The Good Egg Activities - use these activities to help students understand what is and is not their responsibility & practice self care for managing stress!
Learning how to play school can be super fun and helpful for young children. Get more ideas and suggestions to get started!
Throughout my years teaching middle school, I have had the experience of seeing many "work refusals". These are the situations when kids, for a variety of reasons, just refuse to start the work you give them. They might shut down and rest their head on their desk or lash out in anger, shouting about
Basic vocabulary, like knowing prepositions, is necessary for beginning readers. Teach prepositions with this simple game.
Need to entertain the kids? Try some of these free indoor and outdoor activities for kids that can all be done from your own home. There's also a list of free online educational resources.
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Write and decode secret spy messages with these cool secret codes for kids. Keep the kids busy making their own secret code with the free printable!
Throughout my years teaching middle school, I have had the experience of seeing many "work refusals". These are the situations when kids, for a variety of reasons, just refuse to start the work you give them. They might shut down and rest their head on their desk or lash out in anger, shouting about
We are a Leader In Me School and talk a lot about using the 7 Habits of Happy Kids in our everyday lives. I love the idea of encouraging kids to act as leaders in the classroom and beyond. What I have noticed, however, is that sometimes "leadership" comes off as "bossypants" and that is not the route we want to take! I know you've probably heard of Sheryl Sandberg (of Facebook fame) and her campaign to end the word "bossy" (read or listen to an NPR story HERE), but I was hesitant to come straight out and use that word in our class. Instead, I wanted them to think on terms of "boss" and "leader" to recognize the differences between the two and to think about their own language choices in the classroom, in small groups, on their sports teams, and more. We first looked at this picture and talked about what we noticed: (source) This led to some discussion about leadership versus boss behavior. While the kids were discussing, I was passing out example cards to their table spots. Before I dismissed them, I shared this leadership quote from John Quincy Adams: They were then given instructions about our activity. I had printed example cards on two colors: blue for boss and green for leader (although they didn't know that yet) and they needed to read their card and find someone with an opposite color card and opposite example (good time to incorporate the word antonym, too!). I dismissed them to their tables and first had them converse with students in their table group to ensure they understood the word or phrase on their card. When they gave me the thumbs up, I told them to find their match and them meet to discuss why they went together and be able to give examples. We then began assembling our Anchor Chart. Each pair would come to the front of the class and would explain which card was descriptive of a "boss" and which was descriptive of a "leader" and why. They gave examples and I elicited a lot of help from the classroom for additional examples and language that both a boss and leader may use during that example. I would tape the cards to the Anchor Chart and we continued through each pair. There were two groups of three (with two leaders to one boss) and that worked out perfectly with my class (definitely feel free to adjust if you have lower numbers). Our completed anchor chart looked like: It was so powerful to see how often kids may think they are helping, but instead find themselves on the "boss" side of the chart instead of the "leader." I know several of the examples are repetitive, but we really talked through these and used examples from our own lives to recount when using "leader" words and language set us up for success. I also explained the "me vs. you" mentality of bosses versus the "we and us" mentality of leaders. Overall, it was a very powerful lesson and I look forward to referring back to this Anchor Chart this year, especially when "bossypants" behavior leads to conflict. I think these concrete examples can help guide the naturally strong leaders in my class to make better language decisions that can help grow them as leaders and really inspire others, just like the Adams quote! If you'd like a copy of these cards and quote, you can download this as a *freebie* HERE. How do you address bossy vs. leader behavior in your class? Share in the comments, I would love to build on this lesson!
Too many classroom icebreakers require students to take big social risks with people they barely know. Or they don't really help students get to know each other. Or they are just plain cheesy.
Easter is fast approaching and kids would be so much interested and eagerly waiting to prepare crafts for Easter. This year as of 2015, Easter falls on
Working with kids and young adults who are oppositional can be challenging. Being oppositional might mean refusing to do work, breaking rules, and engaging in other challenging behaviors. The truth is, many kids can be oppositional from time to time, so many of these strategies work with all learner
Check out these effective ways of teaching kids conflict resolution skills at home & school with these easy-to-implement ideas & strategies.
If you have a child that has trouble controlling their temper, you know exactly how hard it can be to calm them down. These 10 Sensory Hacks are perfect!
