Category Archives : CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Some fun and engaging activities for you to do with your students during the month of April or whenever.

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Read Aloud Magic

Add a little magic to your read-alouds by taking your students through a portal inside the book.

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5 Ways to Up the FUN Factor at the End of the School Year

The end of the school year can be difficult at best and disastrous at worst. Your students are ready for summer, and you are anxious to close the year out without incident. Here are 5 ways to up the FUN factor at the end of the year

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Make an Old Story New Again

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Rework a plot from a story you’ve read or a movie you’ve seen and make it your own.

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Junk Art

By Crystal Brown of Dr. Crystal Brown

One of the best things about teaching reading is that you can find anything to read about any holiday and make it teachable. When April rolls around, one of my favorite Earth Day activities is making art from junk and having students write stories about their creations.

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Let’s Play Bingo!

Learn 3 ways to use BINGO in your math class.

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The Best Strategies for Keeping Students Engaged During Tough Teaching Times

Learn some of the best strategies for keeping students engaged during the most challenging times of the year.

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March 2022 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs HOME Kindergarten LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS MISC. LESSONS SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER TALK and tagged ##moneysavingtips #loteraturecircles #MarchTeacherTalk #nationalscribbleday #projectbasedlearning #studypractices on March 21, 2022 by Deann Marin (updated on June 10, 2023)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

Welcome to our March Teacher Talk. All of us from the Teacher Talk collaborative would like to wish you a happy and prosperous spring. We have so many fab tips this month from fun activities, ELA and reading ideas, to high interest learning. You don’t want to miss reading these blog posts from some awesome educators.

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It’s… March Let’s Go Fly a Kite

As an award for good behavior, my special needs class’s favorite activity was making & flying kites. When I taught sixth grade, my kids also loved this project.

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Starting with Scribble

Ideas for celebrating National Scribble Day!

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Study Practices

In spite of what many people think, there are some very common study practices that are not very effective. There are others that are somewhat helpful, and then there are several that research shows are very effective.

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What to Have in a Literature Circle Resource Center

Discover the most important items to have in your literature circles resource center.

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Tips to Save Money on Groceries

Grocery prices are soaring. Here are some tips to save money on groceries.

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The Value of Project-based Learning -A Solid Gold Learning Nugget

The value of project-based learning goes beyond keeping your students actively involved in their own education. It teaches them cooperation, time management, and public speaking. Try this solid gold nugget in your own classroom.

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February 2022 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FEATURED AUTHORS FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs GRADE LEVELS HOME LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS MATH LESSONS MISC. LESSONS Presidents' Day SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER TALK Valentine's Day and tagged #bulies#Randomactsofkindness #classroomtips #kindness #literaturecircles #MarchTeacherTalk #readingassessment #readingmonth #wordcchoicetips #palindromes on February 21, 2022 by Deann Marin (updated on June 10, 2023)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

Welcome to our February Teacher Talk. All of us from the Teacher Talk collaborative would like to wish you a Happy February. We have so many fab tips this month from Math, ELA and reading ideas, to High interest learning and our featured author for the month, you don’t want to miss reading these blog posts from some awesome educators.

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All You Need is Love and Kindness

My husband got up one gloomy morning and went to the gas station to fill his car, when he went to pay, the gas pump said, “prepaid.” A kind person, from the goodness of his/her heart, paid for his gas. Needless to say, it brought a big smile to his face.

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Celebrate Reading

By Alison Monk of The Literacy Garden

Ways to celebrate March is Reading month.

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Discover How to Effectively Use Running Record Assessments with Primary

Students

Wouldn’t it be great to get insight into what a student does when he/she reads? Learn how in this post!

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Bully Tales

My encounter with this student who was a school bully produced a surprising result.

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Tips to Use Whose vs.Who’s and Their vs. There, vs.They’re

Help your students learn an easy way to choose between confusing words.

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Palindromes in Words and Numbers

I was getting ready to pay for my meal at a buffet when I noticed the cashier’s name tag. It read “Anna” to which I replied, “Your name is a palindrome!” The cashier just stared at me in disbelief. I explained that a palindrome was letters that read the same backwards as forwards. Because you could read her name forwards and backwards, it qualified as a palindrome. In fact, February 22, 2022 will be a palindrome if written as 2-22-22!

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How to Deal with Common Problems During Literature Circles

By Victoria Leone of Victoria Leone

Learn about 6 of the most common problems teachers face during literature circles and solutions for each problem.

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Teacher Talk’s Featured Author – Alison Monk

Alison Monk of The Literacy Garden is Teacher Talk’s Featured Author. Alison’s TpT store at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Literacy-Garden has amazing ELA resources, book companions, and morning work for your classroom. Get her free close reading lesson using nonfiction magazine-styled passages.

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January 2022 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs HOME Kindergarten LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS Martin Luther King, Jr. MATH LESSONS MISC. LESSONS New Year's Day SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER TALK and tagged #behaviormanagement #ela #JanuaryTeacherTalk #languagearts #literaturecircles #mathpatterns #MLK #MartinLutherKing #NewYear on January 17, 2022 by Deann Marin (updated on June 10, 2023)

It’s 2022! Time sure flies. We have some great ideas for you in our January edition of Teacher Talk. So, hurry on over to see what these creative educators are doing this month.

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I Dreaded My Third Period Class

It was cold and blustery outside, one of those days you just wanted to stay under the covers, but truth be told, I immediately thought about how I dreaded my third period class, I so wanted to turn over and forget about it for a while. I knew I had to face it, so I begrudgingly got out of bed. Alas, it was only hump day, and I had a busy schedule, so I dragged myself out of bed, had my cup of coffee and a piece of toast.

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Goals and Dreams

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Ideas for going beyond “I Have a Dream” for MLK Day.

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New Year, New Focus

First week back after winter break. . . what a week! With our classroom numbers fluctuating due to students quarantining or testing positive, and so much uncertainty, diving right into the curriculum was not an option. We went back to the basics: what do we need to improve in?

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Under The Blotter: Engagement Questions

by Gini Musmanno of Reading Spotlight

Need a way to encourage independent reading? I have kept these particular reading engagement questions under my desk blotter for many, many years—so many that I don’t even know who did the research for them, but I do know these questions are effective in improving reading motivation, in the person who responds, AND in those who listen to the answers.

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The Beauty of Math Patterns

By Vicki Rauch of Scipi

Some people say mathematics is the science of patterns which I think is a pretty accurate description. Not only do patterns take on many forms, but they occur in every part of mathematics. But then again patterns occur in other disciplines as well. They can be sequential, spatial, temporal, and even linguistic. Discover more about pattern in this blog post.

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MLK in ELA: Ideas for Reading & Writing About Martin Luther King, Jr.

10 ideas for reading and writing about Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Essential Literature Circles Mini Lessons: What to Teach Your Students

By Victoria Leone of Victoria Leone

Literature circles and mini-lessons go hand-in-hand. Discover the most important mini-lessons to teach your students and take your literature circles to new levels!

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Test Prep Tournaments That Work!

Get your students ready for your chapter tests, district-mandated tests, and the high-stakes state tests with test prep tournaments! They are a fun way to review for upcoming tests AND they work!

