The Kite Runner Activity Mini Bundle → Do you have enough fun activities planned for The Kite Runner? For a great savings, check out this pre-reading and post-reading activities bundle today to increase student engagement in your classroom. These lessons are classroom-tested and include the following: Teacher lesson plans with… • Common Core objectives • preparation steps • a classroom agenda • assessment strategies Class PowerPoints with… • student-friendly objectives • student directions • activity time limits

Are you looking for a Classroom Economy System for your Middle School Students? With the help of this resource, Monthly Rent Tracker you'll be able to save time, increase student engagement, and improve classroom management. Get your students accountable for their part in your classroom by implementing this freebie kit and start learning about classroom economy basics. This product also covers financial literacy: Most jobs are suitable for middle school students but can also be adapted for elementary students. ✨ My Product Includes✨ 12 months of rent logs Student Desk Deed Agreement Deed Certificate Directions for each form to get you started Forms are printable pdf. Use white or colored paper Related Products ⭐Classroom Economy Starter Kit ⭐ Classroom Economy Banking System

Keeping all students engaged during our lessons takes planning and practice. I struggled with engaging all students during my first year as a teacher. Use these FIVE student engagement strategies that work in any classroom.

Do you see the importance of using engaging student learning activities in the classroom? Teachers that focus on increasing student

Podcasts in the classroom are so fun and engaging! Have you jumped on the podcast train yet?! I have a great system for using podcasts in the classroom...

There’s no shortage of great student engagement ideas out there, I know. So am I just going to share one more idea that you’ll never use? Hopefully not! Here’s the problem I have with most “engaging” teaching ideas… they take FOREVER to plan and implement. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken hours

Podcasts in the classroom are so fun and engaging! Have you jumped on the podcast train yet?! I have a great system for using podcasts in the classroom...

Student engagement is my number one goal in the classroom. None of the academic goals can be achieved without student engagement. It is essential! My biggest advice to you is to decrease teacher talk and the time students spend in their desks.I want to share some more specific ways that I keep my students engaged

The Awakening Activity Mini Bundle → Do you have enough fun activities planned for The Awakening? For a great savings, check out this pre-reading and post-reading activities bundle today to increase student engagement in your classroom. These lessons are classroom-tested and include the following: Teacher lesson plans with… • Common Core objectives • preparation steps • a classroom agenda • assessment strategies Class PowerPoints with… • student-friendly objectives • student directions • activity time limits

Atonement Activity Mini Bundle → Do you have enough fun activities planned for Atonement? For a great savings, check out this pre-reading and post-reading activities bundle today to increase student engagement in your classroom. These lessons are classroom-tested and include the following: Teacher lesson plans with… • Common Core objectives • preparation steps • a classroom agenda • assessment strategies Class PowerPoints with… • student-friendly objectives • student directions • activity time limits

A digital breakout has students find a series of online clues to unlock "locks." Breakouts are a great way to increase student engagement in the 21st century. The 4Cs are incorporated as students must collaborate, communicate, create, and think critically! NO PREP! Just provide students the Google Sites link! Can be completed remotely or in the classroom Answer key provided. All you need is a connection to the internet! This breakout is on a Google Site, and the purchased document includes a link to the Google Site. Directions: Use the clues provided to decipher each lock. Type your answers in the correct space on the Google Form below. Be sure to pay attention to the answer format. Click submit when you think you've answered each question correctly. A "Congratulations" message will appear if you're right! If not, go back and re-work the items you've answered incorrectly. 45-minute time limit recommended; students may use the story to help them; working in pairs or small team on one device is suggested; this is intended to be used after the entire novel is read Topics Covered: Vocabulary Comprehension Figurative Language 5 Locks (Google Form): Rebus Lock Maze Lock Figurative Language Lock ABC Lock Number Lock *If you would like a copy of the breakout to make edits or a copy of the Google Form to have access to student work, please email me at [email protected] *Please also ensure your district does not block the use of Google Sites for students You might also like these JUMBIES products: Comprehension Discussion Questions Google Slides Book Project Other digital breakouts available in my store: SCIENCE Rocks and Minerals Plant and Animal Adaptations Electricity and Magnetism Fast and Slow Changes on Earth Photosynthesis and Respiration Plant and Animal Cells Human Body Systems HOLIDAYS New Year's Eve/Day Women's History Month Winter Breakout Christmas Valentine's Day 100th Day of School President's Day MLK Jr. Earth Day St. Patrick's Day Holiday Bundle 3 Pack Winter and Christmas 2 Pack Chinese New Year Customer Tips: How can I earn TPT credits to use on future purchases? Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase, you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me improve current (and future) products to best meet your needs. How can I be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies, and product launches? Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to become a follower. © Copyright 2021 Keegan For Kids. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy pages specifically designed for student or teacher use by the original purchaser or licensee. This is intended to be used by one teacher unless additional licenses have been purchased. The reproduction of any other part of this product is strictly prohibited. Link may not be shared.

