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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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 think that Halloween is my favorite holiday to decorate my classroom for. This week we finished our Halloween cats and I put them on the bulletin board in the hallway. I may be bias but I think it turned out pretty good. Usually I have a flat tree but this year I wanted to…
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…
My class had a blast making these positive negative jack o’ lanterns for our Halloween art project. These are pretty easy to make if you want simple jack o’lanterns but become a little more complicated the more detailed it is. To make these students get a full sheet of black construction paper and half a…
My class had a blast making these positive negative jack o’ lanterns for our Halloween art project. These are pretty easy to make if you want simple jack o’lanterns but become a little more complicated the more detailed it is. To make these students get a full sheet of black construction paper and half a…
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…
It has been quite a while since I posted on my blog. Yikes….I feel like I am neglecting my baby. Okay what I have I been up to that has kept me from blogging… Graduating !!!!! I went to Spokane and walked across the stage at Gonzaga university for my Masters in Administration and Leadership….
Yay it is sale time again!!! Now I can get the rest of the stuff on my wishlist 🙂 Here is a quick shout out the Zip-a-dee-doo-dah Designs for their great sale graphics. Trust me when I say if you haven’t discovered her clip art you are missing out. Click on the picture to discover…
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…
Back to work today and focused on Easter. It is weird to me how our Spring Break doesn‘t run into Easter as we just got back from a week off and now we have 2 short weeks in a row. If you are planning like I am check out the Easter items in my TpT…
Wow I just realized how long it has been since I posted on my blog. As usual life is crazy right now with finishing my masters degree. My first ahhhh date is April 8th because my action research is due on April 7th and then all I have to worry about is my course work….
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…
