I'm so excited to share one of my favorite activities with you today. I created this life skills binder almost 10 years ago, and it was a huge hit with my students. Over time, teachers would visit my classroom and comment on it. In the end I decided to upload it online and share with
Lesson Your Way novel units are designed with you in mind. My goal is to help make your prepping easier, so you have more time to work with your students. You decide what skills your students need and select the appropriate activities.The activities are open-ended and easy to differentiate. They can...
Play the Barter Game, where you pretend to be in the Gold Rush and barter for everything: food, tools, animals, even entertainment.
Detailed Connectors of Sequence List in English (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); Subsequently Next Afterwards…
Do your students have trouble with elapsed time? It can be a tricky skill, but I have learned a few things that help my students to be successful! 1.) Read the problem once and then discuss …
The next time you’re feeling stressed out, overwhelmed, or unsure, reach for a moment of calm awareness: a mindful SNACK. Here’s how to do it.
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'How burned out am I?'What are the signs and symptoms of burnout?Chronic stress has real and substantial effects on body and brain.Burnout signs are normally seen as falling into 1 of 3 main categories:Although seen as a work-related problem, it can greatly impact energy and mood outside work, including relationships, health and sleep.Burnout affects our body and how we think, feel and behaveIn my experience of executive coaching and counselling, people greatly underestimate the potential effect
Grammar instruction can be FUN for kids! Take a look at these ultra creative ways to teach comparative endings in 2nd grade.
Open ended questions are one of the most import teaching tools to have in the teacher’s tool box. Open ended questions are a way to offer children the opportunity to freely express their knowledge, ideas and feelings. They are also a way to get children to use and expand their vocabulary. Open ended questions are those questions that have no single right or wrong answer. How ever these questions sometime are a challenge to remember to ask while you are freely working with children, it is a habit that we have to form as a teacher. To help with this process I have created posters that I have placed around my classroom in the learning center. These posters are help for not only me but those that work with me. (Teacher assistance, parent helper and subs) Here is a free poster of General Open Ended Questions that you can use. Download Free Poster Here To get the whole set go to Teachers Pay Teachers or Teachers Notebook You can also purchase and download the set right here on this site, just click on the cart button. -->
How many parts make a whole? Cooking measurements were a great way to help my son answer that question. This was a simple activity that he found surprisingly interesting. When it was done, he asked if there was more he could measure! What we used: 4-cup liquid measuring cup Measuring spoons Measuring cups Empty gallon-sized milk jug Tap water Funnel (optional) Worksheet of measuring questions (download the one I made here) Before we got started pouring and measuring, we read Stuart J. Murphy’s Room for Ripley, a Level 3 MathStart Capacity book. In the book, Carlos is super excited to buy his first fish. As he prepares the fish bowl with water, he learns all about just how much water it’ll take to make a nice home for his new guppy. One cup is not enough! 2 cups (or 1 pint) is not enough! As he continues to add more and more water, he learns how many pints are in a quart, and how many quarts are in half gallon, etc. When we finished reading about Carlos’ new pet, I had my son using the measuring spoons, cups, and 2-cup measuring cup to complete a worksheet of math (measuring) questions. This was great fraction practice. I was thrilled to hear his hypothesis that three 1/3-cups would equal 1 cup!
Grammar instruction can be FUN for kids! Take a look at these ultra creative ways to teach comparative endings in 2nd grade.
English Connectors of Sequence List and Example Sentences First of all First of all, I’d like to thank my family. By the time Eventually It might take her five weeks but she will do it eventually. At last At last she passed the math exam. At the end She worked hard, and in the end, she passed the exam. Furthermore Reading books help to learn new information, furthermore, it helps to keep the brain cells fresh. Further Finally The notebook finally reached me last night. Moreover Mary plays football. Moreover she works a hotel. Another In addition Samuel writes short stories, In additon, he writes
What’s the difference between a project manager and a project leader? If you’ve ever gone hunting for a definitive answer to this question, you probably ended up disappointed. Depending on your company’s size, policies, and management, these terms might be used interchangeably or they might...
