Student Inventory Forms for Interests Learning Styles

I love using student interest inventories at the beginning of each new school year! Student inventories are essential tools that provide valuable insights into students' thoughts about school, interests, strengths, and needs. As teachers, we can tailor our instruction to help our students succeed by utilizing student interests and strengths, creating more engaging lessons, and providing targeted support, ultimately fostering a more personalized and effective learning environment. 

Inventory pages are easy to use and the perfect way to kick off the new school year! I use different inventories throughout the first week of school and consider them an essential component of my back to school teacher survival kit!

What is a student inventory?

Student inventories are activity pages for teachers to give students to better understand students' interests, strengths, and needs. These inventories can include surveys or questionnaires that gather information on students' thoughts about different school-related topics, learning styles, favorite subjects, hobbies, and extracurricular activities. 

Why use student inventory sheets?

By using student inventories, teachers can tailor their instruction to meet the diverse needs of their classroom, create more engaging and relevant lessons, and build stronger relationships with their students. All of these are critical for creating a strong community of learners! 

Here are 4 reasons you should be using student inventories in your classroom!

1. Understand Individual Learning Styles and Preferences

✅Tailored Instruction: By identifying how each student learns best (visual, auditory, kinesthetic), teachers can adapt their teaching methods to better suit individual needs, increasing the likelihood of student success.

✅Personalized Support: Knowing students' preferences allows teachers to provide more personalized support and resources, helping students feel more comfortable and engaged in the learning process.

2. Build Stronger Relationships

✅Creating Connections: Student inventories help teachers learn about students' interests, hobbies, and backgrounds, fostering stronger connections and a sense of community in the classroom.

✅ Enhancing Classroom Environment: Understanding students on a personal level can lead to a more positive and inclusive and positive classroom environment where students feel valued and understood.

3. Identify Strengths and Areas for Growth

✅ Learning Styles: Early identification of students' learning styles allows teachers to implement targeted activities and approaches right from the start of the school year.

✅ Academic Goals: Teachers can help students set personal academic learning goals based on their strengths and areas for improvement, promoting a growth mindset and encouraging continuous progress throughout the school year. This is why using academic inventories is so important!

4. Compile Data

One year, during parent-teacher conferences, a parent asked me what learning style their child had. I am unsure if they were trying to catch me off guard or were genuinely interested in knowing, but either way, I had my pile of student-completed learning style forms that I pulled out and let them know immediately. The parents were so impressed, and I was so happy to have been prepared!

After I interview each student at the beginning of the year and have the students complete learning style forms, I take out a class list to write which learning style strength each student has. Most people have more than one learning style, but I focus on which one style came through most from the questionnaires. I keep the class list with each student's learning style in my plan books so that it is handy when I plan activity lessons or attend student-specific meetings.

Try these free quick questionnaires to get to know your students!

Teacher Tip!

Do you love to do things digitally? 

Try this free and easy-to-use student learning style quiz. Before using a new website, be sure to get your school or district's permission. Kindly note: I am not affiliated with this site, but have used this with my kids. Once students answer a few questions, the site will let them know their learning style. Have the kids leave up that page so that you can walk around with a class list and write down which style each child was given as their strength.  This will support the forms that the kids fill out.

Make this the year that you start using student inventories! They will help you get to know your students, create an environment for success for each student, and are professional to have on hand for your next meeting. Have a great school year!

You would also love to read:

Building Classroom Community

9 Birthday Celebration Ideas

Why You Need a Mountain-Themed Classroom

6 About Me Activities for Upper Elementary

Classroom Management Ideas that Work

Teaching the Writing Process

Looking for no-prep student inventories? Head HERE!

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*affiliate links: “Think Grow Giggle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.” (source: Section 5)

Teaching the Writing Process to Upper Elementary Students

Teaching upper elementary students about the writing process can feel overwhelming if you do not have appropriate visual resources to help both you and your students refer back to during any writing lesson or activity. From coming up with ideas during brainstorming to publishing their final drafts, there's a lot for young writers to learn. 

How can we make this process meaningful for our upper elementary students to grasp and apply to ANY writing assignment? That's where an interactive writing process bulletin board comes in!

