10 fun and educational ESL activities for busy teachers! Try these games and activities in your classroom (or virtual classroom) today!

This is a sheet for younger students to practice the basic prepositions. Have them put the right preposition in the gap and then color the sheet in.

anglais, le portrait, the face, english, CE2, CM1, CM2, cycle 3, fiches, flashcards, vocabulaire, vocabulary

Filler Activities for ELA (blog post) What can you do with five extra minutes in secondary ELA? Here are a few ideas to engage students until the bell.

Do you hate to teach poetry? Do you want your students to learn and enjoy poetry? Try these simple ways to learn how to teach poetry...

This is a great exercise for your students to describe what they are seeing and what is happening in the picture using the present continuous tense.

Do you struggle with finding interesting ways to teach ESL listening skills? Maybe you have an activity or two already but you want to be able to mix it up and keep things interesting. By the end of…

Practice the present continuous with this interactive activity for ESL students. You can do the exercises online or print the worksheet out.

special education, behavior, behavior plans, BIPs, writing a behavior plan

This is a fun activity to practice the simple past. Students look at the images and talk about what Harry did on holiday.

This is a fun worksheet to practice the present perfect tense. Students look at the pictures and describe what has just happened.

Your ESL students have to write sentences following the example in the

Memory aids are often used to help students remember certain spelling rules. The FLoSS rule is one of the first spelling rules taught to our first and second grade students to help them understand whe

Printable worksheet to help in your teaching your kids the life skill of filling out forms. Guidelines for teaching are included.

A collection of ESL worksheets to teach past tense verbs and sentences to English language learners.

This is a fun worksheet to practice jobs and professions as well as

This fun game is perfect for practicing the parts of the body with your ESL students. Have them roll a die and color the body parts in the correct colors.

This is a fun activity to practice the simple present. Students look at the images and talk about what Mick does. Later, you can use this worksheet to introduce other tenses, too.

Check out these 5 No-Prep Reviews Games for any classroom or any subject! Click to see what no-prep review games you can add to your teacher toolbox!

Check out these fun teaching materials for teaching comma rules to upper elementary including an anchor chart, videos, and graphic organizer.

Many kids and young adults struggle with executive functioning challenges. Some are easy to spot, such as when a student can't focus on a lesson or comes to class without their entire binder. Other EF challenges are less obvious, though. A learner might take two times as long on homework because th

This worksheet is a great reading comprehension practice. Students have to read the descriptions and guess who lives on each floor.

This is a fun activity to practice the simple past. Students look at the images and talk about what Daisy did last Saturday. You can also have them figure out where Daisy forgot her umbrella.

All About Me activity is a fun practice that brings lots of benefits more than just personal favorites. Various activities can be combined with the theme and best to apply for preschoolers or kindergarteners.

Fun and engaging ideas to get to know your students at the beginning of the school year. Build a strong classroom community with these free resources.

Whether you are ‘for’ assigning homework or ‘against’ assigning homework, there are definitely a few advantages to assigning homework to upper elementary students. Homework gives students the opportunity to develop their Executive Functioning Skills as they get ready to enter middle school. It allows students to practice skills independently in order to see if they ... Read More about How to Motivate Students to do Their Homework

The freebies have moved! Instead of having the freebies in a separate resource library, we have put all of our freebies in our shop. You can find the freebies by clicking right here!

Are you looking for a fun, hands-on way to encourage your students to consistently make good choices?

Students setting goals can be powerful, whether it be for a New Year's resolution activity, back-to-school activity, or anytime during t...

Check out this great lesson I found on Cleverbean. Learning Intention: Give and receive constructive, positive feedback.

teachers who use student choice menus can help foster student choice in the classroom in many ways. Here's how!

