Wax Museum Grade Level: 3rd Type Of Project: Literacy/Biography/SS  Context: This project is a cross-curricular project that was created to get students excited about reading biographies and writing informational text. This project has students reading, researching, writing informational texts, and presenting their research to an audience. Informational text is important to read in all grade levels. The common core standards are divided almost equally between literary and informative text. Both types of text are equally important. When it comes to informational text, I have a few fa ..read more

Grade Level: 3rdGrade  Type Of Project: Service Project  Context: Students will create a Public Service Announcement to inform their audience on ways to stay healthy.  Inspiration: Answer For Cancer is a project that was inspired by the 3rd-grade teacher who has been fighting cancer for the past few years. The goal of the Answer For Cancer PBL is to teach 3rd-grade  students how healthy choices can help prevent us from getting sick with things like the cold and flu as well as how we can minimize our risk for getting cancer.   Voice & Choice: Students wi ..read more

Grade Level: 6th-8th  Type Of Project: Social Skills, Civic Literacy  Context: This was based on the book Best Self, Be You Only Better by life coach Mike Bayer. It is a social skills, self-awareness, and leadership PBL for middle schoolers. Students learn about the different masks we wear throughout our lives. The students start out by learning about their Best Self Superheroes. They design a  drawing of what their best self character looks like, name it and give it a tagline. They then learn about their Anti-Self Villain. They do the same thing with that character. Students ..read more

Grade Level: 9-12  Type Of Project: Work-Based Learning  Context: The high school Life Skills special needs classroom runs a real-life student-run coffee shop that serves all staff in the district and high school students.  Inspiration: The high school special needs teacher was looking for a  way to teach her students life skills they can use when they leave high school. She also wanted to bring the students out in the community to learn skills such as grocery shopping, ordering at a  restaurant….  Voice & Choice: Students chose the products that are sold in ..read more

Have you ever wanted to bring your pet to work? Well…. it might just be possible. And it may just improve the overall physical and mental health of staff and students. It has at our school! Therapy dogs are taking over classrooms around the nation. You see them all the time, practically everywhere you go. The hospital, courthouse, mall, airports, hotels…. Full-time therapy dogs in schools are a fairly new concept and are becoming increasingly more popular. Our school district now has 8 therapy dogs. Our superintendent is a dog lover but above all else, was inspired by the positive impact ..read more

Secret Acts Of Kindness PBL The Secret Service Acts of Kindness PBL is a super fun and super rewarding kindness project. As a 3rd grade teacher, one of my very favorite projects that I have ever had my students participate in was the Secret Service Acts Of Kindness PBL. My students became real secret service agents. They were given a seven-day kindness challenge in a top-secret envelope that only they were allowed to see. Ssshhhhh, It’s A Secret! The students couldn’t share it with anyone, not even their parents! They had to come up with one kind act that they could perform secretl ..read more

What Is Flexible Seating? The Starbucks Classroom PBL is a flexible seating project-based learning opportunity. What is flexible seating? As a teacher, you know that flexible seating is EVERYWHERE!!!! It is usually designed and implemented by the classroom teacher, without much if any help from students. Flexible seating has many benefits in classrooms. It gives students a choice and comfort that traditional seating fails to offer. Flexible seating could include beach chairs, exercise balls, wobble chairs, floor pillows, tall cafe tables, standing desks and much more. Flexible seating opti ..read more

Have you considered using Minecraft in the classroom? Well…..you should!!!! You don’t need to be a Minecraft master or have even played Minecraft. I had never played it before using it with my students. I literally learned right along with them. Minecraft Education Edition is one of my favorite tools to use in the classroom. It is a great tool to use to teach the 21st Century Skills that EVERY student needs in order to be successful in life. Skills such as collaboration, collaboration, teamwork, critical thinking and problem-solving. Minecraft Motivates: If you ask your students there are pro ..read more

Are you new to instructional coaching? Have you started conducting coaching cycles? Try implementing student-centered coaching cycles using a student-centered coaching cycle guide. Student-centered coaching cycles are based off of the book called, Student-Centered Coaching by Diane Sweeney. Student-Centered Coaching introduces a new way of looking at and delivering school-based coaching across grades K-12 that puts the needs of students’ front-and-center. By focusing coaching on specific goals for student learning and student data, rather than on changing or fixing teachers, a coach can navi ..read more

Savannah and Dane 3rd grade reportersHave you been looking for a fun and engaging way to teach multiple standards? Are you looking for a project-based learning idea that incorporates reading, writing, social studies, science and math along with multiple 21st Century Skills? The student-run news broadcast is an innovative project that encompasses all of the above with a focus on informational reading, informative writing and research while incorporating 21st Century Skills. The concept of the news broadcast was born out to of the need to give students a purpose for learning while giving them a ..read more