Start the school year by explicitly teaching your students the steps of the writing process. This will help them bring the writing process into every writing assignment during the year. No matter what my students are writing, whether it is a narrative, essay, informative piece, poetry, or a summary of what was read, we take it through the writing process. Knowing what the writing process is, and making it accessible for students is the first step to building confident and able writers in your upper elementary classroom.

What is the writing process? 

The writing process is a series of steps that writers follow to create a piece of writing. These steps usually include prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. I also include two additional steps: peer editing and teacher conference after the editing step and an author's share after the publishing step. 

What are the five parts of the writing process?

Introduce this process during the first few weeks of school. Start by explaining each stage in simple terms: brainstorming ideas during prewriting, getting thoughts down on paper in drafting, improving content in revising, correcting errors in editing, and sharing the final piece in publishing. Use relatable examples and interactive activities as you introduce each step. If you are going to include a peer editing step, explain that this is the time that students help one another edit and revise their work. An author's share is any way that you pick for students to share their writing. You can display their writing, have everyone share their writing piece with a peer, or randomly select a few pieces to be shared with the whole class.

💡Try this idea at the beginning of the year to help students understand the steps of the writing process! Share a "this or that" question and have the students agree on a response to answer the question. Then, brainstorm supporting ideas as a group, write a quick draft, and work together to revise and edit your piece. By doing this, students can see how the writing process helps transform their initial ideas into polished pieces of writing, all through your modeling of expectations.

How can I create a writing process bulletin board?

Creating a bulletin board for the writing process is a great way to display the steps of the writing process in an informative way that students can refer to all year long! 

Use a writing process banner and a poster for each step of the process. You can also arrange the posters for each step of the process into a clip chart layout to keep track of where students are in the writing process. It is easy to do! Simply stack the steps of the writing process posters from the first to the last step. Then, add student names to clothes pins. Have the students take ownership of their own clip and move it through the process posters as they work through the process in their writing piece.

Go one step further and create a writer's nook in your classroom! Near the writing process bulletin board display, I suggest having all the tools that writers need as they write, such as student writing notebooks, folders, pencils, erasers, sticky notes, editing and revising checklists, graphic organizers, and thesaurus books.  

This is also a great corner to add helpful posters for writers, such as...

✅ grammar posters

✅ punctuation posters

✅ figurative language posters

Try adding these accent pieces to make your writing corner bulletin boards pop!

How else can I support my student writers?

Don't forget that students need a lot of support to become fluent writers. Engaging students in writing tasks, writing lessons, and prompt activities is not enough support for students to understand how to write a fluent writing piece. Teaching isolated lessons on how to use a graphic organizer as a brainstorming tool is important. As you teach that lesson, refer to your bulletin board to tie together the process in action with the writing process display.

These ideas and resources will help you support your students' needs as writers...

✅collaborative stars anchor chart for peer editing and revising (FREE download)

✅ writing inventory to get to know students as writers

✅ grammar lessons and activities

✅ punctuation lessons and activities

✅ sentence structure lessons and activities

✅ handwriting supports 

Remember to explicitly teach your students the writing process. Making the writing process accessible and understandable for upper elementary students is crucial for building confident and skilled writers. 

By incorporating an interactive writing process bulletin board, explicitly teaching each step, and providing the necessary tools, you can create a supportive environment where students thrive. Remember to always refer back to your bulletin board and teach focused lessons on important writing skills and steps of the process to reinforce student understanding. With these strategies, your students will be ready to tackle any writing assignment with enthusiasm and confidence throughout the school year.

You would also love to read:

Back to School Picture Books

9 Birthday Celebration Ideas

Why You Need a Mountain-Themed Classroom

6 About Me Activities for Upper Elementary

Classroom Management Ideas that Work

Back to School Must-Haves to Kick off the School Year

Looking for no-prep writing process posters? Head HERE!

                   LOVE these ideas? Pin to save!

*affiliate links: “Think Grow Giggle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.” (source: Section 5)

This or That Questions for Students Would You Rather Style

Looking to build a strong classroom community this new school year? "This or that" and "Would You Rather" style questions are just what you need to engage your students in classroom discussions each day!

"This or that" questions are a simple yet powerful tool for fostering a sense of community in upper elementary classrooms. They present students with two options to choose from, such as "Would you rather read a book or watch a movie?" These questions encourage students to share their own opinions, spark conversations, and help them discover common interests. 

