Brain Ninjas

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Classroom Management Strategies

How Change the Noise Level in a Chatty Classroom

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What are you doing to contribute to the chattiness of your classroom? Come learn how we control the noise level in our classroom and spoiler alert-the kids still talk.

Do you ever have days where you just want to put in earplugs? Do you smile at the serenity of sitting in your quiet car all the way home? Is your noise level burnt out when you get home and wish for the sound of silence?

As an introvert, I always felt my classrooms growing up catered to noisy kids. I was so lucky that I often got sent to work in the library or other rooms with smaller groups. Some of that was a reward for having my work done, but I know Miss Rodney could see I was drowning in the noisy chaos.

It makes me sensitive to the students who probably feel the same way. Come learn some of the ways I’ve tried to manage the chatter in my upper elementary classrooms over the years.

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How to Chuck the Classroom Management Charts

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If you are still using clip charts or behaviour charts as part of your classroom management plan, it's time to rethink it. Come take a look at these options.

Did you know that it is possible to have good classroom management without the use of charts, rewards, or bribes?

The kids in our classrooms now are not the same as those in our classrooms even ten years ago. Many students struggle with regulation. Most students and families have not dealt with the trauma (yes, it’s trauma) that the global pandemic caused. This trauma trickles into the classroom daily.

We’re not saying you can’t reward your students when they exceed your expectations. The key here is to exceed. Come read about some of the classroom management strategies we use to help maintain the sanity of everyone in our classroom without the use of charts, rewards, or incentives.

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5 Field Trip Problems and How to Prevent Them

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Field trips can be a great way to enhance student learning and for many students it is their only chance to see and do things in the community. While they are so valuable, field trips can come with some challenges when it comes to getting volunteers to help with the supervision. Come read about five common problems on field trips and how to deal with them proactively.

Field trips can be so much fun when they run smoothly. However, there can also be those field trips where you want to pull your hair out or vow never to do it again. We’ve gone on hundreds of field trips over our careers. Some of these trips are cherished memories of special classes. Others are permanent scars and trauma (ok, that might be pushing it). Come learn from our mistakes so you can avoid these field trip problems.

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15 Ways to Use Sticky Notes in the Classroom

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Are you looking for ways to use sticky notes in your classroom? We put together a list of some of the ways we use sticky notes because we love to use them. They are so easy to use, kids love them and there are endless possibilities. Come read!

Sticky notes are a versatile tool that can be used in a variety of ways to enhance classroom learning. It’s no secret that most teachers love sticky notes because they come in a variety of styles, sizes and colours. There are so many different ways to use them whether they have lines or are blank. We’ve collected our favourite ways to use sticky notes in the classroom and felt we had to share them with you.

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7 Fantastic Ways to Create Classroom Community

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Building a caring classroom community doesn't happen by chance. It takes skills to create a classroom community where students take care of each other. Come learn some of the ways to build classroom community in your upper elementary classroom.

Have you ever seen those students that just work together in a classroom like a well-oiled machine? Have you ever dreamt of a classroom community full of harmony where students are on track and work together to learn in the best possible environment? It can happen, but building a caring classroom community doesn’t happen by chance.

We work hard teaching our students how to work together, how to care about each other and how to create a strong community of learners. Come read some of the ways we do this in our classroom.

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Make Wellness Lessons a Priority in Your Classroom

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Wellness skills are life-long skills that benefit everyone. It's important for students to see these skills in action throughout their days if they are going to build them into their entire lives. Come learn how we do that every day.

When the health and wellness curriculum just becomes a list of things to teach, it really misses the mark. If the goal of health and wellness lessons are to teach student life-long ways to take care of themselves, it should be woven throughout their days at school in addition to explicit teaching. We’ve evaluated some of the ways we put our wellness lessons front and centre in our classroom.

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How to Set the Noise Level in Your Classroom

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Is the noise level in your classroom driving you up the wall? When noise gets out of hand, it's time for a reset. Come learn what we discovered and how you can make it work for you.

Do you ever feel your classroom just keeps getting louder and louder until you want to take your ears off? As your students get more comfortable, the noise level can get out of hand. Of course, the activity going on in your room can often impact the noise, but your body language and your tone of voice play a bigger role than you may realize. This is a real experiment we tried on our students.

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How to Keep Students Accountable During Project Based Learning

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Does project based learning fall apart in your upper elementary classroom because you don't know how to keep kids accountable? Do they get to the end with nothing to show for it? These classroom management strategies will help you get the most out of project based learning in your classroom without the stress and strife. Come take a look and get some practical tools you can use right away.

We love using project based learning as one teaching strategy to engage students. The challenge with this type of learning is keeping students on track. Nothing is worse than getting to a deadline and discovering none of the students are done. So, how do we keep our students accountable during project based learning?

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How to Teach Students to Work in Groups

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Do your students struggle when working together in groups? Do you avoid group work because of it? Have you ever tried teaching students how to work in groups? Look no further. This post is full of ways to teach students to get along and work on projects together in groups. These are tried and true ways we've accomplished productive group work in our upper elementary classroom.

Some students love working in groups, while others prefer to work independently. There are many reasons students should learn to work in groups, but often we find teachers forget to teach the students what that looks like. Students need explicit teaching to understand the different group roles and processes. Here are some activities you can try to help your students get the most out of their group work.

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The Reasons Your Classroom Management Isn’t Working and How to Fix It

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Are you struggling with your classroom management? Are you out of ideas? Ditch clip charts and rewards and learn how to manage your classroom with strategies that work. Come read the whole post and find some relief!

Recently I was having a discussion with a former student teacher. She had reached out because her last school year felt like a disaster and she was wondering how could improve. She’d tried clip charts, behaviour charts, communication journals, reward baskets and everything else she could think of, but nothing worked. She wanted to know how she could improve her classroom management because she feared she couldn’t last another year. She asked about my secret because she didn’t remember what I did.

Was it that uneventful that she didn’t know what I did? No. Not quite.

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The Ultimate Guide to Field Trips

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Fields trips are a great way to extend learning beyond your classroom, but they take some planning and organization. Check out this post jammed packed full of ideas to help you get the most out of your day of learning outside the classroom.

Whether you call it a field trip, excursion, school trip or outing-it’s exhausting! True, field trips can be a lot of fun. They can also be stressful if you are unprepared or if things go wrong. Nobody wants that. All it takes to have an amazing field trip is some planning, a great place to go and a positive attitude. Okay, that might not be all. Check out our ultimate guide to field trips!

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