Brain breaks are a great classroom management tool to use regularly in your classroom. Brain breaks are short, 1 to 2 minute, activities that can…
Giving students fun brain breaks in the classroom, can actually improve their learning. Check out these quick brain breaks that you can just grab and go!
These teacher hacks are brilliant ideas for your classroom that'll make your life so much easier this year. Number nine will change your life!
Get your students reading and writing this summer with these fun and engaging enrichment activities for elementary grades.
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Too many classroom icebreakers require students to take big social risks with people they barely know. Or they don't really help students get to know each other. Or they are just plain cheesy.
Refocusing your students after a break doesn't have to be a struggle! These 6 classroom management tips and teaching ideas can help both you, and your students, get back on track in no time!
It's more than what it seems.
What they don't teach us in education courses is just how freaking much students talk, and how hard it can be to quiet them down. Help is on the way.
Autism activities to help increase communication, fine motor skills, sensory play skills, interaction & more in your home or autism classroom!
The Happy Learners' Club Junior Club is our highly popular kids' activity membership for busy parents with 2 to 5 years old children. *Thank you for your interest in THLC. Doors to THLC is now closed. The next enrollment is happening from 18 to 23 May 2024. **If you have children between 6 to 8...
50+ Simon Says Ideas for kids. Easy ideas for toddlers and older kids! Free printable pdf included with the list of the Simon Says actions.
Need to help your students get more hands on practice for their vocabulary words? I've got 5 fun vocabulary games you can use right away!
The ultimate list of classroom management strategies, organized into verbal and non-verbal strategies, parent communication tips,rewards and prizes, games, brain breaks, and visual strategies.
Ready to move beyond tired Jeopardy slides? Try a few rounds of the Flyswatter Game, a no-fail way to keep teens active and excited about test prep. Six Easy St
If you work with children, I can promise you that you will come across at least one student that has these difficult behaviors. Not only are they really stressful for the teacher but they impact the student’s life in many ways. Behaviors like disrespect and defiance can make classroom's chaotic.
Flip Sticks are an amazing participation tool for calling on students at random! The idea of using name sticks is nothing new. In fact, this classroom management strategy has been around for a long time. Unfortunately, what I didn’t learn until a few years into teaching, was how to keep track of which students had […]
All English as a Second or Foreign Language classes need a good warm-up activity to gets brains working and bodies active. Here are my top choices for ESL and EFL Warm-up games for kids to adults.
Unwanted talking is near the top of the list of teacher frustrations. In this article, learn the actual strategies to finally get rid of it for good.
Place value pool noodles? Genius!
15 exit ticket ideas for any subject or grade level!
It’s a myth that blindly memorizing every letter in a sight word is the only way to learn it.
Impulse Control Activities for Kids: Fun activities, games, and resources that will help your kids practice self-control
Vocabulary instruction is so critical in today’s classroom! A vast vocabulary will help students to become better readers and writers. Vocabulary is also essential to their performance on standardized tests. Helping kids to develop their vocabulary is time that is well spent in a busy classroom. I have developed a routine to teach new vocabulary
3rd grade teacher Deanna shares how she saves time and works more efficiently.
How to set up and implement a classroom behavior plan that really works, with advice from Smart Classroom Management's Michael Linsin.
