I loved teaching science and one of my favorite sections of science with severe weather. Before moving to South Carolina, I didn't experience much severe weather in Pennsylvania other than a few blizzards growing up. Once I moved here, I realized how valuable this lesson in science truly was. I have attached a planning guide and rubric from when I taught severe storms. I have done this a number of ways, but this refers to a board -- we had Discovery Education so students could create 'boards' to share this information. This also easily done in PPT, Canva, or any other computer tool (if you have great ideas on how to present this, please add below!). You can also have students use paper to create this! Some students have created pamphlets before and they've been just as creative!
Are you able to have live classroom pets? What are some good suggestions for classroom pets?
We are not able to have any pets with fur due to allergies, other than our school therapy dog. Several of our teachers have fish or turtles.
Resilience - The capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.
Teaching requires more emotional resilience than most other professions. Lacking resilience is a common thread that creates burnout and leaving the profession. Resilience is not something we are taught in school, but there are things that we can do to strengthen our resilience.
Don’t isolate yourself in your classroom. Get to know other teachers in your building and your students’ parents. Building relationships with your co-workers and parents can strengthen your resilience. Take care of yourself. If you’re worn out and not feeling well, you are more likely to isolate and avoid others.
What is your resilience level?
Foundational reading skills for K-2:
How do you teach reading to a group of students of different reading levels?
To begin the school year, I use a Google spreadsheet to help organize data. I take pre and post test/assessment data from summer school assessments/projects, a student's spring and fall Acadience score (including sub test scores), and their spring, *summer (if applicable) and fall NWEA MAPs ELA score and organize, analyze etc. and arrange students by skill discrepancy, need etc... students less than 9%tile in multiple areas - and data points - are considered Tier 3 in our system and I meet with them asap for intervention. Students in Tier 3 reading intervention are grouped this way - but students in Tier 2 are grouped by classroom times (for ease of scheduling per teacher request) first, and then they are broken up into smaller groups to better align with skill gaps.
One of the things I've heard so frequently in my teaching career: "Kids love you. How do you do it?"
Students want a relationship with someone. They want to know that the people who they spend all day every day with care about who they are. I read a quote recently that said, "There's nothing to lose by giving a student a second chance. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. There's only the possibility of strengthening a relationship, demonstrating the power of empathy, and instilling a glimmer of hopeful recovery." --Teacher, Justin Tarte
This describes perfectly how I build relationships with students. Do I have high expectations? Yes. But do I also demonstrate that you can make mistakes and learn from them. Giving a student a second chance allows them to be exactly who they are, a child.
What are some ways you build relationships with students throughout the year to build them up?
Hi Everyone! I work with students with disabilities in an accelerated college and career program. Do you have any ideas about the best way to choose prefixes weekly for students in a high school dental science class?
Struggles in reading can impact a student's performance across multiple areas. Poor reading skills make it harder to grasp content in subjects like math, science, and social studies, where comprehension of text is crucial. This can also slow vocabulary growth and language development, affecting communication skills. Additionally, students who struggle with reading may experience lower confidence and motivation, making it harder to engage in learning. Since reading is tied to critical thinking, difficulties can limit the ability to analyze information, and even affect social skills by reducing exposure to texts that help develop empathy and social understanding. How do you consider other content area development when a student is known to be struggling with/in reading?
April is poetry month, what are your favorite poets to share with elementary aged children and how do you encourage students to write their own poems?
Which Kagan strategies do you find the most useful in your classroom? I like to use quiz-quiz-trade and talking chips. Both of these strategies help the students with their speaking and listening skills.
I have students who are struggling with reading. What are some strategies that I can use to help them?
First, you need to determine the area of focus that the student is struggling with. This can be done by using various assessments. Gather data on different areas of reading: decoding, sight words, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Once you have determined the area(s) of concern, you can apply reading interventions to address these needs.
Word Study
Phonemic awareness
Decoding
High Frequency (sight words)
Syllabication
Spelling
Fluency
Modeled and assisted oral reading
Prosody development (pacing, intonation, volume, smoothness, phrasing, expression)
Guided reading
Partner reading
Vocabulary
Teacher models and explains
Technical
Content specific (using different genres)
Teaching word parts (roots, prefixes, suffixes)
What foundational skills should I focus on to prepare students for success in algebra?
Students need to understand the foundational principles of algebra that include properties for each of the operations and the idea of substitution in variables. Order of operations is also a pivotal skill for Algebra. The key to understanding is knowing that algebra involves equivalencies. Because this can often be very abstract for most upper elementary students, providing as much context as possible makes it easier. I HIGHLY recommend https://borenson.com/product/the-hands-on-equations-learning-system/
It is well worth the investment to purchase this kit for your students to teach the parts of an equation and how to solve algebraic expressions.
Each September, at the end of our unit on the five senses, my team has “Apple Day” where we use apples to help investigate our five senses. I love science and STEM, so I’d like to do something in those areas. I usually have students investigate if apples sink or float, but I’d like to change things up this year. Any ideas?
What curriculum do you use for classroom circles? I like to introduce my students to a circle by using this book called the Sharing circle. The animals in the story help the students learn how to resolve conflicts. We don't have a curriculum in my district, but we do teach our students how to handle conflicts in a peaceful way. I also use my circles to discuss how we can improve as a class as far as treating each other with respect.
I started a leadership program through my district in January and one of the videos we had to watch is a Ted Talk called Embrace the Shake. Linked here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrZTho_o_is
One of my biggest take aways is that I don't necessarily have all of the tools, yet, to move into a coaching position, but there are many things I can leverage that I do have so that I can build my strengths. One of them is stepping outside my comfort zone to try new (and sometimes scary) things!
What are some ways you've stepped outside your comfort zone to be a leader inside your school building?
To differentiate materials effectively for all students, you can offer various formats and levels of complexity.
What would this look like in a multi-age classroom?
Stories don’t just live in books—they live in us. In this episode, we explore how movement and storytelling come together to boost comprehension, engagement, and expression. No dance skills required—just imagination and a willingness to move. Check out my latest podcast on this: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2019640/episodes/18003242
How could dancing a story bring literacy to life in your classroom?
Do you use Science Notebooks with your students? I have used composition notebooks for years with my kindergarten students for science notebooks and have dabbled a little in using digital science notebooks. I am curious to know how you have used them and what you think is important to include in them.