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December 2021 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade Christmas CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs HOLIDAYS HOME Kindergarten LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS MATH LESSONS MISC. LESSONS PreKindergarten SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER TALK and tagged #books #challengingteachingdays #December #DecemberTeacherTalk #Holidays #literaturecircles #Christmas #measuring #TeachingTips #Technology #ValuesLessons on December 20, 2021 by Deann Marin (updated on June 10, 2023)

If you’re interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies and/or our blog linky, sign up here…. The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. If you decide to join, “Feel free to email me at deann.marin@gmail.com if you have any questions”

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An Amazing Holiday Values Lesson

I woke up this morning, December 19, 2021, and thought about how much things have changed since the pandemic.

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A Celebration of Values for the Holidays

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Ideas for bringing reflections and values to the celebrations of the season!

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The Best Gift of All: Connection

One of the biggest challenges I’ve noticed since being back in school in person is the need for conversational skills. In class during morning meeting, we spend time devoted to talking and interacting with one another. While I can foster this in the classroom, I know practicing communication skills need to continue at home.

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Giving Books as Gifts

Books make great gifts for everyone, but here are two keys for giving books that children, especially, will enjoy and that will motivate them to read even more.

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Measuring Snow – A Craft for the Un-Crafty

By Vicki Rauch of Scipi

I am not a very crafty person; so, I am always looking for items that are easy to make that I can give to my grandchildren. One year, I gave them a snowman making kit that included buttons, a carrot, six rocks and two sticks. This year, I am giving them a Snow Measuring Tool. Not is it only fun to use, but it also helps them to practice using a ruler. Learn how you can make one!

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The Benefits of Literature Circles in the Classroom

Ever thought about using literature circles in your classroom as part of your reading program? Learn more about what literature circles are and why they are an effective addition to your classroom reading program.

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Good Writers Vary Their Sentence Patterns

By Michelle Webb of Teaching Ideas for Those who Love Teaching

Good Writers Vary Their Sentence Patterns and often place phrases and dependent clauses at the beginning of their sentences.

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5 Tech Tips to Keep Teacher Sanity

Technology Tips for Teachers in the Classroom.

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November 2021 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FEATURED AUTHORS FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs GRADE LEVELS LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS MATH LESSONS MISC. LESSONS TEACHER TALK Thanksgiving and tagged #attitudeofgratitude #classroommanagement #behaviortips #datause #digitalportfolios #math #Multiplication #November #sentencewritingtips #STEM #Thanksgiving on November 22, 2021 by Deann Marin (updated on June 10, 2023)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It’s November Teacher Talk Time…..Can you believe that Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. Time sure flies. We have so many great tips and ideas for you from awesome educators. Be sure to take a look at what everyone has to say.

If you’re interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies and/or our blog link-up, sign up here….The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative.

If you decide to join, feel free to email me at deann.marin@gmail.com for any questions you might have and mention me when you sign up.

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Attitude of Gratitude

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

I woke up in a funk the other morning so I pulled the covers over my head trying to go back to sleep. As I began to doze, my dog stuck her head under the sheet and I felt her cold nose on my leg. I knew that trying to stay in bed was futile, so I threw on some clothes and took her outside feeling frustrated and annoyed. As we began walking, the pain in my knee and heel started to subside and the phrase, attitude of gratitude came into my head as I realized how lucky I am to be able to walk, others aren’t so fortunate.

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Multiple Ways to Multiply

When we spend enough time early in the year on place value and number sense, teaching multiplication and division go much more smoothly. Students grasp the concept of multiplication in multiple ways, so I try to introduce more than “the only way” to solve.

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Four Easy Ways to Encourage an Attitude of Gratitude

Easy ways to encourage gratitude in your students this month, and keep it going all year long.

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Mix it up – STEM and Language Arts

When you integrate STEM and Language Arts, you prepare your students for future employment. Communication skills are just as important as STEM skills. Involve your whole class in a STEM-based creative writing activity with “STEM Stories.”

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A Special Thank You To All School Helpers

By Michelle Webb of Teaching Ideas For Those Who Love Teaching

This post is a special Thank-You to all those helpful people we find in our schools, paid and unpaid, but particularly for one very special person.

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How to Turn a Terrible Teaching Day into a Great One

5 tips on how teachers can turn a terrible teaching day into a great one.

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Tips to Strengthen Your Sentences

Here are three ways to help your students strengthen their sentences.

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October 2021 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT College FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs GRADE LEVELS Halloween HOME LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS MATH LESSONS MISC. LESSONS TEACHER TALK and tagged #StoryPlotStructure #TeacherTalk #Halloween #October #creativewriting #fractions #books #ELA #writing on October 18, 2021 by Deann Marin (updated on October 18, 2021)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It’s October Teacher Talk Time…..Well, the first month of school is over and it’s BOO-tober, time for Halloween fun, Columbus Day, Stop Bullying Month and beautiful fall weather. We have so many great tips and ideas for you from awesome educators. Be sure to take a look at what everyone has to say.
If you’re interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies and/or our blog linky, sign up here….The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. If you decide to join, “Feel free to email me at deann.marin@gmail.com for any questions you might have and mention me when you sign up.”
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It’s October…Time to Call on Your Halloween Spirit

October is the perfect time to get your students’ creative juices flowing.

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Seven Fun Candy Activities for Your Class

Fun ways to use Halloween candy while keeping the rigor in your lessons. A three page freebie is included!

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Simple Steps to Create a Story Plan

Forming a story plan is the first step in writing fiction.

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Rachel’s Monster

The first time I saw Rachel she was standing in the hall near her first-grade classroom door. Her eyes met mine, but she then turned her face to the wall. I did not know at that time she would become one of my first primary grade remedial reading students, nor did I know that she was repeating first grade–this is a story about Rachel’s monster.

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“BOO” to Fractions? Recognizing Equivalent Fractions

Math requires constant practice – something most of my students dread doing. I can find many “drill and kill” activities, but they tend to do just that, drill those who don’t need it and kill those who already know how to do it. So to drill and “thrill”, I created fractional word puzzles. The one for October is Halloween Fraction Riddles.

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Cursive vs. Keyboard – an interesting debate

There have been many debates over the centuries regarding the education of our children. From integrated schools to No Child Left Behind and Common Core curricula, teachers have had to deal with a plethora of revisions to their daily lessons. However, hidden beneath the mandated revisions is a new discussion that centers around cursive writing vs. keyboard entry for student assignments. How can you teach your little learners to master a keyboard?

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Fall in ELA: 20 Ideas for Reading & Writing in Autumn

By Marcie Howe of It’s a Teacher Thing

20 ideas for reading and writing in ELA during Autumn.

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October Teaching Ideas

Learn great ideas to help build relationships with your students and thrive as a teacher during the month of October.

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Studying Plot Structure

By Lisa Robles of Lisa TeachRs Classroom

Every story has some sort of a structure. Today we will talk about teaching two types: circular and cumulative story structures and how to use teach them to your students.

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Teaching in the New Normal 5 Tips and Tricks

By Michelle Webb of Teaching Ideas for Those Who Love Teaching

This school year we want things to be back to normal. We are not there yet. Here are 5 tips to keep you sane while teaching in the new normal.

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September 2021 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS HOME and tagged #BehaviorProblems.#Geometry.#PreventCrime #books #placevalue#math #CharacterBuilding #LatinoHeritageMonth #MagicDay #paragraphwriting #readng #SeptemberTeacherTalk on September 20, 2021 by Deann Marin (updated on June 10, 2023)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It’s September Teacher Talk Time…..Hopefully everyone is off to a great school year with the best classes ever, in these strange times. We have so many great tips and ideas for you from awesome educators. Be sure to take a look at what everyone has to say.