Spring is here and we all have spring fever! Energy levels are higher. Students seem restless. Behaviors that have never been seen before appear. And your once quiet class becomes chatty. Every year I remind myself that this is normal. And to be expected… But that doesn’t mean we can’t remedy the situation. In this ... Read More about 10 Effective Strategies for a Chatty Class
Let's face it, when planning weekly lessons, having a few "go-to" activities on deck can make the task of planning much easier. These are not just "fillers," but tried and true activities that are meaningful, fun and effective at building language. Here are three weekly language building activities that do NOT require planning time. 1- Weekend Update/Weekend Plans This is an awesome activity for beginning and intermediate English learners to build speaking and writing skills. Weekend Update (WU) is usually a Monday activity, and Weekend Plans (WP), a Friday activity. For my beginners, who I see everyday, I do both. For some of my groups, who I meet with only a few times a week, I'll pick one or the other. Weekend Update - I want to know what my students did over the weekend, and I want them to practice oral language using past tense verbs. Once I ask the question, "What did you do this past weekend?" or "What did you do over the weekend?" students take turns answering the question. I provide a sentence starter for my beginners. Then, I repeat their sentence back to them using correct grammar, and help with any basic vocabulary, as needed. Next, I write their sentence on the board. Lastly, they copy their sentence into their notebook. I like to write each student's response in a different color marker so that they can easily distinguish between the sentences on the board. Depending on a student's level of language proficiency, I might ask clarifying questions in order to get a few more details from him or her. I want to push them to use more language, if they are able. Weekend Plans - It's the same concept as Weekend Update, but with this activity I want to know what plans they have for the weekend, or what is something they would like to do over the weekend. I also want them to practice oral language using future tense. So the process is the same as WU, just done towards the end of the week, usually on Thursday or Friday. My students really love this activity; and I'd better not forget to put it in my plans, otherwise they WILL let me know! So as a warm up activity or a closing activity, simply write WU or WP in your plan book and know that 7-10 minutes is going to be this fun and engaging weekly activity. *As my students' language skills progress, I like to find ways to challenge them. For example, after everyone has shared their update or plans, I'll ask students to tell me what one of their classmates did over the weekend, or what one of their classmates plan is for the weekend. NOW we are practicing listening and reading skills PLUS using appropriate pronouns! There are lots of ways to modify this activity to either simplify or to challenge students! As a bonus, this activity is a great way to build relationships. You get to know your students better, and as you share things about your weekends, they get to know you too:) 2- Restate the Question Students need to be able to restate a question, or a prompt, when responding either orally or in writing. This is especially important for their annual language assessments (WIDA ACCESS). For this activity, the objective is put the question in the answer. This will require some modeling at first. Once a week, I incorporate a 10 minute Restate the Question (RQ) activity into my weekly plans. I change it up from time to time, so that students stay engaged. (For groups that I see less often, it may be a quick 5 minute activity.) Here are a few examples of how I incorporate it. Oral Activity- I use activity cards. I place the cards in the middle of the table, and either I'll pick up and read the question, or I'll have them do it. Then, they take turns responding to their card, being sure to restate the question or prompt in their responses. My students love this activity too! When it's time to put away the cards, they often ask to "play" a little longer. Writing Activity - Give students a question or prompt, either printed out or written on the board. If printed out, I have my students glue it into their notebooks. Then have them respond in writing. Afterwards, I ask students to share their responses. This is a designated weekly activity when we purposefully focus on building this skill, however, this skill is informally practiced throughout the week. Click HERE for "Restate the Question" cards. What if students don't yet have enough language? Start with very basic questions. What's your name? My name is _______. Do you like pizza? Yes, I like pizza. Or... No, I do not like pizza. How old are you? I am ____ years old. Where are you from? I am from _____. Using sentence frames is another great way to give beginners the practice they need. For example: Question: What is the problem in the story? Sentence Frame: The problem in the story is _________________. Question: What did the story remind you of? Sentence Frame: The story reminded me of __________________. Restating the question is an important skill. This past year I made time for it in my weekly plans and I saw great progress with my students. 3- Daily Language Review I use this resource a lot with my beginners and intermediate level students. It's a daily activity, most days, so I know that 5 minutes will include this "warm-up" style activity. Although there is no planning involved, there is some printing. But that's OK. I spend 15 minutes a week printing out what I need, then I cut and staple. That's it! I'm ready for the week! The student pages are a half page booklet with 5 days worth of activities, usually only about 4 or 5 short questions per day. Since my students are learning the basic concepts of English grammar, writing mechanics and spelling, we do this activity together. We walk through it as a group and we talk about it. I often use it as a jumping off point for skills that need more attention. I can either go more in depth right then, or take note that I need a lesson on a particular skill for a future lesson. It has a little bit of everything, and it helps to expose my students to many of the skills they'll need as their English progresses. As the year goes on, I may have them do parts of it by themselves, like "Fix the Sentence" before going over it whole group, but for the most part this activity is heavily supported by the teacher. Full disclosure, I don't get to this everyday. If we have a lot to do in other areas, this might get pushed to the side, but students will often ask me if they can try to do it on their own in their general education classroom. Of course I say YES!!! I love it when they ask me that question! *********************************************** My students enjoy all three of these activities, they really do. I can honestly say that each one has proven to be fun, engaging and effective in building my students' language skills. These are my go-to weekly activities that I do not need to plan for; and you can bet that they will be in my lesson plan book. I simply write WU, WP, RQ and DLR on the days, and for the groups, that I want them, and that's it! It makes planning out my whole week, for all of my groups, much easier. (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
