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How to Make Patterns and Algebra Stick With Interactive Notebooks

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Using this patterns and algebra interactive notebooks unit changed how I teach math as much as how students learned and understood it.

You’ve taught patterns before. You know the routine. You explain repeating patterns, growing patterns, equations with variables, and your students nod along. But then you ask them to work independently, and something’s missing. They don’t remember what you just showed them. They can’t visualize the concept when it’s on paper. And when you ask them to explain their thinking, they’re stuck.

Here’s the thing about patterns and algebra in elementary: it’s abstract. Variables are abstract. Pattern rules are abstract. Equations are abstract. Our students struggle with abstract. What they need is something concrete, something visual, something they can hold onto and reference whenever they’re confused.

But we figured out the game-changer.

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How Projects Can Transform Your Social Studies Lessons

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Using projects in your social studies classroom is a great way to boost engagement. Check out cumulative project-based learning and how it can work for you.

If you’re like most teachers we chat with, you’ve probably noticed something: students retain information better when they actually create something with it.

The new Alberta social studies curriculum is…dry. It’s mostly just facts that are expected to memeorized, But this gives us an incredible opportunity. The curriculum is built on big ideas (geography, economy, government, culture) that are meant to connect to how students see the real world. But traditional worksheets and fill-in-the-blank activities? They flatten all that richness into busywork.

Project-based learning in social studies doesn’t just look better on Instagram (though your students’ work will look amazing). It genuinely changes how students understand concepts. When a student has to design an entire civilization (deciding where it settles based on geography, how it feeds its people, what systems govern it) they’re not just learning about civilizations. They’re thinking like a historian, geographer, and economist all at once.

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The Sweetest Way to Teach Self-Assessment

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A set of colourful posters featuring cupcakes can help with self-assessment. Teach students to self-assess with this rubric that helps take the burden of feedback off your teacher shoulders and helps students truly understand the quality of their work.

Here’s the truth: students don’t always know what “good work” looks like.

They turn in an assignment, you hand it back with feedback, and you can see the confusion in their eyes. “But I thought it was done?” they say. Or worse, they’re genuinely proud of work that’s only halfway there, completely unaware that there’s so much more they could do to make it shine.

Sound familiar?

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Easy to Use Remembrance Day Assembly Ideas

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If you are looking for ideas to organize a Remembrance Day assembly in your school, check out this post full of ideas.

Every school across Canada has held a Remembrance Day assembly since the end of the Second World War. In fact, it is written into the School Act in Alberta as a requirement. Schools must have a Remembrance Day assembly on the day closest to November 11. We’ve got some Remembrance Day assembly ideas for you.

We’ve been thinking how we’ll honour our soldiers at school. If you are planning a Remembrance Day assembly, we might have a few ideas for you.

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How to Use Brain Ninjas Resources Like a Pro

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Let us help you use Brain Ninjas resources efficiently and easily. These tips will help you get and stay organized so you can teach like a ninja.

Teachers managing multiple print and digital resources often struggle with organization and version control. Here are five proven strategies to use your resources efficiently and keep them up to date. We’ll cover choosing the right lessons for your classroom to staying organized and accessing updates.

We recently received an email from a ninja asking about ways to use one of our most common resources. It was then that we discovered lots of our ninjas weren’t using it the way we were in our classroom. It didn’t occur to us that teachers would use it another way. Sometimes this can be a good thing where we learn new ways to adapt our resources to other classroom. Sometimes we can hear the frustration about how a resource didn’t work.

So, we decided to write a whole post that can help teachers use our resources as effectively as possible.

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How to Celebrate Asian Heritage Month in Canada

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How will you be acknowledging Asian Heritage Month in Canada? We pulled together resources that you can use in your upper elementary classroom to learn about the contributions of Asian-Canadians throughout history. Come read the whole post.

Every year in May we celebrate Asian Heritage Month. It started in the United States as Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month in the 1990s but eventually, it made its way to Canada. We recognize the history and value of Asian Canadians across the country. Asian Canadians strengthen Canadian society, whether they have been here for years or have newly arrived.

Explore Asian Heritage Month in Canada with us.

