One of the first things I establish in my classroom each year is how the heck I’m going to get their attention. I’m well-known for having a noisy classroom, which is sometimes because I have a chatty class, but mostly because I believe in productive chatter and partner work. My
What is about transitions that can make even the best class go a little bananas? 🤪🤪🤪 I fully admit that sometimes I’m reluctant to switch my class from one activity or subject when they’re all working so well. When I was departmentalized, I knew I needed to be ready to
My first year of teaching was extremely stressful. Maybe you can remember that far back, or maybe you’re in the throes of your first year right now. Sometimes you feel like you’ve been thrown into the deep end of the pool, but no one taught you how to swim. If
Eeeekkk! It’s finally ready! I’ve been racking my brains for the best way to help out teachers prep for the new school year, and this is what slowly came together. Check it out! 👇🏻👇🏻 Have you ever stressed about classroom management? 🙋🏼♀️ I have! Each new class comes with so
Before I start to share about parent communication, let me say two things. 1. I’m an introvert. Like extreme. 2. I communicate with children way better than adults. Which is helpful when teaching elementary aged kids but not when you need to make a phone call or set
Student engagement is extremely challenging while virtual. Not only are cameras off, but I’m battling the other internet tabs full of YouTube videos, their siblings’ teachers talking, mom and dad working from home, a barking dog, and their infant sister playing next to them. How do I get my students
In this new world of teaching, are there even early finishers? What does that look like? How can I implement this idea? For context, my school is completely virtual (right now). We have 4 synchronous learning blocks- math, language arts, science/social studies (alternating weeks), and flex (time to pull small
Virtual learning is a new thing for our students. In the spring, we were *mostly* making it all up as we go. At least I was. The good part was that I was doing all of that with students I already had relationships with. We spent the previous seven months
Building relationships is a huge part of being a successful teacher. How does this work when I can’t have a community meeting on the carpet? Or I can’t greet my students at the doorway because we have to be socially distant? Or because we’re not even in school? How do
Teachers spend an average of $500 on their classrooms every year. That’s crazy. And I’m totally one of those people who has done this, but I decided I really needed to cut back where possible so I could budget wisely. Where could I stop spending money? One place was rewards. My first year
The first FIVE days of lesson plans for the beginning of the year.Visual, clickable resource grid.Free & delivered to your inbox. 
