Weather Activities for Kids Spring is upon us, and it is the perfect time to teach your weather unit in science! Depending on where you live, spring likely showcases a lot of diverse weather patterns which makes this the prime time for weather observations and experiments. If you’re teaching weather right now (or about to), check out these fun weather activities for kids to really engage your students. 5 Weather Activities for Kids 1. Cloud Demonstration In this simple science experiment, students will observe what causes clouds to rain. For this activity, you will need: First, fill the jar with water. Then, top the jar off with shaving cream. The…
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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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How to Teach Money Using Games and Activities
How to Teach Money Money is one of my absolute favorite units to teach because it is so real life. That was a weird sentence, but you know what I mean? Everyone uses money. Kids are fascinated by money. There are so many real-world experiences we can create for our students when teaching money. Counting coins, making change, adding money – these are all super practical skills that we use every single day and the best part is students KNOW they will use these skills. The buy in is already there! As teachers, we just need to make sure we keep it interesting. Today, I’m sharing how to teach money…
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My Favorite Activities for Community Building in the Classroom (+ FREEBIES)
Community Building in the Classroom Having a strong classroom community is arguably the most important aspect of teaching. Our classroom community is what makes students feel welcome and comfortable when they’re at school. Community building in the classroom is something I am super passionate about, so today I’m sharing with you my favorite activities to build a strong classroom community! Classroom Community Building Why build a strong classroom community? Our students spend approximately 40 hours a week in our classroom – equivalent to the amount of time adults spend at their full time job. Think about it. Would you like to work in an environment where your coworkers don’t really…
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Meaningful Goal Setting for Students for the New Year
Happy New Year! Do you have your New Year’s resolutions yet? Or have you already given up on them? It happens! However, I still believe that setting goals for the New Year can be a GREAT thing when done correctly. The new year provides new opportunities for growth and a fresh start. This goes for our students, as well. If you’ve never had your students think about their resolutions before, check out these tips for goal setting for students. Brainstorm Possible Goals The first step students (or anyone) should take in setting meaningful goals is to brainstorm areas of improvement. Before having your students write out their goals, allow them…
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How To Win Parent Communication For Teachers
Parent Communication for Teachers Ah, parent communication. In my opinion, this is one of the most stressful parts of being a teacher, but also one of the most important! Having strong parent relationships is SO valuable and make a world of difference in your school year. Because I believe so strongly in this, I’m sharing some of my best tips on parent communication for teachers. There are many different aspects to communicating with parents. There’s day-to-day communication about regular class business (homework, etc.). There’s communication about special class events and volunteer opportunities. Then, of course, there’s communication about student performance. If we aren’t properly communicating with our parents about all…
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Teacher Organization Part 5: Time Management for Teachers
Happy Tuesday, friends! I can’t believe this is the last week of our teacher organization series! Today’s post is a little different as it is all about time management for teachers. We’ve mostly been focused on getting our classroom organized for the new school year, but time management is such an important part of staying organized as well! I wanted to make sure to spend some time talking about this before the series ended. As you know, I pride myself on my organizational skills as a teacher. But I also consider myself a really great manager of my time. Time is EVERYTHING as a teacher! We have a countless number…
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Teacher Organization Part 4: Teacher Storage Ideas
Welcome to part 4 of my teacher organization series! Today we will be talking all about teacher storage ideas! We’ve talked a bit about storage options in other posts, but I want to really hit it hard today and specifically talk about systems that worked well for me. Remember, what works for me may not work for you, so take my ideas and make them your own! My goal is to inspire and give ideas, NOT to tell you that this is the only or best way to do it. Teachers have a lot of different materials in their classrooms. It is important to have a strong storage system in…
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Meet the Teacher Handout & Tips for Success (+ FREEBIE)
Meet the Teacher Handout & Tips Meet the teacher day/night can be a super exciting but also super stressful time. Exciting because you’re meeting your new students for the very first time, but stressful because you’re also meeting their parents and you want to make a good first impression. You may also have a lot to prepare – such as getting a meet the teacher handout ready – in addition to all the other beginning of the year stuff on your plate! There is a lot to think about when preparing for meet the teacher. I’m sure all schools do it a little differently, but in my opinion, meet the…
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9 Things I Learned as a First Year Teacher
I have a special place in my heart for first year teachers. I had absolutely zero idea how hard my first year of teaching was going to be. I knew it was going to be hard, but it was so much harder than I imagined. I don’t want to scare anyone! Admittedly, I was way underprepared and had a lot of things working against me. I’ll save that story for another day, though, because right now I want to focus more on the things I learned as a first year teacher and turn that into advice and encouragement for anyone going into their first year teaching. So, if you’re a…