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Behavior Problems Got You Down?

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Behavior Problems Got You Down? Have you been struggling with Johnny or Sally since the first day of school? Do you rack your brain trying to come up with some creative ways to turn their unacceptable behavior around? Let’s face it, some kids will always get under your skin, but you’re the teacher, you’re tough and you can deal with it.

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Back to Basics: 3 Tried & True Place Value Games

And we’re back! We just finished our fifth week of school(!) and it looks different. It feels different. But it is SO good to be back in person, masks and all. It’s a tricky balance of remembering “how I used to teach in person” and “what worked during distance learning” and “how do I keep the curriculum rigorous, while planning for some students to inevitably be quarantined at some point and not miss instruction”. Luckily, here are some tried & true math lessons and activities that work well for the beginning of the year.

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Open the Magic

By Vicky Leone of TBOTEMC

Celebrate reading and make it a lifelong love! Open the magic with your students this week!

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How to Teach the Times Tables So ALL Students Can Succeed

Teach the times tables with pictures so that your students will understand the concept of multiplication. Step-by-step directions on how to teach the multiplication facts are included.

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Prevent Crime

Read this short essay, and learn one way to prevent crime.

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Let’s Go Fly A Kite – Using the Correct Geometry Term for Diamond!

This was a comment I received from a fourth grade teacher, “Would you believe on the state 4th grade math test this year, they would not accept “diamond” as an acceptable answer for a rhombus, but they did accept “kite”!!!!! Can you believe this? Since when is kite a shape name? Crazy.”

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Underdog Stories – Books and Movies

By Charlene Tess of CharleneTess

Teacher your students about underdog stories where the kid who is less than perfect ends up succeeding at something by the end of the story. Good triumphs over evil and the weak become strong. Great lessons for today’s children.

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Simple Steps to Organize Your Workday

Push the Reset Button

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How to Teach Paragraph Writing Step By Step

Learn easy tips to help your students learn to write quality paragraphs.

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Latino Heritage Month is here!

The dates for Latino Heritage month are September 15th until October 15th. September 16th is on Mexico’s independence day. Here are some ideas to celebrate in your classroom.

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May 2021 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FEATURED AUTHORS FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs GRADE LEVELS HOME LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS MATH LESSONS Memorial Day MISC. LESSONS SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER TALK THE BEST OF TEACHER ENTREPRENEURS MARKETING COOPERATIVE MEMBERSHIP and tagged #AAPIMonth #nonfiction #narrative #archaeology #picturebooks #nativeamericans #Featuredauthor #endoftheyeartips #TBOTEMC #TeacherTalk #May #endofschool #substituteplans #angles #readingskills on July 29, 2021 by Deann Marin (updated on July 29, 2021)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It’s May already, time sure flies. Time to stop by and see what our teaching friends are doing during the school closures. This is the last link-up for this school year. We’ll see you again in August.

If you’re interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies and/or our blog linky, sign up here….The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. If you decide to join, “Feel free to email me at deann.marin@gmail.com for any questions you might have.”

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Rejoice! It’s the End of the School Year

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

We’re so eager for summer, we sometimes forget about all the things we have to do for the last few weeks of school, one of which is celebrating a successful year with our students. For those of you who didn’t have a great year, it’s time for you to rejoice, you never have to see this group of kids again, at least not in your classroom. So sit back, have a Margarita, or something else you love and breathe a sigh of relief.

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Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Month

Did you know there are 23 million Asian Americans and 1.6 million Pacific Islanders living in the United States? Did you ever learn about the contributions of Asian Americans or Pacific Islanders (AAPI) while you were in school? With Asian hate crimes on the rise and anti-Asian sentiment in the news, this was the perfect time to learn all about the many contributions of AAPI.

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Narrative Nonfiction Brings History to Life

By Retta london of Rainbow City Learning

Ideas for using archaeology as a doorway to reading and writing narrative nonfiction.

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Advance Preparation for a Substitute Is a Must

Emergency lesson plans are a must and give you peace of mind.
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A Summer Nightmare

By Vicky A Rauch of Scipi Products

A more devastating movie plot for education could not be imagined—student educational loss compounded exponentially in years of COVID. Plus, of course, the emotional losses. For some children, few, if any, reading skills were learned or practiced…in more than an entire year. So the setback will grow and grow and grow GIGANTC as…

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It Depends on the Angle – How to Distinguish Between Complimentary and Supplementary Angles

My students always have difficulty distinguishing complimentary from supplementary angles. Since most of my students are visual learners, I had to come up with something that would help them to distinguish between the two.

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Summer Fun for Everyone – 5 Ways to Make this Summer Special

By Lisa Robles of LisaTeachRs Classroom

This year, summer takes on a whole new meaning – fewer COVID restrictions and plenty of opportunity to join others for some good old fashioned fun! Check out these ways to increase family summer fun.

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Uplifting Native Literature: Picture Books by Indigenous Voices

Tuesday Uplifting native literature: picture books by Indigenous voices Uplifting native literature: picture books by Indigenous voices Indigenous literature matters! We need to hear the native voices and let kids see themselves represented in literature.

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Renee Heiss – Teacher Talk’s Featured Author

By Victoria Leone of Victoria Leone Leone

Renee Heiss of “All-American Teacher Tools” is Teacher Talk’s Featured Author. Renee enjoys giving half of her TpT earnings to teachers who have requested much-needed materials at Donor’s Choose. Your students will have fun with her free lessons, “STEM Daily Discussion Starters, Journal Prompts, and Fillers – September.”

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How to Survive and Thrive During the Last Month of School

By Michelle Webb of Teaching Ideas For Those Who Love Teaching

Learn three easy tips to help you survive and thrive during the last few weeks of school

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How Will You Remember this School Year?

Tips to remember and celebrate the 2020-21 School year with your students.

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February 2021 Teacher Talk

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

Welcome to our February Teacher Talk. All of us from the Teacher Talk collaborative would like wish you a Happy February. We have so many fab tips this month from Math, ELA and reading ideas, to High interest learning and our featured author for the month, you don’t want to miss reading these blog posts from some awesome educators.

If you’re interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies and/or our blog linky, sign up here….The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. If you decide to join, “Feel free to email me at deann.marin@gmail.com for any questions you might have.”

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Chaos at the Capitol, How Do You Talk to Your Students About It?

You’re a middle school teacher, you and your 11 year old have just turned on the television to watch the news. What you see in front of you nearly blows you away, you rub your eyes, no, you’re not imagining it, there’s a riot at the United States Capitol.

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Small Moment Stories

By Kathie Yoemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Small moment stories and a Faith Ringgold author study for “March is Reading Month”.

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Tried & True Fraction Freebies

What are you teaching in math right now? We are exploring fractions but doing this virtually has needed some thinking outside the box! Here are some of my tried & true activities and websites to use.

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5 Tips to Changing the Atmosphere in your Classroom

By Vicky A. Rauch of Scipi

Learn 6 easy tips to help you improve the reading skills of your most reluctant readers.

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See You Later Alligator

How do you teach your students how to use the greater than and less than symbol without having alligators in your lesson?

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How to Unstruggle Struggling Readers

By Charlene Tess of Charene Tess

Now that the first semester is over, have you recognized your struggling readers? Teachers are very busy teaching, teaching, teaching…but is everyone learning and retaining?
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Five Capitalization Hints

Here are 5 capitalization hints that will help your students write correctly.

