We (Naomi + LaNesha) are so excited to bring you a round-up of our FAVORITE back to school resources. But- buckle up. This is definitely not your average set of activities! We will show you how WE kick off our year!

NOT YOUR AVERAGE BACK TO SCHOOL UNIT

We have a line of resources that we call “Not Your Average” because we love to take thematic units that have been done for years (apples, pumpkins, turkeys, etc…) and teach them like NEVER before. We made a Back to School Unit that focuses on the social studies strands that we try to include in our curriculum: sociology, history, civics, geography, and economics. This unit invites students to learn about how different parts of the world live! Take a look and click any image to be taken to the resource:

For reading, we decided to use a FANTASTIC book called The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. This book is a great way to get conversations going about diversity and inclusion in the classroom! In this book, the main character, Unhei, is a new student from Korea. On the bus ride to school, she shares her name and is made fun of immediately. By the time she gets to her class and they ask what her name is, she is unwilling to share it. Her classmates try to help her by putting names in a jar so that she can pick one. You’ve GOT to grab the story to see how it ends! It’s a lovely story. Take a peek at our digital resource. If you want to read more about our Perspective Through Picture Books, click here.

PERSPECTIVE THROUGH PICTURE BOOKS: THE NAME JAR

We also wanted to include some of our favorite resources to get your students learning! (Click the images)

Social Studies for September is always jam packed full of culture and things our students need to know about the world!

We make time to dive into culture from the very start!

When it’s time to introduce nonfiction to our students, we take 2 weeks to go through our background builders units. We think of nonfiction texts as the information that builds our students’ background knowledge.

Kindergarten and first grade students exploring their identities is simply the best! 

Guess what? You don’t have to wait until February to start talking about Black history in your classroom!

Social emotional learning is so important to us. It helps us meet our students’ needs and they love the check-ins.

Can’t teach writing without the writing process!!!

Phonological awareness skills anyone? Yes, please!

We hope you loved checking all of these fun resources out!

XOXO,

LaNesha and Naomi