Whether you'd like to create a Literacy in Action elective of your own, or just add more real-world projects to one of your other courses, you'll find plenty of ideas in the show today.
Financial literacy is an important skill that children begin to learn at a young age. They quickly pick up on things they see their parents...
7 Sisters offers high school electives and other homeschool high school curriculum that is easy to use, including an excellent financial literacy curriculum.
Are you looking for some new ideas to offer as an ELA elective class at your school? Click through to get ten new and creative ideas that you can offer as an ELA elective.
Summer break is upon us and I finally have time to share something I’ve been growing increasingly passionate about during the last several years…FINANCIAL LITERACY! Four years ago my department leader came to me and asked if I’d be interested in teaching a new semester course that all of our senior students would be required […]
Use different sentence frames to increase text connections. Help students
Jenga game cards are easily my favorite way to teach and reinforce basic math fact, phonics, or grammar practice.
Tons of activities for literacy night with a GLOW theme! These glow-in-the-dark literacy night activities will be a huge hit with students and families!
Looking for activities to teach teens financial literacy? In this post I share some of the activities I use to teach my consumer math class, including a few few resources to get started teaching financial literacy today.
Do you hate to teach poetry? Do you want your students to learn and enjoy poetry? Try these simple ways to learn how to teach poetry...
Money is a fun topic for our little learners! They see adults use it all the time, and they want to be a part of it. A newer standard, financial literacy, is a fun unit that many kids love. Let's Use this at Home This binder is perfect for any type of learning. I created
Save time using these ready-made forest school lesson plans, including outdoor learning lessons in math, science, literacy, wellbeing & more
Hi everyone! It's Bex from Reading and Writing Redhead. Before my school vacation started, I had been thinking a lot about movement. In New England we had a VERY long winter in which we rarely went outside for recess. I had come up with new ways to get my kids moving and new brain breaks, but I had been thinking of ways to get movement involved during the academic blocks. Why save it just for breaks? Today I have compiled a resource of some activities that will get your kiddos moving while they are working on their reading skills. Sometimes it is just a little movement, but if you want to really go all out, some of them require you actually going outside to the playground! Most of the ideas are not mine - many have been around for years, so I have no idea who came up with the ideas originally. Some I found recently so I will share with you where and give you a link and a few I thought up myself, although I am sure the idea came from somewhere - someone did something similar or with the same material but I am using it in a different way. You also may have your own great ideas or ones that are not here so please comment and let us know! Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Catch it! For this, students stand in a circle (or sit) and the teacher says a one syllable word. She tosses a bean bag or small soft ball to a student, who catches it and says the initial sound, tosses it to another student who says the medial sound, and tosses it to another student who says the final sound. The whole group says the whole word again as the bag gets tossed back to the teacher and she picks a new word to try. Dribble the Sound or Syllable: Dribble a ball (and say each phoneme in a word or each syllable in a word. Dribble ball, switch from left to right hand, as say phonemes in a word or syllables in a word for extra challenge and brain work, switch hands as you say each sound or syllable). I'm Going on a Camping Trip: You know the song! Sit in a circle and clap with a steady beat. Go around the circle and everyone repeats the sentence - "I am going on a camping trip and I am going to bring (fill in blank)". At each student's turn, he says the word of what he is bringing. Each student could think of a word with the same initial, medial or final sound as a word you are working on, or a rhyming word. Twister with Blends: I have found phonics and other reading games for Twister all around the web, but this is a new "twist" (haha!) on it. Head over to Apples 4 Bookworms to get the simple and easy (and really fun) directions! Walk this Way: The teacher says a simple sentence like"The lion roars". Students repeat it and take one step forward for each word in the sentence. Then, students say how many words or steps there are in the sentence. It might help for students to hold up a finger for each word to help them count the number of steps/words. A variation is that students can also walk backwards or sideways for this activity. Sight Words Move, Groove, and read: This game is from the blog Mom to 2 Posh Lil' Divas. She has some terrific, creative ideas for learning games. Head over to her blog for details but it involves target words, music, and lots of moving. I want to play this one! Word Family Slam: This one was spotted over at the blog Toddler Approved, but I think kids well into elementary school would enjoy it. You could even do it indoors with a free wall and a soft ball. Head over to get the info. Twister Sight Words: A variation on the Twister game I mentioned that would work well for phonics skills. You use sight words instead. I am not claiming this idea either - A Year as a Reading Teacher has a great post on it. Head over to her blog to read it. Beach Ball Sight Words: You probably have seen or heard of this idea before, but grab a beach ball, a permanent marker, and write your target words. Toss the ball and read whichever word your finger (or thumb - choose one in advance) lands on! Hopscotch: Have hopscotch on the playground? Why not use chalk and on each spot, write a sight word, then toss a pebble, read the word it lands on, and hop away, skipping that space. Bean Bag Toss: If you have bean bags and one of those bean bag toss goals with the holes in it, try labeling each hole (with a taped on sticky or index card) with a target word and kids have to read the word they are aiming for and then read the word (it might be a different one!) that they actually toss the bag into. What else could you use if you don't have something with holes in it already? I bet someone has a creative and easy idea - let us know! Sight Word Bowling - use dry erase markers to write sight words on an indoor bowling set, and after knocking pins down, students read the words on the pins they have to stand back up for the next player. Grammar Jump Roping Rhymes: With your group, create a jump rope rhyme with antonyms, synonyms, homophones etc. (or words from a word family you are working on), then go outside and try it. Kids can teach their classmates at recess, too! Step Forward/Back: Group could line up and students could suggest antonym pairs (students would take one step forward and one step back for each word in the pair) or synonyms (2 steps forward) Syllables Sound Marching: Teacher says, "We are going to say some words that have more than one syllable. We will march as we say each part of the word." Model by saying the whole word, such as "doorknob" , marching first with your right foot as you say "door" and then with your left foot as you say "knob." Practice together and then try some words with students. After each ask them "How many marching steps did you take for the word? That is the number of syllables." Raise Up: Teacher says a two (or more) syllable word. Students repeat the word as they raise both their arms above their heads. Students drop one arm as they say each syllable. Vocabulary and Comprehension Students move like the animals in the story they are reading Teaching prepositions using movement Using body language to show how characters are feeling in the story Playing charades to review main ideas Role play or pantomime to retell important story parts Letter Recognition Alphabet Hunt on the Go: With clipboards, pencils and papers walk around the school looking for examples of each letter of the alphabet. Kids could write the letters as they see them or you could provide them with a checklist. Also, any of the Read the Room and Write the Room activities you see all over the web, at TPT and so on are great for getting students up and moving. Here are a few other resources I found with some terrific ideas: RMC Health - great post on the importance of exercise and movement based learning opportunities in schools Reading.org - useing movement andmusic to improve insttuction Ascd.org - resources on movement and learning Pbs.org - lesson plan resources that involve movement Dr. Martha Eddy's resources for incorporating movement in the classroom Please comment and let us know how you use movement in your language arts lessons. The more ideas we have, the better our instruction can be!
