Students use this organizer to brainstorm what their post secondary pathway looks like and what they want to look for in their future.
Meet the teacher Instagram post Embracing social media for Secondary School. Use an image layout to share information. An Early Years (EYFS) and Primary
Filler Activities for ELA (blog post) What can you do with five extra minutes in secondary ELA? Here are a few ideas to engage students until the bell.
This post is also featured on the TPT Blog.
Lab Rules Science Safety Posters, Science Classroom, Decor, Display, High School, Middle School Wall Art, Lab Safety **Black & White Version** This poster set includes 35 science safety posters for your classroom and include large bubble letters to make lab rules title sign. These lab rules posters make up the bulk of the big ones I use in the science lab. The posters can be used for elementary and secondary classes alike. The posters include safety rules used by chemistry, biology and physics teachers. These posters are perfect for your bulletin board and can help to reinforce important safety rules in the lab year round. Print and post them all or pick and choose the ones most appropriate for your class. DOWNLOAD INCLUDES: -Lab Rules Sign Letters -35 Lab Rules for Science Safety (Black & White) -All files are in PDF format on 8.5 x 11" HOW IT WORKS: After purchasing your product, you will be taken to the ETSY download page and your file will also be sent via email. You can read more about ETSY downloads here: http://www.etsy.com/ca/help/article/3949 PRINTING: For the best results, use a heavyweight matte paper or card stock. Alternatively, you can send the digital files to your local print shop to be printed and trimmed. TERMS: -For PERSONAL use only. -Copyright remains with the designer
Get creative with Post it Notes! We love all these fun Post it Note ideas: Post It Notes are wonderful - how did we ever live without them? You can write a note and stick it anywhere for yourself or someone else to find. We are wowed by some of these amazing and creative ways to use a simple sticky note! Check out all the cool ideas below for all sorts of brilliant post it note DIY ideas. 1. Post it Note Party Decor | Angus Fergusson 2. Post It Calendar | Giddy Giddy 3. DIY Post It Note printed message | Studio DIY
There are three kinds of teacher-decorators: those who were born for Pinterest, those who can’t, and all the ones in between (such as the broke, the tired, and the I-have-no-time-to-decorate). However, making a classroom appeal to middle and high school students doesn’t HAVE to involve serious crafting or expensive, time-intensive projects. Check out these tips from me and Bonnie from Presto Plans as you prepare your classroom for the fall (or at any time of year that you want to give it a boost!) You might also like Sara's more recent blog post, Inside My Farmhouse Classroom Makeover. 1. Have a color scheme (if you can) Sara: My principal gave each teacher the paint for one accent wall, so that shade of turquoise inspired the rest of my blue decor: milk crates, bulletin board borders, etc. It helped unify the room to make it look pulled-together instead of random. I've also learned about the importance of contrast. Even a full-blown rainbow color palette can look clean and cohesive (instead of cluttered) if you pair it with black or white to balance it out. Bonnie: If you are looking for inspiration for colors that look great together, check out this Pinterest board. There are lots of combinations that will help you choose colors when you are shopping for classroom materials. 2. Stick to a few favorite fonts Sara: Just like businesses create a brand, you are creating a classroom “look” or persona that you will be known for... or, at least a mood you will create. (Friendly? Professional? Fun? Minimalist?) Try to pick a few fonts that most of your labels, signs, and other wall-hangings will consistently use. For example, I used the Google font Crushed to make and laminate labels for my whiteboard (see below), along with mint-colored painter's tape. 3. Make your classroom library a focal point Bonnie: Your class library should draw students in and works well as the focal point for any English classroom. Here are a few things you can do to make your library stand out: Give bookshelves a makeover by rolling them a new coat of paint and/or taking the shelves out and attaching wallpaper or scrapbook paper to the back. Put a few floating shelves on the walls near your library area where you can feature particular novels recommended by students. Add comfortable, flexible seating near a library to make it more welcoming. These items can be more expensive, so shop around online or scour garage sales until you find seating that may work. Use old books as decorations! When a book is unusable, find a way to repurpose it. One easy way to do this is to cut out the pages and write a reading-inspired quote in black permanent marker on top of the page. Frame the page and put it on your bookshelf! Sara: If your classroom library is small, nonexistent, or needs some attention, check out this blog post for more ideas about how to strengthen it. 4. Display student work Bonnie: Use student work as decor by making a framed gallery wall. All you have to do is pick up some inexpensive 8x10 frames (check your dollar store) and arrange them on your wall. When you get a piece of exceptional student work, add it into the frame! If you don’t want the hassle of buying and hanging frames, order a pack of mixed color picture mats and use them to frame student work on a bulletin board. Sara: Another way to get student work on display (while also practicing literary analysis!) is to have them complete this Quote Illustration and Analysis assignment; students use Canva (or any tool you wish) to make an inspirational or literary quote come to life. The results are stunning! 