Save your students from getting pinched on St. Patrick's Day...

I can still remember St. Patrick’s Day when I was in the fifth grade.  I had remembered to wear green so that I wouldn’t get pinched for not wearing something with green in it.  However, the problems started happening even before the first bell rang.  Some of the boys in my class purposely did not wear green.  Unsuspecting kids went up to them to pinch the boys for not wearing green.  These boys then took out some green material which were hidden in their pockets and pinched the kids back…but a lot harder… Needless to say, there were a bunch of children crying in the playground before the boys were caught.  Once we were inside of our classroom, we spent the first part of the morning discussing what to do and not to do on St. Patrick’s Day.

That memory must have had a big impact on me because as a teacher, I would spend the day before St. Patrick’s Day and go over the same do's and don’ts for St. Patrick’s Day.  Even though I reminded my students to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, I invariably had a handful of students who did not wear green.  Since I did not want these students getting pinched, I would plan ahead, use the school’s die cut machine, and have 30 green shamrocks ready for the following day just in case I needed them.  Before I even took attendance on St. Patrick's Day, I would ask students to come to my desk if they wanted me to pin the green shamrock on them.  Many of my students, who were already wearing green, still came up to wear a green shamrock.   

I quickly found out that pinning the shamrocks with safety pins was a lot safer than using straight pins.  However, what is even faster than pinning 30 safety pins on students is letting them choose Happy St. Patrick’s Day stickers.

If having plenty of St. Patrick's Day stickers is your plan for a stress-free March 17th, you may want to go to https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/St-Patricks-Day-Printable-Stickers-Student-Badges-Reward-Stickers-15570772 and buy my St. Patrick's Day Printable Stickers.  Use the template and print 2" and 2 1/2" stickers on Avery Labels.  I have also included 1" and 1 1/2" sticker templates so you may print reward stickers for your students' work.  

Wishing you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Victoria Leon

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/victoria-leon

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Click on the links below for more ideas for your classroom. The authors are my blogging friends who are members of Teacher Talk, one of the marketing teams from The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. Go to https://bit.ly/TBOTEMC if you would like to join Teacher Talk.

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Teacher Talk - January 2025

 

We hope you enjoy these latest teaching tips from our Teacher Talk bloggers.  Members of Teacher Talk are a part of The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative.  

If you are interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies, and/or our blog linky party, go to https://thebestofteacherentrepreneursmarketingcooperative.net/the-best-of-teacher-entrepreneurs-marketing-cooperative-one-year-membership/.  Join The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative and see how you can take your TpT store to the next level. 

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Teacher as Life Mentor

Rainbow City Learning

https://rainbowcitylearning.blogspot.com/2025/01/teacher-as-life-mentor.html

Who is your "favorite teacher" and what valuable lessons did you learn?  The lessons I learned from Mr. K may also help you with your students.

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Tips When Grading Assignments to Help Your Students Achieve Success

Charlene Tess

https://simplestepstosentencesense.blogspot.com/2025/01/tips-when-grading-assignments-to-help.html

If you are using one of my Simple Steps to Sentence Sense ebooks to teach grammar and usage, I hope you have discovered that students can succeed, make good grades, and even enjoy learning. 

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Encouraging Class Cooperation

Reading Spotlight

https://www.readingspotlight.com/encouraging-class-cooperation-2/

In this era of widespread social media bullying, consider giving students a subtle nudge toward mutual respect and class cooperation. We often think that behaviors follow attitudes, but the reverse can also be true. Mini prompts toward good relationships have the potential to have a great impact.  When students are encouraged to find small qualities in their classmates, individual self- esteem and confidence improve, and class cooperation is boosted.

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Classroom Management Techniques That Work

It's a Teacher Thing

https://www.itsateacherthing.com/2023/09/classroom-management-techniques-that-work/

Mastering classroom management techniques is essential for educators. Building upon the foundational tips covered in previous blog posts, I’ll explore 6 more strategies that really work and won’t’ waste your valuable time.

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Teacher Talk - November 2024

We hope you enjoy these latest teaching tips from our Teacher Talk bloggers.  Members of Teacher Talk are a part of The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative.  

