This 100th Day of School writing on what they liked and didn’t like so far about first grade stopped us in our tracks. We are in our second year of a new math adoption, and our class has made it pretty clear how they feel about math in our classroom this year. The audible math moans and groans and passive aggressive journal writing were keeping us up at night! Like, HELLO teachers? Are you hearing us…We HATE math! We knew something had to change. I hated math as a child growing up, and I had the self-confidence about it to boot. I promised myself I would never allow one of my students to ..read more

For as much time as we spend in our classrooms as teachers, we should love it! Our students should love it too. It’s their home away from home after all and becomes a place they are proud to come to each school day for learning and growing. Here are our top tips and tricks for decorating your classroom.  Pick a Scheme…A Color Scheme!  One of the absolute best things we ever did was choose a color scheme for our classroom. Blue and green have been our color wheel for many years now, and we love it! Choosing a color scheme makes a classroom look organized, even if it’s a hot mess! A ..read more

Growth Mindset is a hot teaching topic and one our school sent us off last summer encouraging us to learn more about. As a psychology major back in college, I knew this was right up my alley. I’d heard about the book Mindset, by Carol S. Dweck, Ph. D. many times, but I’d never found the time to actually sit and read it. Confession…I never did find the time to sit and actually read it last summer, but I did discover how amazing Audible.com is for this busy mom who spends hours in her car schlepping teens around town. I had that 8-hour 34-minute book “read” in 1 week thankyouverymuch! &nbs ..read more

Running a responsible classroom is something we’ve worked hard to accomplish each year for over 20 years. It seems as time has gone by, there is a greater need to teach these small humans to care, share, and be aware of themselves, others, their surroundings, and their belongings. Truth be told, these lessons (on being responsible) were once presumed to be home parenting lessons. Truth be told, they are not always assumed to be home parenting lessons nowadays. So we do what we do best…We teach…Reading, writing, math, science, social studies, art, PE, music, and responsibility ..read more

Very few school supplies get used in our classroom as much as dry erase markers do. So we were excited to start the school year off with our new favorite EXPO Dry Erase Ink Indicator markers this year.  To say the kids love them is an understatement! If you know anything about teaching or classrooms, you can probably imagine the level of excitement that comes along with a marker where, “I CAN SEE THE INK!” (shouted in our best ‘outside voice’).   You can learn more about the EXPO Ink Indicator Markers here and see our initial review here.    We make a big d ..read more

There are very few school supplies we use from the first day to the last day like dry erase markers. It seems we can never keep our stash stocked. One day we’ve got dozens and suddenly they’re all dried up! So, when EXPO Markers asked if we wanted to try out their new dry erase ink indicator markers, we were thrilled for many reasons.    You can learn more about the EXPO Ink Indicator Markers here and see our initial review here.    *Please Note: This post was written in exchange for free product and/or compensation, but all opinions, ideas, and beliefs expressed ..read more

Father’s Day is right around the corner and our class loves showing appreciation for all the special men in their lives. Since they had such a blast creating Spa Mom  for Mother’s Day, we couldn’t leave the Dads out! So, we created Tie-rific Dad for all the TOP guys in our students’ lives. Putting Tie-rific Dad together is pretty simple. The templates are easy to copy directly onto colored construction paper, then just cut and glue. We have them use markers for the nose and mouth too. We love seeing all of their unique creations…Some of them totally resemble their own dads! O ..read more

It’s no secret that dry erase markers are a must have classroom tool. From whole group lessons, guided reading and math groups, partner work, and independent recording, our students use dry erase markers all day long. As teachers, we are constantly begging asking families to send in dry erase markers or stocking up during back to school sales.  But, one of our biggest challenges is teaching our students how to determine when they need a new dry erase marker. We’ve learned over the years that the expression, “Teacher, my marker ran out!” could really be secret student language for, “I don ..read more

Summer is right around the corner, and parents everywhere are starting to ask teachers can you PLEASE keep them longer?! what they can have their students do over the summer to keep their school skills solid? We’re so glad they ask! One of easiest answers we give is, have them read. One of the easiest things we give them to encourage reading is a Summer Reading Log.  There’s just something about copying and folding activities into booklets that bait our students time and again…Case in point – Spelling Dictionaries and Summer Skills Booklets. Hook, line and sinker! Plus, they’re ..read more

Many primary classrooms love celebrating Read Across America week. Although our class celebrates Literacy each and every day, we like to get extra wild and wacky during Reading Week each year. Here are a few of our favorite activities to celebrate literacy and Read Across America in the primary classroom. Got Books?  From Costco to Target. Garage sales to dumpster diving (True story, not proud.)…We’ve got a ridiculous amount of Dr. S books for Read Across America Week! Before we gathered our collection, we gutted the local library shelves and borrowed all the Dr. S books they’d allow. W ..read more