Collaboration is great, isn’t it?! It brings students together and not only enhances their learning, it builds those critical social skills students are in desperate need of. Here are my 5 favorite strategies I use in my middle school classroom to encourage collaboration. They are step by step, ea

Are you looking for fun engineering activities for middle school students? Engineering activities are a great example of STEM activities for middle school students.

Middle School Rewards Are you searching for a way to motivate your middle school students? Found a way to track positive behavior but not sure what to do now? Treasure box? No, that's too elementary. Prizes? No, that's too expensive. Reward coupons are the way to go! Your students will love the opportunity to be rewarded with things that matter to them. Plus, these no-cost options will cut down on the amount of money you need to spend on your classroom! Or, really, just allow you to spend it on other things because let's be real, you'll probably need more pencils or tissues soon! Check out the reward coupon options I provide my students: 1. Choose your seat for the day This is one of the most sought-after rewards in classrooms with seating charts. If you do not use seating charts, you can still use this reward; simply let students choose the type of seat they sit on. If you are REALLY flexible, you could even let your seat (at your desk or anywhere else in the room) be a choice. 2. Free assignment pass My students LOVE this reward. It becomes especially popular close to the end of the grading period. Weird, right?! #procrastinatorsunite 3. Assignment extension This one can be really helpful for student-athletes. In my 7th grade classes, it's often their first time trying to balance practice, games, AND school work. I'm thankful that my school supports students' interests but still holds them accountable. 4. Extra credit points I find it funny that the students who like extra credit the most, are usually the ones who don't need it! Don't tell anybody, but I was that kid! 🙋 5. Drop the lowest grade Some teachers use this practice routinely, but if you don't this can be a great reward. You may want/need to add some qualifying information to this reward; like it must be a daily grade, not a test or project grade. Please make sure you abide by your district/building policies regarding grades. 6. Work in the hallway This is a reward because of the freedom. Middle school students love to feel free, like they have control, and that you are not watching their every-single-move! 7. Listen to music while working This reward is easy if you are in a district/building with 1-1 devices or if you are a little more lenient with your cell phone policy. I do include a couple of qualifying statements with this reward - It can ONLY be used during independent work time and the student MUST have headphones. Image by Karolina Grabowska 8. Work with a friend Who doesn't like to work with their friends?! The social aspect of middle school life is central. Sure, this probably shouldn't be redeemed on test day, but on daily work, why not? Clipart from Pigknit 9. Bring a snack to class I have a snack DRAWER in my desk, so I am definitely not opposed to snacks in the classroom. I know some people worry about mess, if you are one of those people...add some guidelines to this reward. 10. Bring a drink to class I would recommend that you tell your students that their drinks should have a screw-top lid. Less chance of spillage. Image by Kaleb Tapp 11. Chew gum in class Gum is precious commodity. I don't know about your school, but at my school, if you are the kid with gum, you are the most popular! 12. Eat lunch in the classroom This is something that often happens at the elementary level, but sometimes we forget that older students want to build those connections with adults too. 13. Wear a hat in class At the middle school level, you may not have the authority to say that a student can wear a hat all day long, but the hat reward can be redeemed when that student is in your classroom. 14. Take off your shoes in class I know some people find this gross but think about how you get comfy. I don't know about you, but one of the first things I do when I get home is slip off my shoes! Image by Jacob Owens 15. Free time A free time reward can come in many formats to fit your classroom environment. Some free time rewards I have used include time to read a personal book, draw, play on technology, play board games, do puzzles, and just time to chat with friends (as long as it doesn't interrupt the rest of the classroom. You can purchase a set of ready-made reward cards from my Teachers Pay Teachers store - Here

10 inexpensive rewards to use in your middle school class.

A few years ago, I teamed up with my friend Noelle from Maneuvering the Middle to put together our favorite teaching strategies and class management ideas as

Brain breaks for middle school students are extremely important not only for everyone's sanity, but for their brain development.

Don’t get me wrong — I love candy. And, a jolly rancher, a tootsie roll, or a starburst can work wonders in the classroom for student motivation and enthusiasm. So can pizza parties, and cupcake days, and brunch, and…I’ve had so many types of food parties I can’t even keep track! Recently, however, I’ve been […]

It's the first week of Phys Ed and the start of a new school year which means a clean slate and new beginnings. The start of the school year is key because it sets the

Team-building activities in the middle school classroom are a great way to build relationships at the beginning of the school year!

Classroom team-building games are a must at the start of a new school year! Here are 16 of my favorite icebreakers and classroom team-building activities!

Looking to plan a comprehensive cells unit for your middle school class? Get all the worksheets, presentations, quizzes and tests you need in PDF format!

For many people, implementing Math Workshop in Middle School is a foreign concept. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be. You can make it work. I did and I honestly think that my students learned more because of it. Setting Up the Week Many of you know that I am a ... Read more

Learn how to use Direct Instruction in Science while keeping your middle school science students engaged and learning throughout your lesson.

