Math is so much easier to teach (and to learn) when you have resources to use. I am a firm believer that learning math is best done with hands on activities and lessons, rather than just doing worksheets. Don’t get me wrong, I think worksheets provide valuable practice but there has to be more than…
Do you search for a teacher planner every year? I don’t. Well let me start by saying I use to but then I stopped. Year after year, I would hunt for the perfect planner to use as my day book and year after year I would spend way too much time filling it out. I…
I am a firm believer that EVERY classroom should have a day plan posted on the board. It helps everyone know what is going on and what is coming up next. Student anxiety can lower when they have a predictable day. Before I started putting a day schedule on the board students were constantly asking…
Helping Your Students to Connect The first few days back to school can be a difficult time getting students talking in front of the entire class. I have worked at a few schools in my small district and I saw the same thing happening each year. Students tend to need some coaxing to take to…
Are you starting to plan for Back to School? The summer is the time that I start getting organized for the upcoming school year. The very first thing I do is print off a school year calendar and start planning when I will teach what, based on the school year events/holidays. There are definitely some…
Why Attendance Time is Our Most Valuable Time Taking attendance is a valuable part of my day and it is something that students look forward to. In my classroom we go beyond just having students respond with “Here” and we use this time as a way to build classroom connections. Everyday an attendance question is…
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…
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…
How do I start getting ready for Back to School? The summer is the time that I start getting organized for the upcoming school year. The very first thing I do is print off a school year calendar and start planning when I will teach what, based on the school year events/holidays. There are definitely…
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…
This year I noticed that many of my students were using a lot of negative self talk and that they were giving up on a task before they even started. Something needed to be done about this so I did some research on Growth Mind Set and decided that this is exactly what my students…
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…
I beg you to STOP buying those tissue paper flowers. Yes, you can buy them everywhere and they are convenient to throw in your shopping cart, but please, please, PLEASE stop. They are super easy and cheap to make. I am going to show you how you can make your own and in any colors/patterns…
It has been WAY too long since I posted last. I will be teaching at a new school next year that will be way less stressful and time consuming and one of the things that I am going to make a priority is my blog. I feel I have been neglecting it for the past…
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…
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….
Hi All, Just a quick post here today. I am off to work to get things ready for next week but I thought I would post one of my classes favorite place value review activities. Who doesn’t love Duck Dynasty? Students play concentration/memory with the cards to match the standard form of a number to…
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…
Every year I have my students use a planner no matter what grade I teach. Planners help students start working on their organizational skills and is great for school-home communications. I was going to show you the editable planner I made for this year with pictures but I thought I would try something new and…
I feel like I was very productive today because I got a lot of little things crossed off my to do list. That is always a great feeling. I still don’t know what I will be teaching so I can continue with getting those things done that aren’t planning for a specific grade. The first…
Today I tackled my filing cabinet. I call it “tackled” because it was a DISASTER. There was still stuff in there from the previous teacher and I just grabbed my files out of boxes and shoved them in the drawers the night before school started last year. EVERYTHING was mixed together and every time I…
This year is a little different for me because I currently hold a Grade 2 position at my school but I want the Grade 4/5 position at my school that will be coming up soon. Long story short — the way postings are done in my district I can no longer just internally transfer into…
Ahhh summer time. I always have such a big to do list in the summer and I never get to everything I want to do. This year may be different! To start I have made a goal to do all of Farley’s Currently posts! Here is the first one 🙂 Listening: My new favourite song…
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…
