Should Your Students Memorize the Multiplication Facts? That is the question that many teachers and parents ask every year. I am a firm believer that students should know their multiplication facts but I am also adamant that repeated multiplication drills are not the way to do it. It is very helpful to know the multiplication facts…
Using a student planner has many benefits. Do you want to help your students work on their organization skills and at the same time open up communication with families? I have the answer for you… a STUDENT PLANNER Over the years I have always had my students use a planner, daily, and I have notice…
Are you looking for some addition and subtraction practice pages? I love using the holidays as a way to engage students in practicing their math skills. Halloween is my favourite holiday so of course I want to bring it into the classroom.These printable Halloween worksheets allow students to practice 4-digit addition and subtraction skills and…
Oil Pastel Art lessons for 3rd- 6th Grade Oil pastels are one of the art supplies I love using to teach students about blending colors. They also make excellent supplies for printmaking. If you get a good quality oil pastel, that does not dry too quickly, your students can be in awe when they transfer…
Making Student partner groups Putting students into groups or partners can be a tricky thing. We all know that who a student works with makes all the difference in how successful an activity will be. Many times teachers (and I was/am guilty of this too) put students together based on abilities. The students know who is…
Growth Mindset Lessons As soon as I read After the Fall by Dan Santat I knew that I wanted to use it in my classroom. Besides the amazing illustrations, it has an incredible growth mindset message. I have tried many different behaviour management and self-regulation methods in my classroom over the years. I have seen…
Are you looking for new read Alouds for your Grade 3 or 4 Classroom? Whether it is on Instagram, Facebook, or in the school, I am always hearing the question “What book should I read to my class next?” I decided I would let you know which read alouds my 3rd and 4th grade students…
Are you looking for an eye catching display for St. Patrick’s Day? This St. Patrick’s Day art and writing project will have everyone stopping to take a look. This project is also a great way to get your students reflecting on their life and all they have to be lucky for. You will need at…
Are you looking for FREE ways to engage your students at the beginning of the school year? Some much is going on at the beginning of a new school year. Setting up routines, going over expectations, gathering information, and so much more. All of these bring moments where you need to have your students working…
Are you wanting to add physical health to your distance learning plans? With so many students spending so much time on the computer as part of their at home learning, it is important to motivate them to keep being active. This was my answer. I will let students choose what they want to do everyday…
For years I struggled to organize my listening to reading materials. I never remembered to change out the books. Books and cd players were getting wrecked. Students had to listen to the same books over and over again because I didn’t have many books. It took a few years of struggle and many organizational tries…
Ready to Go Christmas Multiplication Activities Those crazy weeks before the Christmas break are upon us and if you are like me you are trying to find activities that will hold your students interest. Multiplication facts are a skill that students will need to practice over and over again. I try to bring practice pages…
Are your students too old for the traditional desk plate name tags? I want my students to have name tags but they feel that the ones with the number lines and other reference items are too young for them. Because of this I have my students design their own name tag. By having them design…
Are you looking for an engaging multiplication activities to practice facts with? I bet your students love sharks as much as mine do! I have combined sharks and multiplication to create a fun, FREE way for my students to practice their multiplication facts and I am sharing it with you. Students learn multiplication facts quicker…
I have read a lot of research articles about the importance of teaching students the ins and outs of syllables and I could bore you with all the technical mumbo jumbo, but I won’t. I will let you know the highlights of my research (and 14 years of teaching) and do so in easy to…
Do you have a class that needs differentiated St. Patrick’s Day activities? All your students can be working on alphabetical order with these St. Patrick’s Day alphabetical order pages. They are differentiated to help with students who need extra time to complete an activity. The pages look similar, one just has fewer words. There are…
Have you been wanting to do a Halloween (or fall) art project with your class but still want to incorporate some art elements? Are you wanting a Halloween bulletin board that is not just a cut and paste craft? I’ve got you covered. We have been working on blending colors during art. We’ve blended different…
