When it comes to organizing and planning a classroom, every teacher has a few items they couldn't possibly ever go without! It might be that favorite stapler, the perfect book, or an amazing resource! I know, I know. I just posted about Supplies I Can't Live Without but I
Make worksheets using programs you probably already have! These 6 steps will get you started creating your own resources today!
FREE Templates from Shake Up Learning! Get choice boards, magnetic poetry, fake Instagram, and more!
Looking for new and faster ways to useDocs in your teaching? I have so many visual tutorials and Google Docs ideas for teachers....
A collection of drawing exercises, downloadable worksheets and beautiful line drawings: inspiration for the student, artist or teacher.
This activity is heavily scaffolded for beginners. Students orally create the word bank and sentences, but I write the words and sentences on the board using
Get your teacher life organized with 200 free Google Keep headers! This note-taking system will revolutionize the way you teach.
Get FREE Google lesson plans from Google’s Applied Digital Skills resource center. These are super handy for teachers! These are ready-to-go, asynchronous lessons that will help your students gain future-ready skills. Let's dig into this amazing resource!
Got a talkative class? Check out these 5 ways to quiet the chatter!
Try these 100 Prompts for Teachers to Ask ChatGPT. Using ChatGPT effectively can not only save you time, but help you to innovate teaching.
Here is a roundup of free printables for piano teaching. These are all guides that I've made for my own piano students.
Art Lesson Plans for Art Teachers to save you time and restore your work/life balance. Let The Arty Teacher do the work for you.
Top online learning sties for upper elementary classrooms for in school or home or distant or remote learning. Websites for reading, language arts, math, science and art included.
3rd grade teacher Deanna shares how she saves time and works more efficiently.
Five lamination hacks for teachers that will blow your mind and save you time. Read to learn more or watch the video! Only at Mrs. D's Corner.
Welcome to the How-To Guide for First Year Art Teachers where I give you my 10 Steps for Success! Congratulations! You got your own classroom. OH MY GOSH, you have your own classroom. Your mind and stomach start racing, both with extreme excitement and panic because now, it all just got real. You will have a lot of students, a lot of planning, and a lot of classroom to keep organized. Figuring out where to even start is a huge stress and will require a tea (or a beer) and a nap (probably some Netflix too).
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
Unwanted talking is near the top of the list of teacher frustrations. In this article, learn the actual strategies to finally get rid of it for good.
Ready to get more sub jobs and keep your income steady? Follow my substitute teacher tips to be a requested substitute teacher and make teachers LOVE you!
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 […]
Salut! Hi everyone! If you teach French, you know how tough it can be to find resources for your classroom. Of course, I'm talking about QU...
Use this drawing resource worksheet to guide your students through Basquiat inspired portraits! ...
If you're a parent or teacher looing for pathological demand avoidance (PDA) strategies for kids, this post is a great place to start.
This interactive tool is worth the subscription.
Connecting families to the classroom and giving them the tools to work with students at home is a huge part of our jobs as teachers. Although I use many modes of parent communication (you can read about them in this blog post), I love having a ‘landing’ where families always have access to the information...
Imagine welcoming parents to a conference armed with personalized insights that highlight their child's shining moments (Glows) and offer thoughtful guidance for their growth (Grows). These report card comments go beyond the usual grades, giving a comprehensive view of the child's progress in subjects like Math, Language Arts, Science, and more. But that's not all – they also dive into learning skills and social development, ensuring a well-rounded understanding of each student’s journey. Get ready to engage in fruitful conversations with parents, set inspiring goals, and create a supportive learning environment that celebrates achievements while nurturing improvement. With the Glows and Grows Report Card Comments, you’re not just hosting a conference – you’re igniting growth, fostering partnership, and making a positive impact on each child’s success. So, why wait? Let's embark on this exciting journey together and bring out the best in every child's education!
Everyone has experienced social loafing, even if you don’t know the term. Social loafing is reduced individual effort on a group task. Classic studies of social loafing find that people pull less on a rope and clap more slowly and quietly when they are led to believe there are other people pulling or clapping, than … Continued
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
Learn three simple things you need to teach your ESL beginners right away. These include variations of introductions, classroom surroundings and basic needs
Fun ideas for teaching adjectives and descriptive writing that are just right for October and Halloween week in the primary classroom.
Think about how you learn a new skill? Any skill. It could be a foreign language, a musical instrument, a technique in a sporting event, an art, craft, or even [...]
