Every school year, no matter what grade I was teaching, I sent home a weekly newsletter. I firmly believe that communication between school and home is essential when building a bond between the two. Even if you have parents who don't bother to read it, there are more...
Curriculum mapping is a process that helps teachers understand what students must know and be able to do after teaching, how content will be taught, and how learning outcomes will be assessed. Creating a curriculum map at the beginning of the school year allows...
The first few years that I was in the classroom, I spent far too much time lesson planning each week. For some reason, I thought the more time I spent planning, the better of a teacher I was becoming. If you scroll far enough back in my Instagram feed, you'll see...
If teachers have learned one important lesson from the past year, it's to always have a plan in place in case you become sick and need a substitute. You can easily prep ahead of time for a sub, so at a moment's notice, your substitute is ready to go. My favorite way...
Do you have tons of digital curriculum resources that you never use in a school year because you forget you bought them? Or maybe your district purchased subscriptions to curriculum websites, but you forget to look for content to use with lessons. Planning with...
There's no doubt that this school year is going to start uniquely. With large gatherings being banned, it may be safer to hold a virtual Open House, Meet the Teacher, or Back to School Night this year. Even beyond the state of the world right now, a virtual Open House...
Back to school was always my favorite time of year. A clean slate and a chance to get reorganized. A new group of kids excited to learn new content and participate in all of the fun, hands-on projects you're known for incorporating into the curriculum. New supplies...
The end of the school year is always so fun with celebrations of learning and student growth. Many teachers celebrate students with end of year awards, which are fun and exciting - for the first few years of school... Until you get to 4th or 5th grade and receive the...
Learning objectives play an important role in every classroom. They guide what we teach and what the students' learning outcome is. Most administrators require that we have current learning objectives displayed in our classrooms. For teachers, everything revolves...
Have you ever wondered what it's like to teach at a year round school? I always wanted to and finally got the opportunity to after being in a traditional calendar school for 5 years. I share my opinions on the two school calendars and which I prefer. Let me begin by...
At the beginning of June, I moved from Utah to North Carolina. I will be teaching 5th grade in a year round school and have Meet the Teacher night on June 28th! I got a jump on updates for my teacher planners early this year (thank goodness) and finished them in...
Switching from three years in 4th grade to 6th grade has inspired me to change my classroom decor for the year. Check out my classroom reveal featuring rainbow and chalkboard. I've linked to where you can find everything I have in my classroom, too! Woo! It's been a...