Can you believe it is already time to start thinking about back to school? Planning for a new school year can be overwhelming. There are so many things you need for your classroom and many lessons to plan. As teachers, we all have tons of Pinterest ideas floating around in our heads that we want to see come to life. It’s important to have a plan and get organized. Here are 20 back-to-school must-haves that will set you up for success!
With most of your waking hours spent in your classroom, you want to be sure the space is welcoming and pleasing to you and your students. Every year you see teachers posting pictures of their beautiful classroom decor and think, “How can they afford it!?” Trust me, those teachers probably aren’t spending as much money as you think they are, and you don’t have to either! I am here to help you get the most bang for your buck with these classroom decor tips and tricks that won’t break the bank.
Communication is key to a successful classroom. It helps to foster and build relationships between both teachers and students and teachers and parents. Healthy relationships build trust and help to set the stage for a successful school year. You probably begin communicating with your class before the first day of school even happens. I bet you send out a cute welcome letter or email telling them all about yourself and the fun that is to come. Let’s talk more about the importance of parent-teacher relationships.
A question that I get asked frequently is, “Can you please give me the password to this resource so I can delete the pages I don’t need?” Oftentimes, teachers ask this question because they either want to only share certain pages from the PDF with their students or send the PDF to someone in their building to print. In these cases, they want to remove the pages they don’t want to share or print. Today, I’m excited to show you how to reorder, delete, and assign pages of a PDF before printing or sharing with your students.
You made it! It’s time to celebrate surviving one of the toughest school years in history! You and your students successfully navigated through uncharted territory and made it to the other side! Take a minute to sit back and relax. You’ve earned it! The same goes for your students, buuutttt we don’t want them to relax for too long! You and your class have worked entirely too hard for them to lose all of that knowledge they earned through blood, sweat, and tears. The summer slide is a real thing. Let’s take a look at how to stop the math summer slide.
With the end of the year upon us, it’s time to start thinking about how you are going to celebrate your kiddos and the amazing work they have done throughout the year. With some schools still participating in virtual or hybrid learning, how do you hold a meaningful and fun end-of-year award ceremony? While this can seem like a less than ideal situation, it is possible to have a really amazing celebration to recognize your students’ talents, personality, and growth. Today, I’m here to share a variety of options for holding a virtual end-of-year award ceremony that will be fun and memorable!
As you approach the end of the year, it is time to start wrapping things up in your classroom. The end of the year is always bittersweet. I’m sure you are excited about the upcoming lazy days of summer. You may also be a little emotional thinking about your students and how far they’ve come – especially through such a difficult school year. They grow so much academically and as people. 🙂 Today, I’m here to help you celebrate their successes and keep their memories close for years to come! The perfect way to do this is by having your students create an end of year memory book!
Before we can complete the school year, we have to endure standardized testing. I’m sure you’ve been working hard to prepare your students for the test all year long through your daily lessons and activities. No matter how much we prepare, testing is a nerve-wracking time for both teachers and students. It’s important to take some of that pressure off of our kids and remind them to have a little bit of fun along the way. Throughout the years, I’ve learned several different ways to do this. Let’s jump right in and learn about some fun test prep!
May is an exciting time in the classroom! You can feel all of the energy in the air as students and teachers anticipate the sweet arrival of summertime! Our days are jammed packed with end of the year activities and closing ceremonies as we try to fit everything in before time runs out. Along with all the fun and games, we still have to continue to teach in order to get all of those standards in before sending our kiddos off to the next grade level. I have some exciting May activities in store for you to wrap up the year with a bang!
Does the thought of teaching figurative language make you feel as sick as a dog? Teaching figurative language like idioms, adages, and proverbs can be daunting if you don’t have a plan in place before you get started. Using figurative language in everyday conversations is something we as adults take for granted, but our young learners haven’t acquired the skills necessary to use idioms, adages, and proverbs correctly just yet. We all know the proverb, “A friend in need is a friend indeed!”, and I’m here for you my friends! I am so excited to share my tips and tricks for teaching figurative language with you.
Do you dread teaching poetry? I get it! I’ve been there! The concepts of poetry are oftentimes difficult for children to understand and that makes it challenging to teach. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. After years of teaching and practice, I’ve nailed down a few strategies for teaching poetry effectively in the classroom. They say practice makes perfect, right?
Aaaahhhh! It’s almost April and you know what that means. The snow has melted and the soft, refreshing rains of spring are upon us. Soon we will see flowers popping up everywhere after a long, dreary winter. In addition to the changes in the weather, April is filled with some fun holidays too! With April Fools Day, Earth Day, and Easter all wrapped up in one month, there are lots of engaging themes to bring into the classroom. I have a lot of fun April activities to help you finish strong.
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COPYRIGHT © 2021. Kim Miller.
