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If you are looking for some high interest teaching activities, try using animated shorts to to teach the reading skill problems and solutions.
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!
By now, you’ve probably heard of the new AI (artificial intelligence) program called ChatGPT. Like any new technology, there are both positives and negatives associated with it ( “industrious” students using it to write papers). Still, there is no doubt that ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for teachers. Today I am sharing 11 ways
While Art and Technology may appear worlds apart, they can easily be fused together to enhance student learning. As a teacher in a primary K-2 school, students have creative juices flowing at all times!
In 2016 I wrote a blog post about 10 Techie Themed Read Aloud Books and my list keeps growing! I wanted to compile all of the elementary picture books arranged by topic in one area. Let me know if you have any recommendations we can add to this list! **All links are Amazon affiliate links** Also be sure to check out my post: 5 Reasons to Use Technology Themed Picture Books to Help Reinforce Digital Citizenship. *If you are unable to view the Amazon widgets below, try installing an Ad Blocker extension.* Responsible Use of Technology Online Safety Reliable Sources Digital Footprint Cyberbullying Screen Time/Technology Addiction/Unplugging Coding/Programming 3D Printing Drones Email Etiquette Other Books with "Techie" Themes Thank you to the following educators for introducing me to some of these titles: Mrs. Haglin Sandy Liptak Jennifer Elizabeth Mary Ledford Kim Field Renuka Senaratne Calandra Jackson Renuka Senaratne Eat Pray Travel Teach Ramona Recommends Storymamas Follow me on Pinterest to get more techie ideas:
The Unfair Game is a totally unfair twist on Jeopardy that your students will LOVE to hate! Learn how to play and find sample game boards in this post.
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You are probably familiar with Kahoot as a review game, but my favorite way to use this website is a BLIND Kahoot. The game structure is the same only instead of reviewing a concept, you use it to introduce it! Check this out as a way to mix up your lesson plans, introduce content, and engage your students!
Explore a handful of new AI websites for teachers! Discover platforms that simplify grading, enhance learning, and can make your life easier.
What reading strategies do students need to know? Find out here and keep track with a free chart!
This post contains the animated short film "Glued." Download the accompanying handout leveled for upper elementary students to teach theme.
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.
Hi friends! A couple years ago I started to see some really fun infographic style syllabus templates on Pinterest. Some of them were editable, but required me to use Adobe type programs that #icanteven. I think someday I really need to figure it out, but I just don’t have the patience for that right now. ... Read more
Looking to develop your Canva confidence so you can create beautiful handouts, flashcards, and models for your ELA classroom? Great! Find help in this post.
Are you setting up Google Classroom for a new school year with new students? Then avoid these 5 mistakes! Discover and learn what mistakes to avoid.
How to Use Toony Tool to Create Educational Cartoons, Posters or Memes for classroom projects. This free web tool will work on Chromebooks, laptops, computers or iPads!
Make worksheets using programs you probably already have! These 6 steps will get you started creating your own resources today!
If you are looking to add a high interest activity to your lessons, try using animated shorts. These printables help students compare and contrast skills.
As summer winds down, I reflect on what I've learned this summer through the workshops I've attended, the books I've read, and all the great conversations I've had with professionals. This quote has had me thinking quite a bit. It comes from Disruptive Thinking: Why How We Read Matters by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst. What they state is absolutely true. Students need to find relevance in what they are doing right now. So let's backtrack a little... I have always been about purpose. I look at what I'm teaching and ensure that what we are doing serves a purpose. And I share that with students. Understanding why we are doing something is very important to me. Interest is also imperative. I have always tried to make sure that I am matching the books I choose to the interest of my students. Interest surveys, conversations, and book selection time have always been informative to me. But relevance. This is something much deeper. It is something you are connected to. It is something that MATTERS. Well...and when I think about it...do I really read anything that isn't relevant to me? Nope. Not really. So what do I do now? I've been thinking a lot about it and my first step is to just ask my first graders. What issues or problems matter to you? So I added it to my interest survey (click to grab for free): From there...I will need to get creative. They are new readers. And some of them may share some big issues and some students may not. But I need to be prepared to help them make connections to what matters to them and the books we are reading. And I am up for the challenge because Beers and Probst state that: "If they are to undertake anything significant in the future, it will be because they have learned the importance of significant work early on in their schooling." This statement says a lot. We need our students out there doing significant work. We need them to have a voice. So we need to help them find that voice...even at a young age. Em
We all know and love Kahoot, right? If you do not know about Kahoot then we have a few blog posts with tips and ideas to get you up to sp...
