Celebrating Earth Day with FREEBIES

                                                

April is the time to celebrate Mother Earth! 

Help students be more aware of taking care of our planet by starting with a history of Earth day at Earthday.org. 

Another great website is Earth Day EPA at https://www.epa.gov/earthday. 

Both websites offer students opportunities to learn more about how Earth Day began and how to join campaigns for saving our planet. 

One great activity is to have students bring a plain white t-shirt then design their own Earth Day logos using fabric paints or markers. Be sure to wear and display your Earth Day shirts proudly! 

Another way to celebrate Earth Day is with these fun handouts from Educator Helper AUL Storefront or Educator Helper TpT Storefront:

Make an Earth Day Timeline:

Get discussions started with AUL Earth Day Debates or TPT Earth Day Debates:

Make an Earth Day poetry book:

For early learners, try Earth Day coloring sheets:

Other Earth Day activities:

Helping students celebrate Earth Day should be fun, so let Educator Helper AUL or Educator Helper TPT do the work for you!

Happy Earth Day!
Beth, Educator Helper         

Celebrate the Oklahoma Land Run with FREE Activities

 The Land Run of 1889 was a historical moment! It brought settlements and development that led to what is now recognized as the state of Oklahoma. 

In honor of this important time in the state's history, celebrations abound. Check out Guthrie's list of events at TheLandRun/GuthrieOK.com. In addition, there is the 89ersDay/LexingtonOK.com with a carnival and parade. 

Learn more about the Oklahoma Land Run by watching the children's version at GCSE History: The Oklahoma Land Run or the upper level film from American Old West Tales. 

The National Cowboy Hall of Fame is another great resource to learn about the Oklahoma Land Run. 

Ready to engage and immerse students in this important historical event? Here's some free handouts from Educator Helper AUL and TpT storefront to get started:

Retell history by filling in the blank pages:

Get the full packet from AUL or TpT:

Need more Oklahoma resources from AUL or TpT?

Save and get the bundle at AUL or TpT:

Enjoy your 89ers Day Celebration!

Beth, Educator Helper

FREE End of School Year Color by Number Activity

It's getting closer to the end of the school year! 

An easy way to reinforce basic skills, such colors, numbers, cutting, pasting, etc..., before the end of the year is with Color by Number Town Activity:

Get full packet here

Critical thinking and problem solving skills are incorporated as students plan, set up, and travel about their towns. 

Be sure to showcase students' projects with an end of school year celebration!

Enjoy planning and building with the Color by Number Town Activity!

Beth, Educator Helper

Journaling in the Classroom: Making It FREE & Easy

 

Have you tried and tried again to implement journaling in your classroom? Have you lugged home crates of journals after your day ended? Have you struggled to grade and respond to all those entries? 

There's an easier way!

Journaling should be fun and relaxing... 

How does journaling work in my classroom? 

• Journal the first ten minutes of class time; it sets the tone and gets students ready for class time
• Set the mood--lower the lights, play Gary Lamb's brain music (free on YouTube)
• Insist on no talking (writing notes to others allowed?) for the full ten minutes of journal time
• Have students either date or number their entries. Skip lines between individual entries (this will make grading much easier and is explained below)
• Model, model, model--for the first time or two, I write my journal on the board where everyone can watch my process. Afterwards, I read my entry every class period. Yes, I may write only one entry per day but read it during each class period. Memories, school events, and current events work great and often have moral points. Debatable topics work well, too.
• Give time for sharing: I've had classes where no one shared then classes where everyone shared, but I always read my entry and ask if anyone would like to share
• Use a prompt or no prompt: my students freewrite with no prompt because that is what they are often asked to do in other classes and this prepares them for future testing. However, a prompt allows you to tie to thematic lessons or discuss specific topics
• Anything goes in my class: memories, poetry, song lyrics, drawings with captions, comic strips, to-do lists--I accept any form of writing. Face it--some days you don't feel like writing a full blown journal entry, and on other days writing is therapy. Set boundaries you are comfortable with 
• Grading is simple: Count the number of days the class journaled; give a 3 point grade range (30-27 = A; 26-23 = B; 22-19 = C; 18-16 = D; 15 - Below = F). Then, call students up and count the total number of entries; do not read the entries. Those who wish to share their work may do so after daily journal time has ended. Another option is to use your daily class roll sheet to record those students you observed writing versus not writing 
• Use ol' fashioned handwriting with plain paper in decorated paper folders or fancy journals, or use online journals; the process works the same for either 

Make journaling more about students and less about grades by implementing a system that is simple and works well for everyone. 

Remember, journaling should be fun and relaxing!

Read more about it:

Need journal prompts? Click here to access Educator Helper Journal Prompts:

Includes Emotional Intelligence Prompts (Critical Thinking required!)

FREE! Entire Set of Prompts: Writing Prompts 1

Writing Prompts 2

Writing Prompts 3

FREE Easter Fun Freebies

 

Have an awesome holiday with Easter Story Starters FREEBIES from Educator Helper!

Get the full packet at AUL or TpT

Happy Easter!
Beth, Educator Helper