Beat the Sunday Scaries with These 5 Tips: Make Your Sunday Suck Less and Your Week Better Organized
The Sunday Scaries… we’ve all been there, amirite?
I remember, in my first two years of teaching, I had the worst Sunday Scaries. I would be an anxious mess and it, overall, wasn’t a great day because I was too focused on Monday. On one hand, I knew I didn’t want to do much work because, y’know, boundaries, but on the other hand - I felt like I had to do some sort of work because I wasn’t super duper prepared. I was at an impasse and my Sunday suffered because of it. I eventually developed some strategies to help me through these feelings and my week started off on a much better foot.
Keep reading to learn more about some things I personally did to help.
How to Create a Strong Classroom Community: 5 Tips to Ensure Your Students Can Actually Tolerate Each Other
It’s nearly impossible to run a classroom when your students hate each other. Between arguments, pettiness, and literal fights, there is no room for teaching. It’s important to make your classroom environment one that your students feel welcomed in - like they’re a part of something - where they can at the very least tolerate the people around them.
Classroom community is one of those things you aren’t exactly taught when you go to college to be a teacher; it’s more something you have to experience to understand. Read my tips to get a head start with building your classroom community - it will make a world of a difference in your room.
How to Avoid Teacher Burnout: 6 Tips to Keep You Going All Year Long (or at Least Not Hating Your Job)
Imagine this: it’s the beginning of the school year and you’re feeling GREAT. Pumped up, ready to go. The weekends and the breaks come and go, but as you near January, February, and on to Spring Break, you are feeling more and more exhausted by the day. You can’t relax on Sundays. You are riddled with anxiety as you get up each morning and drive to work. Each day passing by seems to be worse than the previous.
You are feeling burned out.
How can we avoid that?
Well, it’s not something my professors talked to me about in college, so I’ve come up with a few tips to help manage the burnout, if not completely eliminate it. As a new teacher, this is vital information. Keep reading for more details.
How to Create a Solid Classroom Management System: 10 Tips to Set Yourself up for an Amazing School Year
I used to struggle with classroom management. It was probably one of those things that required some experience, and I’m so so so grateful for my colleagues who gave me advice to help me out when needed. Without them, I would never be where I am today.
I want to be that person for you today - you probably came here with the question, “What can I do to make my classroom management better?” Well, here is some hope for you: it is never too late to put a system in place that works for you. Forewarning, however, if you started off the year weak in terms of classroom management, it’s going to be harder to get it back on track. Though it can be difficult, it’s not impossible.
How to Build Authentic Relationships With Your Students: 8 Tips That Can Make a Difference in Your Classroom
I remember, back when I was in college (go Bearkats!), my professors would constantly preach, “Relationships, relationships, relationships.” The same thing would happen in my first few years of teaching. The thing is, however, is that no one told me how to do this, merely that it was something to be done. Maybe they expected something magical to happen, I don’t know. So, I had to figure it out through trial and error.
“You can’t have a solid classroom management in place if you don’t build those relationships first.”
“Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.”
While these things are true, it did take me a while to figure out how to do this in my classroom in a way that was authentic. I understood the benefits; I just didn’t know how to go about it. Keep reading to find out a few things I learned.
How to Teach Prepositional Phrases in a Way That’s Actually Fun for Your Students: Paper Airplane Showdown
I am definitely in favor of making my lessons more interesting, especially when it comes to usually intangible things like grammar or sentence structure. I doubt I’m the only teacher to ever do this, but I came up with a fun way to practice prepositional phrases using paper airplanes! My kids went CRAZY for it, and they even learned a thing or two! I wanted other teachers to have this experience with their students, so I made this ready-to-go lesson so you can get started right away with this super engaging lesson.
Keep reading to learn about this activity!
Transform Your Classroom into a Carnival to Prepare for Testing - Skill Review & Test Prep
It can sometimes be a good thing to shake things up in the classroom and do things different ways. Rather than boring old test prep that will make your students snore, you should opt to do something a little more immersive and go to the carnival! Not literally, though - but with this test prep station and decoration kit.
I created this classroom transformation resource because I have a lot of fond memories of going to the carnival with my family, riding the rides, and wasting all my tokens on those rigged game booths
Why Book Clubs and Literature Circles Are an Amazing Resource for Your Classroom: Everything You Need to Get Started
Something I’ve been doing for the past several years is starting a book club/literature circle with my students. Most of them seem to really enjoy it, especially since I allow them to lead the group themselves rather than it be me who guides the discussion. I usually do this toward the end of the school year, as independent work expectations have been clearly established by then and, after end-of-year testing is over, the students need something to work on.
If you are looking for an activity like this to do with your students, keep reading!
Theme Park Classroom Transformation to Review and Prep for ELAR Testing
I think one of the only good things about testing season is that there are so many fun things you can do with it. One fun way I’ve come up with is a theme park classroom transformation! Whether your favorite theme park is Universal Studios, Disney World (or Disney Land), Six Flags, etc., this theme park transformation and stations will immerse your students into all the fun. (Although it is clearly more geared toward a certain animal… 😉)
Keep reading to learn more about it!
Grow Inferencing Skills With this Engaging Inferencing Detective Board Game - Perfect for Small Group or Stations
From my experience, inferencing is one of those comprehension strategies that is hard to grasp and can sometimes be difficult to teach. That’s why I came up with this Inferencing Detective board game, so my students can practice this skill in a fun way! You can use it for tutoring, small groups, guided reading, stations/centers, or even for a game day with your whole class.
All you need is a printer and some sort of tokens for game pieces, and you’re all set!
Keep reading to learn more about it!