Forest Friends Classroom Theme

It's about time, teachers, to...

For more than a year, I've been working on building a Forest Friends' Classroom. It seems wherever I go, I find adorable woodland critters. Even linens are now sporting furry, little friends. I couldn't be happier because the forest is a perfect learning environment. Just imagine an adventure everyday as your students learn in a "natural habitat."

Greet your new students with this cheerful welcome banner.  The 5 signs below it, as well as the garland elements, are available here for FREE!

After you welcome your new students, use these products to bring educational decorations to your classroom: 

(click on each icon for a preview)

I have loved having a Forest Friends classroom so much that I began creating curricula with the same theme.  You can check out these resources in my next post. Be sure to come back because I think you'll really like them. I know my students have really enjoyed being immersed in the forest atmosphere.

Each of these products is available in my TPT Store. I would love for you to visit, look around a while, and follow me.  TYIA

Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters.

Looking for ideas for a forest/ woodland/ camping theme?  Check out my pinterest board:

A Shopping Story

It's about time, teachers, for . . . 

holiday shopping. 

Thus, I took a trip to Target today to gather stocking stuffers (and whatever else jumped into my cart). Imagine my delight when what to my wondering eyes should appear --

but this forest of friends!

Since I decided last summer to create a Forest Friends classroom, I have been amazed at the number of products available in a forest theme. However, mittens and stocking caps, towels and sheets, shower curtains and crib mobiles were not priorities for my classroom. But these ornaments, well, that's a different story entirely.

I have visions of sugar plums forest friends dancing in my head. These little guys will be adorable hung about my room, adding swag to centers and shelves.  Now my dilemma is which ones to choose. The buri animals are a definite.  Their natural look is perfect.  But the fur wrapped birds and the scarf cloaked owls are so darn cute.  

The white knit animals are appealing, but perhaps impractical in the elementary school world. The little felt fox is mighty dapper, but not so natural looking.  The metal owls are bells. Pretty sure I have to have those.

Then I wandered over to Pier One and there were even more buri forest animals. Larger, but they were sporting small amounts of glitter. The glitter eliminated them from my wish list. 

I had to give myself a stern talking to about having priorities and making careful budget decisions, especially this month when expenses sky rocket. And so I drove home hoping that before I can get back to Target, they will have sold out of precious woodland wonders. OK, not really, because if they are still there when I go back it's a definite sign that I am meant to buy them! 

Some forest friends products you may like in your classroom:

Brag Tags

Since I discovered brag tags, my life as a teacher has taken a positive trajectory that I could never have envisioned.  Using them in conjunction with a behavior clip chart has proven to be epic!

I created forest friends brag tags to compliment my forest friends clip chart. There are 3 categories of tags: behavior, academics, and events. Because the primary purpose is to reward positive behavior, the majority are behavior brag tags. 

Academic brag tags are included to encourage and reward hard work and scholastic success. 

Event brag tags recognize just a few events that are important to children. 

Common holidays are not included because I feel awarding brag tags for them just undermines the power of the system. You don't earn a holiday, after all. I included 100th day because it is such a milestone for primary grade children.  Also included are tags for birthdays, 1/2 birthdays (as a summer birthday girl, I have very strong feelings about including summer birthdays), losing a tooth at school, student of the week, and surviving testing.

Every student gets a ball chain necklace that hangs in the classroom. The day I introduce the behavior chart and brag tags, I have each student add a forest ranger badge to the necklace so there is no question about necklace ownership. To get things started, I also give everyone a brag tag to start their collection. It welcomes them to the forest.

Initially, it is important to catch the kiddos being good. Because everyone likes instant gratification, I will interrupt everything to heap praise, award a brag tag, and invite the recipient to move his/her badge up on the clip chart.  