Incorporating "this or that" questions into your daily routine can create an engaging and inclusive classroom environment where every student feels valued and connected. Engaging with "This or that" and "Would You Rather" style questions will not only begin to build a strong sense of classroom community from the first day of the school year, but it will also keep your community going strong all year long!

Not sure how to get started? I have five simple and easy ways to bring "this or that" questions into your classroom to elevate the level of discussion! With the rise of technology and tablets, our students can definitely use some guided practice on how to hold a conversation with their peers.

💡Back to School Getting to Know You Idea...

This or that questions are perfect for the whole year but especially fun for a back-to-school getting-to-know-you activity! That is why I am sharing this bonus tip first! Use "this or that" style, or would you rather questions in a back-to-school carousel! 

Here is how...

Use "this or that" back-to-school task cards and attach them to a large piece of anchor chart paper. You can also handwrite "this or that" questions on top of each anchor chart paper. Hang about 5 or 6 anchor charts with "this or that"  questions around the room. Put your students in small groups and have them rotate through all the chart paper questions. 

Set the timer for 3-5 minutes for each station stop. during that time, have students read the question, discuss their opinions, and jot down which they prefer on the chart paper. When the bell rings, have the kids rotate. You can also have kids "cast their opinion/vote" by putting a tally under one of the choices. Don't end there; bring the class back together to chat about the different questions.

1. Start the Morning with a Slide

Use "this or that" question slides as part of your morning work or morning meeting routine. Use one a day, or select one day a week and do several question slides at once. Using these types of conversation starters each morning is a great way to welcome kids to school, have them engage in conversations with each other, and set a positive tone for the school day.

2. Get Them Moving with a Question - Brain Breaks

You can use "this or that" question slides as a brain break game. Use a few at once and have kids sit or stand based on their responses. If the question is "hamburger or hot dog" use visual cues so students know what to do. Hamburger = sit Hot Dog = stand. 

You can use other cues, too, like these ideas:

• sit or stand
• thumbs up or thumbs down
• hold up one finger or two fingers
• snap fingers or clap hands
• walk to two different corners of the classroom

3. Partner Up with Some Task Cards

Our students need help learning how to engage in conversations with their peers, and "this or that" slides are just the way to give them that practice. Use "this or that" questions as team-building activities that promote good conversation skills. Pair students up or have them work in small groups. Have them discuss their choices and then share with the larger group. This can help students practice communication skills and learn to appreciate different perspectives. 

Don't forget to teach students how to have a conversation with their peers! I always need to teach students how to face each other and make eye contact when talking. They also benefit from instruction and reminders on how to respond to each other's ideas. Once you teach and go over this several times at the beginning of the year, they will get the hang of it! This is especially important since so many kids are on tablets and machines and seem to be losing interpersonal skills.

Grab the free student discussion guide and a list of ten "this or that" questions to get started!

4. Think, Share, Write

Using "this or that" questions and the discussions that follow are a great way to foster brainstorming for different writing assignments.

Weaving in "This or That" questions into opinion writing is a fun way to get kids excited about expressing themselves. Start with easy choices, like "Cats or Dogs?" and have students pick one. Then, encourage them to explain why they made their choice. This helps kids practice giving reasons for their opinions. Plus, it's a great way for everyone to share their thoughts and get to know each other better. After using several of these types of questions as discussion starters, begin to give students lined paper to write their responses. 

💡Try this teaching tip: group kids by similar opinions and have them write together.

5. Transition Time Management

Use "this or that" questions in your classroom during transition times. This helps students stay engaged and focused between activities throughout the day. Don't forget to engage students in conversation after sharing each slide or any this or that question. You can use these slides and transition idea as an incentive by having kids get ready for the next task BEFORE you do some "this or that" questions. To make sure the conversation stays short, set the timer!

Ready to give it a try?

Bringing "This or That" and "Would You Rather" questions into your classroom routine sets the stage for a welcoming and positive classroom learning environment. These simple questions not only make for engaging discussion starters but also build a sense of community and improve students’ conversation skills. From morning meetings to brain breaks and writing exercises, these questions can be seamlessly integrated into various parts of the school day. 