Find short stories difficult to teach? Here are five of my favourites that your students will love to analyze. A free lesson plan will be available, too!
If you are looking to add some high interest activities for teaching characters and settings, try using the animated short Geri’s Game.
Have you ever had a class with so many difficult, disruptive students that you felt that you could barely even teach? What can you do to get past it? In this post, I am going to address this problem with my best advice, and some advice from others as well.
How to Use Your Phone as a Presentation Remote. Control your Google Slides™ presentation, PowerPoint presentation, Prezi presentation, etc. straight from your phone!
I'm glad you asked! Talkify is an interactive resource from ABCYa.com that is my new favorite tool for my non-readers.
What they don't teach us in education courses is just how freaking much students talk, and how hard it can be to quiet them down. Help is on the way.
Our free digital escape rooms for kids and adults will keep you busy at home for a long time! It's a great family activity to work as a team!
Check out this list of over 85 Apps that Integrate with Google Classroom! Did you know that Google Classroom plays well with others? Yep! Google is known for making their applications open to working with third-party applications, and Google Classroom is no exception.
Top 5 apps for teacher productivity: Use these tools to save time and energy with decision-making, lesson-planning, and prepping!
Easy to follow tips and tricks for implementing escape rooms in the classroom, plus a free escape room to try with your class!
Alright, it's mid-July! I know you are thinking about back to school time. You can't go shopping without seeing school supplies on sale or displays of new shoes and clothing, and I know you are getting excited. It's a fun time of year, isn't it? But... it's also stressful. You have ten tons to
| The 21st Century
Empathy is a critical skill for kids to develop and one of the hallmarks of emotional healing as detailed in the Grand Feelings Exit Plan (Signs of Emotional Health). The Empathy Map is a great way to get kids thinking about and understanding empathy for others. It is adapted from a business setting where it is used to understand clients but works great with kids. Here’s What You Need A large sheet of paper or a board. Markers. Sticky notes. Pen/Pencil Here’s How To Set Up the Empathy Map (as shown above) Title the page “Empathy Map.” Underneath the title write the word “Issue” Draw a large box taking up the page underneath. In the middle of the box, draw a face or a picture of a person. Draw a large circle around the person leaving pace between the circle and the box as well as the circle and the drawing of the face/person. Draw six straight(ish) lines out from the picture in the middle of the circle to the box leaving six spaces inside and outside the circle. Label the six spaces (either inside or outside the circle) as follows: Hearing, Thinking, Seeing, Saying, Doing and Feeling. Label the area inside the circle “Our Expectations” and outside the circle “Reality.” How to Use the Empathy Map Start by determining the situation or issue. Write it on a post-it note and stick it next to the word issue. The issue can be something the young person is currently going through or a hypothetical situation. In this instance, our issue for the map show was “My best friend yelled at me and called me a jerk!” Starting on the inside of the circle, use post-it notes to identify what we might hear, think, see, say and do when faced for the issue. In this example, we heard “Mean words,” “Rumors” and a bad tone. We felt “Anger,” “Resentment” and “Jealousy.” We could react saying things like “Go Away” or a “I hate you.” In this part of the exercise, the point it to identify actual thoughts, actions and feelings (expressed or unexpressed). There are no right answers and we are not searching for how we should respond. Once the inside of the circle is done, work through the outside going through each of the six sections again and focusing on what the person identified in the issue might be hearing, thinking, seeing, saying, doing and feeling. In this example, we wondered if maybe our friend was hearing her “Dad yell at her” and taking that out on us. Perhaps she was feeling “Emptiness” or “Hurt.” perhaps what she is trying to say is “Can someone listen to me,” “Please talk to me,” or “Please love me.” As you talk through the items on the outside of the circle, ask the child(ren) how thinking about what the person is going through or experiencing changes their outlook on the situation and how it might change how they react. For more awesome resources for learning about and dealing with emotions, please visit our Hope 4 Hurting Kids Emotions Help Center.
