I became a teacher because I like office supplies. I love kids, and I love learning, but let’s face it: I’m also in it for the colored pens. I think it began with these guys. If I ever meet Mr. Sketch in person, I’m going to plant a big smooch
How you ever wondered how teachers create those cute printables? It’s easier than you could possibly imagine. And free. Which is always good. This tutorial will teach you how to create printables in PowerPoint. You can use them in your home, classroom, blog, or even sell your awesome product! This
PowerPoint Tutorials can make everything easier. If you have ever struggled with working with images in PowerPoint, this tutorial is perfect for you! Have you ever tried to pull an image into PowerPoint and had it be so huge that you couldn’t even find a corner to grab to shrink it?
To sleep, perchance to dream learn. – Shakespeare (kind of) When I went to kindergarten (shout out and apologies to my teacher, Mrs. Beasley), I needed crayons and a nap mat. Today’s kindergarteners need graphing calculators and pens. No nap map required. Or welcome. Fifteen years ago, the New York
Brain breaks are wonderful, and they’re best when they’re quick and easy. Using nothing more than a handful of dice and a free printable, I’ve got 30 quick and easy brain breaks you can do with absolutely no prep. Why Use Brain Breaks? If you read what I wrote about
Practice can be fun using a simple practice cube. The theory behind it is simple: practice can become routine and mundane, and adding a little creativity to it can make all the difference in the world. Surprisingly, this simple cube can make even the most routine practice fun and kinesthetic.
The Reticular Activating System is either your friend or your foe as a teacher. I recommend making it your friend, and I’ve got 16 tips to help you activate the RAS in the classroom. What is the Reticular Activating System? First, what is the Reticular Activating System? I’ll explain it
Reading is one of the great joys of life, yet for gifted children, reading can become a tedious exercise, fraught with difficulty and frustration. This happens when they are forced to follow along in class while others read aloud. You know how you feel when you’re stuck in traffic and
Readers are always on the lookout for great resources to feed their reading habit. Here is a list of 24 awesome free resources for readers I compiled for Read Across America Day that we tweeted out from Mensa. 1. Find books for kids recommended by kids at Mensa’s Pinterest page
Finding work/life balance is so difficult and such a common problem that it’s almost silly to even attempt to add to the discussion. Yet I’m going to try because I care deeply about so many educators, both classroom teachers and homeschooling parents, who struggle with it. Several of my former
Everyone is a kinesthetic learner. Teachers need to get students moving in class to get students learning in class and out of it. Everyone knows that, right? Yet often it can be tricky to know just how to infuse that into a classroom. Here’s the slidedeck that accompanies my session
Differentiated instruction is the key to appropriately serving all students, and it’s essential to explain the ways that will manifest itself in the classroom. We need share with parents and students that this class will be different in the way that students work. This sets the expectation from the beginning,