With this worksheet, you can help your students to identify the most common crimes vocabulary by an interesting reading exercise. Also at the end, they could color the pictures of Batman, a comic well known for fighting crime. - ESL worksheets
Active learning is critical for students to actually learn the materials. This article focuses on how to get students to that flow.
Learn to stay calm in a rip current and escape so your day at the beach doesn’t end in tragedy.
A great list of useful techniques to improve your IV insertion for different clients.
On A Peach for the Teach on Facebook, I invited people to ask their most challenging behavior questions. We got some great questions, each of which really tied together. Dona asked, I have a student that comes to me from second grade (I teach 1st) for my entire reading block, who likes to shout out talk back and just shuts down when you ask him to do something. He then treats his 2nd teacher with severe disrespect when he goes back to class. Rebecca asked, I have a class of 25 this year. 1 student is below K level (I teach 1st grade), 2 are identified as ADHD, we are working towards another student getting identified as ADHD, and I have 2 students who have really disrespectful attitudes. I have tried talking with parents, I have changed their seating, I have tried encouraging them and pointing out the positive......nothing seems to be working. Ideas? Lindsay asked, I need motivation tips for kids who can do the work but basically refuse to... These are such common issues that teachers face daily. I think they all tie together and have similar interventions, which led me to write this blog post-- How to Help Calling Out and "Class Clown" Behavior. "If you put a kid in the position of choosing between looking bad or looking dumb, he will choose to look bad." - Rick Lavoie, Motivation Breakthrough When a student is performing at a level lower than his peers, he is often aware of that. That could be part of the reason for the acting out. Maybe the child is embarrassed and would rather be seen as a class clown than struggling. It allows the child a sense of control over a situation where he would otherwise feel out of control. Try giving him some control in a positive way. To intervene, start with an informal play meeting. Meet with the student individually when he is calm, to play a preferred, non-academic game at the beginning or end of the day. He may be more likely to open up honestly in that type of setting through informal conversations (e.g., favorite TV shows, games, etc.). Casually ask what he likes and doesn't like about school, and "admit" to him that you always had a hard time with [insert his least preferred subject]. Try not to make it obvious that this is the whole point of your conversation. He might give you some insight into what's causing this. It's also great for establishing rapport, which will help you to get the student on your side. Give him some sort of task with which he can be successful, and give him positive attention for completing it. Avoid patronizing him or making it obviously at a level lower than the other students. Instead, try non-academic leadership positions, like a class helper, teacher's assistant, etc. Maybe give him the opportunity to call on students with questions. "Class, today we are going to try something new." Next, set limits. Start by telling the whole class that today we are going to try something new. Starting today, the teacher will no longer answer any calling out. Explain that we need to practice raising our hands and not calling out. Demonstrate, practice, and ask for volunteers to show you what hand raising looks like. Establish a non-verbal cue (e.g., a cue card with an image of a hand, or simply hold up your hand), and completely ignore calling out. Instruct the class to also ignore calling out. Have students practice calling out while you ignore it. Explain why you're doing this, so the student knows it's not just him being ignored. Ignore the behavior, not the child. You might want to give one verbal cue, such as, "I'd be happy to answer you when you raise your hand." This is your new procedure that will happen every single time a student calls out. You could still say it in a positive tone of voice, but it's all you will say. Give a Little, Get a Little Use positive language to elicit positive language. If a student is using disrespectful language, being threatening will teach the child to talk back with threatening language. Think about your reaction when somebody confronts you with doing something wrong. You initially feel a little attacked, so you want to react. Give the student the opportunity to save face. For example, instead of, "How dare you speak to me that way?" try a, "Whoops, that sounded disrespectful. I know you could ask me using nicer words," and only respond when he uses nicer words. If he doesn't, say, "I'll be over here when you're ready to use nice words to ask me." Dodge the Power Struggle To nip disrespect in the bud, we need to avoid power struggles-- even when a student questions what we're doing. That's the part that really tricks even the most skilled behavior interventionists. We want students to believe in, trust, and respect us. When