These simple four ways to increase classroom student engagement and motivation are the key to running an effective classroom.

This is the perfect recipe to increase student effort! Using the process of baking a cake you demonstrate to students just how important giving your best effort can be! Included are effort rating tickets students complete daily to evaluate their level of effort. There is a step by step recipe to tak...

Guide to using Social Studies Simulations to step away from the lecture podium and engage your students with hands-on history activities.

Love podcasts? Check out this post in the form of a podcast episode on The Classroom Commute Podcast !

Why calling on students should be the LAST strategy you use to find out what they know...and how to get ALL kids involved instead.

If your students aren’t excited about STEM, the problem might be a lack of exposure to real-world challenges. Real-world problem solving should be at the core of any STEM education program. It increases student buy-in as students realize that their work has an impact that extends beyond the classro

Student engagement in the classroom is getting harder and harder. Over the years, I've learned a few student engagement tips and tricks to...

As PE teachers, we are always looking to engage our students in our classes and one of the best ways to increase motivation is to use student choice modules in Physical Education. I had an

Note: This is the second post in a two-part series. See the first post here. Now that you know the components of Project-Based Learning, I want to share a step-by-step example illustrating how I walked through a project with my primary kiddos. As a disclaimer, the project I am about to share is not perfect. It's a work in progress (aren't they all?), and I'm sure I'll continue to tweak it in the years to come. That said, I hope this will still provide a practical example of how you can pull off a project of this scale in a primary classroom. Here's how you can make it happen! 1. Present the Essential Question and Brainstorm Solutions As I wrote in my last post, our essential question for the project was, "How can we use economics to bring justice to the world?" I started off by presenting the students with some background knowledge: families in many countries around the world depend upon cows and other livestock for their livelihoods, but they often don't have enough. Next, I framed a central problem. Cows, which can provide extra income, cost around $500 in many countries, and that's often beyond the reach of the families that would benefit most. How could our class earn that much money and help a family develop a more sustainable livelihood? I created a problem and solution chart and had students share their ideas for how they could solve this problem. The teacher is the facilitator in this step, and can guide students towards the idea of creating their own businesses. 2. Brainstorm Ideas Individually A few years ago, I read the book Quiet by Susan Cain. I'm an introvert myself, and this book helped me better understand how to operate well in a group setting. Jumping right into brainstorming without quiet time to think is an incredibly stressful experience for me, and I don't typically feel comfortable processing things verbally in front of others. According to Cain, it turns out that extrovert-oriented brainstorming sessions don't necessarily lead to the best ideas. Everyone, whether introvert or extrovert, has the best ideas when they are given time to think quietly on their own before coming together with a larger group. I see individual brainstorming time as one of the most important steps of the problem-solving process. Giving your students time to think individually before they collaborate with peers will help them prepare their valuable contributions to their group. 3. Collaborate as a Group After students have written down their individual business ideas, it's time for them to share their concepts with their group. Before your students break off into groups, review and model appropriate social skills for collaboration. I can't say this often enough: assume nothing and model everything. It's easy for adults to take for granted the skills we've mastered for working well with others. Don't forget, though, that learning how to speak is a relatively recent event in your primary students' lives. They've only been using complete sentences for a few years! It's completely reasonable and absolutely necessary to set aside time to practice how to respectfully disagree and make compromises with others. When your students do break off into their teams to share their individual ideas and come up with a group concept, remind them that they'll be allowed to tweak their ideas in the future. This isn't set in stone after the first group meeting! 