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ProfileAt SmileMakers, we believe that if your students enjoy being at school and feel rewarded for their accomplishments, they will be more encouraged to learn and succeed in the classroom.

That is why we have created the SmileMakers Teacher Blog - an online teacher community where you can share your ideas, ask questions and learn from each other. Our goal is to provide you with the tools and resources to make you and your classroom the envy of all your fellow colleagues.

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Beginning of the Year: Meet Us Puzzle (3-5)

Posted by admin on Aug 29 2008 | If they love it, they'll learn it

Materials Needed:

Key Words for Lesson:

  • Beginning of the Year
  • Get to Know Your Students
  • Classroom Puzzles

Students will be able to:

  • Recognize qualities in their classmates that are similar or different than themselves.
  • Connect with their class peers on the first days of school.
  • Create a hands-on puzzle piece to be included in the classroom puzzle.

Procedures for Lesson:

Begin the lesson by reading aloud “Amanda Pig, School Girl” by Jean Van Leeuwen. “I have been waiting my whole life to go to school,” declares an exuberant Amanda Pig as she prepares for her first day of school. And what a day it turns out to be! Up before the sun, Amanda can barely contain her excitement as she puts on her new purple dress, eats breakfast, and kisses her mom and dad good-bye. Once on board the school bus, she eagerly plops down in an empty seat for her first adventure of the day–befriending a frightened little girl who won’t tell anyone her name.

Take one of the puzzle pieces and as a class, decide on what could be drawn to represent your school and its theme. Have that piece drawn to represent the school as a whole so that you have an example of how to color in the whole piece of puzzle.

Provide each student with one set of wiggle eyes. On their puzzle pieces, they are to draw their own face around the wiggle eyes and then write their first name and then color in the remainder of the piece of puzzle.

Follow up Activity:

Place all puzzle pieces in a large Ziploc bag and have the students take turns taking the puzzle home, working it with their family and then writing a response about the puzzle and what it means to them in their writing journals.

Wrap-Up:

Once all classmates have taken home the puzzle, you can either put it together and have it glued permanently and displayed within the classroom, or include the puzzle in the Language Arts center as they continue to practice spelling and writing one another’s names throughout the year.

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How to Reward Students when they lose a tooth

Posted by admin on Aug 29 2008 | Bright Ideas

How to Reward Students when they lose a tooth

When a student loses a tooth at school, give them a tooth holder to keep their tooth safe until they get home. To make the event extra special, you can present them with an award and post their name on a classroom Tooth Chart. Students get so excited for the recognition that you would think it was their birthday!
Idea submitted by 2nd Grade teacher at East Central Elementary

Suggested products -

Who Lost A Tooth Chart#SCH115 - I Lost A Tooth Award

#SCH1204- Lost a Tooth Award

#TN - Tooth Necklaces

#LCLB - Lost Tooth Club Sticker

#SCH318-Who Lost a Tooth Chart

#TCH613-Tooth Tally Pocket Chart

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Beginning of the Year: First Day Jitters (Any Grade)

Posted by admin on Aug 29 2008 | If they love it, they'll learn it

Time Required: 1 Lesson (1 Lesson per student when shared with their peers)

Materials Needed:

  • Decorate “ME” bag with various items representing the teacher inside

Key Words for Lesson:

  • Beginning of the Year
  • Get to Know Your Students
  • First Day Jitters
  • Writing Journals

Students will be able to:

  • Recognize qualities in you that they have the same or different.
  • Connect with you on the first day of school.
  • Create their own “ME” bag to share orally with their peers.

Procedures for Lesson:

  • Begin the lesson by reading aloud “First Day Jitters” by Julie Danneberg. This cute story leads the reader to believe that it is a student who is scared to go to school on the first day, when in reality it is the teacher.
  • By using your pre-made “ME” bag, begin introducing your students to you by pulling each item out of the bag and telling what it represents for you.
  • Display each item as you explain them and at the end of your introduction, see if they can remember what each item represents about you.

Follow up Activity:

  • Allow each student to present their “ME” bag throughout the next several weeks. Keep a running list of each student and their items and at the end of all presentations, you could give the students a “quiz” to see what all they remembered about their peers.

Wrap-Up:

Have students write a brainstormed list in their journals of items they have at home that they could place in the “ME” bag that would represent themselves. Assign a date for each student to take home the decorated “ME” bag and fill it with items to represent themselves that they can bring back to school and share with their classmates.

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Celebrate Special Birthdays

Posted by admin on Aug 29 2008 | Bright Ideas

Everyone looks forward to that special day of cake and gifts, but it is even more memorable for children. SmileMakers offers economical ways to celebrate their special day - from classroom décor and stickers to gift bags and much more, we have everything you need to say happy birthday.

Suggested products -
#HAPK - Happy Birthday Kit
#NTY582 - Birthday Tattoos
#ST069 - Make Your Own Birthday Cup Cake Stickers

#TCH560 - Birthday Celebration Hats

Five Ways to Say Happy Birthday
  • English - Happy Birthday
  • French - Joyeux Anniversaire
  • German - Alles Gute zum Geburtstag
  • Italian - Buon Compleanno

Spanish - Feliz Cumpleaños

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Incentives in your classroom?

