Show Notes Are you always looking for ways to improve how the day-to-day operations go in your classroom? Having effective routines and expectations in place makes a HUGE difference in your overall classroom management. These things also save you so much time throughout the day which allows you to maximize student learning time. If you’re feeling like your classroom could use some help in areas such as morning routines and transitions, there are small and simple changes you can make today. I’m sharing tips on how you can quickly get systems going in your classroom that will give students a ..read more

Show Notes How do I get all of my students excited about writing? How do I even get myself excited to teach writing?! If you are one of the many teachers who dread writing time, you are not alone. Luckily, I have some incredible inspiration for you to take back to your classroom! Today I’m joined by my dear friend, Jamie Sears. Jamie is offering her guidance and wisdom on how to spice up your writing block and make it a time that everyone looks forward to. Jamie Sears is the face behind Not So Wimpy Teacher. She is a fun-loving mom of five, (soon to be six) wife, businesswoman, and forever ..read more

Show Notes Building a strong classroom community is such an essential part of your classroom management. When your kiddos feel valued and recognized, they will shine in your classroom and during other parts of the school day, such as specials, lunch, and recess.   Today I’m sharing two of my favorite easy-to-implement classroom management strategies that will give your students buy-in and independence. Student shoutouts and class compliments are quick and effective things that your class will LOVE!  Using these two types of compliments will help to strengthen your classroom co ..read more

Show Notes Games are one of my favorite ways to manage classroom behaviors and expectations. They are an easy way to keep things fun and engaging for you and your students! I love creating behavior management games so that you have low-prep ideas for your classroom.  Today I’m joined by two classroom teachers, Lydia and Amy. Lydia is a third-grade teacher, and Amy teaches both second and third-grade. They both use some of my classroom management games daily with their students and are on the podcast to share their experiences with you! In this episode, we discuss: Which classroom mana ..read more

Show Notes Happy end of the year! While the end of the year is so exciting, the days leading up to it can bring on a great deal of stress and overwhelm. Final grades need to be put in, your classroom needs to be packed, and the list goes on and on. All you want to do is welcome summer and enjoy your much-needed break, right?  Even though it may seem counterintuitive, I encourage you to do a bit of organizing before you call the year quits. Yes, it will take some time upfront, but it will save you SO much more time at the beginning of the next school year. I’m going to fill you in on my ..read more

Show Notes You’re almost there teachers! The end of the year is here. If you have completely run out of ways to keep your kiddos engaged, I have the perfect solution for you. Research projects! Research projects are my favorite ways to end the school year but can be used any time of year.  Assigning research projects is the perfect way to review content learned throughout the year or introduce new topics that are of interest to your students. The best part? You can easily implement research projects in-person or digitally! You can even use them as an assessment.  In this episode y ..read more

Show Notes I’m so excited to bring on a guest who is also one of my best friends. Her name is Amanda Newsome, and she is a wife, mom, and speech-language pathologist. She has been in an elementary setting for ten years. She also runs her business, A Perfect Blend, where she creates beautiful fonts as well as digital and printable resources.  Amanda and I are diving into the disconnect that sometimes happens between GenEd and Special Ed. Amanda has lots of great tips on how to build the relationship between the two teachers in order to best serve our students. We believe that the greates ..read more

Show Notes Staying organized is challenging enough, but teaching online calls for next-level organization. Virtual learning comes with endless PDFs, Google Slides, resources links…the list goes on.   Resources such as Google Drive gives you the capability to organize all of your files, but it can get messy very quickly! With all the digital files being used every day, you have to have some sort of system to keep up and lessen overwhelm.  I’m sharing my favorite organizational tips with you that you can implement right away. These are simple things you can do to tighten up your org ..read more

Show Notes If you know me, you know I love talking about classroom management, so that’s what we are diving into today! Classroom management is something that’s constantly evolving for all of us. You’ve probably found that what works for your class one year, doesn’t work the next year. You may even have to switch up your management tools throughout the year, and that’s okay!    Each part of the year brings new challenges, and we have to continue to add new tools to our teacher toolbox. The part of the year between winter break and spring break is a great time to try out new system ..read more

Show Notes Do you use Google Classroom in your everyday teaching? It’s such an amazing tool for both in-person teaching and virtual learning. It’s quickly becoming a hot topic, so today I wanted to give you some tips and tricks so that you can maximize how you’re using it!  In this episode, you’ll learn: How to keep your Google Classroom organized in a way that works for you The difference between a “material” and an “assignment” and other features My favorite ways to have your students collaborate with Google slides Top ways to save time using Google Classroom 3 Ideas for making Goog ..read more