Language Arts Success: The BEST of 2019

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Language Arts Success: The BEST of 2019

As the calendar year comes to a close, a teacher’s journey is still moving at full speed. (It’s true!) We are not quite to the half-way mark of our year, and we still have much to do! As 2019 comes to a close and before you begin the second semester, I would encourage you to take a moment, stop, and reflect. It is good for the mind and soul to take note of one’s progress. What successes are you seeing in the classroom? Are you on the track you had planned? Do you need to make adjustments? To help you do so, we've assembled

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Are you meeting your students' needs?

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Are you meeting your students' needs?

Today’s classroom teacher wears many hats, and that’s a fact.  Not only are they responsible to help children develop and improve their literacy, mathematic, and social science skills, they must also evaluate student progress and performance along the way.  To be upfront, I’m not just talking about grades for the aforementioned subject areas.  I’m talking about an assessment that goes much deeper.

On a daily basis, classroom teachers must

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Teaching Word Choice: Skills for day-to-day life

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Teaching Word Choice: Skills for day-to-day life

As teachers, the concept of “word choice” is common language in classrooms around the United States. Careful word choice is the key to effective writing and speaking.  Selecting appropriate and precise words helps to increase the impact you have on your audience.  Ideally, this is what teachers try to convey to their students at each grade level, but a child’s learning continues

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Holiday Activity Time: My 12 Days of Christmas

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Holiday Activity Time: My 12 Days of Christmas

Coloring sheets, word puzzles, tinsel, glitter, and glue are just some of the items you’ll find scattered around many classrooms during the holidays. There are so many wonderful craft ideas and activities people have used to make the season a memorable one at school.  Here’s a fun way to keep your students engaged in writing during the weeks before holiday break. 

Ask students to use their creativity to

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Extend the Lesson: The Gift of Kindness

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Extend the Lesson: The Gift of Kindness

Kindness is defined as the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.  Some of the words associated with kindness are affection, gentleness, warmth, concern, and care. The act of being kind often requires courage and strength, but a simple act of kindness can have huge effects individually and globally. 

Think back to a time when someone was kind to you or when you were kind to someone else.  Do you remember the feeling you felt when that person held the door open for you?  Did you happen to see the other person smile or light-up when you acted with kindness?  

Take a look at how kindness affects a human being:

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