What is Guided Math? As dedicated elementary school teachers, we are constantly looking for new methods to empower our students in math and to help them build up their confidence. One effective approach that has gained widespread recognition is guided math. Guided math is a personalized instructional strategy that tailors math learning to individual student…
How I use Boom Learning with my students I use technology in both my guided reading and guided math rotations and I wanted to share with you one of the sites I use … Boom Learning. It is my students favourite site to go to because there are many options for them! They choose the…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
No matter what grades I have taught I have ALWAYS had my students write journals. Of course journals in primary grades are different that journals in intermediate grades. At the beginning of the year when I introduce journals to my intermediate students (this year grade 4/5) my students are like…”Hold on! We don’t do journals…
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…
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…
I am tres excited to introduce a project I am part of. It is the first ever TpT French Tips and Freebies Ebook. There are 21 TpT sellers who have come together to collaborate on this Ebook and I am hosting it in my store !!! Each page has a free item and a teaching…
I love introducing students to the Harris Burdick Mystery Pictures. They make awesome writing prompts and tools for inferring. After we take an in-depth look at all the pictures I always have my students choose one to write about. To start off I bring my students into the gym where I have scattered the posters…
I love introducing students to the Harris Burdick Mystery Pictures. They make awesome writing prompts and tools for inferring. After we take an in-depth look at all the pictures I always have my students choose one to write about. To start off I bring my students into the gym where I have scattered the posters…
Getting To KNow yOu Activity A fun way for students to get to know each other is to play Jenga with them. After all the games are assembled (see below) I put students in gorups of 3-4 and they get to play Jenga for about 15-20 minutes. As they pull the Jenga blocks they will…
It is always a challenge to find fun art projects for the end of the year that don’t take too long. I want my students to be able to do great art but I also want them to be able to take it home finished. This art project was perfect for the busy end of…
I thought I would share with you all one of the art projects my students had a ton of fun doing. They were super excited that they got to rip up old book pages and even one of the novels we did this year, Maniac Magee. Don’t worry the novel was already ripped and missing…
Winter Art Projects Well the last two weeks have been busy at our school with 4 days of skiing. We lucked out and had beautiful weather with around -2 degrees Celsius all days 🙂 It feels like we didn’t do much school work over these 2 weeks. During the first week skiing was Wednesday and…
I am home from work today with no voice. I guess I was talking too much during parent-teacher interviews last night. Well since I have been so busy lately and haven’t posted in a while, I thought this would be a great time to catch up. I love finding new art ideas online so I…
April is National Poetry Month so I thought I would have my first blog post of the month all about poetry. I LOVE teaching poetry in my class especially with the older grades because they are very creative and are not always reliant on templates to fill in the blank. I am kind of sad…
