As Early Childhood Educators would agree, observing and documenting children’s learning and development makes up a large part of the job. Too much paper work and documentation is one complain…

Welcome to 31 Days of Homemade Music! Today we will be continuing to make a case for why anyone can benefit from studying music. To find other posts in this series, click here. Ever wondered if music is just as effective a brain developer as, say, math or science? If you remember my post from […]

Have you ever had a class that just tried your patience day after day? Have you ever felt like you could walk away from teaching forever tom...

Welcome to 31 Days of Homemade Music! Today we will be continuing to make a case for why anyone can benefit from studying music. To find other posts in this series, click here. Ever wondered if music is just as effective a brain developer as, say, math or science? If you remember my post from […]

I LOVE saving figurative language until June - it's such a fun language unit ... and perfect for our "dreaming of summer brains". We finished up our EQAO testing mid week, and this onomatopoeia activity was the perfect break from testing. How fun is that??? Students chose two contrasting colours - one for the background and one for the word and border "bursting out of the page". They also needed newspaper (cut just a fraction smaller that the "bursting out of the page border" and glued the newspaper on top. They glued their word on top of that (we had brainstormed a lot of onomatopoeia words, but for some reason most of them chose SPLAT for their word). I also had them do a little shading under their letters for that little extra POP (see, I know some onomatopoeia words, too). ;) I had seen this awesome idea on Pinterest and followed it back to Artisan des Arts. Her examples are FANTASTIC!! We also wrote simile poems this week. I found a little template HERE for the students to use for their rough copies. When students were finished their templates, I had them write out their good copies, and illustrate a few lines with a small image. I hung these up, too ... LOVING our bulletin board switch up ... even this late in the school year!!! (I have two of these "smART class" bulletin boards side by side in the classroom. 15 more school days left ... I think I can ... I think I can ... Happy Friday!!!

We at Bright Side are certain that any subject, no matter how complicated, can be made interesting for children provided it’s explained in an accessible way. Take chemistry for example, which is often considered one of the toughest subjects for a child to learn at school. We suggest beginning with the most famous chemical elements and their characteristics.

Free Readers' Theater PDFs 4-Little-Pigs, Carnival of Animals, Summer of Riley, Thanksgiving A to Z, Whipping Boy, Chicken Little, Little Red Hen, and The Moorchild, 3 Billy Goats Gruff

Over the last few months I've discovered interactive notebooks and folding resources - and I've fallen hard for them! I love the ways you can combine folding, colouring, words and ideas to create an interactive resource which helps students to explore and engage with the topic they are learning.&

Prompt children to begin a discussion about anxiety and fear using the My Fears anxiety worksheet. This worksheet will give your clients an opportunity...

“A2: Like this picture #primaryrocks”

A simple illustrated book used to help young children learn how to speak in German by teaching words and phrases. You can also read a copy of 'My Very First...

Synonyms and Antonyms Anchor Chart! This blog post contains the material to create this anchor chart, plus a FREE interactive notebook entry for synonyms and antonyms!

Working with kids and young adults who are oppositional can be challenging. Being oppositional might mean refusing to do work, breaking rules, and engaging in other challenging behaviors. The truth is, many kids can be oppositional from time to time, so many of these strategies work with all learner

I'm back with another lesson idea for using literature to introduce and practice music concepts with lower elementary students! Today's post is on a book that is brand new to me this year: a wonderful book by Ann McGovern called "Too Much Noise". *this post contains affiliate links* I just used this book this past week (you can get it on Amazon here) with first grade to review loud and soft, introduce the vocabulary forte and piano, and review classroom instrument names and playing technique. You could use this book with any lower elementary grade to practice or introduce dynamics and/or timbre. The first thing we did was read the story. This book is a wonderful story about a man who thinks the quiet sounds in his house are too loud, who gets a bunch of loud animals at the advice of the town's wise man, and then realizes how quiet his house actually is when he gets rid of all of the animals. The illustrations are wonderful and there are several sound words in the story- the swishing of the wind, the mooing of the cow- which I had the students say with me as I read. At the end of the book, I asked the students to retell the story, and then asked them which sounds were loud and which were quiet (or soft. I know some teachers care deeply about which word you use- I use them both interchangeably but will use "quiet" in this post for consistency's sake). We practiced saying the animal sounds loudly and the house sounds quietly. Since I was using the book to introduce the vocabulary words "forte" and "piano", I introduced those words here, having the students say the words loudly and quietly, respectively. That was the end of the first 30-minute lesson. In the next lesson, we reviewed the basic story line, reviewed the words "forte" and "piano", and I had students sort the sound words into categories of forte and piano. I did this on my interactive whiteboard, but you could also do this on a regular whiteboard and just write the words, or print the words on cards and have them sort as a class or in small groups. Then I told the students that I wanted to use instruments for each of the sounds instead of our voices. We quickly reviewed the classroom instruments we used last year, including small percussion and barred instruments, and for each discussed whether the instrument could produce sounds that are forte, piano, or both (An egg shaker, for example, is hard to play forte, but a cowbell, on the other hand, is difficult to play quietly, although it can be done. A hand drum could easily be used for either forte or piano). Once we reviewed the instruments, the students chose one instrument to represent each sound, and I assigned a few students to each one. Then we read the story again, this time playing the appropriate instrument each time the sound came up in the story. I reminded the students before we started that they should play their instruments at the appropriate dynamic level that we had discussed, but that they should never play over the sound of any other instrument or my reading. This lesson was a great way to review dynamics and instrument names, give the students a chance to play some instruments, and introduce forte and piano. Have you ever used this book in your music classes? I would love to hear your ideas as well- leave a comment! If you want to see some of the other lessons I teach with children's literature, click here.

