Let us help you teach like a ninja!
Kindness is one of our core values in our school, classroom and lives. We try to find ways to encourage kindness every chance we get.
How do we encourage kindness all year? We weave it through our lessons and we build connections with our students. These connections build between students and we become a community. Through community, kindness becomes natural.
[Read more…] about How to Weave Kindness into the Classroom Every Day
Whether you hate to teach art, love to teach art, or you’re somewhere in between, you’ve probably been in a position where you are obligated to provide artwork for a Christmas concert, winter concert or another winter event.
While December can be a very busy time, we do love the holidays. Our students are a mix of backgrounds, but the majority celebrate Christmas. In our classroom and school, we celebrate every holiday. We’re so inclusive that we literally celebrate every holiday. All students are welcome to participate as much as they like (or not at all). And while we call it a Christmas concert, it’s not always Christmas-themed.
[Read more…] about How to Make Christmas Art Projects to Give
If you are an elementary generalist in Canada, chances are, you are teaching art. That can be challenging if you don’t consider yourself an artist. Here are some tried and true routines we’ve put in place with our classes over the years that have saved our sanity.
Maybe you’ll start enjoying teaching art again!
[Read more…] about Are You Avoiding Teaching Art? How to Fix That
Special occasions are a great time to bring out your favourite art projects, and Remembrance Day is no exception. We teach in a general classroom which means we’re responsible for art lessons all year long. While we like to teach specific skills with different projects, sometimes you have to have art projects around a specific theme for hallway decorating or assemblies.
Remembrance Day is one of those occasions when you don’t have a lot of time for art because you’re just starting to get deep into your lessons, and report cards are just around the corner. That’s why we’ve come up with some simple but stunning projects you can do with your students.
[Read more…] about Simple and Stunning Remembrance Day Art Projects
Writing emergency sub plans for a supply 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 (or more depending on where you teach).
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 on 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!
[Read more…] about It’s Time to Get Your Emergency Sub Plans Ready
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.
[Read more…] about How to Teach Students to Self-Assess
