Engaging Lessons

It’s Time to Get Your Emergency Sub Plans Ready

Are you prepared for a substitute teacher in the event you have to leave your classroom unexpectedly? Get these tips and some templates to make your planning simpler, faster and FINISHED! #emergencysubplans #substituteteacher #supplyteacher

Writing plans for a substitute teacher is a big pain in the butt. Even more so, when some sort of family emergency comes up and you’re still legally responsible for two days of classes.

It;s strange that these certified teachers who come into our classroom don’t have to plan anything for two full days. At least, that is the rule in the province where we live. Teachers are responsible for leaving two full days of plans for their students regardless of the situation. This must be in the only job in the world where you do just as much work on the days you aren’t there as the days you are.

I once wrote sub plans on my phone from a hospital bed. True story. And as crazy as that was, I learned a valuable lesson from it.

Emergency Sub Plans!

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How to Teach Students to Self-Assess

by BrainNinjasWP Leave a Comment

Teach your students about self-reflection with this lesson.

How often do your students tell you they are all done with their work or assignment and the second you look at it, you notice they’ve missed a huge part of the task? Teaching your students to self-reflect accurately is very challenging because students are usually unrealistic. They are either too hard on themselves or clueless about how little they’ve done.

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10 Engaging Weather Lessons All in One Place

by BrainNinjasWP 1 Comment

Get some engaging weather lessons and experiments for kids!

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.

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Ways to Teach Drama in the Classroom

by BrainNinjasWP 1 Comment

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.

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How to Wooden Ornaments for Christmas

by BrainNinjasWP 4 Comments

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

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?”

We accidentally made these little Christmas ornaments and they turned out so cute, we knew we have to write about it 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.

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Recycled Materials: Christmas Wreaths

by BrainNinjasWP Leave a Comment

This simple lesson can be done by anyone using recycled fabric. It makes a great Christmas gift from your students to their parents. #christmascrafts #recycledmaterials

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.

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Engaging Lessons

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