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Practical Strategies for Reluctant Readers

by BrainNinjasWP

Do you have students who avoid reading? Check out these step-by-step effective strategies for reluctant readers so you can get all of your students to enjoy reading.

Do you have students in your classroom you would label as reluctant readers? A reluctant reader is usually considered to be a person who doesn’t read for pleasure, but we’re about to debunk that myth and help you out in your classroom by giving you strategies to engage reluctant readers in ways you didn’t even know you needed.

[Read more…] about Practical Strategies for Reluctant Readers

Filed Under: Classroom Tips, Teaching Strategies Tagged With: Book Recommendations, English Language Arts, english language learners, language, Language Arts, Reading, reading strategies, reluctant readers, strategies for reluctant readers

10 Engaging Weather Lessons All in One Place

by BrainNinjasWP

Are you looking for weather experiments and lessons that you can use in your upper elementary classroom without much prep? We've got you covered with lots of ideas, resources and lesson plans already planned for you. Come take a look!

Are you tired of wasting your valuable time searching high and low for the weather lessons you need for your upper elementary students? There are so many weather activities all over Pinterest, but we find most of the weather lessons are for preschoolers- not exactly what our students need.

We focus on creating materials for teachers who teach the same things to the same age we do. Most of what we create comes from not being able to find what we need. Weather worksheets are just plain boring and not at all aligned with our teaching style, so we’ve created weather experiments and activities that we use in our classroom. We want to help you by putting everything in one place so you don’t have to use all your time collecting lessons from all over the place.

[Read more…] about 10 Engaging Weather Lessons All in One Place

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons Tagged With: air pressure, climate change, climate versus weather, clouds, fabric and clothing testing, Makerspace, our tpt products, precipitation, seasonal changes, Teachers Pay Teachers, weather, weather experiments, weather experiments for kids, weather forecasting, weather instruments, weather lessons, weather patterns, weather unit, weather vocabulary, wind direction, wind speed, windspeed and direction

What is Concept Based Instruction?

by BrainNinjasWP

Concept Based Instruction? Is this just a new fad? Hoping it will pass and nothing will change? This is the new direction in education and we believe is here to stay even if it isn’t mandated. It just makes sense! It took us awhile to wrap our heads around what this looks like in a classroom…practically. And we are still learning! Here is what we’ve learned so far.

What is it?
Concept based instruction focuses on using content (topics, facts, and skills) to uncover the actual learning concept and the relationship between different concepts. It is multi-dimensional and looks at what students need to know, understand and do. The learning of overarching concepts helps students to transfer the learning to new situations. The goal is to get students to think at higher levels, to have students move from just learning facts to being able to make generalizations that apply to new learning. Familiar with Understanding by Design? Planning concept based instruction parallels backwards design. Familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy? Concept based instruction includes different levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.

What does “concept” mean?
A concept refers to a big idea that students must understand and not just know and do. It is abstract, timeless and universal. For example, a traditional unit of study might include the study of the War of 1812, or World War I or World War II.  Using a concept based approach, the concept could be: power, technology, conflict or identity (among other possibilities).  If identity was the chosen concept then the big idea could be framed as:  War can shape the way a country thinks about itself and the way other people perceive it. If technology was the chosen concept then the big idea could be framed as: Technology can change the outcomes of war over time. In both of these examples the War of 1812, World War I and World War II are used as ‘case studies’ to exemplify the chosen concept.

This post just barely scratches the surface but gets us thinking about the idea of concept based instruction. We will be exploring the different aspects of concept based teaching in a series of short posts. What do you already know about concept based instruction? What are you hoping to learn? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Love the Ninjas

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies Tagged With: concept based learning, Concepts, New Alberta Curriculum, professional development, Professional Learning

Books About Kindness That Should Be in Every Classroom

by BrainNinjasWP

This is a great list of kindness books you can use in your classroom (even an upper elementary classroom) all year round. Use them for Pink Shirt Day, World Kindness Day or to foster a kind environment for all your students.

We love picture books and use them all the time in our classroom as mentor texts or to illustrate a writer’s craft. We love books that highlight kindness and use them all year with our students. We’re always on the search for new books, but here are some of the best kindness books we’ve found and use all year.

[Read more…] about Books About Kindness That Should Be in Every Classroom

Filed Under: Classroom Tips Tagged With: Book Recommendations, books, classroom library, Kindness, Kindness Books, picture books, Pink Shirt Day

Uplifting Picture Books for Lunar New Year

by BrainNinjasWP

Do you need a list of books to use for Chinese New Year, Korean New Year or Vietnamese New Year? Luna New Year is on its way and we've searched for some great books you can use to learn about these traditions.

Usually, we talk about Chinese New Year. Did you know that many other countries celebrate the New Year at the same time? In Vietnam, it is called Tết. It is called Seollal in South Korea. We find one of the best ways to help our students understand different traditions is to read books about the different Lunar New Year celebrations.

These New Year celebrations are based on the lunar calendar. The lunar calendar is calculated using the movement of the Earth around the Sun and the Moon around the Earth. The lunar new year is usually celebrated sometime in January or February. This time of year is a time when families gather, share food and participate in local traditions.

[Read more…] about Uplifting Picture Books for Lunar New Year

Filed Under: Classroom Tips Tagged With: Chinese New Year, Holidays, Holidays and Seasonal, Korean New Year, Lesson Plans, Lunar New Year, Vietnamese New Year

Research Skills: How to Teach Text Features

by BrainNinjasWP

Understanding text features is one way to help your students with reading comprehension. Come learn how we teach our students about text features while reading nonfiction texts. We even had some free tools for you to use in your upper elementary classroom.

How often do you give your students a book and they can’t find any information in it? It seems if a page isn’t blinking and flashing they can’t seem to work it. Explicitly teaching text features can help your students understand how to process information better. This won’t just help with their reading, but it will help with all of their research, following directions and locating information quickly in all their subject areas.

[Read more…] about Research Skills: How to Teach Text Features

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies Tagged With: free resources, nonfiction texts, Reading, reading comprehension, research, research skills, text features

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