Teach the kids about David and Goliath in this family night lesson prepared by Adelle. They need to know they're strong, no matter their size!
I created this culture jars art lesson for an Art and World Cultures class, and continue to use it in art classes because it is so well received. The word
An object lesson is a surefire way to grab the attention of everyone involved. Here's 21 LDS object lesson ideas that will help you out.
Catholic Mass Lesson Ideas: Five activities about lessons, games, and activities that can be used to teach students and kids about the Catholic Mass.
Who doesn’t love music and what all it represents? And as you all already know it is said that having a musical education can help your brain to develop stronger in other educational areas as…
Try these middle school drama lessons and ideas.
Get your students thinking like a historian from the get-go with these tips and ideas for your first Social Studies lesson of the year.
Use this collection of Paul Klee teaching resources and complete Klee Famous Artist Unit lesson plans to teach elementary art class.
Past, present, and future.
So, yesterday I showed you how I got my angle studies kicked off with my students–how I solidified understanding of “right angle”. We had lots left to accomplish–so I’ll try to share some of the different lessons and activities we did over the next days! Tip 1: If you can get your hands on thin […]
Grade 3 science lessons and ideas for teachers... especially in BC! These lessons, ideas, projects, experiments, and inquiry, cover all topics and will have you ready to teach science to students in third grade.
Teaching kids about our world, geography, maps, and more. Kindergarten Social Studies Lessons made easy #kindergarten #socialstudies
The kids will have a blast and learn such a powerful lesson with this "Making Good Choices Object Lesson & Family Discussion Outline." Such a cool idea!!
Learn how to practice rhythms with this budget-friendly and fun rhythm game in your elementary music classroom.
Simple mental health lessons for kids, like this activity, leave even young children with something to think about in their daily lives.
Learn 5 engaging states of matter hands on experiments and activities to teach grade 4 5 6 students in your classroom.
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
Teaching growth mindset can be done with read-alouds! Rosie's Glasses is a great book for this. Get ideas for using this book to teach being positive.
Teach children art history through a variety of fun art projects and lessons. We love using artists as inspiration for our own creations.
Tiny Sewists - Teaching kids to sew
Kick-start your leadership class or student council group with these must-do activities that will set your whole year up for success.
This origami Bible craft is super easy to make - your kids will have a blast coloring it and seeing what Bible verse they can bless their friends with!
It's so important that you are teaching about variables when you teach the scientific method. This post gives you ideas to help your students get started!
5 easy first piano lessons that you can do at home with your child, to introduce them to the piano, and build a strong foundation to learn the instrument.
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).
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
Do you teach elementary music to fifth graders? Are you struggling to teach fifth graders? Here are some tips and tricks to help you out!
Need some guidance for teaching preschool Spanish? You’re in the right place! Young children are the perfect age to soak up a new language. I'm currently raising my own three kids bilingually, and have taught classes to this age group as well. It's never too late to start, and 3-5 year olds are really fun to teach! In this post I've compiled my favorited strategies for you. To get started in learning Spanish together, you Can Do three things: 1. Outline some beginning topics. You can create your own list, with common preschool topics (think numbers, colors, greetings, etc.)Take a
Check out these gorgeous Romero Britto inspired art activities...
Growth Mindset: The Power of Yet Recently my 1st grade classroom has morphed into a K/1 combination classroom and then resulted in HUGE gaps (academically, socially, & emotionally) between my s…
Hands-on learning is incredibly important for kids. There are a million reasons why! Today I am highlighting more than 60 elementary hands-on math teaching ideas that I have featured over the years on my site.
The Kindergarten artists and PreKinders also created some artwork inspired by Mondrian. The PreKinders glued down black lines creating squares and rectangles they then colored some of their shapes …
Students can travel across the globe without leaving the classroom. Check out these fun geography lessons for any grade and curriculum.
First piano lessons- easiest way to learn the notes is a fun animal memory game that teaches the names and positions of notes that Kids love!
We've been excited about sharing all of the fabulous and free creation crafts that are perfect for teaching about our amazing creator! Grab our Creation Craft Globe for kids!
Super fun project for your Pre-k, Kindergarteners, and even 1st Graders. Your students will have so much fun mixing colors, whether they are just learning about color, or revisiting color mixing. This project is very versatile and can be created using a variety of mediums such as watercolor paint, t...