Classroom management strategies for middle school are not the same as elementary strategies. Learn how to manage a middle school classroom.

Brain breaks for middle school students are extremely important not only for everyone's sanity, but for their brain development.

Managing middle school classrooms can be challenging. Consider using these five ideas to help make managing middle school a little easier!

It's the first week of Phys Ed and the start of a new school year which means a clean slate and new beginnings. The start of the school year is key because it sets the

Here are four steps to teach your middle school students how to find the central idea of informational text. It's a step by step method you can follow to determine the central idea.

Using Math Stations in Middle School can be daunting but when you have tried and tested materials you know that they can and will work in your classroom.

Learn how to implement Investigation Lab PBL in your Middle School ELA class in just 4 easy steps!

Are you looking for fun ways to start the year? Check out 15 icebreakers for Spanish class! They are easy to use and engaging for your high school students.

What middle schoolers learn, how they behave, and how they interact with others can carry on into adulthood—whether positive or negative.

So, I invented a new game today. It was completely necessary at the moment. It requires zero prep and zero materials (other than a class list). It. Works. Like. Magic! The name of the game is 'Last Kid Standing'. How

Tessellations are so much fun to make! This post includes directions and examples for creating tessellations in middle school math.

This Annotating Text-Teach, Model, & Apply activity will encourage your students to learn how to annotate properly and efficiently.

Classroom community building activities and free ideas and lesson plans to kick off the school year or implement at any time.

These 5 geometry projects for middle or high school are a great alternative assessment for your student. Project-based learning is so important to...

hold students accountable while they independently read with these easy to implement reading tips and tricks and strategies

Cognates in Spanish provide an easy win for your novices! Check out a unit of Spanish 1 lesson plans to explore cognates in Spanish!

My rule #1 in a series about bringing out the best behavior in middle school students, Helpful tips for managing adolescents effectively.

