Valentine’s Day Activities for Kids Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and if you’re like me, you can’t wait to do all the heart-themed activities! If you know me, you know I’m a big fan of easy, low-prep, and hands-on activities. So, to help you out this February, I compiled a list of a few of my favorite Valentine’s Day activities for kids that are up to my standards! 3 Valentine’s Day Activities for Kids 1. Candy Heart Towers This game/STEM activity is SO simple, and all you need are some of those jumbo sized candy hearts! (You can do them with small ones, too, but I personally prefer…
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The Best and Most Practical Ideas for Task and Flash Card Organization
Task cards and flash cards are classroom staples for pretty much every teacher! They are so versatile, and can be used in so many different activities! But, as your collection grows, it can be difficult to keep them organized in a convenient way. If you’re a card-collecting queen (or king!) like me, then these ideas for task card and flash card organization might be helpful to you! Here are some helpful teacher hacks for making sure your task card and flash card sets stay organized! Hack #1: Mark the back of task card sets to keep them separated. Sometimes, an activity calls for multiple copies of the same set of…
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This is One of My Favorite Games for the Classroom
Are you looking for fun, versatile games for the classroom? I know I always am! My favorite thing ever is taking a super simple, low-prep game and turning it into something educational. The BEST games are ones that can be easily adapted to use for any subject. Today I wanted to share with you one of my favorite, versatile games for the classroom… Musical chairs! Yes! Musical chairs! Everyone knows how to play it, it’s SO low-prep (just need some chairs, music, and a worksheet). And the best part is you can play this game in ANY subject! I obviously used it in math, but since it’s a game that’s…
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How to Use Math Stories to Improve Your Daily Instruction
Do you use math stories in your instruction? We all know the importance of reading for our students. Obviously, teachers spend a lot of time reading in subjects like language arts, and even social studies – but math is probably the most challenging subject when it comes to integrating reading. However, it isn’t impossible! One of my favorite ways to integrate reading with math is through the use of math stories. There are so many amazing math story books out there already, or you can always write your own! (Or have your students write some). If this is something that interests you, keep reading for some ideas for using math…
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How to R.E.S.E.T. Your School Year with These 5 Teacher Tips
Teacher Tips for the New Year Happy January! I absolutely love the start of a brand new year. Crisp new planners, fresh goals, and good intentions are my jam. The thing I don’t like about the new year though? The fact that these “good intentions” only last about a week…and then we settle right back into our old routines. I personally believe the reason this happens so often is due to not have an actionable plan. People make their “resolutions” based off things they want to accomplish, but then don’t ever take the time to think about how they are going to accomplish it! The “how” is the most important…
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10 of the Best Elementary Math Ideas and Activities
Brilliant Elementary Math Ideas Are you on teacher Instagram? If not, you should be! Instagram is one of my favorite ways to find amazing ideas for teaching elementary math. When you connect with hundreds (or thousands) of teachers across the globe, you learn so much! Today, I wanted to share some of the most GENIUS elementary teaching tips and ideas for math that I’ve found on Instagram. If you like the ideas, too, then click the links for each one and give them a follow! 1. Teaching Times Tables I love this tip from @perfectforprimary! Instead of teaching times tables in order from 1-12, she teaches them in a more…
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How to Use Math Bingo to Engage and Improve Understanding
Using Math Bingo in the Classroom I don’t know about you, but my students always went crazy over bingo! It’s such a simple game, but what can I say? They loved it. Bingo was a regular go-to to help review educational concepts, or just for fun during holidays are class parties! I especially loved using math bingo to support my students in math. Obviously, bingo is a fun game – but can it really be all that educational? Or is it all just fluff? Personally, I believe that bingo can be an incredibly rigorous activity – as long as it’s used correctly! Let’s explore how we can use bingo in…
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This is One of My Favorite Christmas STEM Activities!
Christmas STEM Activities ‘Tis the season, friends! Christmas is my favorite time of the year. Because of this, I often go a little crazy in my classroom at Christmastime. I’m a huge fan of seasonal and holiday-themed activities. Last year, I shared some Christmas STEM activities and science experiments, including one of my favorites – a jingle bell maze! This particular activity is so elaborate that I felt it needed it’s own dedicated blog post! So, today I’m going to walk you step-by-step through the process of having your students create their very own jingle bell maze. Jingle Bell Maze Teacher Prep Before you start, you’ll need to have all…
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This Is the Organized Teacher’s Secret Weapon
Want to be a more organized teacher? Hands down, one of my top strengths as a teacher is classroom organization. I had to get pretty creative with my organization systems, because I had a really tiny classroom! On top of that, our school was inside a church building, and we had to break down our rooms every Wednesday and Friday so they could use the rooms for church. Even for a pretty organized teacher, this was a challenge! Hands-down, one of my absolute favorite organization tools for the classroom was my 3-tiered rolling cart. Not only is it functional, it’s super stylish, too! These days, many teachers have (at least)…
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How to Use Cups to Make Fun Math Activities
Fun Math Activities with Cups There are so many great math activities out there for students. Between Amazon, the Target Dollar Spot, and your local teacher store, it isn’t hard to spend a few hundred bucks on math games and activities for your students. Unfortunately, our teacher salary doesn’t exactly give us the flexibility to drop that kind of cash…so, finding budget-friendly solutions for fun math activities is important! Fortunately, there are many activities you can make yourself for a fraction of the cost of a store-bought equivalent! I call these “math DIYs.” Previously, I shared some activities that you can make out of paper plates. Today, I want to…