Teaching theme is not an easy task! Not only do students need to have a strong comprehension of the story's elements (like plot, setting, and characters), but they also have to be able to make inferences to find the author's message, since most themes are not overtly stated by the author. So, what are some of my favorite activities for helping kids understand theme? I'll list a number of them here. 1. Make an Anchor Chart Anchor charts are a great way to make learning visual and to have a record that kids can refer to when they need a bit of extra support. Theme may be defined in a number of ways. To me, the theme is the author's message or what he/she wants the reader to take away/learn from the story. It is a BIG idea, with a real-world or universal concern and can be applied to anyone. Besides talking about what a theme is, you'll also want to go over what it isn't. For example, some kids confuse the main idea of the story with its theme. To help students understand the difference, it's helpful to use stories that everyone in the class knows, like previous read alouds or classic stories like The Three Little Pigs. You can take each story and discuss the main idea (what the story was mostly about - specific to the story) vs. the theme (the lesson the author wants the reader to know - not specific to the story), to contrast the two ideas. The second area of confusion for some kids is that the theme is not specific to the characters in the story. In the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, for example. The theme would not be that...A little mouse named Chrysanthemum learned to accept the uniqueness of her name. The theme would be larger than the book and would be something like...It's important to accept oneself. Also, you'll want to explain to your students that often times, a book has multiple themes and there are several answers which work equally well to describe a book's theme. Since theme is very subjective, I tell students that I will accept any answer, as long as they have the text evidence to prove it. For example, in the book, Wonder, by R.J. Palacio, one might argue that the theme is about friendship, another might say family, or even courage, or kindness. Any one of these themes would be right, and counted as such, since they each fit the story and could be supported by text evidence. 2. Use Pixar Shorts to Practice Theme Besides the sheer enjoyment which comes from watching these mini-films, your students can learn a lot about reading concepts from these. They're great for ELL students or for struggling readers, and for all readers really since the text complexity piece is removed. You can find these clips on YouTube, but you'll want to make sure to preview them first, so you're more familiar with the plot and are able to focus on theme questions. Here are some of my favorite Pixar Shorts for teaching theme: Piper Partly Cloudy Lava Boundin' 3. Use Mentor Texts Mentor texts are one of my go-to teaching tools as picture books are able to portray examples of just about any reading concept you need to teach. One thing I like to do when using mentor texts for theme, is to vary the types of questions I ask. Rather than always saying What is the theme?, I might ask... What is the deeper meaning of this story? After reading this book, what do you think matters to this author? Which idea from the story do you think might stay with you? What did the author want people to learn from this story?... Once kids answer, you might say, Ah...so that's the theme! Some of my current mentor text favorites for theme include the following: Ish by Peter H. Reynolds I Wish I Were a Butterfly by James Howe Journey by Aaron Becker (a wordless book) Beautiful Oops by Barry Saltzberg The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal Pete and Pickles by Berkeley Breathed If you're looking for more titles, I have a FREE Mentor Text List for Literature which includes a page on theme which you can download from my TpT store. 4. Use Posters with Themes to Chart Book Themes I like to choose 8 - 10 common themes and place posters of them in the classroom. These are included in my Theme unit but you could easily make them yourself if you'd like. After we finish a class novel, a read aloud, or a mentor text as part of a mini-lesson, I like to have the kids discuss the theme of the book. Once we decide on the theme, I place a miniaturized copy of the book's cover (about 3 x 3 inches or so) under the correct theme poster. You can also make the posters more interactive by allowing kids to write titles of books they have recently read on sticky notes, under the posters as well. 5. Use Songs to Practice Finding the Theme I love to add music to the classroom whenever possible. Not only does it add instant motivation for some kids, but it is also just good for them in so many ways. There are lots of songs you can use to teach theme, from current pop songs to oldies, rap songs, and country songs. While all of these work well, I especially enjoy using Disney songs. Disney songs are easily recognized for some kids, have catchy, fun tunes, and have lyrics that need no censoring (yay!). You can easily find the lyrics online to project on a smartboard or document projector, and the song clips may be found on YouTube, Here are some of my favorite Disney songs which work well for theme: Hakuna Matata from Lion King Just Keep Swimming from Finding Dory Reflection from Mulan Let it Go from Frozen Something There from Beauty and the Beast A Whole New World from Aladdin 6. Introduce Short Texts Using Task Cards Using task cards for theme gives your students a great deal of practice in a short period of time, which makes them a perfect way to begin to practice finding the theme using text. I love the fact that students can read multiple task card stories and practice finding the theme 20 - 30 times, in the time it might take to read a story and find the theme once. You can do task cards as a center activity, to play Scoot, or as a whole class scavenger hunt. One thing I like to do for the scavenger hunt is to make sure everyone has a partner and to pair stronger readers with struggling readers. 7. Add Some Writing After students have worked on theme for a week or two, I like to have students create their own short stories which show a strong theme, without directly stating it. This changes each student's role from a theme finder, to a theme creator and gives students insight into how authors create a situation that allows a theme to unfold. When I introduce this project, we refer back to the task cards we just completed, as an example of story length and rich content. In a matter of 2 - 3 paragraphs, students learn that they can include enough information to let our readers know our message. After students are finished creating these short stories, it's fun to share them in some way, to give more theme practice. Sometimes I have students meet in small groups to share out, with group members guessing the theme. Other years, I leave a stack on my desk and grab several if we have a few minutes. Either the students or I read the short story out loud, and the class discusses the theme. 8. Move to Passages, Short Stories, and Novels. Once we have scaffolded a great foundation for the understanding of theme, there comes a point where kids have to move on to text which is more challenging. I like to use page-long passages which I have created, before using short stories, and ultimately novels. If you're looking for some ready made materials to help you teach theme, here's a packet I love to use which works well for 4th and 5th Graders. Click here to read more about the Theme unit. Want some more teaching ideas and activities to teach theme? Click here to read Teaching Themes in Literature. If you like this post, make sure to share it with a teacher friend! Thanks so much for stopping by! For more ideas and strategies focused on upper elementary, be sure to sign up for The Teacher Next Door's free email newsletter! Bonus, you'll also gain access to my FREE Resource Library which contains exclusive upper elementary freebies that you won't find anywhere else! I'd love to connect with you! The Teacher Next Door's Website Pinterest Facebook Instagram TpT Store
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
Inside: A peek into dozens of Spanish classrooms, of all kinds, shapes, and sizes! A well-designed room won’t make or break your teaching. Oh, but it can make a difference in how you and your students feel. Some of you have very limited options, and very tight budgets. There’s some serious classroom eye-candy here, but the
Conquering your digital clutter leads to increased productivity! This post details GMAIL hacks that help teachers save time in the classroom.