Ready to "cook up" a great first day of school? It's easy with this recipe for a successful start to the school year! PREP: ➤ Think about how you will set the tone for your classroom on the first day of school. ➤ Plan to keep students engaged and active. ➤ Prepare to build a positive rapport with students from the first instant that they become a part of the classroom community. INGREDIENTS: ➤ Warm-Up Activity ➤ Get-to-Know-You Activity ➤ Game that gets students out of their seats ➤ Get-to-Know-the-Teacher Activity ➤ Writing Prompt ➤ Extension Activity Once you've gathered your ingredients, you can get "cooking!" (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE RECIPE!) PROCEDURE: STEP 1: Begin with a warm-up activity. Place an activity on students' desks that they can complete independently. You might try a simple survey or poster. An All About Me poster is a quick way to learn about students. You can even gather them together for an awesome classroom display. Or, a survey is a wonderful way to collect information about students. You might include questions about where students like to sit, their favorite way to learn, and activities that they enjoy so that you can start connecting with students. Another awesome warm-up activity is an "All About You" name tag. Students answer questions about themselves while coloring in a name tag based on their responses. Then, students can place the name tag on their desks to help you learn your students' names. This activity is particularly awesome if you have multiple sets of students. You can collect the name tags and re-distribute them each day during each class while you learn names. Oh, and as a bonus, you can gather them together and leave them with substitute teachers throughout the year! If you'd like to check out ready-made Back to School Warm-Ups, just click here for the poster, here for the survey, and here for the name tags. STEP 2: Mix in a get-to-know-you activity. Give students a chance to share about themselves and learn about their classmates with an engaging get-to-know-you activity. One of my favorites is a doodle-inspired mini-book. Students transform a single sheet of paper into a doodley mini-book all about themselves. After students make the mini-book it's fun to hang them on a clothesline. Then, as students finish their work during the first days of school, you can encourage fast-finishers to grab a classmate's mini-book and learn about him or her. Check out the doodle mini-book HERE. Or, you could have students create this 3-D About Me Activity. Students create an infographic-style book about themselves. After answering some simple questions, they do a little cutting and gluing to create a 3-D "About Me" display. These are especially fun because students can set them on their desks and then everyone can tour around the classroom and learn about their peers. (These are awesome for Open House too!) Learn more HERE. STEP 3: Scatter in an activity that gets students moving. Since students crave opportunities to get up and out of their seats, plan to get your class moving on the first day of school. You might have students complete a scavenger hunt or even play a learning game that requires students to move around. I'm a huge fan of this simple get-to-know-you activity that gets students moving (and you can download it for FREE here.) First, students make paper airplanes. They write their name and 3 interview questions on the wings. Then, students line up shoulder-to-shoulder and launch the planes. Next, they pick up a classmate's plane, find him or her, and ask the interview questions. You can repeat the airplane launch as often as you'd like! Find everything you need to do this activity in this FREEBIE. If you'd like to combine movement and learning on the first day of school, then you and your students will love this Back to School Doodle Infographic. First students fill in the infographic with facts about school. There are 21 facts and you can hide them around the room to get students moving. Then, they put together the infographic to make a fun and doodle-y poster! Check it out HERE. STEP 4: Sprinkle in a chance for students to get-to-know-you (their teacher). On the first day of school, students are very curious about you. They want to learn about you, so you'll want to be sure to share about yourself. You can give a simple biography of yourself, or you might try these easy and engaging activities: Create a teacher interview question along with 4 or 5 prize cards for each student in your class. Then, tape the questions and the prize cards under students' seats before class begins. During class, explain to students that they all have something under their chairs. It might be a question and it might be a prize. If they get a prize card, have students keep it quiet. Then, call on students. They can either read a question for you to answer or reveal that they won a prize. If they won, you might give them a pencil, piece of candy, or a homework pass. You can find all my favorite questions HERE. Or, you might have students complete a "Teacher Guess" about you. First, they predict the answers to questions about you. Then, as you reveal the answers, they earn points for every correct prediction. It's a fun activity that students truly enjoy! You can check it out HERE. STEP 5: Add a fun writing prompt to your back to school activities. A writing prompt is a great way to gather a baseline for students' writing on the first day of school. You might give students a simple prompt about their summer or goals for the new school year. However, I love to add a fun creative writing prompt into the mix. For example, with this writing prompt students select a setting, character, problem, and 3 random objects. Then, they need to work them all into a story. It's fun, engaging, and a great way to see where your students are starting the school year. Find this writing prompt HERE or check out this collection of 10 creative writing activities. STEP 6: Top it off with a review of tomorrow's warm-up. Set students up for success during your next day of school by quickly reviewing what they will need to do when they arrive to class. If you're planning to have students work through warm-ups like these This or That ELA warm-ups where students choose to do the "this" or the "that" activity, then you might quickly review what will be waiting on their desks when they arrive. Taking the time to preview tomorrow's warm-up is a great way to set expectations for students! If you're looking for some daily warm-ups, you might want to check out these This or That ELA warm-ups or these This or That Writing warm-ups! STEP 7: Don't forget to have an extension activity just in case your lesson ends early. I love playing games like "Move If You..." which you can find for FREE HERE. While you may never get to the extension activity, it's a lifesaver if you need it! TIPS: When you're following this recipe for a great first day of school, you might want to: ➤ Greet students at the door and answer these questions for students right away: ➨ Where do I sit? ➨ Am I in the right classroom? ➨ What should I be doing right now? ➤ Also, be prepared to manage students' behavior on the first day of school. Ensure that you have a positive classroom management system in place and ready to use if you need it! Well, there you have it, my recipe for a great first day of school. Be sure to download all the ideas with links AND the FREE airplane activity HERE! CHECK THIS OUT! I've put together a 100+ page guide for back to school for teachers. It includes tips, tools, and printables for classroom décor, classroom organization, lesson planning, community building, and planning the first day of school. It's absolutely FREE! Just click here to sign up. When you sign up, you'll get access to 6 mini-courses that cover everything Back to School including classroom design, organization, curriculum planning, and ways to build a positive classroom community. There's also a TON of exclusive freebies, bonuses, and videos! If you'd like to learn more and sign up, just click HERE. Thanks so much for stopping by, Mary Beth P.S. If you'd like MORE free resources for your classroom, be sure to join the Brain Waves Instruction club!

