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More Than a Test Score
It's testing season here, and to me that only means one thing. Stress. Stress for our teachers. Our principals. Our parents. But most of all, stress for our students.
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We’ve Got The Whole World In Our Hands
Earth Day is April 22nd and it is a great opportunity for upper elementary students to evaluate the impact that we have on the planet and what the future implications of that impact could be. When I was looking for videos I found a lot of smaltzy, sing-songy videos aimed at lower elementary about recyling, reducing, reusing, planting, etc. But in this blog I want to highlight the five that I found for upper elementary students that I think are the most useful for explaining and laying out the consequences of not looking after our planet, as well as things families can do that could have a positive effect. (Disclosure:…
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Fractured Fairy Tales
Teaching a unit on fairy Tales, folktales and fables was always one of my favorite times in school. We would start with traditional tales, which even back in the 1990’s not everyone knew, and if they did it was often just an wide-eyed Disney version. Then we would move on to lesser known tales, like that of Bluebeard, who told his wife never to open the room on the top floor of the house (but left her the key anyway), Rushen-Coatie and Yeh-Shen (Scottish and Chinese versions of Cinderella, respectively). By far my favorite part of the unit though, was teaching ‘twisted’ or ‘fractured’ versions of familiar fairy tales, usually…
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Mother’s Day Craft
(Disclosure: Some of links below are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.) As I write this, I know it’s not May, but I want to help you strike something off your list that will creep up on you in a couple of months: Do you find yourself frantically pulling out your hair when you realize that it is Mother’s Day and your students haven’t grown a plant, written on a shrinky dink or made a bracelet/magnet/picture frame for their moms? Before you reach for the yarn and the every trusty box of…
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Celebrating Black History Month: Part 2
Following on from last week’s post, celebrating Black Americans that you may not have heard of, here are some more ground-breaking and amazing pioneers in history that you might be familiar with. I have researched a book for each historical figure, a suitable website and and engaging activity to hook your students. (Disclosure: Some of links below are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.) Bessie Coleman Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was an American civil aviator. She was the first female pilot of African American descent to earn a pilot’s license. She gained her…
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Celebrating Black History Month: Part 1
Observing Black History Month In 1964 the author James Baldwin reflected on the shortcomings of his education. “When I was going to school,” he said, “I began to be bugged by the teaching of American history because it seemed that that history had been taught without cognizance of my presence.” As an immigrant to the USA, Black History Month (introduced in 1976 to rectify the situation that James Baldwin and Black Americans had experienced in education) has afforded me the opportunity to learn about history shakers and makers. Some of the names were familiar to me, as in this blog post, but often I had to dig deep to research pioneers,…
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Online Story Resources For Your Classroom
Before continuing with this post I want to give fair-warning that it my mind there is no replacement for teacher read alouds. Aside from what we know about reading aloud being one of the most important things teachers can do with children, (building many important foundational skills, introducing vocabulary, providing a model of fluent, expressive reading, and helping children recognize what reading for pleasure is all about) it is also first and foremost one of the best ways for teachers to build relationships with students. I read to my students every single day, whether teaching kindergarten or fifth grade. I did not miss a day. And I am not talking about reading aloud the prescribed texts…
