Bear and Bug Learning

Teachers: Your time is your most valuable resource. Stop giving it away for free. 🛑

5 kilometers.
0 hours spent prepping for Monday.
100% focused on family.

When I created my first grade no prep centers, I had one goal: to help teachers leave work at work. We deserve to have passions outside of the four walls of our classrooms. We deserve to be runners, parents, and friends—not just “The Teacher” who is always tired.

No-prep doesn’t mean low quality. It means high-efficiency.

What would you do with 5 extra hours this week? Let me help you find them. Check out my shop at the link in my bio! 🔗

A little kitty help while I blog this morning. 🐾

Management Monday Tip: The Minnie Ears Rule 🎀

If I’m wearing Minnie ears during small groups… I’m not available (unless it’s a real emergency).

This has become one of my favorite classroom management tools because it’s simple, visual, and my students totally get it.

When the ears are on, students know to:
✨ Ask 3 before me
✨ Check the board or their center for directions
✨ Be a room detective and figure it out

It builds independence, cuts down on constant interruptions, and lets me give my small group the attention they deserve.

I chose Minnie ears because I’m a Disney girlie at heart, but honestly—any fun, consistent visual cue would work. The key is that it’s obvious, predictable, and taught like a routine.

Bonus? The kids LOVE it. And they’re way more likely to respect the rule when it feels fun instead of strict. My students will even bring me the ears and ask me to put them on if they think I shouldn’t be interrupted. 💛

Teacher tip: Pick a signal that fits your personality and make it part of your classroom culture.

Today we are 100 days smarter… and 100 years old! I love celebrating the 100th day of school in 1st grade. While it is always a treat to celebrate how far these sweet firsties have come, today was it was extra special to celebrate the 100th day of school in my Grammy Donna’s sweater. Her handprint can be seen throughout my classroom and my teaching, and it’s so heartwarming to know like parts of her are still with me. ❤️

Taking a moment to pause from teacher duties to cheer my daughter on in her school play, Honk! A heartwarming take on the ugly duckling, with a beautiful reminder that it’s what’s inside that counts. ❤️

Teachers, while our job is demanding and hard, don’t forget to pause for the other moments too.

A little organization project for our centers. I run 4 centers during our WIN time. Students rotate through:
💜 Reading
💙 Writing
🧡 Math
🍎Teacher Table

This weekend I finally got around to labeling these colored bins I’vebeen grabbing at Michaels. I can pack the bins on Friday for the next week, then I just set out the bin for the day.

All the materials are stored inside in folders, differentiated by group. Voilà!

What’s your favorite strategy for organizing centers work?

Today was read the room in our phonics center! My kids LOVE this activity, it’s been such a game changer to help kids practice decoding our phonics pattern for the week.

Each week after we introduce the phonics pattern, the phonics center for the day is this fun read the room game. Students take their recording sheet and search the room for 12 different cards with words on them that match the pattern. When they find the world, they match the number on the card go the number on the recording sheet and circle the matching picture! It’s a fun, easy, way to get students moving around the room AND practicing decoding.

This game has quickly become a favorite activity and the kids look forward to it each week!

Later in the week they’ll do the partner skill, write the room.

Are you looking for more ways to help your students get up and moving during reading centers? Check out this fun read and write the room game in our TPT store. 🔗 in bio.

Teacher Tip Tuesday- Random Partners

I try to be very strategic in my partnerships in the classroom but sometimes I love going random. My kids LOVE when we partner or team with the giant uno cards.

There are so many partner options too.

❤️ match the numbers

💛💛 match the colors and numbers

❤️💚💙💛 complete the set of numbers

It’s truly random and so much fun!

I saw this on Pinterest and knew I wanted to try it for the post winter break expectation teaching. I am so excite to celebrate with my students as we review and practice our expectations.

Ready for their excitement, laughter, and joy for the second half of the year. 🩷 Winter break is over, but second semester of first grade is about to begin. The most magical part of the year!

Tell me I go back to work tomorrow without telling me I go back to work tomorrow. I love the slow pace of winter break but I’m excited for the second semester of first grade- the one where we BLOSSOM in reading!

Just a little read and write the room center prep while we watch the football game. 🔗 to the game in bio