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End the School Year With Lasting Memories

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Are you looking for ways to celebrate the school year with your students? We've collected some of the best ways we spend the last month of school in our upper elementary classroom (and of course we're still learning right up until the end). Come check out these ideas.

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.

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Silly Classroom Games to Break Up the Day

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If you are looking for some simple classroom games for elementary classrooms to calm the mood or boost the energy, try these out. Learn how we use silly classroom games to help with transitions, teach regulation, teach teamwork and encourage patience in our classroom.

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.

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30 Free Ways to Reward Students

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If you are looking for some free classroom rewards that you can use for extrinsic motiviation, this is the list for you. Come check out these classroom rewards that you can use without it costing any money.

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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Simple Meet the Teacher Ideas

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Are you looking for ideas to your school's Meet the Teacher Night? The last thing you need is more things added to your to-do list, so we've taken care of it for you. Come find these easy to prep and quick ways to get your classroom ready without much extra effort.

Meet the Teacher Night is a valuable opportunity for teachers and school staff to connect with students and families, establish rapport, and set the tone for a successful school year. Traditionally, our Meet the Teacher Nights are held after about two weeks of school. This usually means students have settled into the classroom a bit. Come learn some of the easy ways we organize our night where families meet the teacher.

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13 Ways to Deal With Behaviours Without Taking Away Recess

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Stop taking away recess from your students who need it the most. There are better ways to deal with behaviours and help students learn to behave postively without getting into the vicious cycle. Come read the whole post the help you deal with classroom management and save you time in the long run.

Fortunately, we have worked at schools with administrations who also don’t believe in taking away recess from students who act out in class. Sometimes, it feels like our hands are tied when it comes to dealing with student behaviour, but we have a few strategies that go beyond “building a relationship” to help get you through it. Come read our ideas so you don’t have to take away recess.

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Get Great Anchor Charts Without Making Great Anchor Charts

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Anchor charts are an excellent way to help students reference information as they are learning, but they don't need to be complicated or even pretty. Come learn how we make great anchor charts without any effort.

We make all our anchor charts with our students as we learn each lesson. It helps them connect to the information, and all of the language on the chart comes from the kids, but let’s face it: They are ugly. We’ve admired beautiful anchor charts online, and while we would love to decorate our classroom with those types of works of art, we believe that our students should be part of making them.

Come learn some of the ways we include our students when making anchor charts.

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