I was so excited to get our CSA today! It has been awhile since we had a CSA box and the girls were more than thrilled! "Mommy, let's open the box!

Thaumatropes are a simple craft that kids will enjoy making - and they will be amazed at the visual effects when the spinning pictures merge! The following post contains affiliate links, which means that at no extra cost to you I can make a tiny bit of money to help support this blog. Thank you! Have you ever heard of a Thaumatrope? Here's what Wiki has to say: A thaumatrope is an optical toy that was popular in the 19th century. A disk with a picture on each side is attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled

Many would agree that for inquiry to be alive and well in a classroom that, amongst other things, the teacher needs to be expert at asking strategic questions. With that in mind, if you are a new teacher or perhaps not so new but know that question-asking is an area where you'd like to grow, start tomorrow with these five ideas.

Teach your child to recognize and read consonant digraphs /th/, /sh/, and /ch/ with a digraph garden!

Today I wanted to stop by and share some strategies for teaching vowel teams and diphthongs in our classroom! It’s always challenging to teach spelling patterns that aren’t easily decodable! […]

Children will practice using context clues as they identify the correct homophone in this grammar and spelling worksheet.

Check out these great ideas for teaching conjunctions including a video lesson with an organizer, posters with rules, and anchor charts.

Is grammar outdated or still necessary for a homeschool education? Learn the pros and cons and find some great, free resources for teaching this often maligned topic.

Anchor chart inspiration for elementary teachers. Use my Not-So-Pinteresty Anchor Charts for Reading, Math, Grammar, and Writing.

Assessing Critical Thinking in Middle and High Schools: Meeting the Common Core, by Rebecca Stobaugh is a practical, very effective resource for midd...

Here is a silly drawing games that is a lot of fun for kids to play. In this drawing game, you use dice to decide what parts of the drawing you will draw. We have included a face drawing game and a landscape drawing game. This is a lot of fun and it helps children who might not be able to draw freely and creatively...this will help them draw more freely and creatively. This will also increase silliness.

Can creativity be cultivated in our current school system?

Hello, everybody! And happy summer! In this post, I am going to show you how to teach some basic critical thinking skills to young ch...

5 school counseling activities using string to focus on growth mindset, anxiety, trauma, coping skills, and impulse control.

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January is here! A NEW YEAR and so much to learn! I am super excited to continue our learning for this school year and start the calendar year off strong!

Credit- Raymondsanti Students in grades K-4 began the Lion King unit this Monday during Arts Enrichment time. Arts Enrichment is an extra music/art time a week taught by the Art teacher Mrs. Divis and the music teacher Ms. Moon. Photo Credit The Lion King on Broadway Trailer For the next two Mondays students will be learning a fun dance to "The Circle of Life" and making African necklaces. Students will wear the necklaces while showcasing "The Circle of Life" dance at an upcoming school assembly. Photo by: Swiss.frog After those two weeks students will explore The Lion King theme more through various art projects and music activities. Some of the music activity videos are shown below: Hakuna Matata: The Lion Sleeps Tonight Music Video Lion Sleeps Tonight- Just Dance 2 Video I made two different arrangements of Lion Sleeps Tonight (and found the ukulele online) for grades 2-4, to align with what instruments they are learning in general music class. Grade 2 will learn the song on boomwhackers, grade 3 on the barred instruments, and grade 4 on the ukulele. I will also give a brief description of some common African instruments and add appropriate percussion parts (likely only one or two per grade of the percussion parts listed below). Below is a video from a 2nd grade class of students playing the boomwhacker part and some African instruments. Here is a 3rd grade class practicing the mallet accompaniment to "Lions Sleeps Tonight". Although the Lion King takes place in Kenya, the theme of the unit opens up the wonderful opportunity to explore musical activities from all parts of Africa. Obwisana is a folk song from Ghana. Students will play a rock passing game while singing the song. The words of the song mean "The rock has crushed my hand, grandma." I found this description in a book I have: "A child singing this song is repeatedly receiving a message of security and comfort, even in the context of a phrase and game which tells of injury. The injured child can take comfort in the fact that he or she can turn to "Nana" for sympathy and assistance- the ever-present circle of relatives supports Ghanaian children and adults during times of misfortune and celebration both." Che Che Koolay is also a folk song from Ghana. The words have been said by some to be nonsense words. But the movements to the song lean toward this translation: Hands on your head Hands on your shoulders Hands on your waist Hands on your knees Hands on your ankles Hands on your ankles Hands on your ankles, hey! Notation found here Students will learn a dance similar to the popular American song, "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" to Che Che Koolay.

Are you intimidated by the thought of how to teach Shakespeare to your kids? The language is archaic and difficult. The plots are confusing. Most of us

Free Lessons in Grammar Skills - Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, Conjuncitons, Interjections, Subject-Verb Agreement, Sentence Transformation

October is here and we are gearing up for some fun, hands-on and engaging learning! We have you covered with NO PREP packets for: Preschool,