Valentine’s Day is one of the most exciting holidays for elementary-aged students. Who doesn’t love all of the thoughtful cards and delicious sweets? Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to harness this excitement and do a variety of meaningful and exciting activities. Here are my top four Valentine’s Day teaching ideas and resources. Valentine’s Day Teaching Idea #1: Virtual Field Trip to Rome Take your students to Rome to learn
Groundhog Day is one of those fun holidays that teachers can easily create engaging cross-curricular lessons around to make a fun day of learning. Here are four ideas for teaching about Groundhog Day and incorporating Groundhog Day into your lessons on February 2nd. 1. Take a Virtual Field Trip to Punxsutawny, Pennsylvania for Groundhog Day What could be a better way to introduce your students to this celebration when you
Why Should I Embrace Black History Month in My Classroom? Incorporating Black History Month into the classroom can be a controversial topic. Some teachers believe that a specific focus on a minority culture is unnecessary because diversity should be incorporated throughout the year. Others, whether intentionally or unintentionally, choose to avoid incorporating diversity altogether. In this post, I talk about my own journey to understanding the importance of incorporating Black
Analyzing the theme of a story is a higher-level skill that requires critical thinking. The theme of a story is the lesson or message we can learn and apply to our own lives. Typically, themes are not stated explicitly. Readers have to analyze how the character responds to the plot events to determine what the character learned. Readers then generalize this lesson to determine how they can apply it to
Juneteenth is a holiday that celebrates the emancipation of previously enslaved Americans. It is important that we teach about the historical and modern significance of the Juneteenth holiday. In this post, I share some ideas and resources for incorporating lessons and stories about Juneteeth into your classroom. *As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Why Is Teaching about Juneteenth Important? To be honest, I didn’t know about this
Ensuring all students are accepted and proud of who they are is important to the growth and development of children. Unfortunately, LGBTQ+ rights are still controversial in many areas of the country. It is much easier to ignore these issues than to face the controversy and address them. But the fact of the matter is, for change to happen, for the suicide rates of LGBTQ+ children to decrease and for
When it comes to Pride and LGBTQ+ inclusion, many teachers can feel uncomfortable teaching about these topics in the classroom. Many believe we should not be teaching our children about “sex” in schools. However, gender identity and relationships are an important part of who we are as humans. In order to make our world a more accepting place and help fight discrimination, we must be inclusive of all family structures
Research shows that during summer break, 3rd to 5th graders lost an average of about 20% of their reading gains and 27% of their math gains. But with the right guidance, students can stay engaged in learning during the summer break and significantly improve retention and future success.
There are many different resources you can use to teach about Memorial Day. Here are some ideas for teaching elementary students about Memorial Day.
Students are antsy, teachers are tired, and everyone is looking forward to the end of the school year. Summer vacation can’t come fast enough, but you still have a few weeks (or maybe even months?) of school left. What can you do to keep your students engaged in meaningful activities while saving you prep time? Here are three ideas on how to make end of the year review effective, fun,