they question what we're doing, we want to tell them. Please don't. You don't need to justify yourself in this moment. You may be skilled with planned ignoring, but when the child asks, "Why are you ignoring me?" it's too tempting to reply with an explanation, but resist the urge. If you planned and practiced this procedure previously, the child already knows why you're ignoring him. He may try to get you to give him anything other than the ignoring. Stick to the ignoring, and he will eventually try using nice words to get you to reply. It may also be helpful to teach a lesson on the words "disrespect" vs. "respect." Teach the meaning, and explain situations and words that are unacceptable. Teach this with empathy, and practice it. If the child uses negative language in class, prompt with a, "Please use your nice words if you need me to respond to you." Completely ignore anything else. I know that using a firm prompt followed by planned ignoring sometimes feels like you aren't doing anything to stop the behavior, but that's the best thing about it-- doing "nothing" stops the behavior. It completely eliminates the power struggle and argument. The child will be forced to use kind words to get any type of reaction out of you and to gain access to his wants/needs. This also works with whining. I told my little ones that my ears can no longer hear whining, and they all stopped whining. Now if only I could use planned ignoring on messes to make my kitchen clean itself! Words of Caution Sometimes when implementing planned ignoring, the child may initially test the limits and engage in more attention-seeking behavior. This is typical and should pass when he sees that he won't get a reaction. I got a comment on this post that really made me think and add another word of caution about this strategy-- exercise caution when using this for students with bonding and/or attachment needs. We certainly do not want to intensify feelings of abandonment, and we want to be sure that we are responding to their needs. It is vitally important to make sure that we are ignoring the behavior, not the child. Give the child plenty of positive attention for positive behavior. Make giving positive attention during appropriate behavior part of your behavior protocol for this child. When the negative behavior ends and the child begins acting positively, give positive attention. No need for a lecture at that moment. After the Procedure is Learned Once you are sure that the student understands how he will appropriately gain access to wants/needs, you can begin to address the calling out caused by impulsivity and habit. Make a T-chart, and write the positive behavior on the left and negative on the right (e.g., "Called Out" and "Raised My Hand"). Instruct the student to tally when he does each. This alone is often enough to curb the negative behavior. Other times with more severe behavior, it helps if tallies are tied to reinforcement. For example, the student can earn [something preferred] if he has more positive than negative tallies at the end of each block. You could also set goals based on baselines. For example, if the student reduces his calling out by ___% or does not exceed ___% incidents of calling out, he can earn [something preferred]. Class Dojo is another fun way to track this! The teacher can track the behaviors throughout the day, or the students can self-monitor behaviors on their T-Charts and plug them into the Dojo at the end of the day. Establish a procedure that students must earn more green (i.e., "positive") than red (i.e., "needs work"), or a certain percentage of green, in order to earn a reinforcer, positive note home, etc. Another helpful strategy is bonus free time. It's often harder for a student with ADHD and/or behavior needs to attend to instruction for a given length of time, so plan three breaks in the day. I call them "five minute free time" to play with something fun, and I end each of my subjects with it. It gives me five minutes to clean up or correct work, and it gives the students five minutes to regroup. If you're strapped for time, you could have students complete exit tickets, assessments, etc., and give the student with ADHD the special free time. It also gives him something to word toward, as he has to earn the free time. If a student engages in negative behavior or work refusal, I ask if he is earning his free time or if he is to make up his work during free time. Never underestimate the power of a question instead of a demand. A simple, "Are you earning your free time?" is often enough to set the behavior back on track. An additional motivational tool is a task chart where students rank their tasks by preference. They earn little reinforcement for easy/preferred tasks and high reinforcement for non-preferred tasks. You can download that chart for free here. What are some ideas you use in your classroom to help calling out and "class clown" behavior? Do you have any questions about behavior challenges? Please share in the comments below! A Peach for the Teach
Kids count by fives to 100 on this first grade math worksheet. Skip counting by fives is one way children can demonstrate the meaning of addition. Download to complete online or as a printable!
