Students learn best when they can connect what they are learning to their real life. So, I’ve compiled a list of ways to connect the serene fall season to your math curriculum, in order to engage your students and get them excited to learn. Many of these lessons can be adapted in their difficulty level in order to be suitable for various grades. Take a look at these fun fall math activities. Measurement Here is a great way to get students measuring with pumpkins! What I love about this activity is that it has students estimating first, and then measuring using a variety of units. Geometry Here are some creative ways to incorporate your geometryContinue reading
Category: Teaching Ideas & Inspiration
Book Review: Ish by Peter Reynolds (with Activity Ideas)
*This post contains affiliate links for convenient viewing* If you’re looking for a book to uplift and inspire young students, then Ish by: Peter Reynolds will do just that! Summary: Ish is a story about a boy named Ramon who loves to draw. One day his brother catches a glimpse of one of his sketches and mocks his work. This causes Ramon to feel a sort of dread, which eventually causes him to give up on artistry! But, all of his self-doubt comes to an end when he notices that his little sister has created a gallery of all his crumpled up art papers. He realizes that his work is a unique representation of the world aroundContinue reading
8 Wonderful Fall Art Activities
Fall is such an aesthetically beautiful season. The changing colors, the cool winds that rustle the leaves and the harvesting of pumpkins and apples are among the joys of Autumn. This is what makes Fall the perfect inspiration for some art activities. It’s a great opportunity to present elements such as color, texture, line and shape. Take a look at my favorite fall art activities below: 1. Yarn Trees Doesn’t this look fantastic? It’s a great activity if you want your students to do art work that goes beyond the typical 2-dimensions. This yarn tree will literally pop out of the canvas and attract onlookers’ eyes. You could use this activity to discussContinue reading
Stylish Classroom Decoration Ideas
Elementary classrooms are known to be decorated with splashes of color, big bold displays, word walls, schedules and more! However, often times teachers may forget to include a little bit of their own style sense in their classroom while catering to the eyes of their little students. But, there’s no reason why we can’t make our classrooms both a stylish and engaging environment. Here are 6 of the most stylish classroom decoration ideas I have come across, that are: affordable, DIY without requiring too much skill, and lastly, a stylish twist to any classroom. Check these ideas out: 1.Remodel An Ikea Trivet Ikea’s trivet is super useful in the classroom because you can apply pushpinsContinue reading
Book Review: Bismillah Soup (with Lesson Ideas!)
I recently had the pleasure of reading “Bismillah Soup” the first of two books to be released by emerging children’s author Asmaa Hussein of Ruqaya’s Bookshelf. Bismillah Soup is a book with many dimensions. It tells the tale of a young Somali boy named Hasan, who lives a humble life in a rural town. His family is struggling to put food on the table, so Hasan dotes an optimistic attitude and takes matters into his own hands! He promises his mom a fantastic dinner. Hasan can’t do it alone though, so he gets some much needed help from his local Imam and community members. Everyone chips in and contributes to what becomes a town feast.Continue reading
Asking Effective Questions – A Reading Strategy
Asking questions is one of the most wonderful strategies to get your students delving deeper into a text. I’ve stumbled upon a wonderful way to get your students to ask questions that will greatly enhance their understanding, allow them to make deeper connections and potentially create a lifelong love of curios exploration. After you’ve had some lessons aboout questions as a reading strategy, it’s important to talk to your students about the levels of questioning that can occur. Here is a wonderful example: Oh, wouldn’t it be amazing to have your students asking inventive questions! The joy that will appear on your face when your students asks “if you had a Giving Tree, what would you doContinue reading
Encouraging Summer Reading For Kids
*This post contains affiliate links for convenient viewing* Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know that your students were continuing to use the valuable skills they learned in class over the summer? We can actually help to encourage valuable summer reading for kids! I recently came across “Summer reading is so different than reading for school. Here are 3 reasons to encourage it for kids”. It mentions 3 reasons kids should be reading throughout the summer. The reasons are: 1. it prepares students for the upcoming school year, 2. they’ll enjoy reading more-so than they would in class and 3. kids could actually earn free books! Those are all awesome reasons for students to read over theContinue reading
Probability Game Ideas – Have Fun With Math!
*This post contains affiliate links for convenient viewing* Kids love playing games in the classroom, and a probability unit is the perfect fit for incorporating fun in your math curriculum! After introducing your class to the key concepts and terminology they’ll need to successfully discuss probability, try these probability game ideas out and have those concepts really become engrained in your students. This post is actually in celebration of my very first TPT product! It’s a freebie of 4 recording & reflection sheets, for the following 4 games. Please take a look. I would love your support, so please follow my TPT profile, and rate my first product so I can improve. Thanks! Carnival InspiredContinue reading
Creative Ways To Display Your Class Schedule
We’ve all seen the typical class schedule available for purchase. Or the classroom white/black board taped off into sections for the daily schedule to be written out. However, if you’re looking for a more creative way to display your daily class schedule, while also saving precious board space, then check out these wonderful ideas! A Schedule Wheel Here is why this is so wonderful! It’s 100% DIY, and can be placed and moved around anywhere in your classroom. Make it as big or as small as you want it. All you’ll need to do is: buy a round lightweight baking tray, print/draw labels, cut them out and laminate them, then attach magnet tape to the back,Continue reading
My Mouth Is A Volcano – Activity Ideas
*This post contains affiliate links for convenient viewing* There are some books out there that are worth the time and attention of your class. My Mouth Is A Volcano is one of them! It has some wonderful lessons for your students, which will set them up for future success. Take a look at some of these My Mouth Is A Volcano activities: Art – Word Depiction: If you’ve read the book, you’ll know that it is filled with wonderful words, that come alive on the page. Wouldn’t it be great to use this as an art lesson for your students? Show students how they can bring their creative artistry to portray words and their meaningsContinue reading