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 […]
Get ready to chuckle your way through the school day with our collection of 50 hilarious teacher memes! These memes are guaranteed to give you a lesson in laughter.
If you struggle with classroom management no matter how many different strategies you try, there's a chance you're doing something to get in your own way.
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…
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
How do you encourage positive student behavior in your classroom? I have tried too many behavior systems to count - clip charts, flipping cards, behavior contracts… you name it and I have tried it. What I have found over the years is that no matter what, students genuinely want to do well and
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Fun counting activities to make learning enjoyable while building a strong numeracy foundation in your preschoolers.
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.
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.
We need to understand that gifted children are not just “bright” – a highly subjective label. 15 signs of a gifted child--read on to learn.
These are so easy to make and they look AWESOME! This is such a fun Halloween craft to make with the kids and a great Halloween decoration!
Need some fun Fall art project ideas that are beautiful and keep the kids busy? Our creative collection of amazing leaf art projects for kids is for all ages and makes a beautiful gift or keepsake.
Turn smooth stones into adorable Santa stones to give, display and use at Christmas. 10 Ways to use them suggested in post.
Autism activities to help increase communication, fine motor skills, sensory play skills, interaction & more in your home or autism classroom!
Discover some fascinating, no prep, STEM activities and challenges you can do with your students using paper! Engineering, math and science.
Have you ever had a class with so many difficult, disruptive students that you felt that you could barely even teach? What can you do to get past it? In this post, I am going to address this problem with my best advice, and some advice from others as well.
Time sure does fly when you’re having fun! At The Primary Peach we’re having a blast! SO much fun, that it’s been a WHOLE YEAR since we first started! We’re so excited, that we’re celebrating! What better way to celebrate with a GIVEAWAY!!! But first…a FREEBIE! (You’re going to want to head over to The ... Read more
Galaxy Jars DIY, easy way to create a galaxy in a jar and all its wonder in your hands, use tutorial to make Nebula necklaces and other sensory calming jars
When my oldest daughter was a toddler, we went on a nature walk to hunt down some amazing fall leaves on Thanksgiving day. (Remember, Thanksgiving is in October here in Canada). We found tons of brightly coloured leaves, but I didn't know what to do with them. I ended up drawing little happy faces with names under them with a sharpie, and then we set them out on the Thanksgiving table as place cards. And even though they weren't fancy, they were so adorable! Grandpa's leaf had a smiley face with a beard. Grandma's leaf had glasses and curly hair.
Free Printable I Spy Christmas Activity. Use this I Spy game for a classroom party, church Christmas party, or as a road trip boredom buster.
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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.
Get your kids up and moving with positional words activities! This unit is full of activities from mini lessons to a quick assessment!
with the plan to stay home the next few weeks, i’ve hopefully gotten through the worst of my panic mode about the fact that i forgot to buy any cauliflower WHATSOEVER lol. seriously woke up a…
My students are obsessed with owls. One of my favorite types I like to teach about when we learn about polar animals is a snowy owl.
Coping strategies are techniques that help reduce negative feelings when someone is feeling under stress. Those feelings might be the result of anxiety, anger, depression, or just general day-to-day stress. Practicing coping strategies can help kids and young adults learn how to manage their emotion
Looking for a quick and easy review game? Try Pass the Chicken! Great for any classroom, this blog post shows you how to play the game and gives you a free list of music themed categories to use. FUN for music class or any classroom.
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.
Looking for unique ideas to place your elf this year? Here are 20 best elf on the shelf ideas that are creative for this year!
This folding surprise pumpkin craft printable is super fun! Use it as a Halloween card or as a fun pumpkin craft for at home or in the classroom.
Free Printable I Spy Thanksgiving Activity for a classroom game, family get together or church activity to keep kids busy.
Free printable shapes worksheets for teaching kids the basic shapes. Lots of fun activities to download for FREE!
Have a chatty class? Do your talkative students get louder and louder during small groups until it feels like chaos? Do they talk when you'r...