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End the School Year With Lasting Memories

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Are you looking for ways to celebrate the school year with your students? We've collected some of the best ways we spend the last month of school in our upper elementary classroom (and of course we're still learning right up until the end). Come check out these ideas.

Every group of students you teach over the years will leave a special place in your heart. The names and faces might fade a little or get mixed up as the years pile up, but there are always some groups, names and faces that will stick with you. We try to make the end of each year special for our students. For some, the end of the year is a joyous occasion, but for others, it’s sad and summer break is not always wonderful for them. Here are some of the ways we end the school year in special ways to create lasting memories.

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Silly Classroom Games to Break Up the Day

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If you are looking for some simple classroom games for elementary classrooms to calm the mood or boost the energy, try these out. Learn how we use silly classroom games to help with transitions, teach regulation, teach teamwork and encourage patience in our classroom.

Teaching is stressful. It can be exhausting for everyone in the classroom. Sometimes you just need to break the tension with a silly game.

We use silly games strategically. They are not just randomly thrown into the day. The games we’ve included are very simple and can be modified for any of your needs. Read about the different silly classroom games we use in our classroom and how we use them to help strengthen our students mentally and physically.

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How to Learn French With French Canadian Celebrations

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You can excite your elementary students to learn French by teaching them all about French Canadian celebrations. We put together lessons and activities that can help inspire your students about French culture while you teach the basics of the French language. These lessons are designed for teachers who are not native speakers so come learn more.

Every year, Francophone communities across Canada celebrate their traditions and culture. People from around the world celebrate these events, too. There’s no better way to teach French as a Second Language than to connect to French Canadian celebrations and cultural events.

A large part of teaching French as a Second Language (FSL) is connecting students to the culture. Maybe even the most important part! This is an opportunity to learn about the culture of just over 20% of Canadians. That’s one in five Canadians who identify as French Canadians!

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How to Make Valentine’s Day Love Trees

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Create these adorable watercolour love trees for Valentine's Day, World Kindness Day, Earth Day or Pink Shirt Day. They make a great bulletin board and our post features step by step instructions for your elementary classroom. Come read the whole post.

Do you need a Valentine’s Day art project or activity that you can use to teach students about colour while making something special? Do you dread having to find something to do for Valentine’s Day? Are you a Valentine’s Day fool? Or Scrooge? It sounds like you need to learn how to make Valentine’s Day love trees!

There are several variations to make this Valentine’s Day-themed project listed below, but basically, it’s a tree with heart-shaped leaves. Sounds great, right? Who doesn’t need a heart-shaped leaf? So cute and easy to make! They are perfect for World Kindness Day or Pink Shirt Day too!

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Give Your Reading Instruction an Easy Twist

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Do your students need a fun way to share what they are reading in class? This is a great twist on literature circles and book clubs that your students will enjoy. Come read the whole post and get some ideas for your upper elementary or middle school language arts lessons.

For years we’ve done Literature Circles and tried lots of variations, but this one worked really well with our students. The problem with Literature Circles is that some students just don’t like the different activities. This version allows students to have some independence while still having accountability (and something to show for the time). If you are looking for an activity to spice up your reading instruction, look no further than Twisted Literature Circles in our TpT Store (USD) or BN Shop ($CAN).

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Must Know Tech Skills You Should Teach Your Students

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Can your students troubleshoot basic tech skills? Do you spend all your teaching time fixing tech issues? Come learn some of the basic tech skills we teach our students to save time when you have to use technology. This is perfect for elementary classrooms but we know lots of adults that can also use these skills.

Working in a school has taught us that many adults do not have basic technology skills. We still receive responses as “reply all” or emails without attachments. Since we are often asked to help out with technology, we are often the teachers asked to fix a problem when a student shows up at our door with a device question. This helped us identify the must-know tech skills every student should have.

We changed how we taught technology in our own classroom. Gone are the days where we teach students how to simply use a specific program. This wasn’t helpful because things change so frequently. Tech companies love to move stuff around just to keep things “fresh.” To counter this, we started teaching students that most programs use the same symbols and features to do similar things. We taught students how all programs function in general and how to troubleshoot. Teaching these must know tech skills made all the difference.

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