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Writing

How to Have Snow Much Fun With These Snow Activities

by BrainNinjasWP

Have snow much fun with all these winter themed snow activities for your upper elementary classroom. There are snow activities for writing, reading, art and classroom community building. Come check out the big list of winter themed activities.

When you live in a winter climate like northern Canada, the opportunities to do activities related to snow are endless. We try to build weather-related snow activities into our classes wherever possible. We teach in upper elementary, but we’ve used some of these activities with our younger buddies and some we’ve challenged ourselves. Come check out these snow activities that will keep you busy all winter.

[Read more…] about How to Have Snow Much Fun With These Snow Activities

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Art, Art Lessons, Classroom Community, Collaborative Posters, Holidays and Seasonal, Logic Puzzles, Teachers Pay Teachers, Winter, Winter Activities, Winter Art, Winter Art Projects, Winter Books, Winter Classroom Activities, Winter Language Arts, Winter Logic Puzzles, Winter Math, Winter Puzzles, Writing, Writing Prompts

How to Have Fun With Homonyms

by BrainNinjasWP

Do your students struggle with reading and writing homonyms? We brainstormed a list of games and activities to help students learn and practice the difference between homographs and homophones. We've even included a list of picture books with homonyms in them. Come have a read today!

Do your students struggle with using the correct word when they are writing? Do homophones confuse your students when they are reading? They are not alone. There are more than six thousand different homophones in the English language. No wonder it’s so confusing for students.

Teaching homophones and homographs can be a lot of fun. We’ve collected some of our favourite lessons, books and activities that you can use in your classroom to practice using homonyms. Come read more!

[Read more…] about How to Have Fun With Homonyms

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies Tagged With: English Language Arts, english language learners, Homographs, Homonyms, Homophones, Parts of Speech, Reading, Spelling, Teachers Pay Teachers, Words, Writing

How to Include Different Types of Writing in Your Classroom

by BrainNinjasWP

Are you looking for ways to include the different types of writing in your classroom each day? Come see how we do it in our upper elementary classroom.

Over the years we’ve attended hundreds of hours of professional development for teaching students to write. Our school has tried out resources from Ruth Guthrie and the 6+ Traits of Writing, Barbara Mariconda and Empowering Writers and even Lucy Calkins and her Writers’ Workshop model. None of these were perfect. Some students did well with some of the lessons and some students didn’t see a lot of growth in their writing. Some students learned to follow a formula but struggled with being creative. How do you include different types of writing in your daily writing?

[Read more…] about How to Include Different Types of Writing in Your Classroom

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons, Teaching Strategies Tagged With: expository writing, Google Apps, Google Classroom, narrative writing, persuasive writing, Poetry, Writing, Writing Activities, Writing Lessons, Writing Prompts, Writing Strategies

9 Easy Valentine’s Day Ideas for Upper Elementary

by BrainNinjasWP

Valentine's Day in upper elementary isn't quite the same as the little kids or the older ones. It's this weird time in a kid's life where they are too old to care about paper cards but also want to be included in getting paper cards. They are just starting to have crushes but the maturity level is all over the place. We've spent a lot of time watching our Valentine's Day ideas flop. Come read some of our students' approved Valentine's Day ideas.

Valentine’s Day in upper elementary isn’t quite the same as the little kids or the older ones. It’s this weird time in a kid’s life when they are too old to care about paper cards but also want to be included in getting paper cards. They are just starting to have crushes but their maturity level is all over the place. We’ve spent a lot of time watching our Valentine’s Day ideas flop. But not anymore!

Over the years, we’ve watched students in our Grade 4 and Grade 5 classes to see how they respond to different activities for Valentine’s Day and we’ve settled on focusing on friendship and kindness. Some of these activities can be done any time of year because they are not specific to Valentine’s Day. These are the best Valentine’s Day ideas that were approved by our students.

[Read more…] about 9 Easy Valentine’s Day Ideas for Upper Elementary

Filed Under: Classroom Tips Tagged With: Acts of Kindness, Art, Art Lessons, Be Kind, Holidays, Holidays and Seasonal, Kindness, Kindness Matters, Logic Puzzles, Math, Math Worksheets, Mathematics, Poetry, Poetry and Drama, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Ideas, Writing, Writing Activities, Writing Prompts

Challenge Your Students with Writing Activities

by BrainNinjasWP

Are you looking for some ways to get your upper elementary students writing every day? We've created this list full of ideas, resources and time-savers so your students can write something every single day. We've even got a few free writing ideas that you can take straight to your classroom. Come take a read!

There are generally two reactions that students give when it is time for writing activities in the classroom. Half are usually excited and the other half is filled with dread. We’ve been through lots of different writing programs over the years, been to hundreds of hours of professional development to teach writing and have seen the same pattern over and over again.

Most teachers don’t feel like they know how to teach writing. Is that you? Keep reading.

[Read more…] about Challenge Your Students with Writing Activities

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons, Teaching Strategies Tagged With: Teachers Pay Teachers, Teaching Ideas, Writing, Writing Activities, Writing Lessons, Writing Prompts, Writing Strategies

How to Celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day

by BrainNinjasWP

Are you looking for ways to celebrate a love of poetry with your upper elementary students? Try taking part in Poem in Your Pocket Day as part of National Poetry Month. This can be done any time of year and is a great activity to explore poetry throughout your school. Come read the whole post to get ideas how you can celebrate poetry.

We’re hosting a “Poem in Your Pocket” day as a celebration of completing our poetry unit in Language Arts. It coincides with the National Poem In Your Pocket Day held each year in April. It’s coming up soon! You can join us this year even if you haven’t taught poetry in your classroom yet!

[Read more…] about How to Celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Drama, ELA, Holidays, Holidays and Seasonal, Lesson Plans, National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, Poetry, Poetry and Drama, Reading, Writing

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