New Teachers in an Elementary Classroom
As a new teacher, it’s important to have access to resources and insights that can help you navigate the challenges of our profession. Our blog posts are written by experienced educators and cover a range of topics, from classroom management to lesson planning and everything in between. Whether you’re looking for tips on engaging young learners or strategies for creating a welcoming classroom environment, our collection has something for you. Browse our posts and discover the tools you need to succeed in your role as a new teacher.
A Useful Guide To Kindergarten Assessments With A New Freebie
Unlock the full potential of your classroom with our comprehensive guide to effective kindergarten assessments. From informal oral assessments to written evaluations, explore dynamic strategies for every stage of the academic year. Dive into specialized reading and math assessments, fostering a love for learning in your young students. Enhance your tracking process with our free assessment checklists, empowering you to create a responsive and supportive learning environment.
Classroom Centers Organization and Storage Solutions That Actually Work
Classroom centers organization and storage are things you want to consider when setting up your centers. I promise it will save you a lot of time and frustration in the long run. So, what is the most useful way to store your kindergarten or first grade centers? ...
Grab the Free Download to Create a Center Rotation Chart That You’ll Love
Look at a few ways to display your center rotations and download the FREE cards to create your center rotation chart. While this was designed to go along with my City Centers System™, you can apply these ideas to any centers.
How to Get Started with Kindergarten Math Centers for a Successful Year
If you look at kindergarten math centers through a student’s eyes, you’ll see fun activities that are a nice break from learning. BUT we really know that these hands-on, engaging activities are where some of your students will learn the most.
10 More Early Finishers Activities to Keep Your Students Engaged
Every classroom has early finishers, but does every classroom have early finishers activities? Our students have different strengths and weaknesses, so naturally, they are going to work at different paces. But the question is, how do you keep those students engaged?
10 Simple Early Finishers Activities to Keep Your Students Engaged
If you spent even one day in a classroom, you know that your students have different abilities and that means they are going to work at different paces. Early finishers or fast finishers can be a real problem if you are trying to get things done, like assessments or...
Lesson Planning with Purpose Means You Can’t Ignore Learning Objectives
Lesson planning with purpose is crucial for all teachers. State mandated learning objectives serve as a framework for what students are expected to learn and what you are expected to teach in a given subject or grade level. In Texas, that means we are looking at the...
How to Organize and Store Your Standards Statements for Easy Access
Organizing your standards statements will make it so much easier to pull out your focus standards for the week, post them on the board, and keep moving through your to-do list.
5 Smarter Ways to Create a Learning Objectives Display in Your Classroom
If you’re required to have a learning objectives display to post your daily or weekly learning targets, you know how time-consuming it can be to write those out on your whiteboard. Not only does it take a lot of time, but it can also take up a lot of space!
Why You Need to Do More Than Simply Post Your Weekly Learning Objectives
Many schools or districts require that learning objectives be posted daily. This can be a time-consuming task if you are wasting your prep time handwriting these objectives on the board.
Phonics vs Phonemic Awareness and Why Both Are Important
If you went to college to become an elementary school teacher, you undoubtedly took a course or seven on reading instruction to learn about things like the alphabetic principle, phonics vs phonemic awareness, and more. Literacy Foundations, Phonological and Orthographic Principles in Reading, Literacy Assessment and Instruction, and Reading and Language Arts across the Curriculum are just a few of the required classes at my alma mater today.
Power Up Your Classroom Transitions Now: 3 Compelling Reasons to Use Math Journals
Do you know how much instruction time you lose during the day? Do you know where that time is being eaten up? Likely you are losing about five minutes every time you transition – unless you are using that time wisely. When I noticed this problem in my classroom, I quickly pivoted and found ways to make my classroom transitions more efficient.
5 Quick Tips for Setting Up Your Math Block
Math can be a challenging subject for many students, and as a teacher, it can be challenging to plan and implement a successful math block. However, with careful planning and preparation, you can create a positive and productive math block that engages your students and helps them learn.
Easily Increase Student Confidence with Daily Spiral Review
Daily spiral review is a highly effective method of reinforcing previously learned skills in students. When students practice skills repeatedly, they build automaticity and confidence in their abilities. Spiral review can be implemented in many ways, but one of the most popular approaches is through math journals.
Why You’ve Been Using Clip Cards Wrong and How to Fix It
I’m not sure how long clip cards have been around, but I would imagine they have been here a while. And I don’t think they are going anywhere. They can be versatile and academic, but did you also know they can easily be self-checking? We’ll get to that in a minute though. First, let’s talk about why you should be using clip cards in the first place.
How to Differentiate Rhyming Words Practice for Your Students
Differentiation needs to happen a lot of the time, but certainly not all of the time. There is no way you could do that for each student all day long (and if you can, let me know where you got those superpowers!) Let’s look at differentiating rhyming words practice in your classroom.
The Fundamentals of Rhyming and Why It Is Important
At the core of rhyming, students are breaking down words to find commonality in their sounds. This skill requires students to segment words and focus on each letter sound carefully. Not only does this help students read words, but it also helps them write words.
How to Start a Successful Stamping Center
A stamping center can alleviate the stress of planning ANOTHER station for your students each week and provide your students engaging, fun, and meaningful practice.
Show and Tell Lets Students Share What They Are Excited About
Show and tell is more than a fun activity for students. It provides an opportunity for the sharer to develop oral language skills and become comfortable speaking to a group which will help prepare them for presentations in the future.
11 Ways to Build a Classroom Library on a Budget
If you’re working on building up your classroom library, here are some tips to stretch your budget and fill your bookcases!
Preparing Your Substitute Teacher for a Successful Day
Imagine you are a substitute teacher. Scary, I know. There are two classroom doors in front of you. To the left is a clean, organized classroom. There is a single stack of papers on the table. Detailed lesson plans are followed by clearly marked activities for the day. To the right is a slightly disheveled classroom (that’s okay… it happens to the best of us). There are piles of paper everywhere – none clearly marked. Buried somewhere on the desk there is a single sheet of paper with the daily schedule and a few notes jotted down in the margins.