Get creative with how you use them, and watch as your classroom becomes a place where every student feels heard and connected. 

You would also love to read:

Back to School Picture Books

6 All About Me Activities for Upper Elementary

9 Birthday Celebration Ideas

Celebrating Students' Names: A Back-to-School Idea

4 Classroom Library Must-Haves

Classroom Management Ideas that Work

Looking for no prep "This or That" slides? Head HERE!

                     LOVE these ideas? Pin to save!

*affiliate links: “Think Grow Giggle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.” (source: Section 5)

All About Me Activity Ideas for Kids in Upper Elementary

Welcome to a new school year, upper elementary teacher friends! The best way to kick off the year is with "About Me" activities, and yes, for your big kids in upper elementary!

As we gear up to meet our new students, one powerful tool can set a positive tone for the months ahead: "About Me" activities. These engaging and insightful activities are not just icebreakers but foundational for building meaningful connections. 

By giving students the opportunity to share their stories, interests, and aspirations, we create a classroom environment rich in trust and mutual respect. Investing time in these activities at the start of the year helps us better understand our students, fosters strong relationships and cultivates a sense of community where every student feels valued and understood.

These "About Me" activities are my go-to for kicking off the school year! Be sure to read to the bottom for a teacher tip you will definitely want to try this year!

1.  Apple Acrostic Poetry 

Get to know your students as individuals and celebrate your class community by having your students create these all about me acrostic name apple poems! You will love how unique each apple comes out when you create your "New Crop of Students" bulletin board!

💡Teacher Idea: We LOVE celebrating our names at the start of each school year with this apple acrostic activity! This activity also pairs well with picture books that also celebrate names! Read this post and try one of these books!

2. All About Me Poster

These are some of our favorite first-week-of-school activities! The kids love sharing a bit about themselves as they fill in, decorate, and complete an all-about-me poster! These posters make an adorable display and give each student some talking points about themselves that they can share during morning meetings during the first few weeks of school. You will love the informal assessment information you can gather as your students write and draw as they create their posters!

3. Snapshots of My Life

I love seeing students' snapshots of their lives when they complete these posters! The best part about these posters is that they are filled with memories, people, and different things that make them unique! Add these posters to your students' writing notebooks to serve as a brainstormed list of different things your students can write about during any personal narrative unit!

💡Teacher Idea: Another related about me poster that makes a great brainstorming task that is perfect for student notebooks or a class display are these all about me letters! Your kids will love them, and you will love how handy they are when they are added to your students' notebooks!

Grab this activity for free!

4. Me as a Book Character

These character all about me posters are so much fun, especially if you teach reading! For this fun twist on an all-about-me activity,  your students will create themselves as a book character! These posters are a fun display, but also help you get to know your students thought about themselves and their experiences with books, too. These are fun to display and perfect to pull back out when you begin to dive into your character study unit!

5. About Me Bag

Your kids will love creating an about-me bag this back-to-school season! For this about me activity, you can invite your students to bring items about themselves that fit into a brown paper bag, or you can illustrate the three items on a poster page. For this task, have students select three things they love or feel represent them. Again, this can be used as a brainstorming task for students to write about during the first few weeks of school. 

For a fun twist on this activity, you can turn it into an inference game. Instead of students telling the kids the three things in their bag, they can have kids guess what it is in the bag based on clues the students share. Here is an example.

1. A soccer ball is in my bag! I love playing goalie on the Hornets Team. My summer team won the summer tournament. I practice three times a week with my team. We have a net in my backyard, so I practice with my brothers, too! I wear #8. Soccer is my favorite sport!

2. I have something that represents an activity that I love to do! I use this item to practice and kick around, trying to score in a large net. You may think that it is a sport that you can play with your hands and feet, but for this sport, you can only use your feet. Unless you are the goalie, like me! What is in my bag?

6. Don't Forget About Math!

Most About Me activities focus on reading, writing, and art-based activities. However, you can bring math into the equation with tasks designed to help your students share about their math selves! The kids love to draw themselves as mathematicians, which makes an adorable display. With these Math About Me activities, you can get to know your students' math abilities and how they feel about math right from the first day of school!

💡Try this teacher tip!