If you are interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies, and/or our blog linky party, go to https://thebestofteacherentrepreneursmarketingcooperative.net/the-best-of-teacher-entrepreneurs-marketing-cooperative-one-year-membership/.  Join The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative and see how you can take your TpT store to the next level. 

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How Important Is Prior Knowledge, Really?

Reading Spotlight

https://www.readingspotlight.com/prior-knowledge/

How important is prior knowledge and vocabulary to reading comprehension for struggling readers? MORE IMPORTANT, as it turns out, than I ever thought.

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 Glyphs Can Help Students Gather Information and Collect Data

Scipi Products

https://gofigurewithscipi.blogspot.com/2020/10/using-glyphs-to-gather-information.html

A glyph is a symbol that conveys information nonverbally. Glyphs may be used in many ways to get to know more about students and are extremely useful for students who do not possess the skill to write long, complex explanations.

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The Magic of Gratitude

Charlene Tess

https://simplestepstosentencesense.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-magic-of-gratitude.html

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to write about gratitude.

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12 December Classroom Activities for Older Kids

It's a Teacher Thing

https://www.itsateacherthing.com/2024/11/christmas-classroom-activities-for-older-students/

Learn 12 Christmas classroom activities that are low stress and low chaos. Perfect for the month of December.

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Five Tips to Make Math Teaching More Effective

Dr Crystal Brown https://www.drcrystalbrown.com/2024/11/17/five-tips-to-make-math-teaching-more-effective/

Looking for ways to make math more engaging and effective in your classroom? Discover five powerful tips to boost your students’ confidence and understanding, plus a game-changing resource to simplify your planning and elevate daily math practice. Let’s transform the way we teach math!

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4 Reasons to Use Reminder Bands for Parent Notes Purposeful Plans https://purposefulplans.com/blog/reminder-bands-for-parent-notes/

 Reminder bands provide a convenient way for busy teachers to communicate with parents. Reminder bracelets serve as a practical tool for conveying information.

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Building Community During the Holidays

Rainbow City Learning

https://rainbowcitylearning.blogspot.com/2024/11/building-community-during-holidays.html

Do you have enough?  Discuss with your students what they may do for people who might not have enough...

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Teacher Talk - February 2024

We hope you enjoy these latest teaching tips from our Teacher Talk bloggers.  Members of Teacher Talk are a part of The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative.  If you are interested in joining this unique group of blogging buddies and would like to join our blog linky party, go to https://thebestofteacherentrepreneursmarketingcooperative.net/the-best-of-teacher-entrepreneurs-marketing-cooperative-one-year-membership/. Join The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative and see how you can take your TpT store to the next level.

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A Read Aloud for February

by Rainbow City Learning

https://rainbowcitylearning.blogspot.com/2024/01/a-read-aloud-for-february.html 

Read Have I Ever Told You? by Shani King to your class.  It lets the child know that he/she is special, loved, can be anything, and should reach out to others on so many levels.   
 

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Snow Dancing

by Reading Spotlight

https://www.readingspotlight.com/snow-dancing/

Snow dancing was a wonderful winter break for this teacher and her students. Read about it here.

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10 Low Prep Valentine's Day Classroom Activities

by It's a Teacher Thing

https://www.itsateacherthing.com/2023/02/10-low-stress-valentines-day-classroom-activities/ 

Valentine’s Day classroom activities are really important to have ready to go. I’m sharing 10 great low prep or no prep Valentine’s Day activities to do with your class to help maintain engagement and reduce the chaos.

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Completing a Glyph for Groundhog's Day, February 2, and Interpreting Data

by Go Figure!

https://gofigurewithscipi.blogspot.com/2019/01/completing-glyph-for-groundhogs-day.html

February 2nd is Groundhog Day, and no matter whether he sees his shadow or not, it is always fun for students to do special activities on Groundhog Day. In my Teachers Pay Teachers Store, I feature a Groundhog Day Glyph. Glyphs are really a form of graphing, and students need the practice. In addition, glyphs are an excellent activity for reading and following directions, and they involve problem solving, communication, and data organization.