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Cool Google Slides Tips and Tricks

CUE Los Angeles just had their CUE Palooza today and my mind is blown ? by everything I did not know about Google slides. I’m going to give you a few of the tips and tricks I learned today.
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Easy Tips to Sneak in Test Prep Activities

By Victoria Leone of The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs

Learn easy tips for sneaking engaging test prep into your upper elementary or middle school classroom.

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Michelle Webb – Teacher Talk’s Featured Author

Michelle Webb of “Teaching Ideas For Those Who Love Teaching” is Teacher Talk’s Featured Author. Learn more about this National Board Certified Teacher. Your students will enjoy her free product, Paul Bunyan Reading Lesson on Hyperbole and Pop Up Book!
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My Rule #5 for Teaching Middle School

My rule #5 in a series of how to bring out the best behavior in middle school students. Includes ideas of high-interest topics you can use for reading and writing activities.

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December 2020 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade Christmas CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs HOLIDAYS Kindergarten New Year's Day TEACHER TALK and tagged #books #challengingteachingdays #Christmas #December #DecemberTeacherTalk #distancelearning #ELA #Decemberteachertalk #Holidays #proofreading #TeachingTips #virtuallearning on December 21, 2020 by Deann Marin (updated on December 21, 2020)

It’s December and time for our holiday version of Teacher Talk. Getting ready for the holiday festivities or just looking for some great ideas. You don’t want to miss what these creative educators are doing this month.
If you’re interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies and/or our blog linky, sign up here….The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. If you decide to join, “Feel free to email me at deann.marin@gmail.com if you have any questions”
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An Amazing Holiday Values Lesson To Use Right Now!

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

I woke up this morning, December 20, 2020 and thought about how much things have changed since the pandemic, staying away from those we love, prejudice against those who are different, a separation of so many people in this country, bullying, and distance learning. This has been a very sad and stressful time in our lives.*********************************************

Hope is Just AheadBy Retta London of Rainbow City Learning

Adding hope to a New Years goal setting activity.
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Virtual Math Games to Engage Student Learning

One of my struggles during distance learning has been how to keep students engaged during math. Breakout rooms have been the perfect solution! I digitized a few of the games I used to print out and laminate. They are no-prep and ready to use!
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When was the last time you took time for YOU?

You’ve been creating virtual lessons, implementing virtual rewards and discipline procedures, and possibly keeping up with in-class separation shenanigans, as well. It’s overwhelming and not what you signed up for, right? Here are some ideas to help you relax and enjoy a small part of your day or week so you tell yourself that you are special (channeling Mr. Rogers here!)*********************************************

My Rule #3 for Teaching Middle School

#3 in a series of tips for Teaching Middle School*********************************************

Civility in the Classroom

Teaching civility in the classroom is a must.

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The Gift of No Homework

Why not try giving students the gift of NO HOMEWORK this holiday season? For a week? For a month? For EVER?

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3 Easy Tips to Increase Engagement and Learning During Grammar Lessons

Learn easy tips for increasing engagement and learning during your grammar lessons.
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Make sure you take a look at all the tips from our extraordinary educators.

September Teacher Talk 2020

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT Kindergarten PreKindergarten Uncategorized and tagged #alternativemedicine #books#homeopathy on September 21, 2020 by Deann Marin (updated on September 22, 2020)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

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Homeopathy, What Is It?

In addition to teaching, for a good part of my life, I have also been interested in alternative medical practices that include: homeopathy and holistic medicine, as well as exercise, yoga, qigong, meditation, aroma therapy, reflexology, massage, acupuncture, acupressure, and more. Through personal experience, I have seen that these practices can have a beneficial impact on the health and well being of those who use them. I am convinced of their effects

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Lead Like a Girl Part Two

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Thoughts on the legacy Ruth Bader Ginsburg may have left for our students.
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What’s Saving My Life Right Now

Hey, friends! Okay, I know this title: “What’s Saving my Life Right Now” sounds a bit dramatic, but. . . I feel like I’ve been living in a hole for the last 5 weeks and only keeping my head above water because of what I’m about to share!
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How I Got the Textbooks I Needed

This is my story about how I used ingenuity and moxie to get the textbooks that I needed.
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Be-Leaf Me! Fall is Great! Using Leaves in Science Investigations

By Marcy How of It’s a Teacher Thing

When my husband’s Aunt Sue moved to Florida, she would send home some strange requests. One year, she wanted us to send her a box of fall leaves. Since Florida lacks deciduous trees, her students were unaware of the gorgeous colors produced by the trees up north. The only problem with her request was that the leaves we sent would be dry and crumbling by the time she received them. What to do? Find out in my newest blog post

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Tips for Creating Powerful Distance Learning Instruction

Create even more powerful distance learning instruction with these great tips!
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Misplaced Modifiers Often Create Strange Mental Pictures.

Misplaced modifiers create strange mental pictures.

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Top 5: My Favorite Diverse Reads

My top five picks for diverse picture book reads

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August 2020 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS GRADE LEVELS Kindergarten LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS MATH LESSONS MISC. LESSONS TEACHER TALK THE BEST OF TEACHER ENTREPRENEURS MARKETING COOPERATIVE MEMBERSHIP on August 17, 2020 by Deann Marin (updated on August 17, 2020)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It’s August Teacher Talk Time…..Hopefully you have a wonderful year whether you are physically in your classroom, using a hybrid model, or distance learning. We have so many great tips and ideas for you from awesome educators. Be sure to take a look at what everyone has to say.

If you’re interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies and/or our blog linky, sign up here….The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. If you decide to join, be sure to mention one of our names.

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Qigong For Stress Relief and Well Being

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

It’s the beginning of a new school year and boy have things changed. Some of you will be doing hybrid teaching, others will be in the classroom. If we’re to survive in this new world of ours, we need to deal with stress, discomfort, anxiety, tension, depression, fear about getting ill, anger, as well as physical and emotional pain.

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Getting the Most of Out of Distance Learning

This begins my 34th year of teaching. I did not yet own a personal computer in 1987, let alone have a computer in the classroom! Times have changed, yet effective teaching practices have not.

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Bitmoji Virtual Classrooms

Some thoughts on the bitmoji virtual classroom explosion. Will it work for you?

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A Retired Teacher’s COVID-19 Journey

Read how I transformed from a purple ditto creating first year teacher to a retired teacher learning to create Bitmojis. It has been an interesting journey!

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A Silver Lining

Is there a silver lining for teachers, parents, and students in the midst of all our significant pandemic afflictions? Perhaps, a few…

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Five Assumptions about Distance Learning-Why it’s Not Working for Every Child!

By Vicki Rauch of Scipi

My husband and I have taught together for over 80 years. We continue to do so because we love what we do; however, we are very disturbed by the terms Virtual Learning or Distance Learning or On-Line Learning. Now don’t get the idea that because we are “old”, we don’t or can’t use technology. Technology is part of our lives, especially in our teaching, but when we hear Distance Learning, many people make assumptions that simply aren’t true.

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Tips for Sequencing When Reading and Writing

Tips to help students with narrative writing.

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3-Tips for Distance Learning Classroom First Week Success

Learn 3-essential tips for a successful return to your distance learning classroom. Help start your year with community building games and important tips to set a positive tone for the school year.

