Learn what's considered a good academic when applying to college. This article discusses the importance of grades, honors, AP, IB, and more.
A lot of us teach in schools where the grading policy is set and there can be no changes to it. This was refreshing for me when I was a first-year teacher.
Which Back to School Activities Elementary can I use for Building Community in my Classroom? Which All About Me Activities are most engaging for my students?
First days of school can be stressful. There's an insane amount of pressure to make a great first impression. The administration wants you to go over the handbook of rules for the district. There's tons of forms that need to be filled out. You need to learn their names and it's hard because half the names don't match your class list. His name is Samuel but he goes by S.J. Her name on your roll says Mary, but she goes by Mary Beth. You want to start off the year on the right note regarding procedures and expectations, but you also want it to be a little bit fun, too. Yes, it can be complicated to plan out the first day. My first day was absolutely fantastic. Yes, I learned names. Yes, I went over the handbook. Yes, I went over forms. But we also did some quick exciting things that started us out on the right foot. In no particular order, here is what made my first day FANTASTIC. 1. I let my students collaborate on a story. I started a story on the whiteboard and each student could only add four words to the story. It ended up being hilarious and making ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE but no one cared. It was fun. They worked as a family. 2. That bring me to my next point--we don't call our classes, um, classes. Or homerooms. We call them families. So I have Mrs. Johnson's Family for my 1st period class and Mrs. Anderson's Family for my second period class. (Homeroom teacher names were changed for this post.) You get the idea. And it really does reinforce this idea that we need to work together like a family should. 3. I embraced and addressed my students' biggest fear. Each teacher has his/her students coming to the room with a big fear. Go ahead and address it. Since I'm the first year of middle school, the big fear is the locker. Will I ever get into it? Will I have enough time to get everything out of it? My students can't begin to learn procedures until we address the locker issue. Once they feel confident with their locker, they are ready to learn procedures. So, what did I do? I lined up my wonderful parents to come work with my students one-on-one the very first day of school on their locker. And it was the best thing for that first day. Address your students' fears with a solution. Don't think, "Oh I need to teach procedures! I'll help them with that later on in the week." No. Their Big Fear is ALL THEY CAN THINK ABOUT. Fix the fear, then they can face all the procedures and rules head on! 4. If you know me, you know that I ABSOLUTELY DETEST GETTING TO KNOW YOU GAMES. Why do I have to name a fact about myself that starts with a J just because my first name is Jordyn? Nothing starts with a J that I like! I hate jelly beans. I'm ok with jolly ranchers but they aren't anything special. I. HATE. GETTING. TO. KNOW. YOU. GAMES. I think I've made my point clear. Soooooo---what did I do to get to know them? I made a statement and pointed to two sides of the room. The students moved to the side of the room for their answer. Examples: 1. Team Cat or Team Dog 2. Would you rather travel every day or never leave home? 3. Team Math/Science or Team Language Arts? 4. Alabama or Auburn? (I live in Alabama, so this is a big deal around here. Feel free to change to whatever sports teams works for you. And by the way, the correct answer to me is the side of the room that was yelling WAR EAGLE!) We didn't do this as one big activity. I broke up the reading of the district handbook by doing a couple of these, then back to the handbook, then a couple more of these, then back to the handbook, a couple more of these, then going over forms. THEY LOVED THIS ACTIVITY! It didn't force the quiet kids to talk, but they did participate by moving. It let the other ones announce why they were on that side. It was just a great icebreaker for those of us who are anti-icebreaker. --->Do you need a GETTING TO KNOW YOU ACTIVITY perfect for the first few days? (And not icebreaker questions that tweens dislike---actually questions they enjoy answering!)
Then, we used a little total physical response to give my firsties a better visual on how the size of the places we live are related. They *loved* this
Subitizing is the foundation for number sense and mental math. Learn about common mistakes teachers make when teaching subitizing.
This unit focuses explicitly on Dale Chihuly: his life, his art. The artmaking pursued in this unit is inspired by one of Chihuly’s most well-known themes: the bowl.
Kids will have fun learning about other countries, famous landmarks, and geography with this France for Kids FREE Printable Mini Book.
