Teachers are always finding new ways to help their students.  Repurposing is a great way to find new tools to help your students. Do you have bulletin board border that has seen better days?  Border can be cut up and used as bookmarks.  Border is colorful and sturdy which makes it perfect for bookmarks. Baby hangers are great teacher tools.  You can buy a multipack at Dollar Tree.  Baby hangers make great teacher tools to hang visuals or small anchor charts. Pedometers are small, useful teacher tools.  Do you have students that have the wiggles?  Let the ..read more

Do you have favorite read alouds that you share with your class each year?  I have some favorites and am always looking for new ones to add to my collection. Students love the Black Lagoon series by Mike Thaler.  Best of all there are books about many of the members of the school community that you introduce your class to at the beginning of the school year.   Here are a few examples (affiliate link): School Nurse School Secretary School Bus Driver Principal Vice Principal Music Teacher Gym Teacher Computer Teacher Art Teacher Custodian Librarian Cafeteria Lady During the ..read more

Do you have a system to organize your books? The longer you teach, the more books you collect, which makes it harder to find a specific book when you need it. I have tried different ways through the year. My current way is to organize my books using multiple systems. Leveled Books Some of the books that I use with small group lessons are leveled.  I use the Level It app or Book Wizard  to find the reading level.  I shared tips for leveling books plus freebie on my Leveled Books tips post. Authors of the Month There are so many children's book authors ..read more

In a perfect teaching world, we would have all of the resources we need at our fingertips.  Wouldn't that be nice?  With a little creativity and effort, you can find, make, or get needed resources. Look around your house, visit yard sales or garage sales.  Silicone candy molds or ice molds can be a used in the classroom. This pineapple mold can be used with Play-doh to make patterns, counting, or a compound word center.  ..read more

Back to school time means time for meetings.  If you are in charge of planning these meetings, you realize the challenge you face. Teachers want to work in their classrooms so their attention is less-than-the-best.  Through the years, I have had some interesting meetings at the beginning of the year. Here are a couple of fun things my principals did that made the meetings more enjoyable. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone: We all love to sit by our buddies when we go to a meetings, but I challenge you to get out of your comfort zone. Why? Throughout the school year, you will work with more staff ..read more