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Life Between Summers

Elementary Teaching Blog

latest from the blog

Our School is a Family, a School Community Book

5 Student Gifts for End of Year Inspired by Picture Books

Mother’s Day School Party with a You Are My Sunshine theme

Spring Activities for 2nd Grade Math and Language Arts

7 Ways to Motivate Students During Independent Writing

Valentine’s Day Activities for Elementary Students to Build Class Community 

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Girls’ Day Out! ⚾️❤️ My husband is a Ma Girls’ Day Out! ⚾️❤️

My husband is a Mariners fan, so this was me getting to our kids first with the right team to root for in this family 😜😂

Do you have a favorite sports team? Share with me below! 🥰

#teachertraveltuesday
Want MORE call and response ideas for fall & Hallo Want MORE call and response ideas for fall & Halloween, and for other seasons & holidays throughout the whole school year? 

I’ve created a list of 60+ ideas for student attention getters, and I’m sharing it with teachers on my email list for FREE! 🙌🏼

If you’re already signed up to receive emails from me, check your inbox…I just sent you the list of ideas this afternoon! 🎃

If you’re not yet on my email list and would like to be, just comment “IDEAS” below and I’ll directly message you the link to have the free call & response ideas emailed to you! 🧡

That same link is also in my profile if you’d rather go grab it on your own 👻

Not as familiar with call & responses? They’re a fun (and effective!) way to quickly grab your kids’ attention when you need it, and adding new ones during seasonal times of year can help freshen things up 💞

Whenever it comes to anything classroom management related, a little novelty can go a long way! 😉

3 tips/suggestions:

•Teach the kids to know that right after they say the response, everyone freezes. To immediately stop whatever they were doing- voices off, and eyes on you. 

•Have them practice a few times before putting it into action.

•It’s usually more effective to not teach multiple chants all at once. Pick one, and once the kids have that one down, then throw in another if you’d like. 

Do you have any favorite call & responses you use with your class (in the fall, or any time of year)? I’d love to hear! 🥰

#callandresponse #studentcallbacks #classroommanagement #classroommanagementstrategies #teacherideas
How do you like to store your bulletin board borde How do you like to store your bulletin board borders? 

Here’s an organization idea from @teachingwithtoppe💡 Love her borders too! 😍

#teacherfollowfriday #classroomorganization #classroombulletinboard #teachinghacks
Class Family Fun Days for weekly classroom communi Class Family Fun Days for weekly classroom community building this fall! 🍂 

In addition to the regular slide decks for each week of the school year, there are bonus slides themed for holidays and seasons (including ones for fall & Halloween)! 🎃 

I have a version called Class Family Friday too, if this is something you might want to do with your students on Fridays 👍🏼

Similar to Morning Meetings, this is a way of dedicating some intentional time for: 

🧡 Building student relationships
🧡 Social emotional learning 
🧡 Team-building & growth mindset 
🧡 Collaborative conversation
🧡 Growing together as a classroom family- one that students love being a part of! 🥰

The link with all the details is in my profile, or just comment “CLASS FAMILY” below if you’d like me to message you the link directly!
Fall writing craft & themed word sorts for teachin Fall writing craft & themed word sorts for teaching shades of meaning! 🍁🍂

If you hang up these trees after the kids make them, it’s not only a cozy bulletin board but also a big thesaurus of seasonal words on the wall that students can go refer to during writing time all autumn long ✏️ 

Not a bad way to start developing that higher level vocabulary, and reading comprehension 😁

You can find more about this in my blog post with 5 ideas for teaching shades of meaning!

The link for that is in my profile, or just comment “FALL ” below and I’m happy to DM it to you 🧡

#shadesofmeaning #vocabularyactivities #fallwriting #grammaractivities #iteach2nd #iteach3rd
Who’s ready for fall?? 😁🧡 This Class Famil Who’s ready for fall?? 😁🧡 This Class Family Album is my favorite companion to go with “Our Class is a Family” 📖

If you already have it, you can use the “Fall Fun” pages to have your students document their class’ special memories this fall 🍂🍁

If you don’t have it yet and are interested, there’s a link in my profile or just comment “ALBUM” below if you’d like me to message you the link directly! 

It’s ideal to use for a writing center all fall (and all year) long. 

Print real photos or have students draw their own illustrations about the exciting things that they have been doing & learning about in class, and they can write a caption to go with it ✏️ 

Continue adding to the album all year and keep it in a special spot in your classroom library, and it can be a choice for students to read during independent reading time. 

They love seeing their own pages in there, and the ones that their classmates have made. 

Hope you & your class family have a happy fall this year! 💛

#ourclassisafamily #classfamily #classcommunity #classroomcommunity #writingcenter #fallactivities
Remembering those who lost lives & loved ones on 9 Remembering those who lost lives & loved ones on 9/11, and also all of the unity & strength that has followed. 

