Back to School All About Me Projects

I have lots of favorite projects, but this one tops my list for back to school!

 It was easy, fun and so darn cute!

 We made All About Me Bagpacks!

This is a twist on the original project by the clever Brooke Hilderbrand, but I just had to have these blue lunch bags from Target! We chose green cardstock for the rest of the backpack pieces, but they can be copied on any color for use with a traditional brown bag!

The back of the bag has information for the student to fill in about themselves, their likes and things that make them special. I sent a copy of the back side as a home assignment, so the parents could help their children with correct spelling. We recopied the words onto the green paper in class.

Step by step and piece by piece, the children assembled the bags. We did this as a whole class activity for our Fun Friday. The bags stayed in the room over the weekend to dry.

A note went home in a Ziploc bag asking the parents to help their little ones gather five items that could generate some ideas that the children could tell to their classmates as a getting to know you activity. 

Some brought in pictures, others found a favorite toy or a medal they had earned. The only requirement was that it had to fit in the baggie. On Monday, we gently placed the items in the bagpack. 

As a listening and speaking activity, the students shared their project by reading the back side aloud and then showing and telling about their items on the document camera. They loved that part the best! 

 This little princess shared her crown! Smiles!

Some students brought in funny toys that did silly things and we all had a good giggle too!

I can't wait until the parents see the finished project come home! They will love them! 

My class used to do a similar project in a "me box", but since I am pretty much brown bag project crazy, I will definitely do this one again next year! If you'd like to grab a copy for yourself, you can find it here!

If you love this lunch bag craft, stop by again soon.

My class is working on a cute little brown bag book for apple week. :)

A is for Accelerated Reader~ Ideas and Freebies

Does your school use Accelerated Reader as part of your reading program? My building is completely AR CRAZY~ in a good way! I am here with some AR photos and resources to share with you!

This is how we AR!

I work AR reading and testing into my Daily 5 rotations. It's a no-brainer and after training my kiddos on procedures, it runs itself. I STAR test my students to find their reading range and assign a best-fit level to each student. Our entire classroom library is organized by AR level. I don't have a check-out policy or sign-up. The kids borrow a book, read it and test the next day. The book gets returned and they pull another at the same level until they have read them all. Then they level up themselves.

This is my book browsing and cozy reading corner. 

I have several shelves set up throughout the room so the book baskets are easy to get to. Each book bin is labeled with an AR range so the kids know which one is their browsing basket.

Here are some editable AR labels with the levels shown as I organize them.

They are matchy, matchy for baskets you may have purchased in this popular color scheme. If you like them, you can find a set here.

Tracking Progress

My former teammate, Kathy, shared an idea for communicating progress to parents with a weekly chart. This is SUPER for holding the students accountable for what is largely an independent activity. This handy chart gets stapled into a file folder and sent home on Fridays.

We open the program where all sorts of tracking information is easily found. The teacher enters the date range and can record the average percentage on tests, the points earned for the week and the average book level. I retest every five weeks and then students may be assigned a new reading range.

If you think you could use this chart with your class, you can download a copy I recreated here.

Rewarding Effort

Luckily, we have a pretty big budget devoted to AR. Several teachers volunteer to organize a brag tag incentive program. The tags are collected from grades K-5 and kept on a ball chain.

 You may know that I teach at my neighborhood school. 

This is my son's loot from his years as a student there.

Each tag is fun and different so the students enjoy collecting them. 

We award them for points and certifications like this nonfiction tag. 

 The necklaces stay at school so the students can wear them at assemblies. 

I hang them from push pins on this bulletin board. 

If your school uses AR, you can purchase awesome tags from School Life that last forever like the ones shown above. 

However, if your school has no budget for things like that, they can be costly for you to reorder year after year.

A less expensive way to go is to create your own tags you can reprint year after year! 

You may like these for your readers!

 Just print them, laminate, punch a hole at the top of the tag, string on a ball chain or length of yarn, and you have a tag necklace for your kiddos to begin their collection!

 Click on the picture or here if you'd like to see them at my store. 

They're a hot bargain at just 2 dollars! 

Top Point Earners

In addition to the tag, each student gets a raffle ticket. At the end of the year, we hold a huge school-wide bonanza and drawings for prizes including iPods and lots of other things kids go wild for. 

All students have a chance to win.

The kids who reach point totals in the hundreds are given t-shirts too.

Several students hold all-time point total SCHOOL RECORDS and they have wall plaques in their honor.

The best incentive is that the top earners get to be excused from school to attend a field trip where they enjoy bowling, lunch, a trip to the bookstore and ice cream. 

Before they leave, they parade down the hall and we cheer for them. 

Then we wave their bus off.

This photo was taken in June, but it seems like we just waved them off yesterday. 

Soon we will be right back at it and I'll be training my new group of kiddos on AR procedures.

Big or small, any AR program is great for encouraging reading practice in a structured way. 

If you use AR in your classroom, I'd love to hear about YOUR IDEAS for rewards, management or record-keeping!