This Week, On the Blog
4 New Money Identification Activities
Learning how to identify money is an important skill for all students. What is the best way to introduce and teach money identification? In this post, you’ll learn how you can teach students to:
observe and compare coins
identify coin names and their values
understand equivalent amounts with a money game
6 Spring Activities for Reading and Science
It’s time to freshen things up in the classroom and try some fun spring activities to keep your students engaged and motivated. In this post, you’ll find:
activities to use to observe the life cycle of a plant
new spring books to add to your collection
fun spring crafts your students will love
Free Substitute Lesson Plans for Elementary
Whether you have to be out of the classroom because you’re sick or taking a personal day, making sub plans is the last thing that you want to worry about. Now, creating sub plans can be stress-free by using no-prep substitute lesson plans.
Why You Should Throw Away Your Substitute Binder
Throw your substitute binder in the closet and prepare for your sub more efficiently. After reading, you’ll learn:
why your sub doesn’t need a whole binder
what to leave for your substitute instead
Kindness Activities for Kids
How can we teach students the importance of kindness? If you ask any student, they can describe a time when someone showed them an act of kindness and how it made them feel. Using these kindness activities, students can develop social emotional learning skills in the classroom.
Goal Setting Lesson Plans and Books for Elementary Teachers
There are a wide variety of picture books which beautifully illustrate the process of setting and meeting goals with a growth mindset. Read how I use my favorite mentor texts to teach my students how to set personal and academic goals throughout the school year.
The Best Way to Help Students Set and Meet Their Goals
How can we teach our students to set academic and personal goals all year? After reading this post, you’ll understand:
What are SMART goals?
The process of setting attainable goals
How to teach students to maintain a growth mindset
Why Social Emotional Learning Is Important for Teachers
No matter if you teach pre-k, 3rd grade, special education, or music, understanding social emotional learning is important for all teachers. Learn the link between social emotional learning and academic achievement.
How to Integrate Social Emotional Learning into the Curriculum
You don’t have to change your schedule to incorporate social emotional learning into your routine. You don’t need a fancy curriculum to integrate social emotional learning into everyday instruction. After reading, you’ll have new ways to teach SEL with ease.
Classroom Management Not Working? Use These Tips to Transform Your Classroom
What do you do if your classroom management plan isn’t working anymore? Use this reflection process to learn new behavior management skills and strategies to use in your classroom.
5 New Activities for Your Living and Nonliving Things Unit
You’re looking for new high-interest activities to add to your next science unit. These 5 living thing activities and anchor charts are great for keeping the excitement strong throughout the whole unit.
Why I Use Digital Math Problems in Kindergarten
Transform your calendar math routine by using digital math problems! By starting your math time with a digital component, you will help your students develop an understanding with numbers while having fewer materials to prep for your lessons each day.
Promote Independence During Writing Workshop
I found the missing link that I needed in our writing workshop! This writing tool is perfect for each student no matter what stage they are in the writing process. Read to learn how I use a digital writing tool to ensure that my students have everything that they need to write until the last minutes of writing workshop.
These Tools Changed My Writing Workshop Forever
Get ready to be amazed at how much your students can do independently during writing! You no longer have to worry about being able to have small writing groups or conferring with students. You can teach your mini lesson, and watch them go! Read how I use 3 game changing tools to promote independence in my students during writing workshop.
How to Make Your Anchor Charts More Interactive
Anchor charts are a staple in every classroom, no matter what grade that you teach. It’s time to take your anchor charts to the next level! I want to share some ways that you can make your anchor charts more interactive for your students. It’s time to help your students take ownership of their learning when they have the opportunity to create an artifact to document new learning.
How to Improve Writing Skills With a Question a Day
The goal for writing the question of the day is to transfer the skills of justification and writing in detail to writing workshop. Learn how writing a question of the day in a yellow notebook helped my students produce writing with more length and clarity. Daily practice has increased my student’s ability to organize and communicate their ideas onto paper.
Self-Checking End of the Year Review for Kindergarten
Give yourself the gift of time and assign your students a fun and interactive end of the year review. Your students will love practicing their kindergarten standards using the interactive platform Boom Learning. The self-checking end of the year review is created using Boom Cards with sound and drag and drop features. This is the only review that is so fun that your students will ask for more!
8 End of the Year Activities for the Last Days of Kindergarten
You have one week of school left, but you’ve already gone through all of your curriculum! Now what? Your students will love spending their last days with their friends, putting on a class talent show or having a STEM challenge. These are the best end of the year activities for kindergarten!
10 Quick Tips for Seesaw
Are you are using Seesaw in your classroom? Are you using the most efficient strategies for managing your Seesaw teacher account? Learn these 10 quick tips to help busy teachers take back their precious time. Seesaw is an amazing resource for activities and communicating with families. Learn the best ways that you can organize your resources and class activities on Seesaw during distance learning.
Pumpkin Science Activities
So, you’re looking for a new activity to have some fun in the classroom on Halloween? An activity that will being some joy and excitement for your students, while also covering standards? A pumpkin investigation day is the perfect solution to Halloween fun… without the party!