Creating and maintaining organized literacy centers can be the key to a smooth and productive classroom. For kindergarten and 1st grade teachers, having a system that helps students find what they need, stay focused, and follow clear directions is crucial. Let’s explore three simple tips for organizing literacy centers and keeping them manageable! *Amazon affiliate […]
School supplies add up quickly. Field trips are an extra expense for families that not all families can’t afford. Extra treats for teachers to help lift their spirits can be expensive. Pencils, paper, leveled readers, glue sticks, and this year hand sanitizer and all the cleaning things simply add up to a high price quickly. […]
Distance learning, learning at home, crisis homeschooling – no matter what you call it, most of us are doing it. And it’s hard. I’m in the same boat with all of you! Working from home and setting up a homeschool schedule to help my own children was a challenge. I finally found a schedule that […]
Have you suddenly found yourself homeschooling? Are you thinking to yourself, “I most definitely did NOT sign up for this!”? Or maybe you feel like you are drowning as you are trying to help your kids with school and still do your job with all the people at home now. I know that we definitely […]
Amazon affiliate links are used below at no cost to you. You are sitting on your classroom floor surrounded by stacks and stacks of books. You have so much to do to prepare for the kids and organizing a classroom library does not feel like it puts you on a path to leave school at […]
I recently came across a newer website (and app) called AirTable. Using AirTable in the classroom could be a game changer in a few areas. Because it’s a cloud-based system, you can access your bases (spreadsheets or files) from anywhere. AirTable lets you customize just about everything in it, which makes it great to use […]
I don’t know about you, but I was always looking for easy, more efficient ways to write lesson plans and keep up with them. One neat way to do just that is with online lesson plans that also make sharing easy! AirTable is an online space to create and share content that’s a crossover between […]
‘Tis the season of gift giving! Whether you are a teacher or have one in your life, sometimes knowing what to ask for or what to give can be tricky. We know teachers need things for the classroom, but what can we request or give that is needed? What about just plain fun ideas that […]
As a teacher, we often use technology in our classrooms to support our students learning and to enhance it. We want to give them the best, the latest, and the greatest! We go to trainings on the latest tech tools for our students, but not always for us. Often times we aren’t given tools for […]
I remember it like it was yesterday. My first year of teaching was a doozy. If you hang around here often, you probably are familiar with my first year of teaching story. I met a principal who I just fell in love with at our school’s career fair. I knew I wanted to work for […]
The beginning of the school year is just around the corner, and although parents everywhere are ready to send their children back to school, a group of parents each year struggles to find their place. Kindergarten families everywhere are swimming in the newness and uncertainty of the school year ahead of them. Let’s help by […]
We use them every single day in our classrooms-EXPO markers. Our students use them, they bring in fresh new packs at the beginning of the year, and we cross our fingers that they last all year. My goal was always to make them last, make them easy to use in the classroom, and for them […]
When it comes to classroom supplies, there are many that we use each and every day. Every teacher has their favorites, but I think there is one supply that we ALL use, not matter what grade level we teach or what subject we teach–EXPO dry erase markers are an absolute MUST HAVE! Most of the […]
It happens to many of us in teaching. We get that email or call to our principals office and they want us to switch grade levels. Sometimes we smile and are thrilled about the change. Other times we go kicking and screaming, it seems. That was me my first year of teaching. It was October […]
RTI–those 3 letters that just make you want to pull your hair out sometimes. As elementary teachers, we already prep for so many content areas. Sometimes adding RTI to the plate is just too much. At least this is how I felt at times. Managing RTI was just going to send me to the looney […]
This year I had to JOY of helping my friend set up her 1st grade classroom at my old school. All of the fun that comes with organizing things, thinking about routines in the classroom, thinking about what will be most exciting for students, and what will make for the best set up for everyone […]
Technology is simply a way of life in the classroom these days. When I first started teaching, I felt so lucky to have an interactive whiteboard in my classroom, especially a mounted one. Now, only a short 8 years later, apps for elementary teachers are a must-have. Along with interactive whiteboards are tablets these days. With tablets […]
Do you ever get to the end of the day and think to yourself, “How in the world did my classroom floor get to be so messy?” or “Where in the world did my clean classroom go?” I did all the time. I found myself crawling on the floor at the end of the day […]
