies.  You need a place where students can access the station materials. You need a rotation system and chart that they can independently read and follow.  Optionally you need a timer that students and teacher can look at.  We will talk about these and a few more teacher tips and help to make station time in your kindergarten and first grade classroom fun a ..read more

Mistakes In Setting Up Stations In Kindergarten and First-Grade  I love stations. But it wasn’t always blue sky and sunshine. I’ve made all the mistakes when it’s come to setting-up and running stations. Avoid the mistakes I made by getting the first hand account of all my mistakes Get the insights and help you are looking for to get off on the right foot when you do stations in your kindergarten or first grade classroom.  Mistakes Made When Doing Stations: Putting them into paired groups right away. Not giving them truly independent activities. Not giving them something to do after ..read more

Today’s episode is about flip signs and other tools you need for your virtual or distance learning classroom. It’s all about you getting equipped with a few simple tools so that you end your online sessions with a smile on your face. Time Stamp: Welcome: :06 Encouragement: :50 Virtual Learning Tools Fip Signs: 3:45 A/B Signs: 7:20 True/False: 9:35 Question/Hand: 10:15 Microphone: 12:07 Music Stand:14:37 Close:16:20 Resources Mentioned: https://www.makingthebasicsfun.com/fullflip  YouTube Live Stream: https://youtu.be/iM3TH-Lk9Zg  ..read more