How do you manage difficult parents that seem to blame teachers for their child's behavior and absences?
Has anyone published a class book with their students? I have done this in the past and it is a good way to help students with opinion writing and to see what they have learned about a particular subject. I use a company called Student Treasures. This is there website: https://studentreasures.com. I am showing pictures of 2 books that I have published with my students. I usually invite parents to my classroom for a book party and each student reads their page. They really enjoy it and it builds community.
Beginning of the year activity -- turned test prep strategy!
At the beginning of the year a few years ago, I decided to play 4 corners with students with get to know you questions. I put up a slide-show with questions and the 4 possible responses. I set out the rules (no running, must choose one of the answers, keep within your own space, etc) and labeled each corner. When they made their selection, they could talk with another person or in a small group, why they choose that answer. Then they could share if there was another one they would have picked. If only one student was at a corner, I would go over and talk with them.
What I realized a few weeks in was that I could also do this with math multiple choice questions for practice (I taught primarily math at the time, but you could do it with other subjects too). Students then had to show their work for the answer or explain how they got it. I occasionally would throw in a question that had multiple right answers and would share that up front with students. They then could discuss in their groups if they thought any of the other answers were correct and how they knew.
My new school is looking for ways that related arts (music, art, and PE) can integrate math into their lessons easily. Any ideas or research that you’ve found that helps this work? We are doing this Kinder through 5th grade.
How do you have your students to self assess themselves. I have pictures with the numbers of 1, 2, 3 and 4. 1 means that they still don't understand, 2 means that they are starting to understand. 3 means they can do it by themselves, and 4 means they can do it by themselves and teach others. I am attaching some examples I have used for 3 and 4.
I have been reading a lot about assessments and assessing students to reduce anxiety for students. I came across this idea and I immediately fell in love with it. I also wished I would have seen this as a classroom teacher. What I love about it is that it gives students an opportunity to build their thinking capacity before testing and increase their thought process when working on questions. I know students can't do this before high-stakes testing, but I think using this will build students' confidence and expand their thinking.
Thoughts about this? What are some other strategies you have tried?
How are you and your students using AI in the classroom right now?
Are you experimenting with it for lesson planning, writing support, research, creativity, or even student projects? I’d love to hear both the big and small ways AI is showing up in your teaching practice—what’s working, what’s surprising, and what’s still tricky!
As a math interventionist (but honestly I wish I would have thought of this as a general education teacher too!), I added a basketball hoop to my wishlist--the link is below. This has been a GAME changer (pun intended) to math fact fluency and review questions, especially with my male students! I can think of so many ways I would have used it as a general homeroom teacher too especially with trashketball (pdf attached as well). What are some other ways you get your students up and moving while also learning?
Our Open House is this week. I have a presentation and a Kahoot for the parents to complete after the presentation is done. What are some other ideas that you have to keep parents actively engaged at your Open House?
I am a teacher that plans to retire from the classroom BUT, I love opportunities to lead from the classroom. I’ve chaired committees at the local and state level and am now working with NBCT nationally. https://www.nbpts.org/about/what-book-committee/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3GxulKXE_r9V77pVGdDhEihrVre6tFZpUCM8wolpUrMQOsJBb7HvAjQ7A_aem_Ab0wdKhWHcrhy1S1q64C-qIlhMXqESSKBFOiEqFK0-P2rSqtoNgPuxrA1HnfA-6SLPBb7sL9aVKn2_2gy63QVKVj
My district allows me opportunities to grow professionally and I appreciate this so much. What do you do you do to grow professionally?
What are strategies you use to keep advanced 1st graders challenged that don’t require another teacher or teaching assistant?
In what ways do you collaborate with other teachers throughout the summer when you were no longer in the same building routinely?
No power or Internet!
How would you plan a lesson for a standard about identifying the differences in the perspectives of characters? Do you have any good texts to help me teach that topic?
How do you get organized for when you return to your classroom after summer break?
For example, I have a notebook where I make a list all summer so I know what needs to be tackled. What do you do to organize yourself?
🎥 Family Book Trailer Challenge
What it is: Families work together to create a short video trailer for a favorite children’s book.
How to use: Share through Seesaw, Padlet, or Wakelet. Adds media literacy + excitement.
Our families utilized this as an extension after Reading Month in March.
How do you encourage students and their families to continue to celebrate reading - even after Reading Mont has ended?
