School and the City

Are you looking for an engaging resource to make the instructional days before Thanksgiving meaningful, academic, yet super-engaging? Want a simple, no-prep resource that you can use ALL DAY long as you near a crazy holiday? Are you hoping to cater to varying learning styles and free up time for yourself to enrich or remediate as needed? Look no further! I am thrilled to introduce my newest product to you: Thanksgiving choice boards!  No need to dread those instructional  days before Thanksgiving  break... gobble up a super-engaging, easy day of fun!  ⁣ I’ve created two choice boards - math and literacy - to help you make teaching on on those long days before Thanksgiving simple yet meaningful. ⁣ ⁣ ✅  standards-based skills⁣ ✅  editable to fit your needs ⁣ ✅  low prep (just make copies!)⁣ ✅  cross-curricular connections ⁣ ✅  real world connections ⁣ ✅  high-interest topics and tasks⁣ ✅  review of previously-learned skill...

Halloween falls on a Thursday this year - AKA a full school day... YIKES! Don't be too frightened; I've got some ideas to help keep you sane on one of the spo0o0okiest teaching days of the year. Need a class pumpkin? It's not complicated or fancy, but I actually loveee this basic class pumpkin - simple and sweet! I'm totally doing this again this year. #easiestideaever Need a read aloud? I love reading Junie B books during the holidays. They are hilarious and timeless - even my third graders love Junie B! The short chapter books are easy to read to your class in a week - or even just a few days - in order to cover those holiday bases and then move on. Junie B's Halloween book is called Boo, and I Mean It . It's less than five bucks on Amazon! It's perfect for discussing character traits because, well, she's one of my favorite characters ever! Need lesson plans to keep you - and your students - sane? No problem, friend! I'...

Choice boards are a staple in my classroom. I've explained why and how to use choice boards and even how to easily create your own choice boards , but what if you're just getting started, and you aren't sure how to begin? Trying something new in your classroom can be daunting, but I'm here to help you answer this question: How do I get started with choice boards? When your students see a choice board for the first time, they will likely be overwhelmed by the unfamiliar layout and amount of print. Combat this by explaining how much you love choice boards - remember that your excitement is contagious! Explain that choice boards allow the students to choose how they learn and how to show what they learn. It's intended for students to choose tasks that interest them in order to deepen their understandings. In order for students to be successful, you'll need to set expectations. The higher your expectations are, the more your students will achieve! At...

I've already written all about HOW and WHY you should use choice boards in your classroom. Are you convinced yet? (If not, revisit that blog post here .) I've made tons of choice boards for my own classroom (13, to be exact!) and many others for YOUR classroom based on requests. View all of my choice boards here .  So are you ready to try choice boards, and maybe even wanting to make one personalized to your own classroom? THIS is the blog post for you!  Recently, I was featured on the Edverything Podcast reiterating why I love choice boards and telling teachers step by step how to make their own. (Listen here ).  Want a quick recap of the design segment of the podcast? Here are the basic steps I go through when making my choice boards: 1. Choose your topic and zoom in. 2. Review your standards BEFORE designing tasks... I learned this the hard way!  3. If needed, pull up a visual aid for Bloom's Taxonomy to get your...

Each year, 3rd graders participate in a "living wax museum" project during the last month of school. It's truly one of my favorite days of the year! We spend a few weeks reviewing nonfiction by studying biographies, then students get to bring biographies to life!  If you haven't tried a wax museum yet, you totally should. It is SO much fun - You will be so impressed by your students! We all have research standards, writing standards, and speaking/listening standards that can be taken care of with this project. Having students write speeches and present in front of an audience is not only meeting standards but it also an important life skill.  My team chooses for students to complete the project almost entirely at school. We spend a few days researching, a few days writing, and a few days making posters. At home, students practice their speeches (aiming to memorize) and put together a costume.  We also encourage artifacts to make our wax museum...

WHY You Should Use Choice Boards: There are so many research-based reasons to use choice boards in your classroom. Here are just a few reasons why I've found choice boards to be a valuable resource in my own classroom:  1. intrinsic motivation Choice boards provide students the opportunity to make their own choices, which increases intrinsic motivation and therefore increases meaningful learning. Students are more likely to internalize content if a learning activity is interesting to them or if they can make a connection to their own life.  2. learning styles Choice boards also cater to multiple learning styles, allowing students to explore content in ways that are exciting for them. That’s empowerment! Students will naturally 3. differentiation I always encourage my students to choose activities that are beneficial to them. I try to make my classroom an environment where students are comfortable taking risks and challenging themselves. In order t...

Yes, even you, upper elementary teachers! Earlier this month, my third graders took the ITBS. Before the testing week began, I had to completely cover or take down anything "academic" in my classroom that students could possibly glean answers from... even my alphabet. I decided that since I was taking down the alphabet anyways, it'd be the perfect opportunity for my students to make their own alphabet. I'd seen this done in younger grades before, but never in upper grades, so I spun the idea to make it work in my classroom. I did this by tying it in with our content , involving writing , and using cursive letters . First,  I just posted an anchor chart with the alphabet written on it. I told students that as they were learning about and researching Georgia, they could add something to the chart if they found a noun that started with one of the letters. (We were studying Georgia habitats AND working on nouns!) I told them that when we filled the alphabet, we wo...

So you raided the Target Dollar Spot and stocked up on some blank books for your classroom. Now what? I love the blank books almost as much as my students do. I use them for almost every final draft writing project, and my students get so excited about "publishing" books. It truly increases motivation and engagement, and I always love the final products! First I created some blank, lined templates with lines of various sizes. (Why doesn't Target start making LINED books??) These can be used for anything and everything! With these templates, I usually pre-cut them for my students quickly with my paper cutter. It only takes a moment and cuts down on distractions. Want these templates delivered to your inbox for FREE? You got it!  Then I got excited and wanted to use blank books for ALL THE THINGS. My second graders needed some help with organizing their books and making them neat, so I created some templates. Here are a few templates that I have created an...