Quote is from Michelle Obama ❤️
Just admiring this beautiful chalk drawing of my b Just admiring this beautiful chalk drawing of my book cover that was made for a school Chalk Fest! 😍

My auntie (being part Hawaiian, any family friend of my mom’s is an auntie, haha) 🤙🏼🌺 spotted it and snapped a picture to share 🥰

I hope this school year with your class family has been off to a good start…happy Friday to you, & have a restful weekend!! 

#ourclassisafamily #schoolchalk #classfamily #classroomcommunity
These simple puzzle pieces provide sooo many possi These simple puzzle pieces provide sooo many possibilities for students to practice an important foundational writing skill: sentence structure! 🧩
⠀
On my blog, I’ve shared tons of ideas on how to utilize these for whole group instruction, small groups, and centers 👌🏼

Using 3 different kinds of puzzle templates (which can all be mixed and matched with each other): 

•blank ones for student writing
•ones with pre-typed sentences (great for matching activities) 
•editable ones that you can customize with personalized sentences for your class (think student/staff names, places in their own community, etc.)

The link is in my profile, or just comment “PUZZLE PIECES” below if you’d like me to DM you the link! 💕

#subjectandpredicate #partsofasentence #sentencestructure #teachingwriting #iteach2nd #iteach3rd #grammaractivities #teachinggrammar

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Life Between Summers

2 months ago

Life Between Summers
Teachers never cease to amaze!!! 🤩This teacher read aloud one of my books, “A Letter From Your Teacher on the First Day of School,” while SKYDIVING! 🙀🪂She filmed it as a welcome video to introduce herself to her new group of students. To say that’s a fun first impression is a total understatement! This even aired on TV as an episode called “Weather Gone Viral” on the Weather Channel 📺 Do you plan to read this same book to your kids during back to school time too? I have no doubt you’ll be making a great first impression (even if it’s with your feet on the ground!) 😉💗Video credit: Happily 💛 ... See MoreSee Less

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Life Between Summers

3 months ago

Life Between Summers
“Heck yes, get it!” 🥰 This is everything ❤️❤️❤️ ... See MoreSee Less

Representation matters so much🥹 Basically every time I go to the store, I look for wheelchair representation. It’s not too often we find things but when we do she always has this priceless reaction so heck yes, let’s get it💕 #reels #representation #disability #books #target #wheelchair #wheelchairgirl #wheelchairlife #wheelchairuser #happiness

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Life Between Summers

5 months ago

Life Between Summers
Today was my favorite shopping day of the year!!! 😍 Book number 3 is in Target, and I couldn’t be more excited!! 🎯🎉❤️This exclusive Target edition has another book jacket that turns into a poster 🙌🏼Just like we did for “A Letter From Your Teacher on the First Day of School,” I thought it’d be fun to have it match one of the posters in the book by Sandie Sonke Illustration (the same one on the new teacher’s door)! For any of you who might like to hang it on your door too, or anywhere else in your classroom 🥰Have you seen this newest one in your local Target yet?? Thanks for sharing with me, I’d love to hear! ❤️P.S. I had the best intentions opting for a basket, but who am I kidding…at Target I know I always end up needing the cart! 🛒😂 ... See MoreSee Less

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Life Between Summers

5 months ago

Life Between Summers
Need a Mother’s Day song for your students to sing at a class Mother’s Day tea or celebration next month? This is the ONE! 💛A long while back, I took one of my favorite oldies songs and re-wrote the lyrics for students to sing…and their moms absolutely LOVED it! So this continued to be one of my go-to songs for Mother’s Day class performances for many years 👍🏼And now I’m sharing it with you…for free! 🙌🏼🥰 I have a free download with:•the printable lyrics•tips for practicing with your class•a video of me singing the song 🙈 (in case it’s helpful to hear how it sounds out loud, and to get some ideas for student hand motions when they perform) 🤗If you’re already on my email list, I sent this your way yesterday 💌 If you aren't already on it and would like the song, here’s the link below to get it via email! ☀️view.flodesk.com/pages/63c9ba9eecc6781900625e80 ... See MoreSee Less

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Life Between Summers

6 months ago

Life Between Summers
Today is the DAY!!! 🎉 Our School is a Family is officially available on Amazon! 👏🏼This new book really builds upon Our Class is a Family- extending classroom community to the wider school community 🏫 It’s a book that can be read to kids by teachers, administrators, school librarians, school counselors, speech pathologists, parents, etc. Essentially, any caring grownup who wants students to feel safe, loved, and supported at school! ❤️I've shared more details about the book (including a video book trailer, extension activities, & where you can order your copy) right here: lifebetweensummers.com/2023/03/20/our-school-is-a-family-a-school-community-book/ ... See MoreSee Less

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