If you’re not a teacher, you would be baffled that teaching kids to read and do math is the easy part of teaching!! The harder work is helping them figure out how to actually be...
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We ALL see it: students struggling to stay with something for more than a few minutes. Less back-and-forth during group work. A kind of low-grade restlessness that wasn’t always there. You’re not imagining it!! We’re...
Read MoreThis post contains affiliate links. Every year, somewhere in May or June, teachers sit down for end-of-year student handoff conversations. Sometimes it’s a formal meeting. Sometimes it’s five minutes in the hallway, and sometimes it’s...
Read MoreThis post contains affiliate links. There’s a point in the year (usually once routines are solid and the pace has picked up) when “free time” in the classroom starts to feel a little off. You...
Read MoreThis is a sponsored blog post. All opinions are my own! We just got back from a two-night stay at Great Wolf Lodge in Gurnee, IL and it ended up being one of those...
Read MoreMost of what I write is for teachers, but if you’ve ever worked in a classroom, you already know this: what happens at home and what shows up at school are deeply connected. SEL at...
Read MoreLet’s be honest: most kids are expected to “manage their emotions” without ever being taught how to notice them in the first place! We ask for calm bodies, kind words, flexible thinking… and then hand...
Read MoreI can guarantee that if you use reward systems, at some point in the year the reward systems start to feel a little fragile. You have the charts, the systems, the prizes and kids are...
Read MoreIf a student is having a hard time, taking away recess can feel like the obvious move because it’s clean, immediate, and sends a message. It also… usually doesn’t work. (And not in a “kids...
Read MoreThere’s a point every school year when the wheels start to wobble a little. Routines get loose, patience runs thin, and the class inside jokes turn into class-wide distractions. You look around and think, “This…isn’t...
Read MoreWalk into almost any elementary classroom right now and you will probably see at least some kind of fidget tools. Teachers often keep stress balls, tangles, Velcro strips under desks, small cubes with buttons, or...
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