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CGI Mathematics A Research based Approach

By Michelle Webb of Teaching Ideas for Those Who Love Teaching

Let’s learn about CGI Mathematics A Research based Approach

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Tips for Remote Teaching

7 tips to make remote teaching successful.

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TEACHER TALK IS BACK for the 2020-21 school year! Look for new posts from some of the best bloggers around on the third Sunday of every month! August posts are below!

March 2020 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs GRADE LEVELS HOME Kindergarten LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS MATH LESSONS MISC. LESSONS PreKindergarten SCIENCE LESSONS SPECIAL EDUCATION St. Patrick's Day TEACHER TALK and tagged #data #engagingclassroom #graphing #homeinstruction #kiteflying #MarchTeacherTalk #myths #principal #schoolsclosed #scientificprocess #socialdistancing #Stpatricksday #TeacherTalk homeschool march on March 16, 2020 by Deann Marin (updated on March 16, 2020)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

St. Patrick’s Day and so many more tried and true teaching ideas are here for you to check out this March. Best yet,soon it will be spring and the end of the year will be here before you know it.

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It’s March…Let’s Go Fly a Kite

A great activity for home and at school.

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Learning During Our New Reality: Social Distancing

By Tracy Willis of Wild Child Designs

Just a few tips on some activities to add to your distance learning.

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Teaching Data, Graphing and Scientific Process with Paper Airplanes

Read how a paper airplane project sparked students to collect data, try out different graphs, and explore the scientific process! Remote learning freebies included with this post.

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Simple Ways to Make Classroom Lessons More Engaging

Learn simple tricks to liven up even the most unexciting topic. It’s easier than you think!

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The Best Principal I Ever Had

By Renee Heiss of All-American Teacher tools

What principles make a great principal? Read about them here.

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Easy-to-Implement Home Instruction Ideas

Prepare now for the possibility of home-instruction for all of your students. Find easy ways to send them home with a packet of work until you come back together again!

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St. Patrick’s Day Myths and Fun Facts

By Charlene Tess of CharleneTess

March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day. Read my latest blog post to explore some of the myths surrounding this Irish holiday as well as to discover a few fun facts.

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How to Choose Between Affect and Effect

Here’s Help with Choosing Between Affect and Effect.

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School closed: Now what?

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Our schools have closed. Now what? Here are some links that could be useful during this time to keep your kids learning.

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Be sure to stop by and read the posts from the rest of our awesome educators, click the images below.

February 2020 Teacher Talk

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

Welcome to our February Teacher Talk. All of us from the Teacher Talk collaborative would like wish you a Happy Valentines Day. We have so many fab things this month from Field Trips and ELA and reading ideas, to celebrating Black History Month and President’s Day, you don’t want to miss reading these blog posts from some awesome educators.

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Teaching Effective Note-Taking

Have you ever told your students to take notes and they either highlight almost everything (sometimes even changing colors with their fancy highlighters to make it look like a rainbow pattern) or they take bullet points on everything? Mine used to write pages of bullet points, with no organization or greater understanding of patterns, themes, or bigger ideas. In comes Note-taking Stations!

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All You Need is Love & Kindness

Did you know that there is a Random Acts of Kindness Week? It runs from February 16 through the 23rd. Actually, this is the first I’ve heard of it, but what a groovy way for all of us to unite by being kind to each other. It begins with one simple act – one hello to a stranger, a simple smile, a pat on the back, a cup of coffee for someone you don’t know, or as my husband experienced, pay it forward. This is a chance for participating individuals to make our world a better one and inspire others to follow suit.

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Why you Need a Teacher Bestie

By Victoria Rauch of Scipi

I have been so lucky to have a teacher bestie at every twist and turn in my teacher life, and this post is just a love letter to each of them, and to the universe for placing each of them in my life.

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Does a Circle Have Sides?

Does a circle have sides? Believe it or not, this was a question asked by a primary teacher. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but in retrospect, I was stunned. Therefore, I decided this topic would make a great blog post. Discover the answer on my blog.

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Learning From Students: Issac

By Renee Heiss of All-American Teacher tools

A teacher learns about disrespect, resiliency, and lack of initiative.

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Christopher Ludwick – Revolutionary Baker and Spy

Celebrate Washington’s Birthday with the story of Christopher Ludwick, Baker General.

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Say What You Mean and Avoid Redundancies

Good writers say what they mean and avoid excessive verbiage. This blog post will help you avoid redundancies in your writing.

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Help Your Student Gain Perspective and Build Gratitude

Surviving tough teaching years by helping your students gain perspective and build gratitude.

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January 2020 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs GRADE LEVELS HOME LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS Martin Luther King, Jr. MATH LESSONS New Year's Day SOCIAL STUDIES LESSONS SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER TALK and tagged #ELA #proofreading #freedom #justice #January #JanuaryTeacherTalk #MartinLutherKing #positiveandnegativenumbers #reading #writing #TeacherTalk #vacation#creativity #poetry #newyearresolutions on January 20, 2020 by Deann Marin (updated on January 20, 2020)

It’s 2020! Time sure flies. We have some great ideas for you in our January edition of Teacher Talk. So hurry on over to see what these creative educators are doing this month.

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The Proof is in the Pudding….Proof Reading that Is!

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

I’d like to share some effective proof-reading tips that I’ve used to help students improve their writing skills, and to make my life a bit easier.

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Speaking Up for Justice

Along with honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., this week is our union’s one year “strikeversary”. What a perfect time to reflect and teach our students to stand up for what is right.

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A Lesson for MLK Day

A lesson for Martin Luther KIng Day to try this week!

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Remember to Take Time for Yourself

Do you have enough “me time”? A few minutes can be just as valuable as a week-long vacation!

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Fostering Creativity

Sister Rosemary ruined my poem, but she fostered creativity as she did. Read about how teachers can encourage creative ability in their students.

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New Year’s Resolutions Again?

Is it time for new year’s resolutions again?

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Using Two-Sided Colored Beans to Add and Subtract Positive and Negative Numbers

By Marcy Howe of It’s A Teacher Thing

“When it comes to adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers, many students have great difficulty. In reality, it is a very confusing and abstract idea; so, it is important to give the students a concrete visual to assist them in seeing the solution. Find out how I teach this concept to my remedial college math students in my newest blog post. “

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10 Test Prep Skills for ELA Performance Task Success

Learn 10 essential test prep skills to help your students be more successful on the ELA performance tasks.

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Using specific texts to delve into Craft and Structure with the Common Core Standards

Using specific texts to delve into Craft and Structure with the Common Core Standards.

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You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

October Teacher Talk 2019

This entry was posted in 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS Kindergarten TEACHER TALK and tagged ##bullies #buildingcharacter #DOK #ela #Empathy #figurativelanguage #Halloween #Math #leaves #Octoberteachertalk #relationshipbuilding Fall Reading on October 21, 2019 by Deann Marin (updated on October 27, 2019)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

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Bullying No Way!

Monthly Read Aloud Books for We Teach So Hard Podcasts about Bullying and how to help stop it from happening.

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Bullyproof Your Kids for Life
By Retta London of Rainbow City Learning

Using a great read-aloud to start the conversation this month about dealing with bullies.

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Stand Up to Bullying
By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Bullying. It has become such a buzz word that is often casually thrown
around. October is National Bullying Prevention Month and picture books
are the perfect way to elicit conversations.