Use these social skills visual posters to teach, discuss, and practice social skills in the classroom! They include 9 unique posters with a total of over 80 social skills. Each poster highlights a different area of social skills, including basic skills, empathy and perspective-taking, academic skills, conversation skills, friendship skills, emotions, and decision-making skills. These posters are a fun way to integrate social skills and SEL in the classroom! Additional posters are included with several of the skills put together in one large poster. They highlight: Social Skills Kids Need Social Skills We All Need Social Skills We Are Building How Can I Use Social Skill Visual Posters? You can use these social skills posters in multiple ways to integrate social skills into the classroom. Here are some simple suggestions: Post these visuals around the classroom or school to provide reminders about critical social skills. Create a social skills bulletin board. Post one poster a week or month, highlighting each of the skills throughout that time period. Use the black/white version as a coloring book as you discuss each skill. Skills Targeted: Basic Skills: following directions, using manners, having a positive attitude, working with others, good hygiene, using polite words, taking turns, greetings, waiting and having patience, being a good sport, listening to others, understanding personal space Academic Skills: paying attention, starting tasks independently, taking pride in work, participating, asking for help, cooperating and collaborating, accepting criticism, self-advocating, staying organized, persevering through challenges, avoiding and ignoring distractions, presenting and speaking in front of others Conversation Skills: introductions and greetings, starting a conversation, expressing ideas and feelings, giving compliments, using active listening skills, taking turns in conversation, showing interest in others, noticing others' social cues, thinking before speaking, staying on topic, finding similar interests, leaving a conversation Friendship Skills: expressing ideas, feelings, and thoughts, getting along with others, showing interest in others, keeping social boundaries, disagreeing respectfully, compromising, sharing, bringing out the positive in others, apologizing, repairing relationships, resisting negative peer influence, showing empathy Empathy & Perspective-Taking Skills: thinking about others' feelings, reading social cues, seeing someone else's perspective, staying open-minded, helping others in need, treating others with kindness, appreciating differences, using flexible thinking, showing empathy, thinking before speaking or acting, accepting different opinions, solving conflicts with perspective-taking Emotional Skills: being self-aware, self-regulating emotions, labeling different emotions, expressing feelings, using coping strategies, dealing with disappointments, dealing with worries, using positive self-talk, staying calm in times of stress, adapting to change, dealing with anger and frustration, being resilient Decision-making Skills: understanding choices, using self-control, seeing how actions impact others, brainstorming solutions, developing healthy habits, taking responsibility, considering consequences, weighing options, admitting mistakes, being reflective, accepting consequences Digital Version A digital version for Google Slides is now included! This means you can use these posters to highlight social skills digitally with your students through Google Classroom or other digital means. Yearlong SEL Yearlong Curriculum If you are looking to integrate social emotional skills into the classroom, consider this Social Emotional Learning Yearlong Curriculum! It is filled with specific lesson plans, activities, projects, task cards, discussion starters, and more for a year of social emotional learning. Follow Me! { Click here to follow my store! } Tips for Customers: If you have questions, please contact me through Q & A and I'll get back to you as soon as I can! Please consider leaving feedback on this resource to receive TpT credits! I always strive for 5 stars and love hearing your feedback. Follow my store for notifications about new resources and freebies. Terms of Use: © Pathway 2 Success. One license is for the classroom/personal use for one educator and their students. Materials may not be shared with other educators without the purchase of extra licenses. Materials may not be posted on the Internet where they can be publicly accessed. Personal and classroom use only. Please see full terms of use for more information. Disclaimer: These resources are for supplementary support/education purposes and are not a replacement for education or other necessary supports. Educators, parents, and others who utilize these materials are encouraged to seek out additional support, as needed.
Need new FUN ELF ON THE SHELF IDEAS? Here is a large list of fun and creative elf on the shelf ideas to help you bring Christmas magic home.
Cooking in the classroom has never been easier - or more delicious - than with this collection of 27 cooking activities for kids!
How to help your child find the right learning styles to enhance their potential in school and to prep the brain for higher learning. Learning is unique and different for each child.
Keep kids busy over the holidays with these cute and easy crafts that they can make themselves.
An escape room in the classroom is a super fun way to engage your students in any topic. Make one easily with the worksheet you already have!
Have a chatty class? Do your talkative students get louder and louder during small groups until it feels like chaos? Do they talk when you'r...
Quick strategies to get your kids talking about the RIGHT stuff at the RIGHT time!
