Each year, I am so excited for the first day of school. It’s a time for new beginnings, new relationships, a love of learning, and a whole lotta fun!! But what I often forget is how CrAzY the first day of school, especially arrival time, can be. All the questions, all the welcomes, and all the logistics provide for a chaotic time. We want our students to feel happy, welcomed, and stress-free when they enter our rooms, especially on the … [Read more...]
Ending The School Year With a Slideshow
You might call me a big sap. I LOVE end of the year memories and the activities that accompany it. And I'm a sucker for good music and great photos. At the end of each year, I put together a student slideshow of amazing moments from our year together. I love it, the kids love it, and the parents love it. It's almost like a yearbook that's been put in motion. Here's how it works: I send out a form to my students via Google … [Read more...]
Loving To Write Informational Texts in the Upper Elementary Grades
My kids LOVE to write. When I say love, I mean love. The usual "come to the carpet for Writing Workshop" is usually met with groans, not because it's time for writing, but because my kids just want to write. They know it's time for a mini-lesson, and they just want to write. I don't tell you this to brag or to pat myself on the back. I am blessed to have kids who love to write. And I still have students who struggle and need extra supports to … [Read more...]
Curiosity in the Classroom: 5 Steps to Increase Engagement and Creativity
We all long for it. We all want it. That sense of amazement. An awe-inspiring magic trick; the emotional story of a person who set a goal and crushed it with millions of barriers in her way; the child who inspired a whole town. But why do we want it? What makes that excitement in our brain and in our body start to go crazy? We think about how that person could have done that thing, even with all of the obstacles … [Read more...]
Workshop Model in Gifted Education
If you are a general education teacher, chances are that you have a wide array of students in your classroom. Gifted, special ed, RTI, 504 - you name it, a child in your class is in that subgroup. Educating these students can feel DAUNTING. How can I possibly reach all 25 students at their own, unique learning levels? What is this Workshop Model thing, and can it help me?! We feel you, girl. Have No Fear. Workshop is Here! It … [Read more...]
Gifted Students and Overexcitability
Raise your hand if you've ever had a gifted student in your care who is routinely excited, sensitive, and intense. His or her emotions run high, almost all day, and their social-emotional life can be an extreme rollercoaster. You, my dear teacher friend, have met a student with an overexcitability. While overexcitabilities can be found in any student (or adult for that matter), this emotional state is prevalent among cognitively gifted … [Read more...]
Educators of Gifted Kids: My Three Wishes
This post is specifically for elementary educators of gifted students, but everyone can benefit from this conversation! When I was a brand-new teacher, I remember getting my class lists and seeing a "G" next to a few of my students' names. I had no idea what that G stood for. Great? Gargantuan? Goal? Golfer? After conferring with my principal, I came to find out that the "G" stood for Gifted. {I might have creatively spun this anticipatory set … [Read more...]
10 Funny, Silly Songs for Fun FriYAY Celebrations
It’s been a long week. You’re tired. Your kids are tired. The weekend is close, but it seems oh-so-far away. It’s Friday!!!! {Ahem, pardon me... FriYAY!} One of the ways I build relationships in my classroom and celebrate a week of hard work, successes, triumphs, and wins is to have FUN FRIYAY! What is Fun FriYAY, you ask? Oh, just hold on to your boots, partner! Each Friday, I end my class about 5 minutes early and show my kids a fun … [Read more...]
Putting Digital TpT Products Into Google Classroom
Hey there! Each year bring new challenges, minor and major changes, and new best practices emerge. This year, I am BEYOND excited for the change I get to see happen!!! I am moving into a 1:1 technology classroom where we'll be using Google Classroom and G Suite. This means that I will be able to have every student in my class on technology at the same time! While this can be a little daunting, it gives me the opportunity to do many new and … [Read more...]
Why Your Behavior Management System MUST Be Positive
I have been teaching for 12 years now, and I’ve taught the whole gamete of kids… rural, urban, well-off, impoverished… you name it, I’ve been in it! I’ve learned, however, that a kid is a kid is a kid… maybe with different needs, but still with the biggest need ever. LOVE. And with that need for love comes the very important concept of a behavior management system. As I finished out Year 3 of teaching, it was as if I had an epiphany! Behavior … [Read more...]