Joanne Miller

These community building activities and games are perfect for the first weeks of school! Students will use collaboration and teamwork which will build a positive learning community in your classroom. These unique challenges and games will be different than most of the "getting to know you" activities your students have done in previous years. These activities are not just designed to be used only the first week of school, but give the perfect opportunity to build friendships, teamwork, and crea

Do you want to introduce your students to new genres or new choices of books? Hold a BOOK TASTING in your classroom! This event will get your students motivated and excited about reading! Hold this event 2-3 times a year in your classroom and/or make it an evening event for parents to "sample" new books with their children. Resource includes: book tasting menuplace matsreflection napkinsbookmarkspreviewing a book signgenre signs with definitionsgenre bookmarks with definitionsevent signs, tabl

Use growth mindset to promote creativity and ownership in your classroom! One of my favorite activities at the beginning of the year is for my students to decorate our classroom. They make growth mindset posters using these inspirational quotes to be hung around our home away from home. 135 inspirational and motivational quotes/sayings in both black and white backgrounds. Print the quotes and attach to students' drawings. These look great for open house night! Other teachers and staff will want

100 character trait posters, matching organizers, and editable character trait poster. Want your students to be m ore interactive with text? This resource is guaranteed to promote character analysis in your classroom! This resource will build new vocabulary and expose your students to higher level character traits. Character traits are introduced/discussed during read alouds, mentor texts, weekly stories, etc. As characters display the trait, the traits are recorded on the post-its with evidence

Engage all your learners with this twist of Musical Chairs! This activity will guarantee participation and engagement from all your students! Get your students up and moving and reviewing/practicing skills in a fun way! Select a template and each student will move around the room to the music and when the music stops, they will fill in the boxes. This will continue until all boxes are filled. Nobody gets out, everyone wins while they're learning! This is a great review activity and to hold all

Boost engagement and excitement with these interactive game boards using sticky notes. These game boards can be used with any subject or lesson. They are perfect for review or test prep. Students can work as teams, partners, or as a whole class. Use your already printed worksheet or workbook and add these game boards to excite and motivate your students! This is the perfect way to spice up a review lesson or use for test prep. ***PowerPoint and PDF versions included. *These game boards were des

Theme is an important skill that most standards cover, whether you follow the common core standards or state standards. These posters will make a great addition to your classroom décor as well as function as a useful tool for you and your students to refer to often. All of these posters can be used with any story and used every week as they are easy to incorporate into any lesson. Since some stories have multiple themes, these posters allow students to argue their opinions. Several organizers ar

Use this fun game to help students memorize their multiplication facts! This engaging and fun game can be used whole group, small math groups, centers, substitute plans, 10-minute filler, academice recess, or for a school math night. So many ways to vary the traditional Bingo game to change it up every time you play! Resource includes:40 unique ready-made game boardsBlank bingo boardsMultiplication fact callng cards (can also be used as flash cards)Calling sheets to record products (2 options)Mu

Get your students talking with this Accountable Talk resource! Accountable Talk is focused, collaborative talk meant to deepen and extend students’ thinking about a topic. Students respond to and further develop what other students have said. The more they talk, the more the learn! There are many benefits for promoting student talk in your classroom: Student led discussions, increases engagement and student accountability, promotes active classroom participation, evidence based support for di

Playing Four Corners with these open-ended discussion questions for the beginning of the year will promote student engagement and elicit participation of all students. This is the perfect opportunity to learn more about your students and let them learn more about each other. This is not just for back to school, this would be perfect for morning meetings as well. Just like the game Four Corners, questions are placed in each corner of the room then students move to a corner of a question they wan

Bring reading engagement and comprehension to life with these table talk cards! Students will actively analyze, infer, and make connections with the text. These open ended questions will guide students to delve deeper into the text and enhance discussion with their peers. These table talk cards will spark conversations with your students and give you opportunities to drop in and listen to meaningful discussion. Use in partners, groups, or even at your guided group table. Literature cards ar

Choose Three is a fun and engaging game to get students to think creatively! This game includes 50+ scenarios to choose from. This game can be played in person or digitally during a live meeting. **15 Christmas scenarios included in this resource with almost 70 scenarios in this fun game! So many ways to play the game! This is a great ice breaker and getting to know your students first week of school activity. Also, can be played as a five minute filler, reward, or just for fun on your Friday me

These place value posters will be referenced all year by students! This place value worm is decorative and a wonderful resource! A great colorful visual to help students understand the place value of large numbers. Included are both colored and blackline masters, as well as a mini version for students to use as a manipulative. Numbers range from millionths to hundred billions. Length of the worm can be built to your grade level standards. (Powers of ten worm also available). Your students wil

Independent reading is such an important time for students to practice the skills that have been modeled or taught to them. But what should you do during this time? Make the most of this time by conducting INDEPENDENT READING CONFERENCES! This one on one time with each student will provide valuable information as you get to know them better as readers. I have created a series of questions to guide you through your conferences. These questions will take all the guess work out of conferencing, all

These colorful posters are great visuals for students to use when learning to cite their evidence after reading text to support their answers. The posters are "stems" to aid students to cite text evidence. Also included is a "mini" version of these posters for students to keep in their reading folder as a reference tool or to make individual key rings. Photo of posters and key ring can be viewed on my blog. These posters are aligned with citing text evidence for Common Core. These key rings and

Create a bulletin board to welcome students, build community, and boost self-esteem. These "We are" statements are the affirmations students will thrive on and are words to live by. This display will be a positive message and inspire others who see it. Resource includes:60 different "We Are" poster frames-cursive version60 different "We Are" poster frames-print versionBulletin board script title letters (black filled and white filled)Bulletin board block title letters (black filled and whi

Create a bulletin board to welcome students and others to their stories. Everyone has a story and this is a way to share it. This display will be a positive message and inspire others who see it. **ONLY the books and one book template (to insert photo) is editable. Resource includes:Bulletin board letters-4 optionsBulletin board title-2 optionsBook spines for student namesBook templates for short writing assignmentPowerPoint file for editable names on book spinesPowerPoint file to add

The Best Part of Me bulletin board display and activity is a guaranteed way to build self-esteem and community in your classroom! Creating this bulletin board for all to see is a way for your students to show off their best features and for all to enjoy. This is the perfect display for open house! Parents love it! This bulletin board is my most popular post on Instagram and also has the most questions of how to recreate this display. This step by step photo guide will take all the questions o

Get the most out of your read aloud with these interactive resources. You will intentionally teach character analysis, figurative language, and theme with every fictional text. Interactive read alouds offer an opportunity for whole group teaching involving all of your students. These resources spark meaningful conversations around the text without having a worksheet or premade materials. It’s always ready and stays up all year! This bundle is the perfect companion to any read aloud. This bundle

New Year’s Resolutions are the opportune time to promote growth and change in your classroom! Our students can learn a lot about self-discipline and the value of making goals. This resource includes: Teacher tips/suggestions pagesMore/Less 2026 Goals anchor chartMore/Less 2026 Goals student foldableIns/Outs 2026 Goals anchor chartIns/Outs 2026 Goals student foldableTop 10 reasons glad to be back at schoolTop 5 reasons glad to be back at schoolMake 2026-math activityTop Three and Top Five Playli