Don't forget how important celebrating students and building community activities are to do all year long! While it is important to do about me activities during the first two weeks of school, they are just as important to do all year long! So grab this About Me Pack, select a few about me activities to do their first few weeks of school, and then save some to use once a month throughout the course of the school year!

As we embark on another exciting new school year, let's embrace the power of "About Me" activities to build a foundation of trust and mutual respect in our classrooms.  These activities do more than just break the ice; they create a supportive environment where every student feels valued and understood. By dedicating time to listening to our students' stories, interests, and future dreams, we foster strong relationships and cultivate a sense of community that will thrive throughout the year. 

Wishing you a wonderful new school year!

You would also love to read:

Back to School Picture Books

9 Birthday Celebration Ideas

Celebrating Students' Names: A Back-to-School Idea

4 Classroom Library Must-Haves

Classroom Management Ideas that Work

Back to School Must-Haves to Kick off the School Year

Looking for print-and-go "About Me" Activities designed especially for upper elementary? Head HERE!

 

                   LOVE these ideas? Pin to save!

*affiliate links: “Think Grow Giggle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.” (source: Section 5)

Teaching 6 Types of Syllables Rules to Upper Elementary

No matter how many years you have been teaching, you are probably hearing a lot about the science of reading and explicit phonics instruction. One area of phonics instruction that you should include in your upper elementary classroom is teaching students to understand syllables. 

If you are like me, you touched on syllables, often clapping out syllables in words, but did not really understand why you were teaching it or it did not have a real place in your scope and sequence. I definitely spent many years teaching students to clap or hold their chin to feel syllable movement. Once I did that a few times, I figured I covered syllables, and that was that. Boy, was I wrong to stop there! 

Direct syllable instruction is just as important with upper elementary students as it is with our youngest beginning readers. Incorporating syllable instruction into your teaching equips students with essential skills that enhance their overall literacy development. It's a game-changer for upper elementary students!

Read this short, quick, and to-the-point blog post to learn all the benefits of bringing direct syllable instruction into your upper elementary classroom!

Why Should I Teach Syllable Rules to Students?

1. Improves Decoding Skills

Students who understand syllable rules can break down unfamiliar words into smaller, manageable parts. This makes it easier for them to decode and read new words, including multisyllabic words, accurately and fluently.

2. Enhances Spelling Abilities

Syllable knowledge gives students a framework for understanding how words are structured, which helps them spell words correctly and recognize patterns in word formation. Using the patterns that they learn helps them write more fluently, spending less time getting stuck on spelling.

3. Supports Reading Comprehension

When students can decode words more easily, they can focus more on comprehension. Recognizing syllable patterns allows for more fluent reading, leading to a better grasp of the text. Being able to decode quickly makes reading more enjoyable because students are spending less time decoding every other word.

4. Boosts Vocabulary Development

Knowing syllable rules helps students decode and understand more complex words, which expands their vocabulary. This is crucial as they encounter more challenging texts across different subjects in the upper grades.

💡Teacher Tip: Adding a word of the week activity into your daily routine is a great way to increase vocabulary, practice syllabication, and strengthen reading comprehension.

👉 Grade 3 Word of the Week Routine

👉 Grade 4 Word of the Week Routine

5. Promotes Confidence and Independence

Mastering syllable rules gives students the tools to approach new words on their own, boosting their confidence in reading and writing. This independence is key to lifelong learning and literacy skills.

Incorporating direct syllable instruction into your teaching practice is not just beneficial—it's transformative! By understanding and applying syllable rules, your students will improve their decoding skills, enhance their spelling abilities, and support their reading comprehension. Additionally, this knowledge will boost their vocabulary development and foster confidence and independence in their literacy journey. 

Whether you are a seasoned teacher or just starting out, focusing on syllables will equip your students with the tools they need for successful reading and writing. So, let's make syllable instruction a cornerstone of our classrooms, setting our students up for a lifetime of literacy success.

You would also love to read:

Back to School Picture Books

Celebrating Students' Names: A Back-to-School Idea

4 Classroom Library Must-Haves

Back to School Must-Haves to Kick off the School Year

Looking for an easy-to-use poster display for syllable rules? Head HERE.

                    LOVE these ideas? Pin to save!

*affiliate links: “Think Grow Giggle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.” (source: Section 5)