Back to School Clip Cards

Clip cards are one of my very favorite early finisher activities. They are easy to prep, store and use. And, my first graders love using the clothes pins.

I made these to use for the first few weeks back in school- but they can easily be used year round as extra practice and review.

Some of the skills included are: alphabet, beginning sounds, ending sounds, numbers, color words and number words.

I like to keep them in these crayon boxes for easy storage. They fit perfect and a student can just grab a box and find a quiet spot to work.

You can find these in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store..

Quick Link: Back to School Clip Cards

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I have several other sets of clip cards in my store if you are interested..

 

Two Day Sale (Tuesday and Wednesday)

This is seriously my FAVORITE Sale of the year!! My cart is overflowing with back to school goodies – and I am ready to shop!

My whole store is on sale- and enter promo code BTS2017 for MORE savings!

Here are a few of my very, very favorite resources in my store… the cover pictures below are linked to the products- so just click on anyone that you are interested in!

Shop: Doodle Bugs Teaching

Back to School Math Centers and Printables

These Back to School Math Centers are perfect for the first few weeks of school. 

There are 16 different center activities with printables or recording sheets to go along with each.

Here is a list of everything included....

(1) Count by 5's: Number cards 5-200, 3 printables

(2) Count by 10’s: Number cards 10-200, 4 printables

(3) Days & Months Sort: Cards, 2 printables

(4) Color Words: Color word match, letter tiles to spell the 10 basic colors, 1 printable

(5) Ten Frame Cards: 15 cards, recording sheet

(6) Number Before: 16 cards, recording sheet

(7) Number After: 16 cards, recording sheet

(8) Greatest Number: 16 cards, recording sheet

(9) Ordering Numbers: 4 sets of cards, recording sheet, printable

(10) Greater or Less than: 24 cards, printable

(11) Number Words: Matching cards zero-twenty, 2 printables

(12) How Many: 20 cards, recording sheet

(13) Addition facts: 18 cards, recording sheet

(14) Subtraction facts: 18 cards, recording sheet

(15) Telling Time: 12 cards, recording sheet

(16) Missing Numbers: 16 cards, recording sheet

These were made for me to use the first few weeks in my first grade classroom but they could be used anytime during the year and not just back to school. All the cards fit perfect in a pocket chart but can easily be used on the floor or at a table. The printables are great for morning work, early finisher activities or even homework! The possibilities are endless.

 This unit is listed in my Teachers Pay Teachers store and 

I would love for you to check them out! 

Quick Link: Back to School Math Centers and Printables

Paper Cloud {tutorial and details}

 Last summer I had a vision of this "paper cloud" I wanted to make to hang on the top of my hall bulletin board. I like to do some kind of decoration that can be left up all year. I have done paper pom-poms and paper buntings but I wanted to do something a little different and this paper cloud was just perfect.

Everything you need can be bought at Walmart or on Amazon.

What you will need:

Cardstock

{amazon link}

I used a variety of different colors and even a ton from my "scrap bucket". 

You will need lots of different colors and sizes.

Foam Piece

{amazon link} 

This picture is the exact piece of foam I bought from Walmart. 

It is a 36x12x1". It cost $7.46 at Walmart or $8.68 on Amazon.

Ball Pins

{amazon link} 

I used 1 1/2 box of these pins. There are 360 in each box. So, my paper cloud has around 500 pins in it. {Sore fingers.. yep! Make sure you pick the pins that have balls on the end.} This little box is $2.97 at Walmart or $4.19 on Amazon.

Pipe Cleaners

{amazon link}

I used probably around 30 different colored pipe cleaners.

Also, I made a matching small wreath to hand on my door to tie in my door to my bulletin board. 

I bought this small foam wreath from the Dollar Tree.

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So, to make the paper cloud {or wreath} is the simplest thing you can do. 

It just takes awhile. Be patient!

Cut TONS of cardstock into different lengths and sizes.

Fold the card stock about an inch from the top or bottom into a L shape.

Pin the folded part into your foam.

repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat and REPEAT

and just randomly throw in some pipe cleaners here and there by 

twisting them around a pencil to make them curly!

 So, just a few other tips or insights...

This took me several hours. But, it was a mindless activity I did while watching TV.

The foam sheds little pieces.. be warned it makes a mess!

 Put down a sheet to cover your floor or table to make cleaning up easier.

Figuring out how to hang it up was the hardest part! Seriously, my mom and I did a lot of thinking! She ended up hanging it with long nails. It is actually nailed into the wall above my bulletin board NOT into the actual bulletin board. 

Don't forget to do the sides and bottom of the foam piece.

After we got it attached to the wall and board I added a bunch more paper to fill in some gaps.

I took my wreath off my door after about a month. It was losing a few pieces. I don't know if this was from the cheap foam piece I bought at Dollar Tree, from it being on a door that was consistently opening and closing or maybe from little hands touching it.

I joked about the cloud on the board that it might not last a month. It lasted ALL YEAR! In fact, I stopped by my room today {June 30th} and it is still going strong. 11 months later! This picture above shows it the last week of school. 

It worked perfect on my hall bulletin board all year and 

I love it just as much today as I did the day I finished it.