Something amazing recently happened at my school! The parent fundraising committee raised money for an outdoor classroom with benches, picnic tables, and even a learning gazebo! I’m so excited about this addition and love mixing outdoor learning with enriching ideas. This inspiring project has motivated me to share some of
Have you noticed a change in your primary students’ ability to socialize and cope with big emotions? The upheaval from the pandemic might be to blame. Teachers are sounding off about a universal need for social-emotional learning in tandem with academics. And since our students have faced a lack of
After a big year of growing, learning, and reaching new heights, hand your kiddos ownership over the progress they’ve made with student-created portfolios! Student-led portfolios are a great way to engage students in their learning, and they give families a wonderful chance to learn more about what their student has
Parent communication is a big deal for our young learners. Our students rely on parent-teacher partnerships that help them grow their skills and feel excited about learning. As teachers, we encounter all kinds of families with varying degrees of knowledge, motivation, and confidence when it comes to supporting their child’s
Using coding bots in your classroom is a fun way to get students excited about programming. If you’re wondering why learning to program is important for young learners, I address that in my blog post “My Favorite Coding Apps for Kids.” Take a peek to learn more! In a nutshell,
Fine motor skills are a vital part of learning development for our little ones. We know our students are all going to develop at their own pace, and you may have some with noticeable fine motor delays, or you might be a believer that all our kids could benefit from some
Decodable texts are a great foundational tool for emerging readers. Our kids use decodable phonics passages and readers to tap into the parts of their brain that give them a concrete understanding of how words work. When kids get regular guided access to this kind of fluency practice, they make
Reading and writing literacy for our young students is one of the most important and fundamental skills to master. Building an understanding of the difference between letters, words, and sentences is a complex process. It takes lots of exposure, lots of practice, and most of all, lots of opportunities to
Anybody who works with primary students understands that our students need movement! Kids are full of energy, and their brains work best when we can tap into that energy to help them learn! We pepper in activities and brain breaks throughout the day to make sure our active learners, and
We all know that a solid foundation in mathematics is important to a child’s overall educational success. But helping our students go from just knowing numbers and basic concepts, to really understanding how to apply those concepts independently, and in a way that makes sense to them, is a process.