A great list of useful techniques to improve your IV insertion for different clients.
Ah the end of term. The frenetic nervous energy around the college is so thick you can cut it with a knife. It's the time of year that can make or break in college. So, here are some of my tips for surviving the end of term at college.
The Ivy Lee Method is a productivity technique designed to help businesses increase their work ethic and income! Learn what it is and how it works here!
Can your first grader figure out which plural ending form is correct for each word? Download to complete online or as a printable!
A present there seems to be a sea-change occurring within KS2 Reading. The difficulty of last year’s Reading test means that this year many schools are reconsidering their approach to teachin…
Do you little {or big} learners have a little trouble distinguishing between needs and wants? That’s why I created this Wants vs Needs Learning Pack! It’s great for any time of year, but especially before Christmas! *This post contains affiliate links. **The free printable link can be found towards the END of this post. Just click ... Read More about Wants vs Needs Learning Pack {FREE}
Are you looking for activities and games to practice the Past Simple Verb Tense with your students? This is a great money saving bundle with 4 games that specifically target the past tense (both regular and irregular). After you've taught, drilled and reviewed this verb tense, what students really need is PRACTICE. These simple games give them just that. They are fun and engaging but do not require huge amounts of time. What's included: Dominoes: Do your students need help with memorizing and practicing common irregular past tense verbs and regular past tense verb ending pronunciations? (-t, -d, -id) I think that these ending sounds can be so confusing for students that they really need help and practice. This is a great game to help with these endings. There are two separate games included in this set. In one set, students must match the present tense to the past tense of the irregular verb. In the second set, students must match the regular verb to it's proper pronunciation ending. Bingo: Make memorizing irregular past simple verb forms a little more fun with this Bingo Board Set for ESL - EFL learners! I've included 36 of the most common irregular past tense verbs that can be a little tricky for ESL and EFL learners! A full list of the verbs is detailed below. There are two different versions of the game included in this download. I Have - Who has: It's an easy-to-play irregular verb grammar activity. It’s a fantastic way to practice 39 different past simple verbs with your students. It’s great for listening skills as students must actively listen for their card to be called. This is a great game for small groups of 5-10 students. ** Slap-It: This SLAP IT game is an easy-to-play irregular past tense verb activity. It’s a fantastic way to practice 42 of the most commonly used past simple verbs with your students in groups or as a class activity. My students absolutely love playing this game!! It’s great for improving listening skills as students must actively listen for the past or present tense of the verb card to be called. *For younger learners this resource can be used as a memory game (matching past tense irregular verbs to the present tense) Cootie Catchers - Irregular Verbs Irregular Verb Card Game Previews are available for each resources by clicking the link HERE If you would like to create your own bundle using a 20-25% discount: Create Your Own Bundle This resource is also available for purchase on Teachers Pay Teachers. If you prefer to purchase it there, follow this link. How will you receive the resource? After your payment has processed you will be redirected to a download page where you can immediately download the file and save it to your computer. You will also receive an email containing a link to the resource. . * Due to the digital nature of this product. Hot Chocolate Education does NOT offer refunds. Once the product has been downloaded, it can't be returned and refunds can not be issued
Daily challenges and corrections at school can demoralize a child and trample her confidence over time. Here, learn how to end this negative cycle and improve your child's self-esteem in the classroom.
Use these two Boggle templates again and again just by changing the letters. There are two versions, one for the document camera and one for students to use individually. Have fun! Download Boggle Template Rachel Lynette You Might Also Like:Kahoot – Name Generator and Challenge FeaturesCelebrate National Pig Day on March 1st with this fun ... Read More about Boggle Fun for Everyone!
This worksheet is a great way for students to practice finding the amount of time that has elapsed between two points in hours. This is a skill that is essential for students to master in order to be successful in other areas of their lives. Elapsed Time Hour Worksheet
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