5. Use author-inspired decor Bonnie: Find ways to incorporate the authors you will be studying into your classroom decor. You can do this by featuring fun facts or by sharing quotes by the author. For example, I use an interactive Shakespeare Hashtag of the Week bulletin display that exposes students to one quote from a Shakespeare play each week. If you don’t want to make your own, you might even consider assigning an author to each student and having them develop a bulletin display with a biography, fun facts, and quotes that you can swap out weekly. Sara: Don't forget to interject moments of literary ALLUSION or author-inspired inside jokes as well, like my favorite light switch art... 6. Make your posters work together Sara: On at least one bulletin board or section of wall space, add some symmetry or consistency by hanging posters in a similar style (color, font, or other), or by displaying images that have a common theme. For example, check out these posters of stylized quotes to get some English class wisdom on your walls. Bonnie: If you are looking for some ideas of common themes you could use for posters, try some of these ideas that could work in any English classroom: funny grammar quotes or fails, literary terms or genres, author quotes, famous lines from literature, idiomatic expressions, or jokes using puns! To read more about my favorite bulletin board ideas for middle and high ELA, check out this blog post. "English is Weird" poster set 7. Make displays that are EASY to update Sara: Two of my favorite bulletin board spaces were ones that took VERY little effort in updating, so I didn't have the self-imposed pressure to redo the whole thing multiple times per year. For example, my Word Nerd Challenge is quick to update on a Monday morning because all I have to do is add this week's word to the list. (I made each word tile a magnet that can go on my whiteboard!) I also made low-prep Quote of the Week flipbooks of reading and writing quotes, which students often asked to flip FOR me. I used Command hooks and spiral binding to hang it on a cabinet. Do you have additional ideas? Tell us in the comments!
Want to help students move beyond plot-based and one-word themes? Get four creative ideas for teaching effective theme statements in this post.
We select movies that every right lover needs to watch. They are works of the most diverse genres, always having as central figure for the development of their stories several …
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,
Earlier this week, Shane Pruitt shared his thoughts regarding division in the American church, arguing that splitting over secondary issues exposes how “privileged” we are.
Stations are a great way to get in a ton of review with your students. Check out 27 activities for stations in Spanish class in this post!
How do you use interactive math notebooks in the secondary classroom? This post gives practical tips for how we use a 3-part INB system in our classes.
Many ideas for Spanish class. The favorite posts from the Secondary Spanish Space teachers this year. Culture, games, high frequency words and more.
Here are eight creative back to school activities, games, and icebreakers that your middle and high school students will love the first week of school. Creative Back to School Activities for the Secondary Classroomhttps://static.wixstatic.com/media/ee4396_ae14703b68ac414ebb9a84e847fd6310~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_1080,h_1080,al_c,q_90/ee4396_ae14703b68ac414ebb9a84e847fd6310~mv2.png
What is Picture Walk?Picture Walk is a reading strategy that enhances students’ comprehension of a text or story before reading it. With the teacher’s guidance, learners preview the text or the story in order to make predictions, anticipate the events, make connections with the text and infer what the story is about.Through Picture Walk, learners acquire a better understanding of the text they are going to read. Picture Walk is an ideal differentiation tool you can use in any inclusive learning
Must Read Blog Posts for Spanish Teachers. The most popular posts from Secondary Spanish Space blog for Spanish teachers.
We're mixing pen and paper with digital in our blended classrooms, and everything's going great. At first (for me) it was just about throwing in some digital
Visit the post for more.
Ms. K had a really good question about the metal bugs I previously posted about. Her comment was... "These are gorgeous! Did you have students research their bugs or did you provide references? What kinds of tools did you use to make them pop out? Thanks! " I bought this metal in rolls from Triarco. Although I'm sure you can get it from any craft supply store such as SAX or Blick. It is called 36- Gauge Metal Tooling Foil. The tools most students used in my class was a small sheet of felts. This helped to make a 'squishy' surface so the metal would pop out. I used a 'beginners pencil', it works best if it is dull. And this really great plastic tool. I'm not sure where to get it. It was in my room when I arrived. But maybe you have some too and just didn't know what they were for. I also had some students who are unable to apply the pressure needed to form the metal. My husband works as the middle school Industrial Tech Teacher and he was able to let me use some of his metal tools. He has a tool that looks like this. I found this one at Harbor Freight Tools, and I think that is where he orders as well. It's called a Doming Block. It allowed all my students to create a very 3-D look to their metal on their own. If I could have a set of these, or just the block for each table that would be ideal.
These 3 tips for staying organized when students have been absent are perfect for the secondary classroom.
Looking for unique post-reading activities to inspire students and provide a sample of their analytical skills? Find high-interest strategies for secondary.
