Hi, friends! Are you back to school yet? I’ve heard from many of the Savvy Apple 🍏 community members that they are heading back to school this week. I’m so excited to be back in the classroom, hopefully we all will stay that way. This week, I’m chatting a little more about how to create an environment that is calming and welcoming for our students.
I have some items in my teacher shop that can help us do just this! Keep reading for a FREE bundle of calming activities that you can download to help get you started. Then, follow my shop to hear about new ones, and special discounts, throughout the school year. In this post, I’ll highlight some of my top selling products that are not only engaging and invokes calmness, but are also FREE or inexpensive. 😉 Teachers all need a little of this during this back to school time of year. Click each image to read more about the product.
Interactive Activities with Calming Strategies
Get ready to have some fun while practicing your calming strategies in an engaging and interactive way! Students will love acting out their parts with these 20 adorable Calming Strategies Charades Cards WITH PICTURES!
Benefits of Playing Charades
- Strengthens social skills through teamwork and collaboration
- Boosts confidence and problem solving ability
- Improves communication skills – verbal and non-verbal
- Promotes perspective-taking through role-play
- Builds listening skills and patience through focus and turn-taking
- Reviews reading skills while strengthening vocabulary
Students will have fun playing and will build some important skills along the way. Next, let’s talk about the physical classroom environment.
Back to School Decor
I, like many teachers, love to have inspiring words and images around the classroom. It makes it feel so welcoming, doesn’t it? This is why I created a few products with printable posters that will start the new school year off with a good dose of inspiration. 😊 I also made it printer friendly by leaving it mainly black + white with just the right amount of teal. Color ink is sooo expensive, isn’t it?
Here’s another simple way to add a little personal flair to your classroom. Having personalized items for students to use makes the classroom feel a little more like home. 🏡 These door hangers are not only a colorful addition to your new classroom, but they’re also free for you to download. I feel that at this time of year, teachers spend so much of their own money to make their classrooms show some of their personality. This is why I love to offer a few FREE downloads to help us all out.
Posting a daily schedule helps with classroom management by letting students know what to expect each day, which is especially helpful for our more anxious kiddos. These schedule cards are, again, printer friendly. I also made them editable for you to personalize. I have found that having templates of my most popular items makes it so easy for me to create new ones of different themes. It also allows me to be able to offer free products periodically because my templates save me so much time! Would you like to learn how I do this so easily? Click here to download my workbook on how to start to create your own. Also, you’ll be on the list to receive the special pricing on my digital creation course that comes out in the next few weeks! 😊
Student Movements as Calming Strategies
For back to school, I have this bundle for free in my shop for teachers. Click on the image to grab it during back to school time. Yoga has been proven to bring calmness to our students, especially during stressful times like at the beginning of a new school year. If you have to teach virtually, these are also a great activity for students to do at home. Let me know how your students like these movements! Here are some ways to use the cards and posters:
Ways to Use Yoga Cards
•Brain breaks
•Morning routine
•Transitions
•Waiting in line
•Daily reflection
•P.E. cool-down
If your students really enjoy charades, check out these people-, animals- and insect-themed charade cards. Not only does this activity build vocabulary, but it’s a fun activity that engages your students during the first weeks back to school while encouraging interaction among your students.
I hope you find some of these activities useful in creating calmness in your classroom and among your students. It’s important to have this type of atmosphere so that your students feel relaxed and attentive to acquire the skills necessary to be successful. Let me know in the comments what things you do in your classroom to create a sense of calmness.
Have a great week!
Jess