When I was a brand new teacher, I thought the quality of my teaching was ultimately tied to the quality of my resources, so I spent hours searching for great materials. I believed that if I had quality resources, ones that my students enjoyed and were engaged with, then that would make me a good teacher. Well, I still believe that having quality resources is extremely important, but over the years I've also come to realize that being a good teacher is SO much more than the tools in my toolbox. Everyday has a million moving parts that need our constant attention, focus, knowledge and skills of best practice. So even though I now believe that being a good teacher is more than the quality of my teaching materials, knowing that I have a good variety of kid tested and teacher approved resources at my fingertips allows me the time and energy to focus on other aspects of my teaching day. So today, as a follow-up to my original "favorite resources" post, I want to share with you MORE of my "go-to" resources that I consistently use in my classroom with my students! Build a Sentence I love this resource, and so do my students! This resource gets beginning and intermediate ELs speaking and writing! First, a photograph is posted. Then students generate a word bank by telling what they see in the picture. I ask for one word at a time. No matter the level of my ELs, everyone can come up with at least a word or two. I get additional details by asking about colors and quantities of items they see. Once our word bank is sufficient, they use those words to create varying lengths of sentences. They are asked to create a 3 word sentence, then a four word sentence, then a five word sentence, and so on. I'll ask, "Who thinks they can come up with a 4 word sentence?" My students all start thinking and counting on their fingers, then quickly a hand shoots up, then another. They love it! This activity is heavily scaffolded for beginners. Students orally create the word bank and sentences, but I write the words and sentences on the board using correct spelling and grammar. Then they copy. I am a big believer in modeling for beginners, and I model a LOT! This activity is a definite favorite among my students. They practice their oral language skills as well as their writing skills. I do this with my small groups at least once a month. Writing with English Learners I created this resource to prep my students for the writing portion of the annual language proficiency assessment. In Virginia, where I'm from, ESL students take the WIDA ACCESS each winter. Being that writing is the literacy skill that usually takes the longest to develop, I wanted to explicitly teach the skills students needed to be most successful on this assessment. In my lesson plans, I incorporate a listening, reading, speaking and writing focus each week. For the writing focus, I usually pull from these two resources. Whether I am teaching how to stretch out words, write a story, explain a process or analyze information, this resource allows me to choose the skills my particular groups need to work on. For my intermediate and advanced ELs in grades 3-6, I focus on "language formats" found in writing. Whether they are asked to describe, provide an opinion, analyze or compare and contrast, understanding and applying the language with that format is key. 5 Ws and H - A Writing Resource for Adding Details This resource is a new favorite! It teaches students to add meaningful details to their sentences. I often ask students to "tell me more." This writing activity gets them in the habit of giving more information in their sentences by adding thoughtful details. This resource is designed for gradual release. The first set of activities can be done in a whole group setting. A photograph is projected and students are asked to answer the 5W & H questions about the picture. This information is then used to write two thoughtful sentences. As students become more proficient with adding details to their sentences, the next set of activities can be done in either a small group setting or as an independent activity. The last set of activities are writing prompts that students can independently respond to in their notebooks. Posters are included which add a great visual reference for a classroom display. Restate the Question This is a simple, yet effective, activity that teaches students to restate the question or prompt in their answers, both orally and in writing. As a writing activity, either project a prompt on the whiteboard and have students write their responses in their notebooks, or print out the question and have them glue it into their notebook. This takes modeling the first several times, but afterwards should be a quick independent activity. For a speaking activity, pull out a card and ask the question. Students take turns answering several of the questions. This works great in a small group setting. My students often ask if we can keep on "playing." VIDEOS! VIDEOS! VIDEOS! Incorporating videos into my lessons is a MUST! When I plan a new unit, one of the first things I do is to scour the internet looking for fun and meaningful videos. My go to place is YouTube. There are some real gems out there, but it does take some looking. When I find a goody, it goes into my collection and I use it again and again. Here is a blog post that I wrote about using short films to teach reading comprehension skills. I continue to add to the list as I find new films. Click on the image to see the list! Check out my Short Film Bundle here. Monthly Themed Vocabulary This is an great resource to use with primary learners and beginning ELs. Each month contains 20 vocabulary words. I love this because it's relevant to what's happening around students at the given time of year. Along with the terms, which I use as a monthly word wall, matching cards, writing activities, a vocabulary booklet and BINGO games are included. In closing... As I create my weekly lesson plans, these "tried and true" resources are many of the activities that my students use throughout the school year. Having a collection of reliable and engaging materials available frees up the time I'd otherwise spend searching. I'm sure you have your go-to resources too. Happy teaching!! (Affiliate Link)
This free printable Halloween Bingo game with 20 different bingo cards is perfect for kids whether in preschool, the classroom, or at home.
Worksheets for 1st grade math, first grade math worksheets for free for the basic math topics taught in grade 1.
Elf on the shelf classroom ideas that are funny, unique and make it easy for your elf including ideas to start and classroom management tips.
FREE Call Backs and attention getters for the kindergarten classroom! Great classroom management tool!
These printable Halloween puppets are super easy to make with the free printable hand puppet templates! Just print, color, and cut the Halloween hand puppets for a fun craft for kids!