Tell your student how proud of them you are. Print on some bright card stock. They love it!

Do you have students who rush through their work, making careless mistakes and incorrect answers? This blog post provides 10 teaching ideas to help you slow down your rushing student and get him to produce quality work!

A good student is someone like you! Use this poster to remind students how to be a good student every day Includes: 10 Color Posters - All posters have the SAME text but different clip art/skin tones 8 Black and White Posters - Empty for students to write their own descriptions SOMEONE WHO SERIES: SCIENTIST ENGINEERMATHEMATICIAN READER WRITERTECH EXPERTFRIENDARTIST **Free** SAVE BY BUYING THE BUNDLE! CLICK HERE!

Do you need ideas for distance learning? Whether you use Google Meet or Zoom, these distance learning ideas for your online class meetings will keep your kids engaged.

A good student is someone like you - differently abled version Use these posters to remind students how to be a good student every day - and that all students are the same :) Includes: 10 Color Posters - All posters have the SAME text but different clip art/skin tones 10 Black and White Posters - Empty for students to write their own descriptions You can find the original set of a GOOD STUDENT - SOMEONE WHO by clicking → HERE SOMEONE WHO SERIES: SCIENTIST ENGINEERMATHEMATICIAN READER WRITERTECH EXPERTFRIENDARTIST **Free** SAVE BY BUYING THE BUNDLE! CLICK HERE!

Teacher tips for April. Easy ideas in classroom management, hiring or interviews, retirement planning, state testing preparations and spring

When I first imagined a socially distant classroom, I had an overwhelming sense of sadness. I was flooded with images of classrooms under "normal" circumstances. I had flashbacks of kids rotating through fun learning stations, playing games together, reading in small groups, completing learning fact hunts, doing hands-on projects, and getting imaginative with their learning. For an instant, I felt like those days were over. Then, I remembered the most fundamental truth about educators: "Teachers are innovative." I knew it was time to think creatively about instruction. So, I took a deep dive into some of my favorite ways to get kids learning, and guess what? With small tweaks, we can still make learning engaging, motivating, and meaningful...and if it means that kids will have to do it 6 feet apart, no problem! The learning activities may be a little different, and we may need to get a little creative, but I'm hopeful that you'll be able to find some ideas below that just might work in your socially distanced classroom. I love fact hunts! They're a great way to introduce or review material with students. Under "normal" circumstances, you would hide a ton of facts around the classroom or school. Then, students would rotate around and collect the information. Since students move around freely to collect facts, I thought that this might not work in a socially distanced classroom, but then I realized that with a few more parameters and a bit more planning it could work. Here's how: --- Write facts about a topic on 1/2 sheets of paper. --- Tape the facts around the classroom or along a hallway, spacing the facts at least 6 feet apart. --- Explain to students that they will be collecting facts as they rotate around the classroom. --- Designate where each student will begin. --- Then, after collecting the first fact have students move on your cue to the next fact as they rotate through every fact. Adding a little movement to learning is a powerful and easy way to make learning fun. I've created fact hunts for back to school, literary devices, ancient civilizations, and holidays. They're always a blast. Check them out here. Let's be honest, kids are always requesting to have class outside. Now is the perfect time to do just that. To prep, just set out flags, blankets, or cones to designate where kids can work while remaining socially distant. Then, have students bring their work outside. Since the kids are outside, they can also be a bit louder, so you can make it especially fun by... --- Letting students shout their spelling words --- Challenging students to read out loud in a way that everyone on their blankets can hear them --- Creating cheers to help remember important content --- Teaching new information and encouraging students to yell their responses One of the troubling things about the socially distanced classroom is the fact that kids will have less opportunities to collaborate and work together. However, interacting with peers and working together is such a powerful part of the "normal" classroom. That's why this next idea is perfect! Jenny from Art with Jenny K and I created a series of collaborative anchor charts. Each student is responsible for creating an element of the chart independently. Then, the teacher assembles the collaborative anchor chart. The cool part is that not only is it creative and collaborative, it is also a powerful way for students to learn. When they see their own work as part of the chart, they're more connected to the learning. We've created anchor chart parts on Finding the Main Idea, Sequencing, Summarizing and Growth Mindset. I know what you're thinking, "Learning stations in a socially distant classroom?! Yeah, right!" I'm with you. At first, I thought learning stations would have to go away. But, then I realized that it's still possible to do the fun and engaging learning station activities with a small tweak. Specifically, instead of setting up different learning stations and having students rotate to each one, everyone in the class could stay in their seats and work on a single station's tasks at the same time. In other words, on the first day, everyone would complete station one. The teacher could serve as the "leader" of the station, reviewing the directions and ensuring that students have the right materials. While the rotations would be gone, many of the benefits of learning stations would remain because they still keep students engaged while chunking instructional material. Since stations also include a variety of activities, students will still be able to learn in various ways. Some of my favorite stations teach critical study skills, reading comprehension, social studies, and even celebrate holidays. You can see them all here. One of the concerns about socially distanced classrooms is that students will have to learn in a "sit and get" environment. As educators, we're always striving to move away from traditional lectures. That's where 3-D projects come in. When students can turn their learning or research into a 3-dimensional project engagement and buy-in soar. Here are some simple ways to make learning a little more 3-dimensional: --- Have students turn their notes into paper airplanes. --- Turn a single piece of paper into mini-books filled with notes. --- Let students create cootie catchers to review important concepts. --- Provide students with interactive notebook activities. I love making learning more hands-on. Some of my favorite lessons are back to school mini-books, 3-D monuments for ancient civilizations, 3-D research projects and even 3-D writing lessons. Doodling is a great way to engage students (even when they are socially distanced). Give students an opportunity to doodle during the school year and watch their engagement soar! Not only is doodling fun, it’s also been shown to help our brains process information. You can have students create doodles to showcase their learning at any time. Let students create doodles: --- To help them learn vocabulary --- As a way to review for a test --- For a book report --- As they learn about a new topic --- When they answer a test or quiz question You might want to introduce Doodle and Do resources into your classroom. First, students complete doodle-style notes. Then, they practice their learning as they "do" different activities. You can get students doodling as they learn new vocabulary, nonfiction text features, study skills, novel studies, fact hunts, and even reading skills. The fact is, doodles are so adaptable and fun! Get inspired RIGHT HERE. __________________________________________________ I hope you've found a few instructional ideas to bring into your socially distanced classrooms. These sure are challenging times for educators, but there's one thing we all know for sure: Teachers are innovative! I know that your students are so lucky to have you! If there's anything I can do to help, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]. Thanks for stopping by! Mary Beth

Use this resource to develop and practice habits that increase student motivation in your classroom.

I have three kids ranging from older elementary to high school. Each one of them is handling distance learning differently. My daughter, who is also the youngest, initially felt overwhelmed at the list of assignments