Have you been thinking about adding morning meetings to your classroom? I love doing morning meetings and have seen how effective they can be over the years in my 2nd - 5th grade classrooms. When other teachers sometimes ask me how I fit it all in, I try to explain that doing morning meetings has so many benefits that I feel like I gain time with better classroom behavior and community. So, what are the benefits of morning meetings? Creates classroom community Fosters individual feelings of significance and belonging Sets the tone for a respectful class culture Supports social and emotional learning Increases academic achievement The morning meeting began as part of the Responsive Classroom Movement, years ago. While I love their work, as with everything in the classroom, you kind of have to tweak things and make them your own. My version is NOT a Responsive Classroom traditional model but it works for me. I'll share what I do here but I don'...
Growth mindset… it’s one of my favorite movements to sweep across the education world in recent years. After reading Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Culture of Success and Student Achievement in Schools by Mary Cay Ricci, I decided to create a Growth MindsetPowerPoint and a set of partner plays . When I finished those items, I thought I was done creating for this concept. However, I was recently inspired to create some growth mindset stations, and make them available for free to our blog readers. (Exciting update: I converted these activities to Google Slides. You can now choose between the printable version and the digital version!) Growth Mindset Station #1: Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset Fostering a growth mindset begins with teaching students the difference between having a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. With this activity, students read each statement and determine which category it fits with most closely. Growth Mindset Station #2...
Reading aloud to my students is such an important part of my classroom routine!! It's a practice that I like to start on the very first day!! There are so many wonderful benefits to reading aloud to students that there is no reason not to get started right away!! If you are not already reading aloud to your upper elementary students on a regular basis, keep in mind some of these amazing benefits: Read-Alouds instill a love of reading in students and help them to build an appreciation for great books. Read-Alouds introduce students to amazing new genres and authors that they might not necessarily be drawn to on their own. Read-Alouds allow students to access texts that may be beyond their individual reading levels. Read-Alouds are perfect for teachers to model reading fluency. Read-Alouds provide the perfect opportunities to teach, model, and practice reading strategies and skills!! With novel read-alouds being such a meaningful part of language arts instruction, ...
How to Implement Positive Classroom Behavior- An Easy Classroom Management Plan Have you ever had that child who pushed your buttons on a daily basis? Are you having a difficult time controlling your class? Do they tattle, make poor choices, argue, or complain? This post will provide ideas to handle these types of situations in a positive manner. Putting a positive spin on classroom management will reduce your stress and make your classroom a happier place! Students will be more apt to help each other, open up to you, build relationships, and participate in class. Try some of the following ideas in your classroom! 1. CLASS RULES: Either create class rules together like a Class Constitution or provide Five Basic Classroom Rules. Even if you create a class rules list, more than likely they will boil down to these 5 rules like the following and the class will still feel like they were part of the decision making. 1. Follow directions the first time. ...
Math centers can be a BEAST in the classroom! There are a lot of working components and it can all easily blow up in your face. Yes, I sound a bit dramatic, but if you've done math centers in your classroom, you understand. Math centers are amazing and can be a highly effective way to conduct your math time, or they can be a complete disaster! Before you jump into math centers this year, here are a few steps you can take to get off on the right foot. 1. Get Organized! Before the year even begins, I spend time finding math games , prepping them, and organizing them for the school year! I like to make a list of all the topics I teach so I can be sure I am getting games to cover ALL standards. You can choose to do a simple search on Google to find some games, or you may want to search "Math Games" on Teachers Pay Teachers to save some time. Here are a few FREE math games I have in my shop that your students are sure to love! Check out this blog post on ho...
July 4th marks the half-way point for many teachers across the U.S. In just a little over a month, most of us will be heading back to our classrooms. Yes, we have lost track of what day it is, and haven't had to set an alarm for weeks, but that six letter word that starts with an "S" is rapidly approaching. We have come up with a list of our top 10 things teachers should do before another summer passes us by. 1. Binge watch your favorite shows! We have been watching Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and many others. Netflix probably wants to charge us more (even though they just raised the price again!) 2. Get to a pool. We don't care if it is a small kiddie pool that you can buy at Wal-Mart, or if you have a friend who has an above ground or in ground pool, water has a great calming effect. If you have a public pool nearby that works too, but be warned that you will probably see students you know there! 3. Take a vacation. Now, we know li...
Hopefully this post is finding everyone relaxing and enjoying some time off school. I know some of you have been on break for ages--and others just wrapped up your school years this past week. If any of you are looking to "recharge" your reading instruction for the next school year, I thought I'd showcase three of my favorite professional books on the topic! Closer Reading: Grades 3-6 by Nancy Boyles Nancy was kind enough to grant me an interview last year where I shared with her some of the questions my own teammates and readers have had about "close reading"--what it IS, and what it is NOT. It's a trendy term, for sure. If you want to read more, check out the interview by CLICKING HERE . This book really was a gift for my team. We did parts of it as a book study, and it really helped us get on the same page about how we were going to define "close reading" and how we could see it helping both our whole class instruction (which i...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)