Ready to "cook up" a great first day of school? It's easy with this recipe for a successful start to the school year! PREP: ➤ Think about how you will set the tone for your classroom on the first day of school. ➤ Plan to keep students engaged and active. ➤ Prepare to build a positive rapport with students from the first instant that they become a part of the classroom community. INGREDIENTS: ➤ Warm-Up Activity ➤ Get-to-Know-You Activity ➤ Game that gets students out of their seats ➤ Get-to-Know-the-Teacher Activity ➤ Writing Prompt ➤ Extension Activity Once you've gathered your ingredients, you can get "cooking!" (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE RECIPE!) PROCEDURE: STEP 1: Begin with a warm-up activity. Place an activity on students' desks that they can complete independently. You might try a simple survey or poster. An All About Me poster is a quick way to learn about students. You can even gather them together for an awesome classroom display. Or, a survey is a wonderful way to collect information about students. You might include questions about where students like to sit, their favorite way to learn, and activities that they enjoy so that you can start connecting with students. Another awesome warm-up activity is an "All About You" name tag. Students answer questions about themselves while coloring in a name tag based on their responses. Then, students can place the name tag on their desks to help you learn your students' names. This activity is particularly awesome if you have multiple sets of students. You can collect the name tags and re-distribute them each day during each class while you learn names. Oh, and as a bonus, you can gather them together and leave them with substitute teachers throughout the year! If you'd like to check out ready-made Back to School Warm-Ups, just click here for the poster, here for the survey, and here for the name tags. STEP 2: Mix in a get-to-know-you activity. Give students a chance to share about themselves and learn about their classmates with an engaging get-to-know-you activity. One of my favorites is a doodle-inspired mini-book. Students transform a single sheet of paper into a doodley mini-book all about themselves. After students make the mini-book it's fun to hang them on a clothesline. Then, as students finish their work during the first days of school, you can encourage fast-finishers to grab a classmate's mini-book and learn about him or her. Check out the doodle mini-book HERE. Or, you could have students create this 3-D About Me Activity. Students create an infographic-style book about themselves. After answering some simple questions, they do a little cutting and gluing to create a 3-D "About Me" display. These are especially fun because students can set them on their desks and then everyone can tour around the classroom and learn about their peers. (These are awesome for Open House too!) Learn more HERE. STEP 3: Scatter in an activity that gets students moving. Since students crave opportunities to get up and out of their seats, plan to get your class moving on the first day of school. You might have students complete a scavenger hunt or even play a learning game that requires students to move around. I'm a huge fan of this simple get-to-know-you activity that gets students moving (and you can download it for FREE here.) First, students make paper airplanes. They write their name and 3 interview questions on the wings. Then, students line up shoulder-to-shoulder and launch the planes. Next, they pick up a classmate's plane, find him or her, and ask the interview questions. You can repeat the airplane launch as often as you'd like! Find everything you need to do this activity in this FREEBIE. If you'd like to combine movement and learning on the first day of school, then you and your students will love this Back to School Doodle Infographic. First students fill in the infographic with facts about school. There are 21 facts and you can hide them around the room to get students moving. Then, they put together the infographic to make a fun and doodle-y poster! Check it out HERE. STEP 4: Sprinkle in a chance for students to get-to-know-you (their teacher). On the first day of school, students are very curious about you. They want to learn about you, so you'll want to be sure to share about yourself. You can give a simple biography of yourself, or you might try these easy and engaging activities: Create a teacher interview question along with 4 or 5 prize cards for each student in your class. Then, tape the questions and the prize cards under students' seats before class begins. During class, explain to students that they all have something under their chairs. It might be a question and it might be a prize. If they get a prize card, have students keep it quiet. Then, call on students. They can either read a question for you to answer or reveal that they won a prize. If they won, you might give them a pencil, piece of candy, or a homework pass. You can find all my favorite questions HERE. Or, you might have students complete a "Teacher Guess" about you. First, they predict the answers to questions about you. Then, as you reveal the answers, they earn points for every correct prediction. It's a fun activity that students truly enjoy! You can check it out HERE. STEP 5: Add a fun writing prompt to your back to school activities. A writing prompt is a great way to gather a baseline for students' writing on the first day of school. You might give students a simple prompt about their summer or goals for the new school year. However, I love to add a fun creative writing prompt into the mix. For example, with this writing prompt students select a setting, character, problem, and 3 random objects. Then, they need to work them all into a story. It's fun, engaging, and a great way to see where your students are starting the school year. Find this writing prompt HERE or check out this collection of 10 creative writing activities. STEP 6: Top it off with a review of tomorrow's warm-up. Set students up for success during your next day of school by quickly reviewing what they will need to do when they arrive to class. If you're planning to have students work through warm-ups like these This or That ELA warm-ups where students choose to do the "this" or the "that" activity, then you might quickly review what will be waiting on their desks when they arrive. Taking the time to preview tomorrow's warm-up is a great way to set expectations for students! If you're looking for some daily warm-ups, you might want to check out these This or That ELA warm-ups or these This or That Writing warm-ups! STEP 7: Don't forget to have an extension activity just in case your lesson ends early. I love playing games like "Move If You..." which you can find for FREE HERE. While you may never get to the extension activity, it's a lifesaver if you need it! TIPS: When you're following this recipe for a great first day of school, you might want to: ➤ Greet students at the door and answer these questions for students right away: ➨ Where do I sit? ➨ Am I in the right classroom? ➨ What should I be doing right now? ➤ Also, be prepared to manage students' behavior on the first day of school. Ensure that you have a positive classroom management system in place and ready to use if you need it! Well, there you have it, my recipe for a great first day of school. Be sure to download all the ideas with links AND the FREE airplane activity HERE! CHECK THIS OUT! I've put together a 100+ page guide for back to school for teachers. It includes tips, tools, and printables for classroom décor, classroom organization, lesson planning, community building, and planning the first day of school. It's absolutely FREE! Just click here to sign up. When you sign up, you'll get access to 6 mini-courses that cover everything Back to School including classroom design, organization, curriculum planning, and ways to build a positive classroom community. There's also a TON of exclusive freebies, bonuses, and videos! If you'd like to learn more and sign up, just click HERE. Thanks so much for stopping by, Mary Beth P.S. If you'd like MORE free resources for your classroom, be sure to join the Brain Waves Instruction club!

Utilizing classroom jobs save time! This applies to academics, character, and...helping you around your classroom!

You are a great teacher (that's why you're checking out products related to building relationships) and you know how important it is to spend time getting to know WHO your students are before you jump head first into content. This post will give you some ideas you can use to start buildi

Looking for high school rewards or middle school rewards to motivate students? Tired of finding reward ideas that are more applicable to elementary kids than your 8th, 9th, or 10th graders? No need to look any further. As a language teacher, I'm always searching for high school incentives to get my trickier classes to speak

This Annotating Text-Teach, Model, & Apply activity will encourage your students to learn how to annotate properly and efficiently.

Managing a chatty classroom is a skill that any middle school teacher must learn. These seven tips will help manage the talking in their classroom.

Top 3 Units for Middle School General Music. Organized Chaos. Ideas and resources for project based learning with middle school general music students. World music, composition, and careers in music.

Motivating those fun middle schoolers can be tricky, right? Here are three incentives classroom tested incentives that you can implement right away to help manage your middle school classroom and make it fun! Seriously.

Looking for Wordle classroom ideas? Incorporate Wordle into your classroom with this activities, ideas, and templates.

As kids start middle school, it's time to be intentional about adding life skills for teens to your homeschool lesson plans. This list has a ton to choose from.