4. Explore the Topic in Other Content Areas This is the fun part for me. I love referring back to my Curriculum Map and bringing the economics theme into other subject areas. Take this opportunity to cover your measurement and data standards on the value of money, hit your language arts standards on persuasive writing by creating advertising for stores, and address reading comprehension standards by reading books and articles about finances and businesses. ReadWorks is a fabulous resource for leveled articles, and you can search for resources about economics by your students' grade level. There is a wealth of quality children's literature with this theme, too. Here are some titles to help you get started! 1. A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams 2. Pedrito's Day by Luis Garay 3. A Day's Work by Eve Bunting 4. Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst 5. Once Upon a Dime by Nancy Kelly Allen 6. Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco 7. A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert 8. Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts 5. Develop a Prototype and Revise Learning how to make a plan before diving into a project is an invaluable skill that will benefit your students throughout their lives. (It's something I'm still working on myself!) Before handing over any project materials for making store products, have your students work with their team to draw a detailed plan or build a prototype out of inexpensive materials. That way, when you hand over the real supplies for creating the products to sell, your students will have a clear end goal in mind. This also helps to resolve disputes about product designs before they even start! 6. Create a Final Product Now the fun part: give your students time to create their final products! Don't be shy about asking for help from parent volunteers, and I would recommend distributing only a few supplies at a time. For example, if you have a group painting toy cars, don't give them all 20 cars at once. Give them just a few to work on initially so that there is a higher quality of workmanship. Discuss with your students the importance of offering quality products in your store. 7. Share Learning with the Community After all of that work developing their businesses, your class will be ready to celebrate! As a culmination of the project, host a market on your school campus to sell the products the students made. Again, don't be shy about recruiting volunteers! After the market, help your students calculate their earnings, pay back their loans, and use the profits to buy a cow for a family in the developing world. 8. Reflect on Learning A final, critical component of Project-Based Learning is allowing your students to reflect on their experiences. Remember, you built in room for failure, and your students learned a lot through the process of fixing those mistakes or revising their plans. That's the whole point of Project-Based Learning. This reflection step will solidify for your students what they would like to do differently when you take on your next big project together as a class. Do you feel ready to get started? If you are looking for a resource to make your first experience with Project-Based Learning a breeze, I have good news! I've included ALL of the printable materials you'll need for this project, as well as a more detailed daily pacing guide, in my Marketplace Economics packet. Click here to see more! This post contains affiliate links. This means that Amazon awards me a small referral fee when people visit their site via the links in my blog posts and purchase something (even something other than the linked product!). This doesn't affect the price you pay, and you can be confident that I only recommend products and teaching supplies I believe in and use myself. Thank you so much for your support in making this blog possible!

Spanish is not my native language and I don't have a Spanish-speaking husband I can speak with. Here are 6 tips to maintain your Spanish.

Use this On Task Bingo resource to engage students and increase your positive classroom behaviors! Two versions are included: Full Size for Whole Class game Small Size for Individual game

Take your Classroom from Buzzing to Boring! This Download Includes 100 Pages of Information on Increasing Engagement in the Classroom in an E-Book Style. Games, Activities and Strategies to Increase Engagement in the Classroom - Classroom Engagement Games that will be sure to make students love learning. You will see just how easy increasing engagement in the classroom can really be! You can add a lot of excitement to learning with a little effort and even no prep. This download includes these topic plus so many more: Creating a Positive Culture Why Games? Icebreakers Games by Subject Partner and Group Games Technology Based Games Virtual Field Trip Ideas and More! This book includes a QR Code to What Am I? Animal Games, A free download.

Are you on board with gamifying test prep? Great! Here are my absolute tried and true ways to make a less than appealing task gain instant engagement.

Student engagement is often (wrongly) thought of in terms of 'paying attention': quietly making eye contact and maybe asking questions.

