These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
Teaching Honesty in the Classroom; character education; classroom community; honesty for kids
Teaching drama to kindergarten students can be challenging, especially if you don't have drama experience. These kindergarten drama activities are easy and fun.
Hands-on learning isn't just for younger students! These hands-on activities for middle and high schoolers will help older students enjoy learning and stay actively engaged in the process.
Kids will have fun learning about other countries, famous landmarks, and geography with this France for Kids FREE Printable Mini Book.
My main goal with my children is to instill a love of the Lord in their hearts and to train them to have GOOD character! There are way too many children nowadays who lack any type of character or morals.
Are you one of the many teachers who is struggling to teach summarizing? Summarizing can be a difficult skill for students to master. It requires strong reading comprehension since students need to be able to
Read about six fun activities to help teach the scientific method in your upper elementary classroom.
Looking for a fun and enagaging way to teach linear measurement? Check out these monster themed measurement activities that make learning fun
Set a friendly tone in your classroom with these 30 "Get to Know You" games perfect for back to school or when welcoming a new student.
Math crafts are fun! Add art and crafts to your math lessons to make them more fun! Download a FREE math craft project. #mathcraft #firstgrademathactivities
It's hard to talk to students without making it a lecture. Empower students while you teach them about respect using hands on activities
Using emergency preparedness lesson plans and activities can help keep your family safe during trying times. Our emergency preparedness for kids includes games, disaster lessons, simulations and game ideas, disaster printables and worksheets, and more—helpful whether you're looking for disaster preparedness activities for students, emergency preparedness activities for preschoolers, emergency preparedness games for scouts, or you're just starting your family emergency prep plan and looking for how to create emergency bags for family.
Ensuring students know the value and power of their courage is crucial for upper elementary students’ social-emotional learning and growth. Get easy-to-implement ideas, courage activities, suggested titles for books on bravery, and courage lesson plans to help you create a classroom community where
These 20 Activities and Lessons that Teach Obedience to Kids will help equip you to teach kids to obey. This is part of my character building series, a great resource for parents and teachers everywhere. The word “obey” has gotten a bad wrap over the years. Before you jump into this post and all it...Read More
Add these 6 angle activities to teach acute, right, straight, and obtuse angles to prepare your students to identify different types of angles.
I created this culture jars art lesson for an Art and World Cultures class, and continue to use it in art classes because it is so well received. The word
Are you challenging gifted students in the classroom? Check out these daily challenge tasks that will help your gifted students thrive!
Kindergarten students love using instruments! Here are 5 tried and true rhythm activities to get your little ones engaged in music class.
Kids will have so much fun going through this 50-page worksheet pack for fall. It's full of cutting, counting, coloring and writing activities that will keep your students busy and excited for all things autumn!
Teaching young children about Christopher Columbus can be fun and exciting. Not only can you teach children about Christopher Columbus, b...
This is a fun time filler or end of lesson activity in which students practice vocabulary and quick thinking.
Worksheets for 1st grade math, first grade math worksheets for free for the basic math topics taught in grade 1.
Plan and deliver meaningful Social-Emotional Learning lessons for kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students with this guide. Tailored for teachers juggling time constraints and looking for effective classroom management techniques. Learn how to intentionally plan your SEL lessons, and create the ideal schedule and lesson. Find a weekly schedule example and free templates for planning, observations and assessments, and lesson ideas to enrich morning meetings and SEL curriculum!
In this braille activity for sighted students, we'll make a sample braille cards using bumps that can be purchased on Amazon or through a braille supplier.
If you are a secondary science teacher, I can bet that you are probably pretty tired from all of the responsibilities that go into your job. It can be hard to come up with ways to engage students in your classroom that don't require a TON of behind-the-scenes prep work on your end. But have no fear, I am here to share my FAVORITE no-prep student-centered activities with you.
Learn why one-pagers are one of my go-to activities for breaking down complex topics and texts. Understand what they are, why you and your students will love them, and how to implement them in your ELA classroom. I even have the advice to help you tackle the biggest obstacle you’ll encounter with this activity.
This year for preschool we are part of a co-op preschool group. I put together name recognition activities for all the kids in the preschool. Here are the activities. Name sticks To make this activity. I got paint stick stirrers and used Mod Podge to glue the letters of the child's name on to the stick. Then used mounting tape to stick the letters onto the clothespins. Your child matches up the letters to spell their name. Name Block Matching This can be made in any word document or you could make make it easily be hand. Name Puzzles Here are free puzzles patterns for 4, 5, 6, and 7 letters names. You can either hand write your child's name or open in a word document to add your child's name Just right click on the each image, save and print. I recommend printing on cardstock paper so it is more durable 4 letter name 5 letter name 6 letter name 7 letter name Name Tracing You can download free front from this website to make these tracing cards in a word document. The font is called ABC Print Dotted. This is laminated and so it can be used over and over again. Name Path For this activity, you can use any word document and create a table. Then can choose what letters you want to use and what path to create to spell your child's name. This is also laminated so it is reusable. Progressive Name Tracing This idea is also part of the Preschool learning binder I put together. I download free front from this website to make this in a word documents. The names of the fonts are ABC Print Arrow, ABC Print Arrow Dotted, and ABC Print Dotted. All of these activities are stored in a laminated 9 x 12 folder. I used an X-acto knife to cut a slip in the top. I like this folder idea because it keeps things together and can be passed around easily to each home when it it our turn to teach preschool.
Love podcasts? Check out this post in the form of a podcast episode on The Classroom Commute Podcast :
Here are 7 Bible Verse Memory Games that are fun, creative, and unique! Plus these Memory verse activiteis work with any Bible verse.
