We have reached the final home stretch of the school year! For many, these last few weeks can be a bit of a whirlwind from end-of-the-year celebrations, awards, field trips, parties, graduations, packing up your classroom, and just wrapping up all of those loose ends of the school year. You
It’s time to take back the classroom. Too often we hear of teachers that teach 90% of their day with their students staying in one spot. And we get it, the chaos that ensues from moving around can be overwhelming, to say the least. But we also know there is
There are of course positives and negatives that come with the sort of access we all have in the 21st century. We have to teach our students to tell the difference between good information and bad information. They need to learn how to pick out the important details as they read about the subject they’re researching, without getting bogged down with less-than-necessary details. Students also have to be able to think critically about what they discover, presenting it to others in an organized manner.
Inquiry-based learning is learning that revolves around a question. It’s a teaching method that harnesses a child’s curiosity and encourages them to learn more because they want to, not because it will be on the test.
One of my favorite ways to teach students to edit their writing pieces is through a collaborative activity that I like to call Musical Papers. In my classroom, I really value student collaboration and I make opportunities for the kids to work together whenever possible. This activity can be done with any writing piece, and it’s great for teaching students how to hone in on their editing skills. It’s also super fun!
Often times when I’m teaching my students how to write a multi-paragraph essay, I find that they can get repetitive when adding their details to their body paragraphs. They also write short, simple sentences that do not provide much detail and therefore are not that interesting. My favorite way to