A blog post with five top tips for keeping students engaged until the very last few minutes of the lesson. Great for middle/high school classrooms.
Want to get started with one-pagers? Find out how to easily get started in a way that gives every student a roadmap to success.
With a new school year upon us, here is a look at 10 must-use secondary ELA teaching units, lessons, and activities for your classroom. These units are
Visit the post for more.
Check out student artwork posted to Artsonia from the Four Views of an Animal (Art I) project gallery at Denver Community High School.
"Why even do this?", students might ask when they are not sure why they need to complete certain tasks. Student motivation and engagement are possibly the most important variables in the learning process. Identifying clear objectives and providing students with a purpose for carrying out various activities will more likely engage them as they will see the benefits of completing the proposed tasks. Because most of my high school ESL learners need a lot of motivation in school, I like to assign di
by Secondary Sara It’s human to occasionally write a typo or two, but what should an English teacher do when capable students make consistent, silly mistakes in their drafts? Many students resist proofreading and editing at first because it means more “work”, and they’d rather just rely on spell check. Although it’s true that our students are busy and stretched thin, we teachers still have to defend the importance of taking that extra brief moment to proofread before printing or submitting. (Honestly, don’t most people need to think twice before they hit send?) If your students’ mistakes are making you want to chuck your grading pen across the room in frustration (which I have done), check out this list of ideas. (P.S. - You might also like this sister post, 10 Ways to Teach Revision to Teens.) 1. Establish the differences between proofreading, editing, and revising. Don’t assume that students know the difference between finding errors, fixing errors, and changing content. (I’ve put these three vocab words on tests before!) Even if they do know the technical definitions, they might need coaching about exactly how to do each one. 2. Preach reading their work out loud. SO many errors could be fixed if students just read their work out loud (“with vocal chords”, as we sometimes say in class), instead of just staring at the screen or reading it in their heads. This strategy is critical to avoid sentences that aren’t clear, have dropped a word, or have written clumsy word choices. There’s just no substitute for this strategy. Check out a free activity here. 3. Pass out an awesome editing checklist. ...either a general one, or an assignment specific one. These are SO important for students, and if they’re smart, they will reuse the checklist on all writing assignments (if not carry it with them to the next school year). Even better, pair that checklist with task cards that help them focus on one checklist task at a time (and make editing more tactile). Use my Editing Checklist, Activity, and Task Cards Kit to get started ASAP! 4. Encourage using at least TWO spell checkers… Why not mandate students to use spell check AND a free account on Hemingway or Grammarly? (NOTE: I usually show students how to use each one and discuss pros and cons. For example, Hemingway is great for identifying passive voice, but the downside is that it values conciseness and simplicity more than I think is necessary.) 5. ...and show students the errors that spell check misses. One of my favorite activities involves giving students a paragraph of text (that I wrote) with intentionally-planted errors in it, copying the text into different websites, and noticing which sites catch different errors. It's always VERY eye-opening for students! 6. Keep the bar high on your rubric. This one may require you to get support from your English department, but don’t be afraid to make very clear expectations for the number of errors students can make and earn a certain grade. Here's an example of what my rubrics usually look like... 7. Proofread on a screen AND a printed page. This is purely anecdotal, but I really think that we notice errors more easily with a pen and a printed draft. (Want to prove me wrong? Ask students to do both screen and paper before voting on which is more effective.) 8. Make peer editing a competition. Now, this is risky, but hear me out: put students in partners and ask who can find MORE errors in their friend’s draft. (To keep them from going overboard, tell them that they could be penalized for “grammar fraud” if they point out too many spots that are NOT errors!) Get that activity for FREE here! 9. Host a contest. In the past, I have challenged students to write “the perfect paragraph” or “the perfect essay”. I accepted volunteers to put their papers under the document camera for the whole class to view, and then we scoured his or her writing as a class to see if anyone could rise to the challenge. (Candy was usually involved as a prize, in addition to Epic Bragging Rights!) 10. Track progress over time. Chart how many errors students make in final drafts, and take pride in those numbers falling over time! Get a FREE tracking sheet here. You might also like to view… The Classroom Sparrow's Free Peer Essay Scavenger Hunt Addie Williams' Peer Editing Tips & Tricks Blog Post The Daring English Teacher's Peer Editing Made Easy Nouvelle ELA's Paragraph Peer & Self Review Worksheets Do you have more ideas? Tell us in the comments!
Are you noticing some gaps in your curriculum? Are you looking for some new, creative ideas for how to fill these holes in your ELA curriculum? This post gives you 10 creative ideas for how to fill holes in your secondary ELA curriculum.
The best "icebreaker" activity for high school students (who hate icebreaker activities). Get a jump start on creating a bond with your students.
Culture classes can be SO fun, but they can also be a lot to plan. Check out this round up of lessons & ideas for your Spanish culture class!