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
ALL ABOUT EARTH Get ready for a month filled with so many fun activities to teach your kiddos all about our planet Earth . I teach this unit in April so it coincides with Earth Day. I’ve loaded up this blog post post with read aloud book ideas, free videos you can share with your students,
Free 7th & 8th grade worksheets, printable games, and activities to make learning math, literacy, history, and science engaging and FUN!
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
These spooky mummy eyes are such a fun Halloween project! I saw a version of this project online and just had to recreate it. The oil pastels are a bit messy but this is a no-paint project that can be completed in one art session.
(This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.) Free Printable First Day of School Flags – Pencil Here’s a set of free printable First Day of…
No more boring book reports! Check out 26+ FUN, creative and unique book report ideas and free printable projects too!
This spring is presenting new challenges for teachers all across the country. Some of us are getting ready to go back to the classroom for the first time this year. Some of us have been in person all year, but we are about to get new virtual kids. Some of you have been in the ... Read More about Classroom Management and Expectations
(This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.) Free Printable First Day of School Flags – Pencil Here’s a set of free printable First Day of…
The Kindergarten artists and PreKinders also created some artwork inspired by Mondrian. The PreKinders glued down black lines creating squares and rectangles they then colored some of their shapes …
Teach EVERY reading literature and reading informational text common core state standard using inspirational and engaging short films and video clips! For an entire year of highly engaging, no prep…
Activities that boost fluency all year long…and that you only have to prep once!
Using sentence frames to get ell students writing. Click here for more:
Create a positive and well-managed classroom environment with our class rules posters and activity book! This editable resource features 6 simple, yet powerful, classroom rules designed to foster a bright, happy, and productive learning space. These visually appealing posters serve as constant reminders for students to follow expected behaviors, helping them stay on track with positive actions. This comprehensive classroom management tool includes six essential rules that cover most behavioral expectations in any classroom: Listen Be Nice Try Hard Be Safe Share Care To suit your classroom’s needs, we’ve provided three display options: Full-page posters for prominent visibility. Half-page landscape posters for a streamlined look. A consolidated "All on One Page" poster for quick reference. These rules are written in positive language, making them easy for students to remember and apply to various situations. For example, "no running" aligns with "be safe," ensuring that every expectation is clear and simple. To further reinforce these rules, we've included a student activity book where students can draw pictures for each rule and create their own personal copy of the classroom rules. Plus, the editable versions of all rule posters and activity pages allow you to customize the text and font to perfectly match your classroom's needs. What's Included: 6 Editable Classroom Rules Posters in 3 Display Options Student Activity Book: Encourages students to engage with and understand each rule. Editable PowerPoint File: Customize text and fonts to fit your classroom style. Return to our store home page here
After nearly a decade of teaching secondary students, I've had a lot of time to test out a variety of 2d art projects. Let's face it: as teachers, sometimes we plan and plan and plan. We are so excited to deliver the project, and then... it flops. Students are uninterested and the final products aren't
Some ideas for teaching plot elements to help students recall stories in sequential order, summarize stories, and understand theme.
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There’s a ton of superb free art instruction out there for kids who are into drawing, painting, sculpting, and other artsy things! Here are our favorites!
Do you want to keep your students engaged and reading during reading time? Read this post to learn about 10 reading centers for upper elementary.
It is the first week of kindergarten! What do I teach? I get this question all the time! I am so excited to put together this page together for you. I’m sharing our favorite first week of kindergarten read aloud stories and the free coordinating printables I made to go with them. Plus I will s
What are the learning targets for eight- and nine-year-olds?
Science curriculum doesn't have to be expensive. A good portion of what we've used for science over the years has been free resources!
Halloween math activities and reading comprehension can be so much fun with Halloween Project Based Learning! What upper elementary student doesn't love haunted houses and everything spooky? Turn that excitement into learning with a creative, engaging, hands-on Design a Haunted House Project! This project is not only perfect for classrooms already familiar with project based learning (PBL), but it's also ideal for teachers who are looking for ways to really engage students with a high-interest activity. Kick off your Halloween Project Based Learning Unit by showing several different videos or ads which highlight haunted attractions and persuade people to visit
