Time for School Year Reflections

…Year Reflections freebie below to use with my students; if you like it, feel free to download it and use it in your own classroom. My School Year Reflections printable…

Honoring 9/11 – A Delicate Balance

…share. 2. Discuss The Man Who Walked Between the Towers You can use the set of question cards shown below to discuss the book with your students. Because of the…

Cooperative Learning – More Than Group Work

…suggests chips, but I use craft sticks because those chips roll everywhere! I assign a discussion leader, and that role changes for each new discussion question. The leader gives each student 3…

Fun with Customary Measurement Conversions

…but they are really effective for helping kids memorize basic units of measurement. They’re also great to use in math centers and math stations because they can be played almost…

Earth Day Teaching Resources

…movement, remind me to pause and reflect on our vast blessings: “We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his…

12 Ways to Motivate Reluctant Readers

…books from different authors and across different genres, and let students choose the books they want to read. You can use reading interest surveys to help them find books on…

A “Smart” Way to Motivate Students

…class. It’s called Build-an-Ice Cream Student Motivator, and I created it to use on the Smartboard. This is a great strategy, especially if students need something fresh and new to…

Mighty Math Tasks!

…mean. This is a third grade task that I actually used in my classroom. You can get it here for your own use. If you are like me, your first…

Learning Goals in Workstations

…meaningful, the learning goals need to be written in kid-friendly language. Use concrete, student-centered language. They’ve got to be able to understand what the goal means, after all. The objective…

Taming Blurters and Wanderers

…behavior, what does? Rehearsal. Repetition. Practice. Teaching Rule #2: Raise Your Hand for Permission to Speak Here’s Whole Brain Teaching’s two step procedure, used by thousands of educators across the…

5 Ways to Help Students Become Word Collectors

…you to help YOUR students become Word Collectors — learners who notice, learn, and use interesting and meaningful words! 1. Encourage reading! Pretty obvious, right? Read aloud to your students….

What Makes a Parent Love a Teacher

…a System for Getting to Know Students Knowing your students on a deeper level doesn’t happen quickly, and it takes a bit of work. Many teachers use some kind of…