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Directed Drawing Videos: Cute Santa
WHY DIRECTED DRAWING?
There are many reasons to try directed drawing with your students! Here are a few skills and benefits:
improve skills in following directions and attention to detaila fun way to practice fine motor developmentincreased stamina in focus and attentionincreased self-expression and communicating ideasgrowing skills in drawing and appreciation of artperfect for celebrating seasonal content and decorate the classan easy center activity to switch out each weeka fun activity to do at home! Send the link to parents and ask [Read More…]
Guided Spelling Ideas
It can be tricky to support your emergent writers who are tackling spelling. Early writers may have a delicate confidence when it comes to spelling, and they often don’t realize that guessing and making mistakes is an important part of learning.
It’s our job as teachers to explain that they are not expected to know how to spell every word! Always take time to let your students know that you’re looking for the effort and the attempt. Our mantra is “Make [Read More…]
Animated Stories for Social Skills
I’ve recently started to incorporate online read-aloud stories to my daily routine, and discovered there are so many great books online out there!
Howard Wigglebottom Stories
My favorite find in the last year is the site dedicated to the Howard Wigglebottom stories. These cute animations focus on character building, social and emotional development, and lots of other essential ingredients for the primary classroom.
And guess what? They are all animated on one website! We use one story each morning as a springboard for [Read More…]
Reading Lessons and Intervention Made Easy
This post is all about teaching reading, and it also contains a FREE alphabet printing activity for you to download!
You may have seen my recent post about my HUGE teaching dilemma last year: a new teaching partner who had no experience with teaching primary math! How could I make sure that my new partner stayed on track without spending HOURS talking about math lessons, planning, intervention and reporting?
My solution? I had the idea to make a whole year of paperless daily [Read More…]
Tips for Teaching Responsibility
Welcome to the Social Skills Ideas Bank!
The Social Skills Idea Bank is a series of related posts, each dedicated to sharing strategies for teaching a particular social skill.
As teachers, our strength lies in sharing our ideas, experiences and strategies!
This is a growing list, and you are invited to contribute in the comments section. We hope you will, because there’s nothing like a good idea shared between teachers to make our jobs easier.
In this post you will find lots of simple ways to encourage students [Read More…]
Math Videos for Primary Classrooms
I start my math lessons with math videos almost every day.
They are a great way to warm up and start thinking about numbers. They’re a great review of the concepts we’re working on.
Most of all, they are so fun and interactive that my students LOVE math time!
Here are some of our primary favorite videos:
Dancing Monsters Count to 50
This is our absolute favorite for early learners for counting to 50.
The cute monsters dance around to the beat, while students count in groups [Read More…]
S.T.E.M. and Growth Mindset
Here’s some real talk about my experience using STEM in the classroom.
When I am coordinating S.T.E.M. curriculum for grades 1-5, I observe many students exploring the STEM process who are truly engaged with hands-on learning.
For the most part, students LOVE it!
However…
Sometimes I also see students who are not yet comfortable with taking risks.
Some students are not emotionally equipped for dealing with the disappointment that arises when their great idea doesn’t quite work out the way they wanted.
Other students feel threatened by other students [Read More…]
Directed Drawing Videos: Valentine Hearts
Do your students love directed drawing? Mine do!
WHY DIRECTED DRAWING?
There are lots of reasons to try directed drawing with your students! Here are a few skills and benefits:
practice with following directions
practice close attention to detail
fine motor development
increased stamina in focus and attention
self-expression and communicating ideas
growing skills in drawing and appreciation of art
perfect for celebrating seasonal content and decorate the class
an easy writing center to switch out each week
a fun activity to do at home! Send the link to parents and [Read More…]
Directed Drawing Videos: Butterfly
WHY DIRECTED DRAWING?
There are many reasons to try directed drawing with your students! Here are a few skills and benefits:
improve skills in following directions and attention to detaila fun way to practice fine motor developmentincreased stamina in focus and attentionincreased self-expression and communicating ideasgrowing skills in drawing and appreciation of artperfect for celebrating seasonal content and decorate the classan easy center activity to switch out each weeka fun activity to do at home! Send the link to parents and ask [Read More…]