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The Empathy Project Update: Explorations into Empathy, Part 2
By Tracy Willis of Wild Child Designs

The 2nd installment in The Empathy Project, this post uses a visible thinking routine and a popular picture book to teach upper elementary students about empathy.

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Surprise!

Surprises provide the best motivation

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Pause…In the Neighborhood
By Gini Musmanno of Reading Spotlight

Pause.. for a moment in Mister Rogers neighborhood. He still has much to teach us today.

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Independent Reading Success in the Classroom
By Marcy Howe of It’s A Teacher Thing

Learn tips for creating a successful independent reading program in your classroom.

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Fall into Figurative Language
By Charlene Tess of Charlene Tess

Fall is the perfect season to study figurative language.

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Real World Math
By Michelle Webb of Teaching Ideas For Those Who Love Teaching

How to incorporate real world math into your daily teaching.
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Be sure to check out the rest of the blog posts in our link up. Just click the images below…

September Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs GRADE LEVELS HOME Kindergarten LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS MATH LESSONS MISC. LESSONS and tagged #classroomprocedures #geometry #languagearts #ELA #reading #oersevering #placevalue #readaloudbooks #readalouds #rounding #selfhelp #SeptemberTeacherTalk #TeachingTips on September 16, 2019 by Deann Marin (updated on September 16, 2019)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It’s September Teacher Talk Time…..Hopefully everyone is off to a great school year with the best classes ever. We have so many great tips and ideas for you from awesome educators. Be sure to take a look at what everyone has to say.

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3 Tried & True Games to Teach Place Value & Rounding
By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Beginning of the year. . . I used to be so tempted to skip teaching place value because it seemed too simplistic, assuming kids knew how to read larger numbers. Plus I wanted to get on with the “real math”:multiplication and long division. WRONG! Developing number sense and place value are critical to understanding ALL math! **************************************************
Using the Arts to Teach Perseverance
By Retta London of Rainbow City Learning

How adding the arts to your curriculum can teach perseverance.

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Never Give Up... Persevere!
By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

If you’ve never used read aloud picture books with your middle schoolers, you should consider it. Not only do picture books get a point across, but they’re fun, images are beautiful and they don’t take much time.. You can easily come up with ideas to reinforce what you’ve read.
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A Cheer For Spelling
By Gini Musamanno of Reading Spotlight

Spelling practice does not have to be boring! Try this cheer to add some enthusiasm to weekly spelling words.
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The Left Angle Mystery
By Vicky Rauch of Scipi

Geometry is probably my favorite part of math to teach because it is so visual; plus, the subject lends itself to doing many hands-on activities, even with my college students. When our unit on points, lines and angles is finished, it is time for the unit test. Almost every year I ask the following question: What is a left angle? Some of the responses I have received over the years are disheartening.

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5 Steps to Creative Classroom Projects
By Renee Heiss of All-American Teacher Tools

Have you ever noticed that someone else’s class has developed much more creative writing assignments, science fair projects, or fundraising strategies? Well, either that person is extremely lucky, extremely gifted in motivating his or her students, or simply using proven methods to stimulate creativity. Chances are, that person is simply familiar with the 5-Step Creativity Process.
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New Job = New Lens
By Lisa Robles of LisaTeachR’s Classroom

The power of story…
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Teaching Perseverance: Powerful Books to Change a Student’s Mindset
By Tracy Willis of Mossy Oak Musings

Looking for themed kidlit to jazz up your language arts block? This post shares some great books around the theme of perseverance. Links to related free resources are included!

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Classroom Routines that Create a Productive Classroom Environment
By Marcy Howe of It’s A Teacher Thing

Classroom procedures are essential to creating a productive, welcoming classroom environment. Learn tips to increase productive learning time and maintain efficiency.
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Great stories for the transition back to school: K-2!

This entry was posted in 1st Grade 2nd Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Kindergarten LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS MISC. LESSONS PreKindergarten and tagged #backtoschool #backtoschooltips #bts #btsanxiety #BTSReadyWithTpT #emotions #freelesson #selfregulation #teachersknow feelings stories on August 25, 2019 by That Fun Reading Teacher (updated on August 23, 2019)

Tried and true stories for the transition back to school: K-2

Looking for some tried, tested and true picture books to help K-2 students through the back to school transition? Read about others who have been there, felt the anxiety and managed it! Here are the the stories I return to year after year! Between familiar characters, upbeat rhymes or their comfort factor, they make a great mix.

To read more about these stories, and for the link to a free supplement to accompany The Kissing Hand, please click here!

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and get THOUSANDS OF PAGE VIEWS for your TpT products!

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August 2019 Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT College FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs HOME Kindergarten MATH LESSONS MISC. LESSONS SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER TALK and tagged #AugustTeacherTalk #backtoschool #backtoschooltips #Classroomdecor #classroommanagement #classroomorganization #morningmeeting #teachertalk # ELA back2school math Reading on August 19, 2019 by Deann Marin (updated on August 19, 2019)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It’s August Teacher Talk Time…..Hopefully those of you who are back to school this month are off to a great beginning with the best classes
ever. We have so many great tips and ideas for you from awesome educators. Be sure to take a look at what everyone has to say.

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Is Summer Vacation Over Already?

Someone posted on Facebook that August is like Sunday for teachers! We’re elated when the weekend comes around, and love Saturday, it’s one of our fun days, but then the dreaded Sunday comes, you have to correct papers, do lesson plans, and go to bed at a reasonable hour, you know the routine. Then there’s the month of August, it just seems to zooooom by and before you know it your summer vacation is like a dream gone by. But you do Love teaching, it’s your calling. Read on for some first day teaching tips.

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How Morning Meeting Can Become a Sacred Space
By Retta London of Rainbow City Learning

Adding new practices to make Morning Meeting a peaceful and calm transition to your teaching and learning day.

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5 Meaningful No-Prep Activities for the First Week of School
By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

If you’re frantically planning for your first day or week of school, here are five tried & true activities (not busy work!) to keep your students engaged while you get to observe and learn more about them. And be sure to download all the FREEBIES!

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Developing Powerful, Enthusiastic Readers

Every teacher wants a classroom filled with powerful and enthusiastic readers. This is a terrific goal for the new school year…and it can be accomplished with

this design.

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Free Video to Teach Prepositional Phrases
By Charlene Tess of Charlene Tess

Here’s a FREE video to teach prepositional phrases.

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Developing and Writing Effective Lesson Plans for Math
By Vicky Rauch of Scipi

We often hear of research based strategies and how to use them in our classrooms. Having worked at two colleges in the past ten years, I have discovered that some who are doing this research have never been in a classroom or taught anyone under the age of 18! (Sad but True)

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Using Math Centers in the Upper Elementary Classroom
By Kris McWilliams of Mistakes Allow Things to Happen

Thinking about adding Math Centers to your classroom math block? This article will help you take steps to implement a plan in an upper elementary school classroom.

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Ease New School Year Teacher Anxiety
By Michelle Webb of Teaching Ideas For Those Who Love Teaching

Tips to ease Teachers’ back to school anxiety.

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Math Games: Observing Your Students Makes Back-to-School a Breeze!
By Tracy Willis of Wild Child Designs

Want to know an easy peasy way to really get to know your kiddos at the beginning of the year? Play some math games with them and sit back and watch. This is one teacher’s approach to collecting student data.

