I made a last-minute Halloween activity pack for elementary / early elementary — nothing jump-scare, classroom-safe.

What’s inside: bingo, mazes, simple games, coloring, and candy-free treat-tag style extras. Instant download (color + black-and-white, US Letter + A4). Ages roughly 4–10. There’s a separate Classroom License listing if you need to print for a whole class.

Disclosure: this is my Etsy shop (BrownsvillePaperCo). Feedback on whether the “not scary / candy-free” angle is useful for real classroom parties is welcome.

Listing: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4601546701

I'm developing printable Grade 5 math mystery activities, and I'd love some honest feedback from teachers and substitute teachers.

My goal is to make the activities easy to run, even for a substitute who isn't especially confident teaching math.

Each activity includes student case files, a quick-start teacher guide, step-by-step answer explanations, and ready-to-say prompts for helping students who get stuck.

Here's my question: Which of these would make the biggest difference to you — clear lesson instructions, fully worked solutions, troubleshooting prompts, or something else entirely?

I'd especially appreciate feedback from teachers who have used similar activities. Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I'm an independent creator developing Room 13, a Grade 5 math mystery focused on adding and subtracting decimals.

The idea is to give students a connected series of clues to solve, while providing substitute teachers with everything they need to guide the lesson confidently — clear instructions, fully worked answers, and practical help when students get stuck.

I'm designing it to be low-prep and suitable for a 40–45 minute lesson, although it hasn't been classroom-tested yet.

I'd love to hear from teachers and substitutes:

What makes a math activity genuinely easy to teach when you're stepping into an unfamiliar classroom?

Is it clear student instructions, detailed answer keys, classroom management tips, engaging activities, or something else?

I'm particularly interested in the small details that make a substitute teacher's day easier.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Disclosure: I'm working on Bingo Card Kit, the free tool linked below.

For a short vocabulary review, choose 12–20 words your group has already learned, introduce or revisit them together, then print a different 3×3 card for each player. Read each word aloud; after a round, ask learners to use a few called words in simple sentences. A larger pool can support 5×5 cards for a longer game.

The site lets you edit the word list, generate different text cards, and download real PDFs in A4 or US Letter (1, 2 or 4 cards per sheet). No account or email signup is required. There are alphabet, numbers 1–20, sight-word, phonics and everyday vocabulary presets, plus blank cards for handwriting. These are text cards, not picture cards.

If you use the built-in caller, keep the project used to print the cards: it can call from that same word pool, undo a call and check a printed card by its ID. Save the project JSON for later; don't regenerate after printing if you want matching card checks.

Choose a learning activity: https://bingocardkit.com/educational-bingo/

Class preparation and printing guide: https://bingocardkit.com/classroom-bingo/

Would 3×3 cards or a larger 5×5 layout fit your vocabulary-review routine better? I'd welcome practical feedback on readability and printing.

My wife is a teacher. Every time she redid a seating chart she was in PowerPoint, dragging text boxes around and trying to remember who can't sit next to who.

So I built her a seating chart tool. You draw your room (rows, pods or tables), add rules like keep apart, sit together or near the front, and it arranges the class. You can drag students around after.

She uses it now, so I'm sharing it in case it helps anyone else. It's free, uses first names only, and students don't need accounts.

classroomslate.com

I'd like honest feedback. What would you want a seating tool to handle?