15 fun and easy fluency practice activities to get your K-1 students reading at a just-right pace, with accuracy and expression!
A few weeks ago I had the idea to incorporate sports into a vocabulary review. Many of my students play basketball on a team and/or play at recess, so I incorporated basketball into our review. My son received this over the door basketball set for Christmas so we brought it to school one day. He told me to "make sure they don't break it, but you CAN show them how to dunk it." Although I didn't share my dunking skills, my fifth graders LOVED this! I knew they'd notice the goal as soon as they walked in so I wrote a little message beside the board: "Are you ready for vocabulary basketball?" It was a fun way to review vocabulary in an engaging way. We split into two teams. I had the vocabulary words written on the board and I'd call out definitions. If they told me the correct word, they earned 1 point for their team. Then, they could earn 2 points or 3 points by making a basket. I had ribbon on the floor to show what would count as 2 points vs. 3 points. They had a BLAST! Most of our vocabulary words come from our read alouds, but most of the words in this unit were student generated. I kept a sheet of paper that students could add words to as they read independently. If they found a word they didn't know or one that they thought would be a good vocabulary word, they could write it down. Vocabulary review - basketball style - was a HIT!
Need FREE personal finance homeschool curriculum? One of these 31 free homeschool resources should cover you (teachers + parents can use most as well!).
Practice number recognition and Spanish vocabulary with this printable Spanish I Have Who Has Game! So fun for early math and literacy practice!
Use station activities to improve reading comprehension! Get your students
19 free financial literacy games for high school students to add engagement and FUN to teaching personal finance. Financial literacy & budget simulations, too.
What are the main characteristics of successful entrepreneurs? Characteristics of entrepreneurship include creativity, versatility, motivation...
Your economics activities should not be boring. There are SO MANY fun ways to make it engaging for students, as well as teach vocabulary.
Want to teach your teen about money? Check out this review of my new favorite personal finance homeschool curriculum!
Current events are a great way for children and teens to learn about the world around them. Teach current events with these free resources.
If you are looking for some high-interest activities, try using animated shorts to teach inference. Free handouts focus on student learning.
Get prepared for Johnny Appleseed Day with these FREE Johnny Appleseed Literacy Activities! They’re great for K-3 learners. My Kindergartner, 2nd grader, and 3rd grader, are working on them next week for what we’re calling “Apple Day.” *This post contains affiliate links. **The free download can be found at the END of this post. Just ... Read More about Johnny Appleseed Literacy Activities {FREE!}
Alphabet & Number Printable Worksheets for Preschoolers
Bill paying is something all adults need to do, yet we don’t really teach our kids how. Here’s ideas for how to teach kids how to pay bills.
Use the 30+ Spring activities to engage kids in active learning experiences. Kids will have a blast measuring, counting, writing, and painting this spring!
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Try one of these three easy DIY Reading Aids to engage any LEGO Lover, from reluctant to eager! Build them yourself or let your child get creative!
Need to help your students get more hands on practice for their vocabulary words? I've got 5 fun vocabulary games you can use right away!
So I figured it was about time I shared some more details on our recent trip to France. You might remember the Madeline post! This ...
Are your students writing run-on sentences? This lesson will focus on how to correct them. These ideas are ideal for any writing curriculum and are a part of a series of mini lessons for writer's workshop designed for scaffolding through sentence structure, paragraph writing, and the writing process. Learn
If the coronavirus has you sheltering at home with your kids, this art and play guide will help promote learning while staying creative!
Check out these awesome Fall Worksheets for Preschool! You'll find both Math & Literacy activities that are quick & easy for your little kids! They're a fun, no-prep way to get your preschoolers thinking!
Let's talk about how using podcasts in your K-2 classroom can take your student's learning to a whole new level! Engagement is about to go through the roof!WHY PODCASTS IN THE CLASS?So WHY podcasts? Why should I use podcasts in my room and what if I don't have 1:1 technology? That answer is simple. Podcasts provide a wide variety of topics for students to choose from and listen to. They provide students with the opportunity to practice listening skills, critical thinking, and they are engag
Ready to teach digital literacy? Here are ten ideas to help you teach important critical thinking skills to your students.