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Counting Conversation Hearts

by Tried & True Teaching Tools

https://www.triedandtrueteachingtools.com/2024/01/counting-conversation-hearts.html 

Valentine's Day is always an exciting time for students and I love it because it gets them to focus on others, rather than on "getting".  In the spirit of this heart-filled day, this favorite math lesson uses conversation hearts to reinforce upper-grade math concepts.

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Creating Lifelong Readers With Interactive Read-alouds

by Two Little Birds Teaching

https://www.twolittlebirdsteaching.com/creating-lifelong-readers-with-interactive-read-alouds/

Interactive read-aloud mentor texts create lifelong readers. Download your free sticky note mat and list of 30 favorite read-aloud books to help you get started.

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Six Confusing Words to Master

by Books by Charlene Tess

https://simplestepstosentencesense.blogspot.com/2024/01/six-confusing-words-to-master.html 

Studying commonly confused words is a perfect way to reinforce lessons and improve proofreading skills.

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For more great ideas for the month ahead, 

be sure to visit all the blogs of Teacher Talk!

If you would also like to be a part of Teacher Talk, we are a group of teacher bloggers who share posts that are heavy on the ideas with just a little selling of our educational materials (to make your teacher life easier) at TeachersPayTeachers.com.  For more information about joining The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative, go to https://thebestofteacherentrepreneursmarketingcooperative.net/the-best-of-teacher-entrepreneurs-marketing-cooperative-one-year-membership/.  Feel free to email Retta London at retta.london@gmail.com if you have any questions. 

Teacher Talk - November 2023

 We hope you enjoy these latest teaching tips from our Teacher Talk bloggers.  Members of Teacher Talk are a part of The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative.  

If you are interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies, and/or our blog linky party, go to https://thebestofteacherentrepreneursmarketingcooperative.net/the-best-of-teacher-entrepreneurs-marketing-cooperative-one-year-membership/.  Join The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative and see how you can take your TpT store to the next level. 

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Enough at Holiday Time 

By Retta London of Rainbow City Learning

https://rainbowcitylearning.blogspot.com/2023/11/enough-at-holiday-time.html  

The days ahead might just be a good time to consider with your students and children or grandchildren, nieces, and nephews - whoever is important in your life - what exactly each of you has enough of. And then, you might want to extend the conversation to ways you can reach out and share with others who might not have enough. 

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How to Overcome Mathphobia ( A Hatred of Math) and Be a Success

Go Figure! Curing One Mathphobic at a Time

https://gofigurewithscipi.blogspot.com/2020/03/how-to-overcome-mathphobia-hatred-of.html 

 

We are almost at the end of the fall semester at the college where I teach. Last week, as the students were entering and finding seats, I was greeted with, “Math is my worst enemy!” I guess this particular student was waiting for an impending Math Attack. But then I began thinking, “Should this student wait to be attacked or learn how to approach and conquer the enemy?”

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Great December Classroom Activities You’ll Love

It’s a Teacher Thing

https://www.itsateacherthing.com/2020/11/learn-easy-tips-for-selecting-december-classroom-activities-and-keep-your-students-learning-all-month/ 

 

Selecting the right December classroom activities is key to thriving during December in the classroom. Learn 6 of the best ideas for maintaining engagement and learning in the weeks before Christmas break.

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Is Y a Vowel?

Reading Spotlight

https://www.readingspotlight.com/is-y-a-vowel/ 

 

Twybdyllyngs —the longest word in English without a vowel --or does it have a vowel? 

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Classification Exercises for the Holiday Season

Books By Charlene Tess

https://simplestepstosentencesense.blogspot.com/2023/11/classification-exericses-for-holiday.html 

Challenge your students' minds with fun Higher Order Thinking Skills Classification Exercises. 

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Unleashing the Potential of Interactive Learning Resources

Teaching Ideas for Those Who Love Teaching

https://www.teachingideasforthosewholoveteaching.com/2023/11/unleashing-the-potential-of-interactive-learning-resources.html

 

How to use the power of interactive learning resources in your classroom.

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Members of Teacher Talk are a part of The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative.  If you are interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies, and/or our blog linky party, go to https://thebestofteacherentrepreneursmarketingcooperative.net/the-best-of-teacher-entrepreneurs-marketing-cooperative-one-year-membership/. Join The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative and see how you can take your TpT store to the next level.