I LOVE saving figurative language until June - it's such a fun language unit ... and perfect for our "dreaming of summer brains". We finished up our EQAO testing mid week, and this onomatopoeia activity was the perfect break from testing. How fun is that??? Students chose two contrasting colours - one for the background and one for the word and border "bursting out of the page". They also needed newspaper (cut just a fraction smaller that the "bursting out of the page border" and glued the newspaper on top. They glued their word on top of that (we had brainstormed a lot of onomatopoeia words, but for some reason most of them chose SPLAT for their word). I also had them do a little shading under their letters for that little extra POP (see, I know some onomatopoeia words, too). ;) I had seen this awesome idea on Pinterest and followed it back to Artisan des Arts. Her examples are FANTASTIC!! We also wrote simile poems this week. I found a little template HERE for the students to use for their rough copies. When students were finished their templates, I had them write out their good copies, and illustrate a few lines with a small image. I hung these up, too ... LOVING our bulletin board switch up ... even this late in the school year!!! (I have two of these "smART class" bulletin boards side by side in the classroom. 15 more school days left ... I think I can ... I think I can ... Happy Friday!!!
The Summer Olympic Games have begun! It's so fun watching people who are so amazingly talented and who love what they do! Since the games started, we've been watching them together as a family in the evenings and really enjoying it! So far my son loves the swimming and is mesmerized by the gymnastics. I think it's great for our kids to watch these athletes achieve their dreams. I also love that they get to hear some of the athletes' stories and learn that their lives haven't always been all that easy and that hard work and dedication can take you so far in life!
This blog post explores innovative and engaging lesson plans for any novel unit... ranging from task cards to book instagram pages to a novel podcast project. Student choice is key here, and students can find something they would like to complete in order to convey their reading, comprehension, and
Help your students manage stress better by teaching kids about the stress response & their brains. Includes fun stress response lessons ideas.
This month we are focusing on Careers at our school. At the elementary level we help children become aware of the many opportunities in t...
Free Anger and Feelings Worksheets for Kids
It is very important to review the contents taught at school to test if we know them right or we should deal with them. Click over the pictures and comment your answers. The two first images are fo…
This is a fun worksheet about adjectives and their antonyms. Students match each word in Twin Tom with its opposite in Twin Tyrone.
POEMS? That 5-letter word will send shivers down the spines of middle school students. Add in the suggestion of "poetry analysis," and the moans and groans can be heard throughout the hallways! If all this sounds familiar, I have a few teacher tips to help you boost engagement with poems that middle schoolers actually enjoy!
Working with kids and young adults who are oppositional can be challenging. Being oppositional might mean refusing to do work, breaking rules, and engaging in other challenging behaviors. The truth is, many kids can be oppositional from time to time, so many of these strategies work with all learner
This fun game is perfect for practicing the parts of the body with your ESL students. Have them roll a die and color the body parts in the correct colors.
Need a creative idea for teaching money to kids? The Money Game is a fun hands-on way! Inspired by the Beth Kobliner Book- Make Your Kids a Money Genius
This 7 minute animal themed HIIT workout for kids improves emotional regulation and reduces meltdowns. Loved by OTs, teachers, and parents alike!
The biggest challenge with teaching middle school is the race against the clock! Ideas for how to structure a 60 minute class period.
Today I am brining you the perfect combination of back to school ice-breakers and games for those first days of school! Back to school is a crazy time and we all want to hit the ground running. There are routines and procedures to teach and we are ready to get to them the second those kids walk in the door. Building community and getting to know
This is a fun worksheet to practice pronouns with your EFL students.
Are your kids wondering what to draw? Get this list of drawing prompts and fun things for kids to draw!
Here are some great grammar games, ideas, and activities that will help early/middle elementary aged kids enjoy grammar just a bit.
See if you can master these funny tongue twisters for kids. Perfect for family game night, sharing with friends, and learning language skills.
Here are 50 sensory spelling activities for kids. A great way for students to interact with their spelling words using their senses.
Get your students outside this school year! We have some tried and true ideas and teacher tips to help you teach your students outside!
Using this educational game, dedicated to social history and women’s history, children will learn about twenty amazing women who changed the world.
This is a cute activity where ESL students have to draw monsters based on the description of the body parts on the worksheet.
This is a fun worksheet to practice the weather with your beginner ESL students. Have your students read the sentence and draw the correct weather accordingly.
Mummify Barbie! I had my daughter use information that we gleaned from books to come up with a list that we could use in our own mummy activity.
Are your students disinterested and tired of the traditional ways of learning characterization? Have you been searching for a really fun, student-centered, interactive way to eliminate their boredom? Well, look no further! I present to you a wonderful student-collaboration activity that will get your students involved and excited for a character analysis for any novel, […]
A teaching resource that includes dozens of free printables and helpful website links to use in the classroom for elementary and middle school students.
The game is on with these 100 fun icebreaker questions for kids. With these open-ended questions, kids can get to know each other in no time.
This past week, we learned about synonyms. The kids really grasped the concept by mid-week! I am excited to see them start using synonyms...
