Teaching Tips
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How to Use a Reward System in the Classroom
I have never been a fan of using rewards systems in the classroom. I’ve tried them out but have found that they are just simply too much work. It’s difficult to keep tabs on every student in the class and assign points effectively. This year, I changed my stance a little. I started a reward system…
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Learning Skills
I just wrote my Progress Reports and I had a hard time coming up with personalized comments for each student in my class. I looked at what I had written in the past and I searched online for comments I could use. I then began writing, but I was pretty much making it up as…
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How Successful Teachers Lead
How Successful People Lead by John C. Maxwell Teachers are a special kind of leader. We have to lead a classroom full of students who have very diverse needs and attitudes. I thought reading this book might help me develop further as a leader in education. While it wasn’t written with teachers in mind, I…
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Northern Lights Art Project
Ten years ago this week, I had to get some gas on the way to work. As I went in the store to pay, I noticed this brilliant photo on the front page of the newspaper. I was immediately inspired by this gorgeous image. First, we don’t normally get to see the Northern Lights in…
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The Write Club – National Novel Writing Month at School
November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) The goal is to write an entire novel in the course of 30 days. It’s a tough challenge that I have only participated in one year. I was able to win it though by completing my 50,000 word novel on time. It was quite the accomplishment and a…
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Weekly Classroom Newsletter
I have decided to start a weekly classroom newsletter to keep parents informed of what is happening in our classroom. We have a 10-day week in my school, which means that I only have to design one of these every two weeks. And it really isn’t as much work as it sounds. I’ve already planned…
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Comic Newsletter # 1
Classroom newsletters are often boring pieces of paper that get lost in the slew of notices that are sent home. That is why I like to design comic-strip newsletters. They get read and can inspire out students to create their own comics. Here is the one I am sending home this week. Or view it…
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Save Fred! Team-Building Activity
Here is a fun team-building activity for the classroom that I found on Pinterest. It’s based around a story of a worm who can’t swim. His boat capsizes and his life jacket gets trapped under the boat. Luckily for him, however, he is safe on the top of it. And it is up to us…
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Reading Salad: A Hands-On Reading Demonstration
This is an amazing reading lesson that helps our students learn to think while they are reading. It makes the entire process visual as well. To teach this lesson, you will need three bowls. Have a large empty salad bowl and label it “Real Reading Salad,” and then two smaller bowls labelled “Thinking” and “Text.”…
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Hula Hoops on the First Day of School!
I like to start off the first day of school by pushing all of the desks to the side of the room and setting up enough hula hoops for each student in my class. I have been doing this for years now and I find it is a great way to start off the day. I…