Applying these basic principles of sensory processing to our teaching will help us remove unnecessary barriers and boost students' learning.

Do you have slow moving students? These slow learners can really make teaching frustrating, especially when you aren't sure what to do. These strategies help teachers with their "turtles" without having to fail them in the process.

“7 Learning Zones Every Classroom Must Have (with pdf) http://t.co/rL2GXwtwKd”

It can be difficult to learn how to differentiate instruction for the variety of learners in your classroom. Come see how we do it.

Some days you just need a break from the monotony! Preparing for exams, transitioning to a new unit, days when half your students are gone for a basketball tour

Do you struggle with classroom management? Here are four strategies that you can add to your toolkit that will make it just a little bit more effective.

In this post, you will find 27 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom! Formative assessment is such an essential part of the learning process and student success, and many digital tools can help support this process.This list has a wide variety of features and options to help you solidify your formative assessment strategies! Many of the tools below are great for both formative and summative assessments.

Active Students? Try Scoot! The game, Scoot, can be played a number of ways for a variety of reasons. Here are the basics of the game, a few suggestions, and a freebie!

Keeping morning meeting age-appropriate for older students can be challenging. Here are 6 ways to incorporate a variety of age-appropriate activities.

Receptive language is the comprehension of language input. Learn all about it, plus X easy activities to improve receptive language delays!

Every English language arts teacher needs a variety of successful, student led discussion strategies that will provide opportunities for student learning.

Every English language arts teacher needs a variety of successful, student led discussion strategies that will provide opportunities for student learning.

Restorative discipline isn't a protocol, it's a toolbox full of strategies we can use to differentiate our teaching in order to help each individual child.

In 101 ESL Activities for Kids (6-13), you'll get a ton of ideas to use in your own classroom. The highly-detailed descriptions will show you exactly how to use the activities during your lessons. The clearly and concisely explained activities will help you add instructional variety and put the focus back on your students. If you're extremely busy or you're simply out of new ideas, this book makes it easy to try out new and exciting activities your students will love! | Author: Jackie Bolen|Jennifer Booker Smith | Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform | Publication Date: Mar 31, 2016 | Number of Pages: 131 pages | Language: English | Binding: Paperback | ISBN-10: 1530840090 | ISBN-13: 9781530840090

Blending Cards are a great tool to use with students who are learning to read. The Blending Cards are formatted whole-page, but you can

Make a density column with different liquids. Have students experiment with a variety of liquids to discover the density of those liquids.

Kinesthetic Learning Ideas - over 20 ideas!

In this post, you will find 27 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom! Formative assessment is such an essential part of the learning process and student success, and many digital tools can help support this process.This list has a wide variety of features and options to help you solidify your formative assessment strategies! Many of the tools below are great for both formative and summative assessments.

Checking for Understanding Formative Assessment Exit Slips

Your new favorite teaching strategy: This pared-down version of learning stations keeps the movement, interactivity and variety while minimizing the prep work.

Tips for staying calm, calming your child, and tools that they can use anywhere.

Fun and engaging ESL activities, games and worksheets in printable PDF format with full teacher's notes and answers for English teachers to use in class.

"Instructional methods are used by teachers to create learning environments and to specify the nature of the activity in which the teacher and learner will be involved during the lesson. While particular methods are often associated with certain strategies, some methods may by found within a variety of strategies. Instructional strategies determine the approach a teacher may take to achieve learning objectives." Jim Lerman's insight: Be sure to go to the url indicated at the bottom of the infographic; it takes readers to a website that provides complete descriptions of each of the instructional strategies names in the graphic. A very comprehensive list. Educators of any level of experience are likely to find something new and useful here.

Lots of hands-on heart and circulatory system printables and activities for classroom or home; Montessori-inspired activities for a variety of ages!

