As a middle school teacher trying to keep three classes of 30-35 students per class organized can be a challenge. Below are some of my top tips for helping everyone stay organized. 1. Have students create a Table of Contents in the first page of their notebook, binder or duo-tang. I photocopy a template that they can fill in with the page number, lesson/hand out title and date. Grade 8 Personal Safety Table of Contents 2. Have a class table of contents on chart paper ... VIEW POST
Recommended Student Reading
Students and parents often want to know what are some good books to read that have good content and are age appropriate. The debate continues about what age is the Hunger Games really appropriate for? When I was a teacher-librarian I did not sign out the Hunger Games to anyone younger than Grade 7 unless they brought me a note from a parent. Teachers are always looking for a good and unique read alouds that have not been done by a previous teacher. In Ontario, we are lucky that our Ontario ... VIEW POST
Free Math Resources
Some of my favourite math resources come from the University of Waterloo Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing - CEMC for short. They run many math contests, which for a nominal fee you can enter your students in. One of my favourite math enrichment activities is to have my Grade 7 and 8 students work through previous GAUSS math tests individually, in pairs or groups. Students learn from each other when trying to solve these higher level math problems. Download Previous GAUSS ... VIEW POST
The Next Generation of Privacy Folders …
When I was a student we used our pocket writing folders as privacy folders. These were used during test time or when we needed a break from our group to focus on our independent work. Recently I was in a colleagues Grade 4 classroom and saw the coolest idea Office A and Office B work spaces in her classroom. She told me our administrator gave her the idea. Using plain white science display boards this teacher has created a private no distractions work space for kids ... VIEW POST
Creating a Dynamic Intermediate Classroom Library
Student accessible classroom libraries are an important part of any classrom K-12. Since I started teaching my classroom library has evolved from complete chaos to student/teacher friendly organization. Many believe that it is sufficient to have a few books on a shelf or to just use the school library. This is not the ideal situation. Students in all grades need to have interesting texts available to them at all times. If students do not have access to interesting texts that are organized in ... VIEW POST
Deals from the Dollar Store
Hello Readers and Welcome Back! As teachers, we often spend a lot of our own money on school supplies and classroom resources. I love dollar stores. Every time I find a new one, or go to a new city I often stop in to see what treasures I can find. Teachers need to save their money and check the dollar store first when they need something for their classroom. Ok, so maybe this is not the best-kept secret, but it is a great store. I would like to introduce you to Dollarama. Every ... VIEW POST