The beginning of the year is a crucial time to set expectations, develop relationships, and set the stage to grow a caring classroom community. One of my favorite ways to do this is through classroom read aloud books and discussions. These read aloud books can be sprinkled into your regular reading and social studies lessons to serve a double purpose! These are my seven favorite back to school read aloud
Behavior clip charts have been a staple in many classrooms as the primary behavior management tool for years. In my early days as a substitute teacher, I remember how helpful behavior charts were for me to manage behaviors as a guest teacher. However, early in my teaching career, I learned how harmful it is to use behavior clip charts. In this post, I talk about the reasons why behavior clip
Data Binders are a great way to incorporate student accountability and independence. In this post, I’m going to cover how to set up the Teacher Data Binder. I’ll keep this short and sweet because the majority of the data binder setup should be on the student side. After all, the goal is to get students involved so they are accountable and have ownership over their learning! You can read more
Teachers, you have enough on your plates! Why not hand off all you can to your students to promote independence?! Student data binders are a key tool that I used throughout my years of teaching to promote student success, accountability, and independence. In this post, I’m going to show you how to set up your student data binders. I know firsthand that the thought of teaching your students to track
Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint, the choice is yours except when it’s not. Different school districts use different platforms, and various Learning Management Systems can be more compatible with one or the other, and sometimes both. The good news is both PowerPoint and Google Slides are interchangeable with just a few clicks! You can either upload a PowerPoint to create a SlideShow or download a SlideShow to create a PowerPoint
Classroom Management Tips for Post-COVID Back to School With the ongoing challenges of COVID, classroom management will be much different than in previous years. Dealing with the challenges of returning back to school during a pandemic has its own challenges, but it is also important to consider ways you can set your students up for success when it comes to behavior during this challenging school year. Here are some classroom
Science can be a difficult subject to teach remotely. Students learn best from hands-on inquiry experiences with investigations, explorations, and experiments. Even though distance learning poses challenges for teaching science effectively, I have some suggestions to help you navigate these challenges and successfully teach science while distance learning. Introducing Science Concepts Virtually When you are teaching science, begin with activating schema. If you are distance learning, you can activate schema
Teachers heading back to school this year are facing more uncertainty than nearly any back to school time in history. Will school start with distance learning? Will we start with classroom learning then be forced to go back to distance learning? Not being able to predict what this year will look like is hard for students, teachers, and parents. But, it is especially hard on teachers who are trying to
As federal, state, and local governments around the country grapple with balancing the risks associated with COVID-19 and the start of the 2020-2021 school year, one thing remains clear. Classroom learning, no matter how it is implemented, will pose an increased infection risk to teachers, students, and their immediate families. In this post, I’m sharing a few ideas and resources that teachers can use to help alleviate the risks.
There are countless ways to reflect on a great read while simultaneously extending learning. Here are some ways to spruce up the old school book reports, even when your students are learning from home.
