Having a “Gingerbread Day” is a great way to build excitement while incorporating cross-curricular activities. Here are some activities you can do with your elementary students that cover various subjects while also being standards-based, rigorous and meaningful, and fun!
November is a busy month! With holiday excitement in the air, you probably want to incorporate both fun and meaningful Thanksgiving resources to keep your kids engaged in learning. Here are my Top Five Thanksgiving Themed Teaching Resources that your students will love. 1. Virtual Field Trips Virtual Field Trips are a great way to celebrate the season while learning important social studies topics and practicing key skills. I have
November is National Native American History Month. Here are recommendations for some of my favorite picture books on Indigenous peoples in North America.
During remote learning, many teachers used the digital format of my escape rooms to supplement learning and skill-focused review. But with schools being fully reopened, some teachers wonder whether the printable format of these resources can work in a more traditional classroom setting. The good news is that my Escape Rooms are dynamic and engaging whether you use the digital or printable version. I designed my Escape Rooms to be
Most teachers administer large assessments at the beginning of the year for a baseline. Districts give standardized tests toward the end of the year to measure student progress. As a classroom teacher, I always felt that a mid-year assessment was the most important evaluation tool for checking my students’ progress. The mid-year benchmark assessment tells teachers what skills the students have mastered, and which ones still need to be taught
Mentor texts can be a powerful cross-curricular teaching tool to engage students in reading while teaching them about the world around them. Mentor texts can empower students to learn about different people, cultures, or topics they might not otherwise experience. They can also teach students to empathize with others. This is why I created mentor text units. They are designed to help students think critically about the world while actively
Whether you use Seesaw regularly or are new to the platform, sharing a purchased resource may get a little confusing. Here’s a step by step on how to get it done. Purchasing a Resource for Seesaw Before you purchase a resource for use in Seesaw, make sure you have an account in the platform. Each purchased resource is already part of the seller’s Seesaw Activity Library under their own Seesaw
Getting a good substitute teacher is hard. And getting a good sub to come back can be even more difficult – especially with the COVID-19 pandemic. But there are things you can do to increase the likelihood that your sub will be successful, which will make you, your students, and the sub happy. Best of all, the sub will want to come back next time you need one – which
Most primary teachers know and utilize guided reading in their classrooms on a regular basis; however, in my experience, upper elementary teachers didn’t always see the value or find the time to implement this important practice into their own routines. Who can blame them? With standardized testing and demands from administration, it is hard to weed through the requirements to determine how to best use your time and resources to
Teaching Guided Reading Guided reading: You either love it and teach it with fidelity, or you find it a waste of time. No matter what you think of it, the reality is guided reading time is incredibly valuable, and you should protect this chunk of time each day. Here are a few strategies that will help you get the most out of your guided reading instruction. What is Guided Reading
