Ninja Notes

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Classroom Tips

How to Save Your Time and Be a Productive Teacher

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Teachers have so much to do every day and there doesn't seem to be enough time to do it all. Use these practical tips to be more productive with your teaching duties so you can reclaim your personal time!

Do you have boundaries when it comes to using your personal time for teaching-related activities, but want to be a productive teacher? Is “no” a difficult word for you? Do you always find people add to your to-do list because you’re just so darn good at everything? Are you struggling with time management? Need a boost to your productivity?

This was us, but we managed to start carving out time by doing a few simple things. We reclaimed our personal lives to spend the time we wanted to spend on our life priorities. You can learn to do this, too.

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Memorable Books for Remembrance Day in Canada

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Check out these books you can use to help your students learn about Remembrance Day in Canada. The list includes picture books, novels and short activities that require reading. Best of all, most of the books can also become part of your social studies lessons. Come take a look.

Preparing for Remembrance Day commemorations is a great opportunity to talk not only about the sacrifices of the past but also about our contributions to peace. There are so many Remembrance Day activities out there, but most of them involve poppy crafts. One of the best ways to learn about the past is by reading Remembrance Day books. They are always a great way to introduce solemn topics while uplifting our students. Most of all, they are portable, easy to use, and don’t require a lot of technology.

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How To Celebrate Halloween With Alternatives To A Party

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Are you avoiding hosting a Halloween party in your classroom? Here is a list of activities you can do in your upper elementary classroom that don't involve just letting them party. Come have a read!

Let’s be honest. Halloween is not one of the best days for teachers — even worse, the day after. So, unless the day lands on a weekend, chances are you’re going to be somehow involved in Halloween festivities. So, other than sitting and eating junk food while dressed in costumes, what alternative Halloween activities can a teacher do with their class while still celebrating Halloween?

We’ve got some great ideas for you to help keep things in check!

If you have students who don’t celebrate Halloween, communicate your plans with parents so they can make the decision about whether or not their child can participate.

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You Need to Stop Overlooking Health Class!

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When you skip health class, you tell students it's not important. Use these engaging health and wellness lessons to reinstate health and wellness in your classroom.

Are you having trouble fitting health lessons into your plans because you already have too much to teach? Stop overlooking the value of health class! You can leverage health lessons to teach reading and writing. You can help students in your class be organized, play safely and get along with each other. So why are you ignoring all these important outcomes?

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10 Things We Do On the First Day of School

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We use this routine for our first day of school each year. It works for most upper elementary classrooms and is sure to get your new school year started off right.

Be honest. You either LOVE the first day of school or hate it. As a teacher, it’s a fresh start to get back to spending quality time with these little darlings. For us, it’s always a chance to correct things we did in the past and start all over again, but there are ten things we do on the first day of school that help our whole year run smoothly. Turn back to school into a great time of year for you and your students. Keep on reading to find out how to make your first day back go smoothly.

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Your Big List of Must Have Books for Ramadan and Eid

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If you are looking for books about Ramadan and Eid to use in your upper elementary classroom, check out this list put together by our school community.

Reading is a huge part of our classroom, and it’s important to us to make sure the books and characters reflect all aspects of the lives of our students. That includes books about and including different faiths, backgrounds and cultural beliefs.

Ramadan is an important part of our classroom culture, so we searched high and low to find books that our students could use to learn from and reflect on. Here are some of the titles we found and thought you should check out yourself.

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