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Recommended Reading Board
By Erik Arndt of Insights to English

Create a wall display of books (or better yet: series of books) that your students should consider reading. Make sure to have a variety of formats and genres so that there’s something for everyone!
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This is the Time to Start Your Year Off Right With an Amazing Close Reading Lesson
By Lisa Robles of LisaTeachR’s Classroom

This is the time to start your year off right with an amazing close reading
lesson. As the school year starts, this is the best time to start with
close reading.
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Be sure to click the links and mosey on over to all the fabulous blog posts submitted by our members. Lots of tips on back to school activities, mathematics, reading and so much more.

May Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT End of the Year FREE LESSONS HOME Kindergarten Memorial Day MISC. LESSONS PreKindergarten SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER TALK and tagged #endoftheyear #growthmindset #awards #reading #endoftheyer #Englishtips #Mayteachertalk #Miningforgold #lastdayofschool #memorywheel #memorialday #patriotism #aquarium #Higherorderthinkingskills May on May 20, 2019 by Deann Marin (updated on May 22, 2019)

It’s May and June is just around the bend. You’re probably counting the days till summer vacation. Be sure to stop by and see what these teachers are doing in their classrooms and gather some great tips and ideas. This is the last link-up for this school year. We’ll see you in August.

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Rejoice, The Last Day of School has Arrived

When that last day comes around, we’re elated, and yes, a little wistful, and the kids feel the same way….buuuut they’re also quite excited and hyper, it’s the end of the year after all. We know we have to come up with some groovy ideas to give them a great send off, all while maintaining our sanity. This post has just what the doctor ordered to help make this final day memorable for everyone, including you.

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Slide into Summer

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Create a Super Summer Kit to ease your students into summer and get them ready for the next school year!

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Mining for Gold Gets Even Better

Gold fever! It’s what drew thousands of men to California in 1849 and it still sparks student excitement and dreams of wealth today! Challenge your students to improve

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Wrapping Up the School Year

How do you wrap up your school year? I know it’s easy to coast to the end but I see it as a time to go out strong! Leave your kids with amazing memories and fun stuff. Since testing is over, it’s a good time to branch out and do some really fun activities.

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America the Beautiful

For your patriotic enjoyment, watch this one minute slideshow.

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Activities for the End of the Year

By Vicky Rauch of Scipi Products

Here are 2 HOTS Activity for the End of the Year.

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The “Lure” of Fish – The Benefits of Keeping an Aquarium in Your Classroom

When I taught third grade in an inner city school, I knew the children needed something to love, but being a city girl, my love of animals was deficient. That is when my husband helped me to set up an aquarium. I purchased a water heater, a bubblier, chemicals, plants, fish food, and of course the fish! Little did I know what effect this would have on my students.

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Review Activities

By Erik Arndt of Insights to English

Here are some activities that you can use with your class to review vocabulary and grammar. There are quite a few to choose from, and each is customizable; use whatever is best for your class!

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7 Tips to Help Students Edit Their Essays

By Sally Hansen of Purposeful Plans

With technology today, it’s hard not to edit during the revision phase. But it’s important to keep the creativity flowing during the revision phase and wait to makes edits during the editing phase. Read more for some useful tips to help your students stay focused during the editing phase.

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Preparing for Book Clubs: Tips for Success

By Margo Gentile of Margo Gentile

If you are considering using book clubs in your classroom, I’ve shared essential tips to help your book clubs be a success. You don’t want to miss these pointers for engaging all students and for reducing teacher workload.

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Citizen Scientists ready For Summer

Summer is the perfect time for kids to be outside and appreciate their natural surroundings. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could learn about nature and science as “casual learners? They can! I’d like to share some terrific citizen scientist programs that kids could participate in without even leaving their back yard.

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Be sure to read the rest of the posts in our link up…..

Episode 38 Excedrin-Free End-of-the-Year Organization: Get Out Your Packing Tape!

The end is in sight, and you have to think about packing up your classroom for the summer. Whether you’re required to pack up your entire room for the summer, or tuck your teaching goodies away in cabinets and closets, this episode is for you. It doesn’t have to be a headache. Listen in as we discuss ways we keep ourselves organized… or not (SOME of us are a little unorganized, but we get an A+ for effort). We laugh a little, and bitch a little, but you’ll come away with a new idea or two!

Listen on iTunes here

Like what you hear? Visit our Facebook page here and out blogs where we offer teaching tips, ideas, funnies, and goodies!

Tracy @http://mossyoakmusings.blogspot.com/
Kathie @ https://triedandtrueteachingtools.blogspot.com
Deann @ https://socrateslantern.com
Retta @ http://rainbowcitylearning.blogspot.com

March Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs GRADE LEVELS St. Patrick's Day and tagged #classroomreading #classroomseating #MarchTeacherTalk #readalouds #St.Patrick'sDay #standardizedtesting #STEM #TeacherTalk march math on March 11, 2019 by Deann Marin (updated on March 11, 2019)

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

St. Patricks Day and so many more tried and true teaching ideas are here
for you to check out this March. Best yet,soon it will be spring and
the end of the year will be here before you know it.

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A Stranger in a Strange Classroom, It’s Standardized Testing Time!

By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

For a multitude of teachers and kids, the anticipation of spring and excitement of summer break are shrouded by stressful thoughts that emerge during testing season. Of course, if you’re an educator, you can’t get away from it, stress is your ever present companion, it’s an inherent part of the job, especially during this time of year. To add insult to injury, if your students do poorly, it’s on you.

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The Thief of Joy
By Retta London of Rainbow City Learning

Finding joy in the selection of read-alouds this month.

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Slope for Vertical and Horizontal Lines

I work in the Math Lab at the community college where I also teach. Last week, I had two College Algebra students who were having difficulty with slope. They knew the equation y = mx + b, but were unsure when it came to horizontal or vertical lines. Read how I used visuals to help these students.

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Advice From The Coach

By Laura Cripe of Under One Roof

Check out this advice from a famous basketball coach. It can be effectively applied to teaching, too.

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Watermelon Subtraction
By Margot Gentile of Margot Gentile

Watermelon slices naturally look like big smiles, don’t they? There will be smiles all around as children manipulate the movable parts to “bite” into watermelon slices and remove seeds. They will be delighted to “see” and understand the concept of subtraction and teachers will love this freebie!

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6 Confusing Words to Master
By Charlene Tess of Charlene Tess

Learning to master confusing words, is an essential skill for all writers.

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Today We Are Leprechauns

Learn how you can use STEM in your elementary classroom this March with a fun Leprechaun activity. All smart Leprechauns hide their gold, but a truly tricky one will also build a protective container to keep out humans. Check out the ideas my students came up with in this St. Patrick’s Day STEM lesson.

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Classroom Seating Arrangements for Grades 4-8
By Marcy Howe of It’s A Teacher Thing

Classroom seating arrangements can make or break a classroom. Learn about four classroom seating arrangements that work and the benefits and drawbacks of each.

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Striving & Thriving: Remembering Purpose in the Reading Classroom
By Tracy Willis of Mossy Oak Musings

Sometimes, your teaching attitude just nose dives into the concrete pavement, and sometimes it takes new learning opportunities and our students to remind us that we are striving and thriving. Grab a box of tissues!
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Building Student Empowerment
By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

It was my first year of teaching and I was a little nervous and very excited about my first parent-teacher conferences. 3 parents out of my 27 students showed up. 30+ years later. . I have 100% parent participation.

