Let me tell you about my favorite cooperative learning strategy. This strategy is the Jigsaw Method. Now, I have been using the Jigsaw Method since I was a student myself, but just didn't know the name of it, and I would bet that you are using some form of it as well.
The activities below are available for free download, and are to be used in educational and/or private settings. They may not be used elsewhere or for other purposes (such as for profit) unless exp…
One of the most important elements of teaching is providing students with plenty of opportunities to actively engage in learning with their peers. This blog post covers my favorite cooperative learning strategies that I have used in my classroom. These activities can be used across all subjects and several grade levels (3-6+). Bonus: I created […]
Virtual dissections can be a huge help in teaching science, biology, physiology and anatomy. Here are some of the best resources for your lessons and labs.
Are you looking to elevate your Ecosystems and Biomes unit? This 4th or 5th grade project based learning unit for ecosystems incorporates science, nonfiction reading, research, writing, and the arts! Read to find out how I organized the research project, what our launch activity was, the driving que
Are you tired or redirecting your class and wasting precious time on behaviors in the classroom? This freebie will help!
Are you looking to elevate your Ecosystems and Biomes unit? This 4th or 5th grade project based learning unit for ecosystems incorporates science, nonfiction reading, research, writing, and the arts! Read to find out how I organized the research project, what our launch activity was, the driving que
Ideas to teach force and motion to grade 5 6 7 students including Newton's laws with print, digital and hands on activities for science class
We are currently doing a short study of the human body. We recently finished up our unit on the Brain and Nerves, and here are some of the activities we did and resources we used.
Sometimes, we're using project-based learning and other times, we're just doing projects. Here's a project based learning ideas checklist to help clarify.
What unschooling math looks like for my family and other unschooling families.
Dr Spencer Kagan is a renowned educator who changed the way the world viewed teaching. He is mainly known for his work on cooperative learning strategies (often referred to as Kagan learning struc…
Build a Heart Model - STEM activity about heart rates and how blood flows through the body. Engineer a functioning model of a beating heart.
Read about six fun activities to help teach the scientific method in your upper elementary classroom.
Snowball fights aren't just for brain breaks (or winter)! Try this compare/contrast activity and see for yourself the invaluable learning and assessing power of snowball fights in your classroom!
These valuable, printable resources have been developed over my many years of interoceptive work and research. I offer these as a free resource exclusively ...
One of the important lessons of early childhood education is getting along with other children and resolving conflicts in a peaceful way. These printable problem solving posters from This Reading M…
For each of the 13 potential outcomes of project-based learning, I added a tip to help increase the chance that this potential is realized.
This back to school "snowball" fight activity will have your students getting up and out of their seats moving around the room to get to know each other.
For millennia, cultures around the world have used stories to teach and to heal. Jesus’ parables are an example that many people know. Others may be more familiar with Jataka tales, stories of the Buddha’s incarnations. Still others have learned from the stories of Anansi, of Coyote, of Nanabouzho
This activity pairs perfectly with the book "Stand in My Shoes: Kids Learning About Empathy" by Bob Sornson. There is a video of the book being read aloud on YouTube. Kids identify what gives them certain emotions and learn that they can know how others feel by thinking "how would I feel if it were me?"
Learn all about our Market Day PBL (Project Based Learning) that was focused on creating a business to sell goods and services.
Kids are the best at learning and teaching others how to use new technology like circuits. They are a great science lesson in your homeschool.
What does it mean to have asthma? How do healthy lungs function compared to sick lungs? These are the questions my 8-year-old wanted to investigate today. This STEM Respiratory System Investigation was a great discovery of what can stop our lungs from working properly. We compared lungs with asthma to healthy lungs and talked about some other lung infections and how they can affect our bodies.
Teachers, this blog post covers mixtures and solutions activities, ideas, resources, and assessments to make teaching science easy peasy!
Visit the post for more.
Autism activities to help increase communication, fine motor skills, sensory play skills, interaction & more in your home or autism classroom!
Teach kids self-regulation in the classroom and beyond with this collection of super fun Zones of Regulation activities, games, worksheets, and lesson plans!
With World Down Syndrome Day and Autism Awareness Month right around the corner, this is the perfect time to think about hosting your own disability awareness day to help students throughout your school better understand different types of disabilities! Last year, I used this Disability Awareness Day Kit from The Bender Bunch to host a schoolwide awareness day for 3rd-5th graders. I was lucky enough to have a principal that let me get a sub for the day to run this wonderful event. I set aside about an hour and 15 minutes per session and did each grade level at their own time. For the event, I sent out parent volunteer forms and got parents to sign up for a time slot to help run a table! Traci from The Bender Bunch included so many great things for me to use during this event. There are some things that you need to grab ahead of time that you'll see in my pictures, but overall it was really just making copies, finding volunteers, and setting up the stations! For my event, I created my own questionnaire to send out to teachers about a week before the event to have their students fill out. This gave me a great idea what they knew about disabilities already, what questions they had, etc. They answered a very similar questionnaire after the event so I could see what they learned! I also spend about 15 minutes at the end of the the event talking to each grade level about ways they can be a good friend to someone with a disability, asking them questions about what they learned, and answering any lingering questions. Overall, it was a GREAT success! In the future, I'd love to do it again (with help!). I did this event last year all on my own and although it turned out amazing, I would love to do it again with a little less stress (and someone to help me answer questions, those kids had some awesome questions!). Each station was set up at a table like this with everything you needed to run the station smoothly! I grabbed a bunch of gloves from our school lost and found and had the students trying to pick up pennies, tie their shoes, etc. It was eye opening for them! Finger spelling word puzzles, these were awesome! One of our stations had Google Chromebooks set up with a couple different things. One was white noise where they had to listen to the white noise while doing the specified activity. I also had some set up to show them a video through the eyes of someone with Autism. They all loved this! I e-mailed the Autism video to classroom teachers in case someone didn't get a turn. You can see the video HERE. I loved this station. All of the kids were like "I can't see that!!!" and I'm like "that's the point ;-)" haha! Have you ever done something similar at your school? If not, I highly recommend doing it! This event was a huge eye opener and big hit!
UPDATE DECEMBER 2021 - Simplified Version: I've spent quite a bit of time in K-5 world the last several years. This year I introduced this game to my Elem math Ed students. They loved it. Since they are not yet regularly working with students they played it with their familiesand a few turned it into
If you've ever had the sneaking feeling that while you're conducting guided reading, the lions were loose in the rest of the room, don't miss this post!
Unwanted talking is near the top of the list of teacher frustrations. In this article, learn the actual strategies to finally get rid of it for good.
Instant empathy worksheets PDF activity book to teach kids or students all about empathy and being kind to others.
Too many classroom icebreakers require students to take big social risks with people they barely know. Or they don't really help students get to know each other. Or they are just plain cheesy.
If you're looking for something fun to do while teaching science, here's our top ten list of interactive websites for scientific learning Getting Nerdy Science
11 absolute value activities to help teach, practice, and review using absolute value. Includes online resources, absolute value games, and other absolute value activity ideas.
