Teacher to Teacher Blogs
Exciting lesson ideas, book lists, videos, classroom strategies, and reproducibles in a daily blog by mentor teachers
For many of you, what your students do outside of your classroom may also cross your mind. You follow their successes and sometimes their disasters. You celebrate and mourn with them over decisions they make that mold the young people they are...
Field Day is a great way to celebrate the end of the school year. Join me as I share my top five fabulous Field Day activities.
This time of year, kids get warnings about the dangers of too much sun, diving into shallow water, or playing with illegal fireworks. But what about the wild, wild Web — the place where 21st century kids spend most of their time? This...
With just a few days left in school, we find our kids daydreaming and talking about summer vacation. We decided to take that creative energy and turn it into a whimsical fairy tale — while introducing a genre they will need to be familiar...
Disclaimer: These are not foods suggested for a steady diet! But the following books -- sweet, savory, and downright silly -- spell a fun way to end the year on a filling note.
As you sit on the beach relaxing this summer, I encourage you to ponder how you can use technology in your classroom and give your students the opportunities to develop 21st century skills. Read on for some suggestions of how you might approach...
May is National Inventors Month: the perfect time to showcase student work with a science or academic fair. Read on for the essential steps needed to make any event a success.
In this post I provide useful checklists to help bring closure to the school year while preparing you for summer vacation and setting you up for success in the fall.
A few years ago, I began teaching the book October Sky by Homer Hickam. Being from a rural area, my students face similar challenges to the ones Homer faced growing up in Coalwood, West Virginia. Continue reading to see three activities...
The countdown to the last day of school is on! Join me as I share a few of my end of the year activities that combine fun and learning.
Take a journey with my students as they engage in Common Core activities, comparing and contrasting how two authors utilize historical events in their writing and presenting history in expository and descriptive writing.
Keeping students focused these last few days of school is challenging at best, especially now that the state testing is over. Our students have worked very hard all year long and are definitely ready for a vacation. At this time of year our...
Polygon-pants, photo scavenger hunts, and modern-art inspired painting projects – it’s time for math class? If you’re ready to take a walk on the wild side with some edgy shapes or a cute angle or two, take a look at some creative activities in...
Since National Poetry Month just passed and Mother’s Day is right around the corner, why not combine the two to create a terrific Mother’s Day gift with your students? See how I combine resources from Scholastic with creativity, to help my...
Now that the “heavy lifting” months of teaching are over, what DO you do with the last few weeks of school? If you are running on fumes and in need of ideas for wrapping up your school year on a positive note, read on for my favorite ways to make...
Teachers are busy. In some cases, teachers are overworked. Getting ready for a substitute teacher is sometimes more work than just being at school. How do you make sure students are meeting your expectations when you are gone? How do you make...
In the process of putting a workshop for parents on summer writing, I realized we hadn’t prepared a viable platform for students to use. However, I knew that fellow blogger, Megan Powers had her kindergarten students blogging, and I decided to...
