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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.
[Read more…] about Make Wellness Lessons a Priority in Your Classroom
Our classroom chemistry unit is one of our favourites to teach because it allows for so many opportunities for students to explore and experiment. Sometimes, we let students explore on their own by posing questions to them. Other times, we demonstrate experiments. Either way, experiments take a bit of work to set up, do, and clean up. Don’t let that stop you. Here are some of our favourite chemistry experiments!
[Read more…] about How to Escalate Your Chemistry Experiments
Adding candy to any lesson will always engage students, but why not get some math out of it in the process? We have found our students are very motivated by food. For many of them, it is a treat they don’t get often. Just add candy to sweeten up your math lesson.
There are lots of different ways to incorporate candy into your math lessons, so we’ve gathered up a list of ideas. Once you get started, you’ll see the possibilities for yourself.
[Read more…] about How to Add Candy to Your Math Lessons
We use interactive notebooks in our math class as part of a unit on number sense. We have found creating a reference book of concepts and procedures that students can refer to when working in math helps them build confidence and develop independence.
We’re not going to lie. They are a lot of work, but the working is meaningful. We found on average our math grades improved and students were able to retain more of their learning year over year. Read more to find out how we use them in our classroom as one way to develop number sense.
[Read more…] about How to Use Interactive Notebooks to Teach Number Sense
Sometimes students don’t understand how time is of the essence when doing research. They lack the research skills to use text features, skim materials, and find items quickly. Not only does this slow down their work, it often results in incomplete research and general frustration.
It is a struggle year after year.
However, we have managed to find some activities that help students refine their research skills: scavenger hunts. It turns out that making research fun and game-like can have a positive impact on how students complete research.
[Read more…] about Disguise Research Skills as a Scavenger Hunt
When a colleague told us we should try interactive notebooks in math, we agreed and then went on our merry ways and did math the same old way for another year.
At the end of that school year, she approached us again and DEMANDED we buy an Interactive Math Journal lesson plan set. We took a look, bought it and then went on summer vacation, never to think about math for a whole two months.
Near the end of the summer, we opened it up and it CHANGED OUR WORLD. We will never teach math the same way again. That being said, there are a few things we learned about the process and we wanted to share these tips with you so you don’t have to spend so much time figuring things out yourself.
[Read more…] about How to Change Math With Interactive Notebooks
Looking for Remembrance Day books for Canadian classrooms? Our list has picture books, non-fiction, novels and graphic novels, plus short reading activities. Picture books work for older students too, and most of the novels suit students in grade five and up.
Preparing for Remembrance Day commemorations is a great opportunity to talk not only about the sacrifices of the past but also about our contributions to peace. There are so many Remembrance Day activities out there, but most of them involve poppy crafts. One of the best ways to learn about the past is by reading Remembrance Day books. They are always a great way to introduce solemn topics while uplifting our students. Most of all, they are portable, easy to use, and don’t require a lot of technology.
[Read more…] about Memorable Books for Remembrance Day in Canada
What do you do when you want to challenge students, but you also want them to learn? We give them critical thinking challenges. Critical thinking requires many skills-problem solving, collaboration, design thinking, and perseverance. When a critical thinking question is carefully crafted, you can get students to explore learning outcomes while having fun and being engaged in their learning at the same time.
What You’ll Learn: classroom setup and management strategies, how to design challenges that align with learning outcomes, the five essential elements of a successful critical thinking challenge, and seven ready-made challenge sets with materials and lesson plans.
[Read more…] about How to Leverage Critical Thinking Challenges to Your Advantage
Do your students suck at researching topics? Do they just copy and paste from Wikipedia? Can they find accurate information on their own or do they all just end up at Wikipedia and cite Google Search as a source? Can they use text features or find an actual book?
[Read more…] about How to Teach Research Skills With Google Search
Orange Shirt Day is recognized each year on September 30. Check your local area for activities so you can participate in acknowledging Residential School survivors. As of 2021, the Canadian government has declared September 30 a day of National Truth and Reconciliation.
It is important to educate everyone about Canada’s wrongs so we can learn from them. We need to repair the damage that has been done. We have searched out some student-friendly resources teachers can use in their classrooms to teach students about Residential Schools because Every Child Matters. Keep reading to get a list of resources you can use in your classroom.
[Read more…] about Activities for Orange Shirt Day and National Truth and Reconciliation Day
The Canadian news is flooded with discussions about pipelines and where they should or shouldn’t be built. So, how do we address the multiple perspectives of different issues in the classrooms? It’s important to be impartial while presenting all the facts from both sides of the issue.
[Read more…] about How to Teach Multiple Perspectives in the Classroom
How would you feel if you knew you were a wonderful writer but the only way you could express yourself was through modern dance? What would you do if you had to recite your report card comments by memory to each and every parent? How would you feel if you were given the choice to write your report cards any way YOU want? (Ours would be invisible!)
Imagine how different your life would be if you were given the choice to do or say certain things.
[Read more…] about How to Differentiate Using Choices