Many teachers have "tried and true" resources that they pull from year after year. I've been an elementary ESL teacher since 2005 working with grades 1-6. During this time I have used a ton of resources with my students; and my favorites have stuck with me. Even though my "classroom" can change year to year, from pushing-in, co-teaching, to predominantly working with small pull-out groups, these tried and true resources are ones that I wouldn't want to do without. Here's a look at a few of my top favorites... Graphic Organizers This resource is #1 for a reason! I almost always use graphic organizers to teach reading comprehension. I find them to be highly effective because they are not text heavy. Students read with a purpose, then complete an activity that supports that specific reading skill/strategy. No matter my students' level of reading or language proficiency, a simple graphic organizer is what I need to reinforce that skill or strategy! I keep these graphic organizers on my desktop, and when I'm planning my lessons I can quickly pull up the organizers I need, then print and go! Tip: When I print, I reduce the setting to 80% and then trim the sides. Students glue the graphic organizer into their reading notebooks which makes for a great collection of student work and visual reference of student progress and effort. Leveled Books for Reading Instruction I have been very lucky to work in schools that have had awesome book rooms full of guided reading sets. I hope that you have the same access to books in your school. Finding books on my students' levels is one thing, but finding relevant books, especially for my upper elementary beginning ELs, is another. It's a challenge, for sure, but with a good book room I know that I can almost always find what I need. Click here for a free modified guided reading lesson plan template! Don't have a stocked book room? I also order several grade levels of the Scholastic News Magazines. (I think 10 magazines per grade level is the minimum order; that's what I get.) I mostly use grades 1, 2 & 3 with my ELs. With your order, you also have access to the online magazines, which is awesome! You can project to an interactive whiteboard, or have students read on an iPad or computer. These various grade levels make it easy to differentiate text levels. Since I use the magazines for reading instruction, students do not take them home. I keep the magazines organized by grade level and time of year, then I reuse the ones I love, year after year. Reading instruction is a big part of my day, so having access to leveled reading materials is a must! Visual Reading Word Wall Cards I love this resource because of the visuals. and the versatility. When introducing a reading concept, such as "making predictions" or "plot," to beginning or intermediate English learners, a meaningful visual is definitely worth a thousand words! These reading word wall cards provide my students with the visual supports they need as they are learning new concepts in English. I use these cards at my reading table, as a word wall, in anchor charts, as sorting headers, and in my learning objectives that I post on the board. Guided Reading Table Anchor Chart Lesson Objectives Words Their Way for Word Study For ELLs, learning spelling patterns in English is important. I especially like this resource because I can differentiate it according to the needs of my students. First, I assess what my students already know, as far as consonants, short and long vowels, word families, digraphs, etc., then start from there. We systematically work through the sorts building their knowledge of sounds and spelling patterns. A bonus with this resource is that it's another exposure to new vocabulary! Each Monday my students receive their list of words, and each day of the week they have various independent activities to do with their words. Then on Fridays, we finish up with a quick spelling quiz. Click for a free download of Weekly Word Study Activities To start, I set up their notebooks with their weekly Word Study Activities. We do this together the first week or two, so that I know that they understand what's expected. This is a word sort that my newcomers might be working on. And this is a sort that my intermediate ELLs might be working on. After I copy the page, I'll cut the page so that they have about 15 new words per week. My advanced ELLs might have 18 to 20 words. Once my students understand their weekly activities, these Word Study Activities become independent activities during the week while in Reader's Workshop. Students are responsible for completing the weekly work and learning their words. I set them up on Monday with their new words, then quiz them on Friday. It's up to them to do the work Tuesday through Thursday. Vocabulary Mini Office This is a MUST have for my newcomers! When they arrive, this is the first resource I give them. It's basic vocabulary that students use everyday. The Vocabulary Mini Office is kept at their desk to use during independent work time. Whether during Writer's Workshop, Reading or Vocabulary practice, it provides them with access to everyday vocabulary. My newcomers love this resource and they use it often. For my older newcomers I put the pages inside their reading folder. When they practice their writing, they can easily find the vocabulary they need. Daily Language Review I often use this resource as a warm-up activity. With my beginner and intermediate students, this is a group activity we do together. I want them to get used to the format of the questions so I do a lot of guided practice and modeling with this resource. My advanced kiddos do this as a quick independent warm up and then we go over it together. It takes about 5 minutes. Depending on the language level of my groups, I pull pages from either the first, second or third grade book. It also provides a great jumping off point. I can see in which areas of grammar my students need direct instruction, such as contractions, sentence structure, mechanics, etc. It's just a quick warm-up. My students like it and I get good information about them from it. As a teacher of English Language Learners, these are some of my must have resources. When I plan my lessons, these are many of the first resources I grab. They make my instruction consistent, effective and meaningful. Yes, there are other resources that I would not want to do without, and perhaps that would make for a follow up post, but if I were to pick my top resources, these would be them! I'd love to know what some of your favorite resources are! (Affiliate Links Below)

Feeling like you're stuck in a rut with your writing activities? This fun combo makes for great practices with lots of laughter! Students come up with silly sentences using spinners, then illustrate & share with a telephone pictionary game! Check out this post for instructions and FREE resources!

New ways of learning may require revised cooperative group work roles in the classroom and in professional development opportunities.

Technology creates the opportunity for a new learning environment.

Just like there are many personalities and temperaments in any given classroom regardless of age, status, race, gender, there is also a wide variety of learning levels and learning styles in any given classroom. The problem with much of the...

Stations are a great way to get in a ton of review with your students. Check out 27 activities for stations in Spanish class in this post!

Plenty of activities to introduce idioms to young learners. A variety of activities such as puzzles, task cards, and practice pages are included. Students will learn and practice with 14 idioms: in the same boat needle in a haystack let the cat out of the bag when pigs fly walk on eggshells raining cats and dogs catch some Zs hit the books ants in my pants open a can of worms on top of the world zip your lips don't cry over spilled milk butterflies in my stomach

Use this page in your students' writing folders to remind them using sentence variety in their writings, or cut them and have them as flashcards.

In Brick Breaker Scratch Game, the player bouncing a ball off of the paddle, and hitting bricks. If the ball hits bricks, then they disappear.