If you are a self-contained or RLA teacher, you might consider some of my reading corner ideas to your classroom. A reading corner is a special place in your classroom where kids can read for enjoyment. It’s usually a small spot that can comfortably seat one or two students either on the floor or in…

Hey teacher! Maybe you’ve seen a coworker with “Maslow Before Bloom” on a tee shirt, or perhaps you’re in a college class answering a question on a message board. Either way, you’ll hear this refrain casually uttered in professional development pretty regularly. The subtitle of the book “Maslow Before Bloom” is actually “basic human needs…

So many teachers at our school struggled when we first began to utilize iStation in our elementary school classrooms. We had to give every student at least 30 – 45 minutes each week on the program, and of course, factor in time at the start of every month for an iStation test. One of the…

Maybe this is your first time hearing about secret student, or you learned about it at a professional development long ago and have forgotten the concept. Either way, I’m about to train you up FAST, because playing this game has always been a great way to get my elementary school goofballs back on track. One…

The first days of school is a challenging but exciting time. There’s so much to teach at the beginning of the year in terms of classroom expectations, routines and procedures, and not nearly enough time! You may feel the pressure to dive right into the curriculum, but it’s often best to give fluffy assignments to…

Whether you’re teaching at a public, private, or Sunday school, there’s something special about morning greetings. It’s not just your intuition or good manners that tells you it’s the right thing to do; greeting students at the door is an evidence-based practice in education. Greeting your students at the door is a great way to…