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Make sure you stop by and read the informative posts submitted by all of these awesome educators.

Close Reading Made Simple

This entry was posted in CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT COMMON CORE and tagged #closereadingstrategies #MiddleSchool #middleschoolenglish #Parcc #standardizedtesting Balanced Literacy close reading differentiation English Language Arts Literacy Center Ideas literature on February 19, 2019 by April Hughes (updated on February 19, 2019)

Why Close Reading?

So what happens when students can’t access the grade-level text in your class? With the extreme diversity of students in any given classroom this is a given. If you have not jumped on the “Close Reading” Bandwagon it is not too late! Even though education goes through trends like the fashion industry, close reading is here to stay. It is not just for the English-Language Arts teacher either. Social studies, science, and math are using this technique too. With the increased rigor that is expected in the CCSS and the new science standards it is impossible for teachers not to utilize this valuable tool. So how do you do it? There are tons of resources available for all content areas and levels of educators; however, I like to keep it simple. Regardless of what grade level the students are at I like to tell them that if they are going to underline or highlight something that they must make an annotation in the margins.

Why are they highlighting it?

I model on a simple piece of text and give them examples that they can easily relate to. We all know that students love to highlight 3/4 of the text and then they get to the end and can’t tell you one thing that the text was about. That is because they are so busy highlighting everything in pretty colors that they fail to retain anything that they are reading. Another way to circumvent this is to chunk the text for them. I always have students number the paragraphs of the text so it is easy to reference back to when answering text-dependent questions. Close reading is not something that should be done with a really long piece of text. It fails to become effective after 3-4 pages. It becomes really effective when used with 1-2 pages of text. The next step I have students do is write a one-sentence summary after each paragraph. This helps develop their synthesizing and analysis skills. For students that are at the lower grade levels, or for students that need differentiation I give them sentence frames to summarize.

Emojis-Why not?

Teachers all have a different view on doodling and making pictures on packets. I say…”Why NOT?” Some students that are not going to be good at summarizing or analyzing the text might be successful by using Emojis to help them annotate the text. Students that struggle with reading might increase their comprehension if they highlighted or underlined the text and added an emoji in the margins to help them remember what is important. For example, using a lightbulb for a main idea in a paragraph will allow those students that love to draw and doodle a constructive outlet when they are closely reading a text. If it is a detail that excites them then have them put a smily emoji. Students love Emojis! Have them funnel their creative abilities into their close reading techniques. This will help those students remain engaged while allowing them to use their skills in a constructive way. It may also help decrease the amount of doodling that takes place on your tables and/or desks!

Keeping Gifted Students Engaged

To ensure that you are meeting all levels of learners in your classroom, including those at the highest level, have students create their own system of annotating text! This allows them to develop a system that make sense to them and keep them challenged and engaged. The bonus part of this strategy is that sometimes they come up with a system that can be used by other classmates. Students never cease to amaze me their ability to create concepts that never occur to me. It has to do with their developing minds! I have had students explain the most complex details to another students in a simple way that helps them understand. Their method of communicating the concept never occurred to me but it works more effectively than the method I was using. This is also the miracle of teaching!

In Summary

In my opinion, there is not a “right” or “wrong” way to do close reading. Don’t get caught up in the idea of right and wrong. I tell my students that it is a personalize experience that needs to make sense to them. As long as they are reading the text more than once, and reading it for a different purpose that forces them to dig deeper into the text it is fine. You might be surprise on the creative ways that the students come up with to deeply interact with the text. I often find myself taking away different bits of information that did not occur to me during the first read. Rereading is a gift that needs to be shared with your students. They deserve to understand text on a deeper level in order to enjoy it! Remember that the work that you do is priceless and you are appreciated! Don’t forgot to leave your comments! I enjoy reading them!

January Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT College FREE LESSONS FREE LESSONS & PRICED LESSONS - The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs GRADE LEVELS Kindergarten LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS MATH LESSONS MISC. LESSONS New Year's Day Valentine's Day on January 7, 2019 by Deann Marin (updated on January 7, 2019)

It’s 2019! Time sure flies. We have some great ideas for you in our January
edition of Teacher Talk. So hurry on over to see what these creative educators are doing this month.

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Success Begins with Baby Steps

Are you one of those people who starts the new year with the intention of making goals for yourself but never quite follow through? If you said yes, you’re in the majority, statistics show that only 8% of the people who make goals keep them. Why do so many of us, me included, fail at goal setting?

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Culturally Responsive Teaching

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Is your classroom culturally responsive? This post might surprise you!

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Tried & True Bookmaking: Poof Book

There’s nothing like making a book to get students excited! They oooh and aaah, as if it is magic! This blog post is the first in a series: Tried and True Bookmaking.
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How to Respond to Incorrect Answers
By Gini Musmanno of Reading Spotlight

Have you ever wondered if there is a helpful way to respond to students’ incorrect answers— a way that will improve not only their comprehension, but also their mindfulness when they are reading and participating in class discussions? Here are some constructive tactics to use in replying to incorrect answers.

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How Do Velcro Dots Help to Regulate Behavior
By Margo Gentile of Margo Gentile

This was a spontaneous last resort behavior mod intervention that was really effective! Whatever works!
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THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF ZERO, The Exponent- Why Any Number to the Zero Power Equals One
By Vicki Rauch of Scipi

Sometimes my college students like to ask me what seems to be a difficult question. (In reality, they want to play Stump the Teacher.) One such infamous question is, “Why is any number to the zero power one?” Find out how I showed them that the answer is always one using patterns.
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Goal Setting for the New Year: One Word
By Lisa Robles of LisaTeachR’s Classroom

Be intentional! Choose one word to focus your year.

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Be My Valentine Treats
By Charlene Tess of Charlene Tess

Here are a free Valentine’s Day lesson idea and a free activity to help your students correct run-on sentences.
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Hook Your Students in Writing
By Sally Hansen of Purposeful Plans

The hook isn’t just the attention getter at the beginning of an essay. Get your students interested in the type of essay by playing an activity before you teach!
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Roses are Red: Using Poetry in Reader’s Workshop
By Tracy Willis of Mossy Oak Musings

Poetry + Reader’s Workshop = Common Core & Complex Text! It’s a winning equation. If you’re not using poetry in your reader’s workshop, you’re missing out on some phenomenal learning opportunities. This post is chocked full of ideas to help you incorporate poetry
into your workshop.
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5 Easy Ways to Implement Differentiation Into Your Classroom
By Marcy Howe of It’s a Teacher Thing

We all want to help every student succeed. Learn 5-easy ways you can start implementing differentiation in your classroom today.
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December Teacher Talk

This entry was posted in 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade Christmas CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT FREE LESSONS GRADE LEVELS Kindergarten PreKindergarten and tagged #challengingstudents #classroomorganization #English #Hanukah #Kwanza #NewYears#DecemberTeacherTalk #pbl #learninglanguage #qigong christmas history Homework on December 10, 2018 by Deann Marin (updated on December 10, 2018)

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Connect Kids to the Real World with PBL

What if you could connect your units of learning to current events without missing a beat with meeting the standards? Find a way to accomplish this here!

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Qi Gong and Emotional Well Being
By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

This past summer, I developed a love of Qi Gong which is a mind-body-spiritual practice that enhances our mental and physical well being by integrating posture, movement, correct breathing, self-massage, sound, and deep focus

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Beware of Creating Sweeping Generalizations