Repeated reading is a research-based instructional strategy with the goal of increasing decoding automaticity skills. The goal of repeated reading is not for students to become “fast readers”. Rather, we want students to read the words accurately, with intonation, and at a rate that is comparable to the speed of oral language. This resource was created to provide a rereading routine for students who would benefit from increasing accurate and automatic fluency skills. It is designed to be led by older students or volunteers, who assist younger students in the rereading routine. While it can be implemented as often as desired, we used this rereading routine three times a week for 6 weeks. Each student who participated in the fluency friends rereading routine was paired with a fifth-grade student who volunteered the first 10 minutes of their recess time. The older students used the assembled toolkits to walk their readers through the day’s rereading routine by following the instructions on the card. Each toolkit contained all of the materials needed for the lessons. This resource is designed to be used with passages or texts that you, the teacher, supply each week, based on the student’s decoding skills and needs. Please note, that no texts or passages are included with this resource. It can be used in conjunction with whatever word recognition curriculum, program, or texts you use. What does the rereading routine look like? (We chose the routine to take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You can edit and choose the days of the week that work best for your classroom.) Monday: Modeling Day. Volunteers led the student through a series of modeling exercises. They first read the passage to the student, modeling fluent reading. Next, they did a choral reading with the student. Last, they scooped the sentences in the passage for the student, and practiced fluent phrasing with the student. If time allowed, the student reread the passage an additional time. Wednesday: Fluency Fun Day. During Day 2, peers and students used novelty reading tools to reread the passage in engaging ways! Flashlights, microphones, mini cards, and reading pointer wands are used throughout the lesson. This rereading day is designed to be motivating and encourage as much rereading practice of the week’s passage as possible. The card for Day 2 acts as a "choice menu" to practice rereading the passage or text several times. Friday: The final day of each week is called “Beat Your Time Day”. A highlighter or pencil, and a sand timer is used on day 3. The student reads the passage. At the end of one minute, the peer leader draws a line after the last word read. The routine above is repeated, and the student tries to read farther than he or she did the first time. If time allows, the reader tries to read even more than his or her second reading. When can this routine take place? Fluency Friends is a perfect routine to fit into a center time, intervention block, before school, during a designated "no new teaching time", or during small group time. It's also a great way for parents to help their children with rereading practice at home! What grade(s) is this resource designed for? You can use this resource and rereading routine for ANY student who is reading connected text! Kindergarteners who are reading short decodable passages, first and second grade students, and upper elementary students who could benefit from increased rereading practice will love this routine! Thank you so much for learning more about Fluency Friends! -Christina DeCarbo Miss DeCarbo, Inc. Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

The Glass Menagerie Activity Mini Bundle → Do you have enough fun activities planned for The Glass Menagerie? For a great savings, check out this pre-reading and post-reading activities bundle today to increase student engagement in your classroom. These lessons are classroom-tested and include the following: Teacher lesson plans with… • Common Core objectives • preparation steps • a classroom agenda • assessment strategies Class PowerPoints with… • student-friendly objectives • student directions • activity time limits

Using depth and complexity icons in your class will enhance the thinking and learning processes, especially for your gifted or high achieving students, and increase engagement with interactive notebook foldables! Easily differentiate your instruction, without creating all new curriculum so that you can reach all students with depth and complexity icons! Add these foldables into any subject area to bring more rigor and depth to the classroom. Perfect for GATE. This product includes: -Overview of Depth and Complexity Icons -Teacher guides (with photos and tips!) -Suggestions for use in ELA, Social Studies, Math and Science with each icon -14 depth and complexity icon foldables (ready to print!) ❤️ If you like this product I would love to hear your feedback and how it worked in your classroom!

Learn the 7 highly effective instructional practices to increase student engagement and impress your principal. Are you using them?

Autonomy: the power to be independent and free; freedom from external control or influence.

Turn up the volume.

In our classrooms, students have the most important voices, but sometimes that is forgotten. This post shares 42 ways to amplify student voices.

The key to successful classroom management is increasing student engagement. Use these 5 strategies today to have students working hard in class tomorrow..

My teaching style has completely evolved over the ten years I've been in the classroom. Since starting teaching at the young age of 21, I've learned so

I am so excited to launch my first "series" of blog posts! It's making me feel all grown-up and blogger-like :)My first series is going to be on increasing student engagement in the classroom. Over

Implementing fun activities for middle school students can help increase the flow of learning, which is always the goal.

Did you know that incorporating movement during a math lesson can help enhance students' learning? Increase student engagement in math lessons with movement

Supercharge the community in your classroom by implementing these five tips to increase student engagement. Your students will thank you for it!

Learn how to engage science student and integrate technology, like Nearpod, to create 21st Century digital learners.

Movement in the classroom is beneficial for many reasons. First and foremost, getting up to move in the classroom might help anxious students relieve stress.