Let us help you teach like a ninja!
Do your students write goals? It can be an effective way to have students learn to take responsibility for their behaviour or learning. We tried something new this year. Students chose power words instead of goals.
Back to school is a great time to reflect on past years in school. It’s the right time to think about the positive changes you and your students can make. This will help you all have a wonderful year together.
[Read more…] about How to Create Back to School Power Words
For eleven years we have been part of a proud tradition in our community: delivering Christmas cards to all the homes and businesses that make up our school community. We mail them to agencies and businesses involved with our school community. It is so easy, helps build community and teaches our students to do things for others.
Students love making cards. And they don’t need to be just for Christmas. You can apply this strategy to any type of holiday at any time of year.
Here is how you can start the tradition for yourself.
[Read more…] about How to Spread Joy With Handmade Community Christmas Cards
How do we create a community culture where all students feel they are equal and belong? It turns out we’ve had more combined-grade classes than straight-grade classes since we began teaching, so we can’t imagine teaching any other way. First of all, we call it a combined class rather than a split class. It’s the first thing we do with parents because our combined classes are not like the old ‘split’ classes.
When students come into our classroom on the first day of school, they immediately collect into two different groups-the lower grade and upper grade. They don’t know each other well and like to sit with their friends. We don’t give students a seating plan right away (or sometimes at all) so we can see which relationships form or are already in place, but then we slowly start changing their mindset about the combined class.
[Read more…] about How to Create a Community Culture in Your Multi-Grade Classroom
The year has started. Things are starting to settle and it’s time to count your blessings in the classroom. We call the start of the year through Thanksgiving (well, Canadian Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October) the beta period. It’s the time of year to try things out, get to know the students, build relationships, and set up the year for success. It can be hard to be thankful in the classroom unless we take a moment to sit back and list the things we are grateful for.
The beta period is not the time of year we spend getting deep into the content. We review. We read. And we talk about what is coming next. We check out our skills and show what we can or can’t do.
Most of all, we celebrate all the things were are thankful for in our classroom. Keep reading to see how we spend this special time of year.
[Read more…] about Being Thankful in the Classroom
Imagine a classroom where the students monitored themselves-and, not in that “hall pass police officer” type of way. Imagine a classroom where students encouraged each other to keep the room tidy, put things away and treat each other with respect. We call this a sense of agency.
It’s possible because each year we turn out a classroom full of polite and respectful students, but it takes work. Students need to be taught how to make decisions that are positive and what to do when they make a mistake. Creating a sense of agency is just as important as all the math and reading skills. It’s the key to classroom management. Want to know how?
[Read more…] about How to Create a Sense of Agency in the Classroom
Each year, we work hard to teach students some basic courtesies to make everyone happier and keep students responsible for their learning space. These are the basic things we teach repeatedly during the first month of school to our upper elementary students. Save your sanity by giving them a try.
We also want to stress that just because this is how we do things doesn’t mean these procedures will work ‘as is’ in your classroom. Feel free to solve the issues in your own way.
By teaching these courtesies, we reduce our own frustrations and the frustrations of students because they already know how to handle these situations.
[Read more…] about How to Save Your Sanity in the Classroom
