Let us help you teach like a ninja!
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?
[Read more…] about The Sweetest Way to Teach Self-Assessment
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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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.
[Read more…] about How to Use Brain Ninjas Resources Like a Pro
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.
[Read more…] about End the School Year With Lasting Memories
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.
[Read more…] about Silly Classroom Games to Break Up the Day
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.
[Read more…] about Must Know Tech Skills You Should Teach Your Students
While not all students are motivated by rewards, many are. But, either way, rewarding students shouldn’t cost you a fortune. In fact, we’ve found that students will often perform better and feel more rewarded with simple and free rewards. Are you looking for ways to reward your students without breaking the bank? Here are 30 free ideas to motivate and reward your students.
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If you’re like us (and most teachers), you likely have lots of bits and pieces left over from previous projects. We often have to buy a class set of things and always have one or two left over. The good news is that we have some projects that can use some of that up and still create awesome Christmas tree projects for your art class. Have your students gift them to their families. Come check out these Christmas tree projects.
[Read more…] about Five Easy Christmas Tree Projects for Leftover Bits and Pieces
Having a growth mindset means knowing how to rebound after a failure or not giving up when learning something new. Children are incredibly resilient, but developing a growth mindset needs to be taught. Many students have a fear of failure, and many parents today prevent their children from experiencing it. Learning to fail is a healthy skill that will serve a child throughout their life. Come learn some of the activities and books we use to help students learn to have a growth mindset.
[Read more…] about 40 Great Books for Inspiring a Growth Mindset
Whether you’re creating a Halloween-themed classroom library or planning some eerie read-alouds, these titles deliver thrills, chills, and laughs. Many are proudly written or illustrated by Canadian talent. We love to share scary books all year. Our students ask for them. Many of them want to read a haunted story or something that is a little creepy. You don’t have to read scary Halloween books at Halloween, but that is part of the fun.
[Read more…] about The Best Scary Halloween Books for Your Classroom Library
Do you find that brain breaks are disrupting your learning and working time? Do students seem more stimulated after a brain break? Is it difficult to get them calmed back down? Maybe you’ve been using brain breaks wrong? Stop wasting your learning time with brain breaks by managing them differently.
[Read more…] about Are You Still Wasting Time With Brain Breaks?
Hey, fellow teachers! We all know our schools wouldn’t run nearly as smoothly without the incredible support staff who keep everything ticking. Educational assistants, custodians, office staff, librarians, volunteers – they’re the unsung heroes who make our jobs easier and our schools brighter. Let’s show them some love! Meaningful appreciation doesn’t have to break the bank or eat up all your prep time. Come check out some of the ways we’re saying thank you to the people who help make our jobs easier.
[Read more…] about Easy Ways to Show Appreciation to Your School Support Staff