Obviously, this practice cannot continue.  So I begin weaning the class by waiting to handout brag tags until we are in a transition period, such as before lunch, after a specials class, after recess, before dismissal, ... Eventually, brag tags are given out only before dismissal. By second semester, we hold an awards ceremony on Friday mornings.  Then the students can wear their necklaces all day. Well, not ALL day. Necklaces cannot be worn to recess, P.E., or lunch. EVER. 

So, what do we do with the necklaces the other 4 days of the week? They are on display in our classroom. My favorite place to display them is at the front of the room under the white board. That's unused real estate otherwise. Moreover, the necklaces are where everyone can see them and where students are least likely to fondle them. (I teach small groups at the front of the class and it's all about proximity!)

Join me next time for some nuts and bolts info about brag tags.

You may like these other forest friends products:

Clip Chart + Brag Tags = Happy Class

Do you use a behavior clip chart in your classroom? I have just personalized my behavior plan with a clip chart and brag tags to compliment my Forest Friends classroom theme. And I just have to share it with you.

All of the students will start each day on the middle sign, "On the right trail." Each one will have a Forest Ranger badge to clip to that sign.   

Then, depending on the choices they make, their badges may move. Those making good choices will move up to "Caught being good." Continuing to make good choices can elevate them to "Flying high" or even "Soaring with the eagles."

Conversely, those who make poor choices may move down to "Taking the wrong path." More poor choices will earn them a spot on "Danger Ahead! Turn Around!"  Finally, they may find themselves "Lost in the woods," and in need of parent contact to find their way back.  

Behavior clip charts are sooooo much better than treasure chests, in my opinion.  Not only does a chart save me from buying all that loot, but it moves the students closer to finding intrinsic motivation.

Couple the behavior chart with brag tags, and you will have a good chance of achieving classroom bliss!

I'll talk about brag tags in my next post. In the meantime, you may want to check out my clip chart for your own classroom.

Other forest friends products you may like:

Read All About It

Ever since my trip to Ikea, I've been obsessed with turning my classroom into a forest filled with animal friends.  Recently, I decided to cull my classroom library for Forest Friends books. Here are some great titles that I recommend:

Picture books

• Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett
• The Bear Books series by Karma Wilson (8 books) 
• Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
• Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert
• The Mitten by Jan Brett
• Night Tree by Eve Bunting (Christmas theme) 
• A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson
• Moose Tracks! by Karma Wilson
• Where's My Teddy? by Jez Alborough
• All The Baby Animals In The Woods by Emily Thomson
• In the Forest (Look Once, Look Again) by David M. Schwartz
• Looking Closely through the Forest by Frank Serafini
• Deep in the Forest by Brinton Turkle
• Don't Wake Up the Bear! by Marjorie Dennis Murray
• How Do You Sleep? by Louise Bonnett-Rampersaud
• A Picture Book of Forest Animals by Joanne Gise
• The Busy Tree by Jennifer Ward
• Who's in the Forest? by Phyllis Gershator
• Over in the Forest: Come and Take a Peek by Marianne Berkes
• I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
• What Forest Knows by George Ella Lyon
• The Big Storm: A Very Soggy Counting Book by Nancy Tafuri
• Little Owl's Night by Divya Srinivasan
• Nature Trails: In the Woods (Maurice Pledger Nature Trails) by Maurice Pledger
• In the Forest: A Nature Trail Book (Maurice Pledger Nature Trails) by Maurice Pledge 
• Hiding in the Woods: A Nature Trail Book (Maurice Pledger Nature Trails)by Maurice Pledger 
• The Legend of the Beaver's Tail by Stephanie Shaw

Chapter books 

• The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint
• Tales from Dimwood Forest by Avi (series) 
• American Woodland Tales by Jean Craighead George (series) 
• A Cabin By The Lake by Debi S. Nelson
• Woodland Village Stories (Animal Mischief) (Volume 2) by Peter Blight 
• A Badger's Tale by Mike Tibbetts

I'd love to add to my Forest Friends library. What books do you recommend?

Check out these Forest Friends products: