These 25 quick and easy tips for new teachers will help you create a positive, engaging, and effective learning environment for your students.

First-year teacher advice: How to prepare for your first year of teaching, how to decorate your classroom, what to do on the first day of school, and more!

Let's dive into some new options to teach vocabulary, for those who have the time and energy to pursue them. In this post and podcast, I'm sharing ten ideas for making the study of vocabulary something students might even look forward to.

Not sure what to teach the first week of 3rd grade? Here's what we did!

Trying to figure out how to prepare for your first teaching job is tough. I get that, I've been there! Here's help.

Kids and young adults need extensive practice in strengthening their executive functioning skills. Executive functions are the processes in our brains that help us accomplish all tasks from beginning to end. We use them when we plan our day, organize our materials, begin a chore, focus on important

Assessing a student’s learning is an integral part of teaching. An assessment aims to measure what your students have learned or will be learning in the future.

Teach kids to be mindful with this 5 step activity. This "break" method will help kids and adults focus and live in the moment.

Learning to read and spell silent letter words can be tricky for kids. Learn teaching tips and tricks that make this concept easy and fun!

15 exit ticket ideas for any subject or grade level!

Steal these for your writing unit!

Sentence sticks work great to teach parts of speech: verbs, nouns, adjectives etc. Use it to make silly sentences or real sentences too!

A list of 38 skills that are part of social-emotional learning & tips for how you can help teach your child social-emotional skills they're struggling with.

Hey hey, teacher friend!! Oh MY, congratulations on landing a teaching job! I’m so INCREDIBLY stoked for you. I remember that feeling and it’s so SO good. Whether it’s your first classroom or maybe you’re going back after being away for a bit, either way that’s super exciting and I know you’re goi

Making anchor charts has always been hard work for me. In fact, I never liked making anchor charts for the classroom. I did it because it helps the kids, but I am not a fan of my handwriting, my drawing is even worse, and let’s not even talk about the time it takes to make […]

I read that basic money habits are set by 7 years old and even as small as 3 year olds can grasp financial concepts. So it's never too early to start. And ...

These engaging strategies to incorporate movement in the classroom are perfect for the fidgety students & kinesthetic learners in your class!

10 ESOL Teacher Must Haves. Check out these items to make your teaching job easier.2

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.

Reading Response activities will likely form a major part of your reading programme, whether you are running guided reading groups, a daily 5 system,

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 […]

There’s at least one in every classroom — yep, I’m talking about the kid who just sits there, and doesn’t work. The one who needs constant cajoling to put pencil to paper and get started. In some cases, there’s an attitude problem and the student is disengaged from school in general, and in other cases, … Continued

I've had such a love-hate relationship with data notebooks over the years. I've always worked in "Baldrige" schools that have required every teacher to have a data wall and every student to have a data notebook. My first few years in the classroom, this would be something that I spent my first week of school

Do your students struggle with writing a constructed response? Teach them to RAP! Print smaller versions for individual students or print poster size to hang as an anchor chart.

Pass them on to your first grade teacher friends!

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...

Games can be the perfect tool to introduce and teach social emotional learning skills to kids and young adults. These are the skills that help kids become more self-aware, develop positive relationships, show empathy towards others, manage emotions, use self-control, resolve conflicts, and make posi

These effective de-escalation strategies help parents, or caregivers, defuse meltdowns & outbursts in children. These de-escalation strategies will....

Differentiation of content, process, and product alter what kids get, do, and/or create. Read on for differentiation examples and ideas.

Today I am excited to welcome Kim from English Oh My as our guest blogger. She has some great ideas for teaching students to comprehend poetry in a manageable way. Enjoy! Happy April, and Happy National Poetry Month! Poetry is a timeless genre, and it is a part of most English Language curriculum. When I tell […]

Are your worksheets contributing to meaningful learning, or just keeping students busy?

There, their, they’re. No need for confusion. Check this laminated cheat sheet from Etsy. Source: Commonly Misused Words Anchor Chart Laminated | Etsy

Teaching regular past tense form is one of the very first morphemes (fancy word for a unit of meaning) that we teach our young readers and writers.

A great visual to use to help guide a student when he/she is upset as to what to do to stay safe and appropriate. Can also lead into what coping strategies to use instead.

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 they're completed on a piece of paper, a tablet, or a whiteboard, exit tickets are a powerful tool to use in your classroom. Exit tickets are formative assessments that provide a quick snapshot about your students' learning and understanding of a topic faster than any other tool in the classroom.

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Want to teach your child the most important spelling rules? These are the basics and will help your child spell common words.

Looking for free grammar games to make teaching fun? This list of games for teaching parts of speech, punctuation, and writing will provide fun all year!

Hello darlings! This post is an overview of the Word Study Program I use in third grade. Stick with me though, because you could do the same thing in your classroom, you just need some word lists. These pics will take you through the program step by step. It is a mash up of Words ... Read More about Differentiating Spelling in the Elementary Classroom

Are you teaching students to identify the four types of sentences? Check out this blog post. It contains multiple activities that you can use in your upper elementary classroom! Check out the types of sentences anchor chart and download the FREE worksheet and interactive notebook foldable!

The Unfair Game is a totally unfair twist on Jeopardy that your students will LOVE to hate! Learn how to play and find sample game boards in this post.

Are any of these ineffective teaching methods still part of your practice? Time to reconsider.

Are any of these ineffective teaching methods still part of your practice? Time to reconsider.

Calling all educators! Dive into a treasure trove of hilarious teacher memes that perfectly encapsulate the ups and downs of teaching life.

We all fall into one of nine learning styles. Which one is your strongest?

Here's how I sell educational printables to teachers, homeschool parents, and party planners. How to sell teaching resources online and make money selling teaching resources.