Our principal has really been encouraging us to add more writing into our daily lesson plans. "They should be writing all day long" he tells us. The research is there to back him up. I bumped into this Roll and Retell page from Fun In First on Pinterest awhile back and finally figured out how to add it to our learning day. I printed and laminated four copies of the Roll and Retell page to hand out to each of my four table groups. After a round of Daily 5 I handed them out. I also gave each table one die. Each student at the table took turns rolling the die and then answering the question based on the number they rolled. They each used the individual book they were reading to answer the questions. I felt like it would be a great advertisement for new books for each child to read when they were done with the one they were working on. I also knew it would be great oral practice BEFORE they started writing. Once they had a chance to talk about what they were going to write, I set the timer for 5 minutes and let them write. Then we shared our responses. Here are a few of their responses. I had so much success with this activity with my students, that I created versions that cover the standards for 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades. There are 6 different Roll and Respond Sheets that cover all of the Second Grade ELA Common Core Standards for both literary and informational text. There are 5 different Roll and Respond Sheets that cover all of the Third Grade ELA Common Core Standards for both literary and informational text. There are 7 different Roll and Respond Sheets that cover all of the Fourth Grade ELA Common Core Standards for both literary and informational text. Before you go, head on over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway! Every week one lucky winner gets a $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card! Dr. Susan Hall, literacy leader and founder of 95 Percent Group, mentions this Roll and Retell Activity as a Reading Comprehension Game that Students Will Want to Play Over and Over! Check it out for the other ideas there as well! What have you tried in your classroom lately? Link up with Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday and share! This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog. All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. I would love to hear from you! ❤️ Have a question? Idea for a resource you might find helpful? Be so kind and leave a comment below.
Whether your students are lethargic or super-charged, adding movement to your lesson plans will help to solve both issues. Not only is it healthy to move throughout the day, but it can also help students focus and become more engaged with the content they are trying to master. Due to the nature of English classes, ELA ... Read More about 10 Ways to Add Movement in the ELA Classroom
K-1 POETRY UNIT I love teaching poetry to kindergarten and first grade students! Even though I have this labeled as Unit 8 in my Writing Series , I actually teach poetry throughout the entire year. We follow the same routine and students look forward to our poetry week every month.
Telling time past the hour can be challenging for primary kids but it doesn’t have to be a struggle for you or your students. Learn simple ways and effective strategies to make telling time easier for primary kids.
It seems like every day there is an endless stream of students reporting behaviors or incidents that happen in the classroom. On one hand, we want to help our students feel heard and validated so they know we are a safe person for them to talk to. On the other hand, we certainly don't want to feed into the tattle machine. It's a fine line to walk. So how do we handle tattling in our classrooms?
One effective way of checking how you feel everyday is by tracking it. Use any of these free feelings charts for adults and get to know yourself better.
Once you show children’s puzzles to adults, most of them immediately get a brain freeze. Bright Side invites you to stretch your brain a little and check if you can cope with questions from children’s books.
These sight word activities will keep your students actively engaged (and having fun!) while getting tons of practice with the sight words YOU choose.
A simple way to teach your students classroom procedures and expectations at the beginning of the school year
Help! My students don’t remember the parts of speech! Yep, we’ve all been there. You start a grammar lesson, only to realize that your students don’t remember the basics. It’s not that they don’t understand grammar and syntax; they just forgot the technical terms (nouns, verbs, adjective, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections) that they need […]
Every English language arts teacher needs a variety of successful, student led discussion strategies that will provide opportunities for student learning.
From developing fine motor skills, letter and number recognition, sight words, sorting, sequencing, reading, and math, these task boxes for autism tasks will help develop important life skills and beyond!
If you're tired of teaching parts of speech lessons only to have kids forget all about it the next day, try these easy ideas and activities!
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Challenges with focus and attention can become a huge roadblock to learning for kids and young adults. Simply put, attention is critical to learning. If students can't focus on the lesson, they are going to struggle with understanding the new content. If students can't focus on the directions, they
Have you been wanting to try stations in your Secondary ELA classroom but aren't sure where to start? Read through this quick post where we share 8 station ideas and how to use them with your ELA students.
Cooperative learning can be a powerful learning strategy, but only if it works well. These small changes can make group work more effective in your classroom.
These editable word work activities are perfect for small groups or centers and help every level of reader as they become stronger readers!
Here’s a few classroom procedures that have worked well for me – and a couple awesome ideas I’ve run across since I’ve stepped out of the classroom...
Reading Response activities will likely form a major part of your reading programme, whether you are running guided reading groups, a daily 5 system,
Make sure you follow my maths or English boards on Pinterest for more ideas, and don’t forget to save the pin for later. I More