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BrainNinjasWP

Teacher Tired Habits to Break

by BrainNinjasWP

If you're tagging #teachertired all the time it's time for you to start changing some habits. We've got some ideas for your wake up call to get your productivity in check and save your personal time.

If you are often tagging #teachertired on your social media posts, then maybe it’s time you stopped joking about it and did something to change. Being tired is part of life, but if you are so tired that you cry in your car on a daily basis, then it’s time to break some bad teacher-tired habits.

This is not about judgment. This comes from love-because we have been there. We have cried in the car. We’ve stress-eaten crappy food. Sometimes we’ve taken out our tiredness in our family relationships. We’ve felt guilty for not being a good enough teacher, not being a good enough spouse, not being a good enough parent and not being a good enough cook (no one said it was rational). We often used humour to joke about how tired we were, but the real problem was that we kept letting it continue.

[Read more…] about Teacher Tired Habits to Break

Filed Under: Classroom Tips Tagged With: Classroom Set Up, productivity, productivity path for teachers, Professional Learning, Teacher Mental Health, Teacher Organization, Teacher Wellness

How to Make Christmas Art Projects to Give

by BrainNinjasWP

Get the instructions to make this sweet Chrismtas ornament. It gives students a chance to try some sewing and put all your craft supplies to good use. Come check out this Christmas craft that makes a great Christmas gift.

Whether you hate to teach art, love to teach art, or you’re somewhere in between, you’ve probably been in a position where you are obligated to provide artwork for a Christmas concert, winter concert or another winter event.

While December can be a very busy time, we do love the holidays. Our students are a mix of backgrounds, but the majority celebrate Christmas. In our classroom and school, we celebrate every holiday. We’re so inclusive that we literally celebrate every holiday. All students are welcome to participate as much as they like (or not at all). And while we call it a Christmas concert, it’s not always Christmas-themed.

[Read more…] about How to Make Christmas Art Projects to Give

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Art, Art Lessons, Christmas, Christmas activities, Christmas Crafts

How to Calm the Chaos in December

by BrainNinjasWP

Don't allow the festive season to cause chaos in your classroom. Check out these tips for how we keep our classroom calm and relaxed during this stressful season.

December can be a great month. It can also be exhausting. Your schedule gets tossed aside for concert rehearsals, bad weather and overstimulation of the little darlings in your care. How do you teach when your whole schedule needs to be tossed? This is our guide to calm the chaos.

There are three whole weeks of learning that are supposed to happen in December, but it can be VERY challenging to fit it all in. Here is what we do to mitigate the chaos.

While December is the month with the most disruptions for us, these ideas can work any time of year.

[Read more…] about How to Calm the Chaos in December

Filed Under: Classroom Tips Tagged With: Christmas, Christmas activities, Christmas Crafts, Classroom Management, Schedules, Teacher Mental Health, Teacher Wellness

Christmas Books We Love

by BrainNinjasWP

Are you looking for Christmas books to share with your students this holiday season? Check out our list of books that will get everyone in the spirit of the holiday season.

There are so many amazing books that use Christmas as a theme that you could read one a day and probably not run out in your lifetime. Christmas picture books make great gifts and they can be read all year round.

Now, we recognize that not all of your students will be celebrating Christmas (and we have lots of book lists for other holidays and celebrations-see the bottom), but for your students that do, we’ve collected a list of our favourite pictures books, graphic novels and novels that bring on the Christmas spirit.

[Read more…] about Christmas Books We Love

Filed Under: Classroom Tips Tagged With: Book Recommendations, books, Christmas, Christmas activities, Holidays, Holidays and Seasonal, Seasonal

Are You Avoiding Teaching Art? How to Fix That

by BrainNinjasWP

Do you avoid teaching art because you can't handle the mess? Check out this list of ways to manage the mess and get some art lessons for your upper elementary students in the process.

If you are an elementary generalist in Canada, chances are, you are teaching art. That can be challenging if you don’t consider yourself an artist. Here are some tried and true routines we’ve put in place with our classes over the years that have saved our sanity.

Maybe you’ll start enjoying teaching art again!

[Read more…] about Are You Avoiding Teaching Art? How to Fix That

Filed Under: Classroom Tips, Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Art, Art Class, Art Lessons, artists of canada, Classroom Organization, Classroom Set Up, Earth Day, fingerprint art, halloween art, halloween art lessons, Indigenous Artists, Lesson Plans, Winter

Simple and Stunning Remembrance Day Art Projects

by BrainNinjasWP

Check out these Remembrance Day art projects that feature poppies. Best of all, we've included all the instructions for these free art projects. Come take a look.

Special occasions are a great time to bring out your favourite art projects, and Remembrance Day is no exception. We teach in a general classroom which means we’re responsible for art lessons all year long. While we like to teach specific skills with different projects, sometimes you have to have art projects around a specific theme for hallway decorating or assemblies.

Remembrance Day is one of those occasions when you don’t have a lot of time for art because you’re just starting to get deep into your lessons, and report cards are just around the corner. That’s why we’ve come up with some simple but stunning projects you can do with your students.

[Read more…] about Simple and Stunning Remembrance Day Art Projects

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Art, Art Lessons, Canadian History, Flowers, Plants, Remembrance Day, Remembrance Day Art Lessons

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