Let us help you teach like a ninja!
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.
[Read more…] about 30 Free Ways to Reward Students
The scientific method has been around for thousands of years and if you went to school, you learned about it, too. The method helps keep experiments and investigations fair so they can be repeated and results can be verified. All scientists use this method which helps verify results.
When you are teaching science, it is important that students understand the method-even if they cannot remember all the names of the steps. It more important that students get to work hands-on and focus on curiosity than following and writing out a set of steps.
Come learn how we teach students about the scientific method in our science class.
[Read more…] about How to Teach the Scientific Method in Your Elementary Classroom
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.
[Read more…] about 13 Ways to Deal With Behaviours Without Taking Away Recess
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.
[Read more…] about How to Chuck the Classroom Management Charts
Of course, you want to be a great teacher, so congratulations on getting the chance to be a teacher! Your student teaching experience is usually the first chance you’ll get to take control of the classroom. Many factors can come into play and you might have lots of “when I have my own classroom” moments, but use this time as a chance to learn and ask questions.
We’ve been lucky enough to have amazing supervising teachers when we began our careers and it was important to us to take on student teachers when we were ready for it. Passing on our knowledge is important. This is all the advice we have given to our student teachers over the years and we hope it can help you, too.
[Read more…] about How to Thrive During Your Student TeachingCongratulations! You got your first teaching job and are now an elementary school teacher. All that hard work has paid off and you are gainfully employed in your vocation (or calling or job to pay the bills-your choice). Now the real work begins. But don’t panic. We’ve been there! Read what you need to know to get your new job started off on the right foot.
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.
[Read more…] about How to Set the Noise Level in Your Classroom
Your class trickles in as you watch the time tick away and the punctual crowd starts to get restless. A student hands in work, another tells you all about the taco salad they had for lunch, while two others argue over which of two seemingly identical chairs is theirs. Does this sound familiar to you? It sounds like bell ringers might be the solution!
Silent reading is a great way to start the day or for use during transitions. But maybe you want to shake things up? Or you want to make every minute of the day count. Bell ringers help to get things rolling from bell to bell. Read on to find out how we use them in our classroom and all the different types of bell ringers that can work.
[Read more…] about Saved by the Bell Ringers in Upper Elementary
One of the best parts of being part of the teaching profession is the chance to be a mentor teacher. It can be a tough job, particularly if the mentee needs a lot of support.
Being a great mentor does not come easily to everyone, but these are seven ways we were mentored by great teachers and now try to do the same while we work with pre-service and new teachers.
[Read more…] about 7 Ways to Be a Great Mentor Teacher
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.
[Read more…] about How to Teach Students to Work in Groups
If you’re anything like me, you were playing school with your dolls, neighbours or siblings as soon as you could walk. Teaching is just part of my soul, but there might come a time in your life when you should quit your teaching job and that’s ok.
If you are looking for a post that will tell you it’s ok to quit your teaching job to run away with the circus, this isn’t really that kind of post. This isn’t what you can do instead of teaching.
Instead, this post is about knowing when it’s time to change the teaching job you are currently doing. That could be a change of subject matter, grade level, locations, training or type of school position. Change is a good thing. It can breathe life back into your calling.
Read on to find out when you should quit.
[Read more…] about When to Quit Your Teaching Job and Why It’s Ok
Teaching has always been an isolating profession. We spend all day in a classroom with little people who get our jokes. The adult conversations we get happen during recess or staff meetings or in the bathroom line waiting for a toilet. It can leave anyone feeling disconnected.
My husband has a joke about teachers, they can seek each other out anywhere in the world. It never fails that when we travel to another country and meet another couple, one of them will be a teacher. He calls it teacher radar.
And it’s true. When two teachers meet in the wild, they talk about teaching. Because it’s another human in the world who actually gets it.
I mean, Mr. Ninja tries to be supportive, but unless you’re in the trenches, you don’t really get it.
How do you connect with other teachers? Come read about our struggles and some of the solutions.
[Read more…] about How to Reconnect From Your Teaching Island
