5 Ways to Make Your Students Smile

…only take a few short minutes, and with it comes lots of smiles. Invite a small group to eat for lunch. Yes, I know. We all want our 25 minute

6 Tips for Making the Most of Math Homework

…class, do a 5-minute Quick Check. This formative assessment will help you decide who needs extra practice on the concept or skill you taught that day. Instead of assigning homework…

12 Ways to Motivate Reluctant Readers

…each day with a short student-led book talk? Ask students to sign up in advance to do a 2-minute informal book share. Letting them tell about their favorite book will…

Earth Day Teaching Resources

…think you’ll like. It involves showing this free 20-minute Story of Stuff video. This video, created by Annie Leonard, explains where our stuff comes from and the problems faced by…

Fun Countdown Timers for the Classroom

…my students a simple task, intending to allow 5 minutes before moving on to the next step, and the next thing I knew, 20 minutes had passed. Luckily, my time…

5 Tips for New Teachers

…ready to go, and it worked. The minute you have to go scrambling through your cabinets for materials, you lose your students’ attention as well as valuable class time. Planning…

Move to Learn in Science!

…room for one minute. Here’s a brief overview of the directions: Solids – Ask your students to cluster together in one part of the room. Tell them that they are…

Fun Games for Learning the 50 States

How to Play Find the States Showdown: The first Leader selects a number card from the State Numbers deck and announces the number to the team. Everyone looks at the…

Why I Stopped Criticizing Common Core Math

…that celebrities and comedians like to paint a picture of students using number parts and number lines as adults, (ahem–Stephen Colbert) and I laugh right along with them…because using those…