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How to Communicate with Parents in a Fast-Paced World

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Are you looking to improve communication between home and school? It is more difficult than ever to reach parents to talk about students. Come learn some of the strategies that help us build strong lines of communication with the families of our students right from the start.

Communicating with parents right from the beginning of the year is critical to smooth sailing for the rest of the year. As they say, “information is power.” When parents are properly informed there will be better parent-teacher communication.

There are many ways to communicate with parents, but before you get started it is helpful to figure out what parents have access to and what form of communication with parents works for them.

You will probably have to use more than one method of parent communication to make sure you reach every family. That does seem daunting, but let us help.

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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 had to make some changes during the pandemic. These ideas can work whether you’re able to gather together or need to be apart or learning online.

We’ve been rethinking 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 Celebrate Halloween In the Classroom

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Are you looking for ways to celebrate Halloween in your upper elementary classroom? We gathered up some of our students' favourite activities for you to try. Come take a look!

Halloween is such a special time for many students. In past years, we’ve had parades and assemblies and handed out candy. There was a time when bobbing for apples was a good idea. Now, since the pandemic, the thought of countless students scrambling to bite into an apple floating around in a tub full of mouth germs…ugg.

Our classroom is usually bustling with parent volunteers who help out at different Halloween-themed stations. Still, some years, there might not be as many parent volunteers available as you need, so it’s nice to have easy alternatives in your back pocket.

If your school and students are celebrating Halloween, here are some generally easy ways to have a little fun.

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How to Reconnect From Your Teaching Island

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Is teaching making you feel isolated and disconnected? Come read through some of the strategies that may help you through the tough times. Your mental health is much more important than your teaching job, so let us help.

Teaching has always been an isolating profession. We spend all day in a classroom with little people who get our jokes. The adult conversations we get happen during recess or staff meetings or in the bathroom line waiting for a toilet. It can leave anyone feeling disconnected.

My husband has a joke about teachers, they can seek each other out anywhere in the world. It never fails that when we travel to another country and meet another couple, one of them will be a teacher. He calls it teacher radar.

And it’s true. When two teachers meet in the wild, they talk about teaching. Because it’s another human in the world who actually gets it.

I mean, Mr. Ninja tries to be supportive, but unless you’re in the trenches, you don’t really get it.

How do you connect with other teachers? Come read about our struggles and some of the solutions.

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Your Must-Do Back to School Survival Checklist

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This year is different than any other back to school seasons, so what are some of the things you can do to get yourself prepared regardless of whether you're teaching in person or online. Come take care of your own mental health before your students return!

We created a back to school checklist to think about what might happen this year. It’s not possible to predict exactly what will happen. Things tend to be getting back to normal, but it the past few years have tuaght us anything, don’t get complacent. You might be teaching in person, online or some sort of combination of these things.

You might be teaching a new subject or a new grade level. You might not know anything about what you’ll be doing.

None of it is within your control. So, let’s talk about the things you can control and get ready before you have to go back to school no matter how it looks.

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How to Set Up Your Reading Comprehension Schedule

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If you use our weekly reading comprehension sets (or maybe you want to learn more), come see how we schedule the first month and get some ideas for how you can use these reading and grammar activities in your classroom whether your instruction happens in the classroom or online.

If you are struggling with reading instruction in your classroom, you’re not alone. Upper elementary teachers are often not trained in how to teach students to read, despite the fact all the students in their classroom are unlikely to be reading at grade level. Setting up a reading comprehension schedule is one way to get on track.

We designed our Weekly Reading Comprehension Skills specifically for our students. We needed reading material for science and social studies that were at the right reading level and needed to teach grammar and reading skills. You might want to read this post about how we came up with them: Add Great Content to Your Literacy Lessons.

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