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has been found to promote academic success and increase students' commitment to school. Generally, there are five key components that make up social emotional learning. These competencies include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and decision making. Today, I'd like to focus on ways to help students develop self-awareness. Self-awareness includes one's ability to recognize emotions, have an accurate self-perception, identify strengths, develop confidence, and show self-efficacy. Researchers have found that a student's ability to control his or her feelings, thoughts, and behaviors can be linked to academic success. So, let's take a look at some easy ways to help students develop an awareness of their individual characteristics and personal emotions. All About Me - A - Z This activity helps students to define and identify a variety of aspects about themselves. They'll create a list about themselves with a characteristic, quality, or emotion for each letter of the alphabet. Materials: Piece of paper, pen or pencil Directions: - On a piece of paper, have students create two columns. (Or grab a ready-made poster here.) - Have them write all the letters of the alphabet in each column. - Then, challenge them to write something about themselves for each letter. For instance, they might write "gregarious" for G or "curious" for C. Ideas: - Share your own A to Z list with students first. - Create a class list of emotions and descriptive words to get students started. - Assemble students' finished lists in a class book. Moment of Mindfulness Mindfulness is a great way to build self-awareness. Since mindfulness is all about paying attention to the present moment, it's a great way for students to pause and reflect on how they are feeling, what they are thinking, and what they need in the present. It's simple to do too! Ways to take a moment of mindfulness: - At the beginning of class, have students close their eyes and take several deep breaths. Ask students to pay attention to their breathing. - Share a mindfulness quote with students to help focus students' thoughts during a moment of mindfulness. - Pause during instruction and have students do a self-awareness check. Encourage them to be mindful of their thoughts and feelings. Reflective Journaling Reflective journaling is a powerful way to help students become self-aware. With targeted writing prompts, students can develop insight into their feelings, make sense of their experiences, and build clarity on their thoughts. When students write about their own experiences and feelings, they become more self-aware. Materials: - A notebook and/or computer, pen or pencil, writing prompts - A list of writing prompts that spark self-reflection, these might include: --- Write about a time when you were proud of yourself. --- List ten things that make you feel excited. --- Reflect on how you have changed this year. --- What is something that you find challenging? (Check out a set of 10 engaging prompts here.) Ideas: - Have students respond to their prompts as if they are writing a letter to themselves..."Dear me..." - Read students' responses and respond to their writing in the margins. Add questions and positive notes at the end of their writing to build connections and spark further reflections. - Schedule a time each day or week for journaling to make it an intentional part of your classroom community. Growth Mindset There are many ways to help students develop a growth mindset. When students develop an understanding that all forms of intelligence are malleable, they are inspired to work toward success. That's why it is so powerful to infuse lessons about growth mindset into instruction. Giving students a moment to reflect on their own mindsets builds self-awareness. Materials: - Short lessons or articles about Growth Mindset to help students understand the differences between a fixed and growth mindset. - Series of questions about students' own mindsets. Directions: - After teaching students about Growth Mindset, have students respond to questions about their own mindsets. - Give students a chance to share their responses with a partner, small group, or the entire class. Ideas: - Share and display inspirational quotes about growth mindset. (I particularly love paper desk tents. They are an easy way to display quotes right on students' desks.) - Highlight important people who demonstrate a growth mindset. Emotions Skits Researchers have noted that there are at least six universal emotions. These include happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust. Help students investigate and demonstrate these universal emotions by challenging them to write a short play or skit that involves a character or many characters experiencing one of the universal emotions. Materials: - List of the universal emotions, paper, pen - Skit planning pages (optional) Ideas: - Review the six universal emotions with students. As a class have students brainstorm what each emotion looks like (how people look when they are experiencing that emotion) and sounds like (what people might say when experiencing that emotion). - Brainstorm situations where people might feel each emotion. Encourage students to share personal situations when they felt a certain way. - Divide students into small groups. Secretly assign each group an emotion. - Challenge students to write a script that their small group could act out for the class that demonstrates that emotion. - Have small groups perform for the class. Have the audience identify the emotion prevalent in the skit. Self Check-In Daily feelings check-ins are a great way to build self-awareness. When students are given the opportunity to assess how they are feeling and share their emotions with others, they begin to know themselves more fully. Self check-ins also help normalize feelings. Materials: - Paper with an open grid shape - List of feelings Directions: - Pass out the gridded paper to students. - Have them fill the grid with different emotions. - Then, have students display the grid on their desks. - Have them place a token or shape on the emotion that shows how they are feeling at a particular moment. Ideas: - Once students can recognize their feelings, help them to develop strategies for regulating their emotions. - Encourage students to track their feelings over an entire school day. Then, discuss how feelings change in different situations. -------------------------------------------------- I hope you've found a few ways to help students develop self-awareness. Incorporating lessons that target social emotional learning is essential in today's classrooms. If you're looking for ready-made resources, check out this set of 10 SEL reading passages and this set of 6 Self-Awareness Activities. Thanks for stopping by! Mary Beth
Easy forest school activities, done-for-you forest school lesson plans and ready-made nature curriculum: save time and teach better!
Developing empathy in children has never been more fun than with this collection of 19 simple empathy activities for kids!
Beat the overwhelm of teaching an absolute beginner with this downloadable checklist
All about Labor Day for kids: learn what is Labor Day and why is Labor Day celebrated. Get Labor Day lessons, activities and craft ideas for this important patriotic holiday to celebrate with your family or even use as lesson plans in the classroom.