Looking for Constitution Day activities for your elementary classroom? These lesson ideas, read aloud and projects will engage your students
Guide to using Social Studies Simulations to step away from the lecture podium and engage your students with hands-on history activities.
This FREE literature-based unit study introduces students to 16 different countries and cultures around the world.
This post may contain affiliate links. You pay the same and I get a small commission. Yay! (Please see my/our full disclosure for further information.) Looking for simple and fun music lessons? These movement activities for 2-3 grade elementary music class are just the ticket! These lessons are for second and third grade. They will… Continue reading The Best Movement Activities for 2-3 Grade Elementary Music Class
Help the learning process with these simple strategies for making studennt thinking visible. Perfect for middle and high school English classes.
Theme is such an important concept when teaching reading. Students are asked to determine the theme of a text over and over again. However, many students struggle with how to identify the theme. That's why I'm sharing some of my favorite ways to teach theme. You'll find theme lesson ideas, theme activities, and theme passage suggestions to help your students finally figure out how to find theme! Sometimes when thinking about theme it is easiest to think about what it is not. Theme is NOT the subject of the text. The subject would be a single word like "childhood" or "friendship." It is NOT a summary. A summary would be several sentences describing the text. Instead, it is the underlying idea of a text. It is what the writer wishes to convey about the subject. Therefore, it is usually written in a phrase or clause. When teaching theme, I find that it's best to introduce the critical components of theme through notes and a class discussion. My favorite kind of notes are theme doodle notes, of course. Since doodles are more engaging, they're a great way to get students focused as you begin teaching about theme. Once students have a general understanding of theme, you might want to have a discussion with students. During the discussion ask students to think of texts that have a theme like "Be careful what you wish for" or "Never give up on your dreams." Then, have students discuss the theme of fairytales or fables like "Beauty and Beast" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." The notes and discussion will drive home the idea that the theme is not a single word subject, nor is it a multi-sentence summary. Students will realize that the theme is a truth about life revealed in a phrase or clause. A work's theme can apply to multiple texts. When you teach about theme you'll want to help students realize that themes need to be general enough to apply to many different texts. Take the theme "Be careful what you wish for." That theme can apply to "The Little Mermaid," "Jack and the Beanstalk," and even "Macbeth." It's important for students to realize that themes are universal. You'll also want to expose students to different genres of writing so that students understand that themes are evident in all writing including fiction, nonfiction, prose, and poetry. I've compiled different genres in this theme unit. Since poems are short and compressed, I love using poems to help students develop an understanding of theme. Take a poem like, "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" by Maya Angelou. In Angelou's poem, the speaker is a child. Angelou's message and the poem's theme is to "be brave when faced with your fears." You might share poems like this or some of my other favorites to help students read several texts and practice determining universal themes. The theme is the message that the writer wishes to reveal about its subject. It's what the reader is supposed to learn about life after reading the text. Therefore, it is usually not directly stated in the work. Instead, students will need to think about the plot, conflict, characters, and setting and then make an inference or educated guess. When students consider all the elements of the text, they'll need to infer the theme. One way to help students understand that the story is built around the theme is to have them develop their own stories with a theme in mind. At first, you can have students do this by providing them with themes that they will need to portray in a comic strip or skit. For instance, you might have students doodle a comic for the theme "Two heads are better than one." Or, you could have students work in small groups to come up with a skit that has the theme "Friends always show up when you need them." By writing their own texts, students will begin to see how the theme is infused throughout the work. As students determine the theme of a passage, they'll need to consider a text's plot, characters, conflict, and tone. In other words, they need to think about the entire writing piece and reflect on its message about life. That can be challenging for students. That's why I like to give students many opportunities to practice finding the theme. Task cards and mini-passages work especially great for this. I've taken the idea of theme task cards even further with Learning Take Out activities. Students read fiction and nonfiction passages that they grab from take out containers. The passages are the perfect way for students to develop the ability to identify a text's theme. ------------------------------------------------- As you can tell, there are many ways to teach theme. I think the more chances we can give students to develop their reading skills, the better! If you're looking for some ready-to-teach resources, grab these THEME resources: ⭐--- FINDING THE THEME MINI-UNIT - Doodle Notes and Activities ⭐--- THEME UNIT - 3-Day Theme Unit ⭐--- LEARNING TAKE OUT - Theme Task Cards Thanks for stopping by! Mary Beth P.S. Here's my latest resource for teaching theme!
It's time to go back to school! With the back-to-school season upon us, it is time to start planning back-to-school activities for the first week of school.
Grade 3 science lessons and ideas for teachers... especially in BC! These lessons, ideas, projects, experiments, and inquiry, cover all topics and will have you ready to teach science to students in third grade.
Channel students' energy by incorporating opportunities for movement into your lessons. In this #2ndaryELA Twitter chat, middle and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed active learning, including movement in the classroom and layouts that accommodate it, games, hands-on activities, and technology that helps to engage students. Read through the chat for ideas to implement in your own classroom.
Here's a great idea I spotted on Pinterest.... I tried this lesson with my middle school students and they had so much fun with it! I originally used a copy machine to enlarge students' fingerprints. It was cumbersome and time-consuming. But then I figured out a faster, easier, and better way! For detailed instructions with photos, tips, writing prompts, a student gallery, and fascinating fingerprint facts, check out my fun resource on TPT! My pdf also comes with 3 ready-to-use fingerprint enlargements in case you don't have time to take students' actual fingerprints. This can also be helpful for students who arrive late or miss the first day when you work on these. Optional... use colored pencils to lightly add some designs in the background before tracing over your writing with Sharpie. This will personalize your self-portrait even more!
