Hey there, I don't know about you but I have always had one main rule in my classroom and it is to be kind to others. Even more so now do I want to make sure my students understand not only to be kind, but why and how we can be kind to others. We have a decent social skills curriculum in our district, but I wanted to be even more intentional with the teaching of kindness and compassion. So I did some digging and found a few great books that spoke to kindness and what it means to be kind. These are the books I started with... After reading “What does it Mean to Be Kind?” … [Read more...] about Kindness Read Alouds
Blog
Mapping Fun!
Hey there! So last week we started our unit on mapping and landforms. Our social studies curriculum is unfortunately rather bland and leaves little hands on practice for our kiddos. So reviewed all the main components that my nuggets were expected to know by the end of the unit and I created some interactive games and activities to help reinforce all the necessary mapping skills they would need. Next, I went into town and found a variety of different city maps. The local train, bus station or city center are great spots to pick up maps. You can also go online … [Read more...] about Mapping Fun!
A Review of Stephanie Harvey’s “Amplify Digital Teaching and Learning in the K-6 Classroom”
Inspired or Overwhelmed? If you are anything like me, you see something new and inspiring and you instantly try to figure out how to incorporate that into your classroom. We all want to offer our students the best we can. Now in the age of social media, we can glimpse into thousands of classrooms every day. I don’t know about you but this can both be inspiring and downright overwhelming. This spring our district was offering a series of book studies and I of course hopped in both! Reading a good professional development book can refresh you and leave you ready for action. July hit and I … [Read more...] about A Review of Stephanie Harvey’s “Amplify Digital Teaching and Learning in the K-6 Classroom”
Blurt Beans to the Rescue
Hey there! We've all had chatty classes before, but a few years ago my kiddos were having an even harder time than I was used to. I had tried my regular go-to strategies and they just weren't working. So I started doing some research to find the support that I needed... I discovered BLURT BEANS! What you need... 1. A container to hold your beans in waiting or lost beans 2. A clear container to show growth/goals/incentives 3. Beans 4. Containers for desk to hold the beans ( I bought stackable pill containers from the Dollar Tree and put wall Tac 'N Stik under each of them to hold … [Read more...] about Blurt Beans to the Rescue