To start Reading off this year we are focusing on learning the Reading Power strategies.If you haven’t heard about Reading Power by Adrienne Gear (Note: All book links are aff. links) it is a must for anyone teaching reading. We have started by learning about how to make connections to what is being read. The…
I love changing up my Math centers to match the upcoming holidays. Even though students are practice skills they are familiar with, there is something about a holiday themed center that instantly gets them engaged. I recently completed math centers for multi-digit multiplication that will be part of my math centers this week. I (like…
It feels like Valentine’s Day has snuck up on me this year. These last few days all I have done is shovel snow and haven’t had time to think about planning Valentine’s Day. I am glad I have my Valentine cards already printed. I just have to cut them out and label. Oh yah….and buy…
I have been doing a lot of updating of products lately. I have added more engaging, interactive activities that I have tried in the classroom and are student approved. One of my favorite updates has been to my Homophones unit !It went from being boring worksheets to engaging activities and literacy centers. Here is a…
I LOVE Halloween time! There are so many wonderful, descriptive words that go with Halloween which leads to many literacy activities. If you have a class that you have to differentiate work for, these FREE alphabetical order pages will be perfect. They look similar, and have most of the words the same. The difference is…
Most years we don’t really celebrate New Years in school because we usually go back to school around January 9th. This year we go back on the 3rd so we will get to do some New Years activities!!! I just updated my mystery grid activity for 2017 so that will be an activity we will…
A couple weeks ago I was looking for a quick art project for my class to complete. I cannot remember where I saw a picture of a winter scene done on black paper with chalk, but it was likely Pinterest. After searching town for white chalk (our school only had yellow) and finding some, I…
Hi All, I have this 15 minute block of time, once a week, first thing int he morning before we go to PE that I have to fill. I usually have my students do some morning work activity. Most times it is Math or Language Arts but it ALWAYS has to be independent work, as…
Here is a quick freebie for you. I always want to set expectations at the beginning of the year for how I want students to answer questions. Since I teach grade 4/5 I don’t want just one word answers (unless it is an adaptation for a student) but rather more in depth answers that have…
I am always looking for new ways to dismiss my class. Whether we are going from the carpet area back to our desks or from our desks to the carpet area or from either place to the door, I don’t want my students rushing in a big mob to where they are asked to go….
I know Christmas is over but I wanted to share a last minute art project we completed where my students exceeded all my expectations. Let me set the scene first…. It is the day before the Christmas concert (3 days before winter break) and my kiddos are WILD. I needed some filler activities because there…
Mother’s Day is this Sunday and we have been working on finishing our Mother’s Day Gifts. There has been a lot going on at our school this year so I didn’t want to go with my usual Mother’s Day gift ideas because they require quite a bit of prep beforehand. While I was shopping at…
I am super excited to announce that I have been included in this years Winter Ebook for Grades 3-5!!!!! All of the Ebooks are amazing and it is hard to get a spot in them so when I found out my page was going to be included I was ecstatic. Click on the picture to…
Well we have been hit hard by Mother Nature these last couple of days. We had no snow (usually it snows at the beginning of November) and I was beginning to wonder what Christmas was going to look like when … WHAM! We got a ton. We had so much snow at once that Thursday…
Well it finally feels like we are in the swing of things at school. Everything is behind because of our late start so it is weird that we only have a few CAFE strategies done. Here is an update on our most recent activities. We had a Seusstastic time with our Tune in to…
We are still not back into our classrooms. I just finished my 5th week (2 in June, 1 in August, 2 in September) on the picket line 🙁 Since we are not back at work I have had extra time to get things ready. Well what I can do with the stuff I have at…
I know we all have those students who chronically do not finish their work and if you are teaching in a school like me, inevitably there will be students who will not do homework or who will not bring it back. A few years ago I really needed a solution to organizing all of the…
We just finished our animal unit in Science and I used a little fox to help me! I saw the book What Does The Fox Say a while back and bought it immediately because I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. We had a day where we revisited What Does The Fox…
Yay another Bright Ideas Blog Hop. I love them greatly !! I have gotten so many great ideas from them each time. For this month I thought I would share with you all how I motivate my students to track while they are reading. During my guided reading groups I felt like a broken record…
