Category: Blog

Free Valentine Candy Hearts math lesson! Students conduct a simple investigation to find out if all boxes of Valentine conversation hearts are the same.

Free Valentine Candy Hearts math lesson! Students conduct a simple investigation to find out if all boxes of Valentine conversation hearts are the same.

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Earth Rounds: What Fraction of the Earth Can Support Life?

Sometimes kids think Earth has unlimited resources and they don’t realize that only a small part of our planet is habitable. Edible Earth Rounds is

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Have you heard about International Dot Day? It’s celebrated on September 15th, and it’s all about encouraging kids to discover how they can make a

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Getting the school year off to a great start is essential, which means that what you do the first week of school can make all

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Wordle Wiz is a free kid-friendly version of Wordle. Visit Laura Candler’s blog to grab this freebie and to discover tips for teaching Wordle to

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Whether you’ll be starting the school year online, in the classroom, or both, one of your biggest challenges will be finding digital resources that can

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Seating students together is not enough to ensure teamwork. Many kids have very little idea how to interact appropriately with their classmates. They simply lack

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Seasonal lessons are perfect for the weeks leading up to the winter holidays. Those days can be chaotic, so it’s important to plan lessons that

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Did you know that October 5th is Do Something Nice Day? Google it and you’ll see! What a great time to teach your kids how to

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Cooperative learning lessons are awesome for engaging students in the learning process, but sometimes a team will become overly enthusiastic and noisy. Even if everyone

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Julia Cook's books are great reading aloud during class meetings to spark discussions about bullying, getting along with others, grief, and friendship problems.

Raising academic standards is certainly a worthy goal, but sometimes it can have unintended consequences. To find time to teach the rigorous reading and math

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With the Common Core emphasis on teaching informational text, you might be wondering where to find appropriate texts for reading instruction. Most classrooms are overflowing

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Category: Blog

Make Your Mark on International Dot Day!

Have you heard about International Dot Day? It’s celebrated on September 15th, and it’s all about encouraging kids to discover how they can make a difference. Why is it called “Dot Day”? To find out, read the book that inspired this special day! The Dot, written by Peter Reynolds, is

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Launch a Super School Year Free Video Course

Getting the school year off to a great start is essential, which means that what you do the first week of school can make all the difference! A few years ago I presented a popular webinar called How to Launch a Super School Year where I shared my secrets for

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How to Get Started with Boom Cards

Whether you’ll be starting the school year online, in the classroom, or both, one of your biggest challenges will be finding digital resources that can be adapted for the new reality of teaching during a pandemic. Fortunately, Boom Cards are just what you need! Boom Cards are digital, self-checking task

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How to Teach Social Skills, Step by Step

Seating students together is not enough to ensure teamwork. Many kids have very little idea how to interact appropriately with their classmates. They simply lack the social skills needed to perform the most basic cooperative learning tasks. Lack of social skills is probably the biggest factor contributing to lack of

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December Activities Your Kids Will Love!

Seasonal lessons are perfect for the weeks leading up to the winter holidays. Those days can be chaotic, so it’s important to plan lessons that are both meaningful and fun. Kids are more likely to stay on task when they are actively engaged in learning, and that’s definitely true in

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Celebrate Do Something Nice Day!

Did you know that October 5th is Do Something Nice Day? Google it and you’ll see! What a great time to teach your kids how to be a good citizen and learn to consider the needs of others!  To help your students celebrate, I created this fun FREE printable.  Click HERE to

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Team Stop Signs Help Kids Stop and Refocus

Cooperative learning lessons are awesome for engaging students in the learning process, but sometimes a team will become overly enthusiastic and noisy. Even if everyone is still on task, their energetic behavior can be distracting to others. In most cases, these students don’t mean to be noisy or disruptive; they’re

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Julia Cook's books are great reading aloud during class meetings to spark discussions about bullying, getting along with others, grief, and friendship problems.

Cook Up a Caring Classroom with Books by Julia Cook

Raising academic standards is certainly a worthy goal, but sometimes it can have unintended consequences. To find time to teach the rigorous reading and math Common Core standards, many schools are cutting back on physical education, the arts, and life-skill lessons. Yet we need to remember that we aren’t teaching

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Teaching Informational Text with Magazines

With the Common Core emphasis on teaching informational text, you might be wondering where to find appropriate texts for reading instruction. Most classrooms are overflowing with great children’s literature and novels, but many schools lack a good selection of interesting nonfiction texts. If you enjoy reading magazines yourself, the solution

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