Let us help you teach like a ninja!
The biggest mistake students often make when they measure area is that they aren’t quite sure what they are supposed to be measuring. Generally, the area is the amount of space inside a two-dimensional shape. We try to teach students math using plenty of hands-on activities. Come read about the ways we measure area in our upper elementary math class.
[Read more…] about How to Teach Students to Measure Area
Most students feel comfortable making a bar graph, but line plots (or dot plots) can be difficult for some students. It is important to understand line plots so you can teach your students to master them. Come learn how we introduce and teach dot plots to our students as part of our graphing and statistics lessons.
[Read more…] about Teach Your Students How to Create Line Plots
Each year, we organize a Festival du Voyageur for students learning French in our school. Over the years, we’ve learned some tips to make the planning easier because there’s already enough to do in February. Come check out these activities and see which ones the French learners in your school might enjoy.
[Read more…] about Inspiring Ways to Celebrate the Festival du Voyageur
Most children go through a phase fascinated by dinosaurs. It only fits that living in Alberta means digging up dinosaurs and learning about fossil fuels. While learning about the specific dinosaurs is not in school curriculums, the result of their extinction is part of our lives today. Come learn about some of the ways we bring dinosaurs into our elementary science lessons. We’ve updated our lessons for the new Alberta science curriculum, but they work for any teacher wanted to roar through science (see what we did there?).
[Read more…] about Dig Up Dinosaurs in Alberta With These Amazing Activities
Teaching geography skills is one of our favourite activities because maps are generally objective. Students who like math tend to do well with map reading because they’re so black and white (no pun intended). Come learn some of the ways we bring geography skills alive for our students without just reading boring maps over and over.
[Read more…] about Geography Skills Your Students Need to Know
Does your school ask you to create Christmas art to decorate the halls or gymnasium during the concert season? Over the years we’ve taught at schools with all-out Christmas concerts and others that were more secular in nature. However, the artwork requests have typically been the same. Some years we create Christmas art while others are just winter. Come learn a few of the fastest Christmas art projects you can get knocked out in just a few hours from start to finish.
[Read more…] about Save Time With These Christmas Art Projects
Every year, we have to practice map reading with our students. Some skills stick, but others evaporate over the summer. Even with all the technology of Google Maps and other apps, students still need basic map reading skills. Learn how we review (or teach) geography skills and use a fun project to show off what students have learned.
[Read more…] about Fun Ways to Review Map Reading With Your Students
Over the years we’ve organized so many Remembrance Day assemblies that we’ve lost track of everything we’ve done. That’s why it’s time to put together one post where all our Remembrance Day resources can be found in one place. Learn ways of observing Remembrance Day with some of the activities we have done in our schools over the years.
[Read more…] about Remembrance Day Resources for Canadian Classrooms
If you’re an elementary generalist, you probably have to teach your own art class. It can be tricky to find interesting art projects that don’t require a lot of special materials or skills. We have created a lot of different art projects over the years. Some of them have flopped. But, we’ve also come up with some favourites. Come read about some of the ways we help our students create beautiful works of art while teaching those valuable art outcomes through winter art projects.
[Read more…] about Winter Art Projects That Will Warm Your Heart
What do you think of when you think of natural resources? Forests? Oil and gas? Wind power? Teaching students about natural resources is easy when you have them examine all the objects around them. Humans rely on natural resources to make life easier. We use them to make shelter, provide energy and sustain our nutrition. Come learn about some of the lessons and activities we use to teach students about natural resources.
[Read more…] about Make the Best of Your Natural Resources Lessons
The Cartesian plane was named after the mathematician René Descartes. This is now an outcome in the Alberta Mathematics Curriculum and somehow we made it through all our university math classes without needing that information.
The plane is a fundamental tool that can represent relationships between two variables. Most of that goes right over the heads of elementary students, but if you talk to them about the game Battleship, most realize they’ve already been using the Cartesian plane. Come learn how we teach the quadrants and coordinates.
[Read more…] about Plotting on the Cartesian Plane During Math Class
Everyone needs to understand the basic systems that help keep humans alive. The Alberta science curriculum focuses on four main systems: circulatory (cardiovascular), musculoskeletal (bones and muscles), respiratory and digestive. There are many more systems, but this post will focus on teaching these four to your Grade 5 students. Come learn how we teach this unit from beginning to end.
[Read more…] about How to Teach Human Body Systems to Young Scientists