Posted by admin on Aug 05 2008 | Polls

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Science: Order of the Planets (3-4)

Posted by admin on Aug 01 2008 | If they love it, they'll learn it

Time Required: One lesson; possibly over two days if used as review

Materials Needed:

  1. SSD - Solar System Dots Stickers (75 for $5.99; #SSD (Rolls) or #SSD7 (Boxes) [Each sticker can be cut in half to provide each student with a sticker of the sun and each of the planets]
  2. Read aloud (Suggestions: The Planets in Our Solar System by Franklyn M. Branley; The Magic School Bus Lost in The Solar System by Joanna Cole; A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle)
  3. Student Writing Journal

Key Words for Lesson:

  • Sequence Writing
  • Science
  • Solar System
  • Planets

Students will be able to:

  1. Place planets in correct order from the sun
  2. Recall one identifying fact about each of the planets in our solar system

Procedures for Lesson:

  1. Begin by recalling prior knowledge and peaking student interest with a read aloud (Suggestions given above in the “Materials Needed” section)
  2. Have each student first draw the sun on their paper; then they are to write the planet names in order from the sun; this quick assessment will allow you an opportunity of review with students who still are unsure of the correct order
  3. Provide each student with ½ of the sheet of solar system dot stickers
  4. Have the students place the stickers on a blank sheet of paper, landscape direction, and be sure to have them leave a little space between each planet
  5. Have students draw arrows below or above each planet and provide one identifying fact about each planet (ie. For Saturn - “Saturn is the only planet in our solar system with rings that can be seen right away.”)

Follow up Activity: Have the students work with a partner and see if they can create a catchy phrase or acronym that will help in remembering the correct order of the planets.

Wrap Up: Review the correct order of the planets by reciting as a class out loud at least three times. You can also time the students, giving them one minute, to write the names in order from the sun. Put into teams and total up who got them correctly, awarding the winning team.

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How to decorate for Back to School

Posted by admin on Aug 01 2008 | Bright Ideas

Decorate for Back to School with the focus being around your new students. Decorate one wall with a bulletin board that allows you to post each student’s name. Then, on the first day have each student write and draw something about themselves. One by one, have the students get in front of the class and present their picture. When they are finished, they can post their picture beside their name. It inspires creativity and gives the students a feeling of ownership in their new classroom.

Suggested products -

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Back to School: All About My Home Collages (1-3)

Posted by admin on Jun 12 2008 | If they love it, they'll learn it

Time Required: at home project which will take several days to completeMaterials Needed:


  • CFT137 - Big Fingerpaint Paper Houses
  • (24/kit @ $14.99; #CFT137)
  • Read aloud (Suggestions: My Book About Me by Dr. Seuss; It’s All About Me by Nancy Cote; What I Like About Me by Allia Zobel Nolan)
  • Magazines and newspapers that can be cut apart

Key Words for Lesson:

  • Beginning of the Year
  • Collages
  • Icebreakers
  • First Days of School

Students will be able to:

  1. Create a collage about their family and home using cut outs from magazines and newspapers
  2. Retell through paraphrasing
  3. Share their paraphrase in front of their peers while practicing their oral communication skills

Procedures for Lesson:

  1. Begin by recalling prior knowledge and peaking student interest with a read aloud (Suggestions given above in the “Materials Needed” section)
  2. Provide each student with a large paper house
  3. Provide a large number of magazines and newspapers that can be cut apart; have students choose several and begin searching for items that could be found in their home; they need to be able to retell why each item chosen is important to their unique home
  4. Each student is to create a collage covering the large paper house
  5. Once collages are completed, have students practice their oral speaking skills by paraphrasing their homes and the pictures chosen to tell about them

Follow up Activity: Introduce the parts of a friendly letter, by having the students choose a classmate and writing a letter to that classmate sharing what they loved about their home.

Wrap Up: As a means of practicing the names and details of their new classmates, you could display the collages, each numbered randomly. Provide a listing of the class and see how many of them they can match correctly to the collages. This is also a great way to practice memorizing skills.

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Back to School: All About Me (K-2)

Posted by admin on Jun 11 2008 | If they love it, they'll learn it

Time Required:

May take several days in school or can be sent home the first day of school to complete as at-home project within a few days.

Materials Needed:

Key Words for Lesson:

  • All About Me
  • Lesson Plans
  • Beginning of year

Students will be able to:

  1. Retell important facts about themselves to others
  2. Follow simple directions
  3. Present their finished booklet to their peers

Procedures for Lesson:

  1. Begin by reading Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born picture book to the students.
  2. Create a thinking map of ways to remember the character in the book (ie. Their age, hair color, gender, birthplace, etc.)
  3. Provide each student with one Star Card or Poster.
  4. As a class, create a step-by-step directional chart on how to complete their cards or kits
  5. Have students create a brainstorming list of items they would like to tell others about themselves.
  6. Upon completion of projects, have each child stand in front of their peers and retell their important information

Follow up Activity: Have students create a class chart providing one specific fact per student on the chart. Do not provide the student name that matches the fact. Once all students have presented their projects, take a “memory” quiz and see how many facts you can match to the correct student.

Wrap Up: Allow the students to exchange their project with another student in their class. Have them take the projects home and read the poster or star card they chose to an adult. This will provide further reading practice while introducing the families in your class to one another.

Assessment: Students will complete a poster or star card and be able to present their information without reading verbatim to their peers.

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“Gotcha” Rewards Program

Posted by admin on Apr 18 2008 | Bright Ideas

Start a reward program in your school called “Gotcha”. Give students a Special Coin as a reward when they are caught doing something good or helping others. Place students’ names into a jar in the classroom. Then bring the jars to school assembly each month and pull 3 names from the jars. The student whose names are pulled are then rewarded with a prize from the Treasure Chest. Examples of how students can earn Gotcha tickets include holding the door open for a teacher, helping another student, returning lost property, etc.

Caught Being Good Coins

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