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Ways to Teach Drama in the Classroom

by BrainNinjasWP

Drama has many uses in the classroom. It promotes reading, fluency, expression and can help with confidence and public speaking. Come learn some of the ways you can use drama in your classroom.

Students love role-playing and dramatic play, but many find the pressure of a performance overwhelming. Add some drama to your classroom by using drama circles, role-playing and storytelling in a low-risk environment.

Read on to find out all the reasons you should add some drama to your classroom and ways you can add a little bit every day.

[Read more…] about Ways to Teach Drama in the Classroom

Filed Under: Classroom Tips, Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Canadian History, Drama, Drama Circles, Historic Women, Indigenous Cultures, Seven Teachings, Social Studies, The Famous Five

Disguise Research Skills as a Scavenger Hunt

by BrainNinjasWP

Give your students meaningful practice doing research by completing scavenger hunts. They're fun and serve a purpose. Come find out how we use them in our classroom.

Sometimes students don’t understand how time is of the essence when doing research. They lack the research skills to use text features, skim materials, and find items quickly. Not only does this slow down their work, it often results in incomplete research and general frustration.

It is a struggle year after year.

However, we have managed to find some activities that help students refine their research skills: scavenger hunts. It turns out that making research fun and game-like can have a positive impact on how students complete research.

[Read more…] about Disguise Research Skills as a Scavenger Hunt

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons, Teaching Strategies Tagged With: Digital Citizenship, Digital Safety, ELA, English Language Arts, Geography, research, research skills, scavenger hunts, Social Studies, Teachers Pay Teachers, TpT Products

How to Create Wooden Ornaments for Christmas

by BrainNinjasWP

Create these adorable wooden Christmas ornaments using recycled game pieces and a little paint. Step by step instructions and design ideas are included

Have you ever seen something in a store and thought, “I can make that for way less money?” Maybe. Or, have you ever thought, “Wouldn’t it just be easier for me to buy it instead of making it?” That’s how we’ve usually felt looking for wooden ornaments for Christmas.

We accidentally made these little Christmas ornaments and they turned out so cute that we knew we had to write about them so others could make their own. This project started completely by accident, but sometimes, the happiest of accidents turn out to be blessings in disguise. So, this is our path to making some wooden ornaments from recycled game pieces, but you can take a few shortcuts with our lesson below.

[Read more…] about How to Create Wooden Ornaments for Christmas

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Art, Christmas, Christmas activities, Christmas Crafts, Holidays, Holidays and Seasonal, Makerspace, ornaments, recycled materials, Recycling, Seasonal

How to Make Christmas Wreaths With Recycled Materials

by BrainNinjasWP

This simple lesson can be done by anyone using recycled fabric. It makes a great Christmas gift from your students to their parents. Come read through all the instructions and make one for yourself and check out some of our other Christmas crafts.

Here is a great activity your students can do that is both environmentally friendly and makes a wonderful Christmas gift. If you plan on using this as a Christmas gift from your students to their families, you’re going to want to start collecting the materials a few months in advance so that you have enough pieces.

[Read more…] about How to Make Christmas Wreaths With Recycled Materials

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Art, Christmas, Holidays, Holidays and Seasonal, Makerspace, recycled materials, Recycling, Seasonal, wreaths

How to Change Math With Interactive Notebooks

by BrainNinjasWP

Are you avoiding interactive math notebooks because they seem like too much work? Are you struggling to teach math because you worry about your own knowledge base? Never fear! We have the solutions! Let's get you teaching math today!

When a colleague told us we should try interactive notebooks in math, we agreed and then went on our merry ways and did math the same old way for another year.

At the end of that school year, she approached us again and DEMANDED we buy an Interactive Math Journal lesson plan set. We took a look, bought it and then went on summer vacation, never to think about math for a whole two months.

Near the end of the summer, we opened it up and it CHANGED OUR WORLD. We will never teach math the same way again. That being said, there are a few things we learned about the process and we wanted to share these tips with you so you don’t have to spend so much time figuring things out yourself.

[Read more…] about How to Change Math With Interactive Notebooks

Filed Under: Classroom Tips, Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Classroom Set Up, Differentiation, interactive math notebooks, Interactive Notebooks, Math, Math Lessons, Mathematics, Teachers Pay Teachers, TpT Products

How to Create Recycled Paper Ornaments

by BrainNinjasWP

Use up all that paper laying around your classroom and make some great ornaments that make great gifts! These make great Christmas or Earth Day crafts.

Here’s a little task you can give to your students to make an environmentally friendly Christmas tree ornament. Using recycled paper products is good for the environment, especially if parents keep the ornaments that are created for generations. It’s especially great if you have lots of extra paper lying around. Rescue it from the recycling bin and use it to make the holidays a little brighter.

This is a great task to put into your makerspace for the month of December, but you can make these any time of year if your paper isn’t seasonal.

[Read more…] about How to Create Recycled Paper Ornaments

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Art, Art Lessons, Christmas, Holidays, Holidays and Seasonal, Makerspace, Recycling, Seasonal

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