Posts tagged "lesson plan"

Lesson Plans for the Holiday Season

Lesson plans are an integral part of every educator’s day.  Some of you may plan every day, while others of you plan your lessons weeks in advance.  What ever your lesson planning strategy may be, it can be challenging at certain times of the year.  I know for myself, I struggle around the Winter holidays.  One reason that I find this time difficult is that I want to stay focused on my curriculum map, but I also want to fit in some fun holiday activities without getting completely off track.

In my first grade classroom, the kids catch the excitement of the season early.  As soon as the students come back from Thanksgiving break, they are ready to share their Christmas wish lists and all of their scheduled holiday happenings.  I must admit that it is easy for me to jump right in and be distracted by seasonal events and activities, too.

Several years ago my administrator and I had a conversation on ways to incorporate holiday activities into my lesson plans but still focus on teaching the standards.  She mentioned a couple of ideas.  First, you can adapt many activities to fit your lesson plan needs.  For instance, if you are currently teaching a unit on subtraction and find a great snowman activity, then incorporate subtraction examples into the lesson.  You may need to change it a bit, but that is what great educators do.

The next point that she emphasized was that you can always use seasonal activities as extensions and homework assignments.  Let’s say you want to decorate a paper gingerbread man because you read the story for a literacy activity.  First finish your lesson that meets the standards, and if time allows have students do the extra project.  If not, send it home with them.

Lastly, have fun and make use of your down time.  There are times of the year that are busy for everyone.  Once you find some great lessons that you and your students enjoy, write them into your lesson plan book and highlight them for next year.

Teaching Supplies – Top Ten

Getting teaching supplies ready for the first day of school can be stressful for some teachers.  There are so many activities to do and routines to establish the first week of school that usually you don’t need to have all of your teaching supplies  purchased by the first day.  Here is my list of the top ten teaching supplies I make sure that I have by the first day of class.  I wait and purchase some of my other classroom teaching supplies later.  It took me several years of extremely late nights right before school starts to make me realize that it all does not have to be done at once.

10.  Post cards or stationary – Each year I write a note to my incoming students welcoming them to my class.

9.  Name plates – I make sure that each student has a name plate for “Back to School” night.

8.  Personal calendar – I keep a lot of dates on my Google Calendar, but I always keep a small paper calendar on my desk.

7.  Incentives and motivators – Part of establishing a warm, welcoming environment includes creating community rules and norms.  I believe each class is different, so I like to pick out different motivators each year.

6.  Highlighters and sticky notes – I use these for many activities with the kids as well as to help me stay organized.

5.  New book for the 1st day – The first day of school is special for everyone.  When I am buying my teaching supplies, I like to purchase a new “back to school” book.

4.  File Folders – I use these to keep papers organized.

3.  Name tags – I try to remember the names of everyone in my class, but it takes awhile.

2.  Record keeping book-  Like my plan book, I like to start making notes about students.

1.  Lesson plan book -  This is one of the first items I buy every year to make sure I know what I am doing on that first day.

Like I mentioned above, I don’t need everything by the beginning of the school year.  I consider this list my essential items.

We would love to hear what you consider “Must Have’s” for the start of the year!