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Latest from the Blog

Teach students how to work through struggle and frustration to get the most out of learning.

4 Ways to Harness the Power of Productive Struggle

Have you ever thought about the fact that the skills that are the hardest for you to learn are often the ones you remember best? That is not a coincidence. That’s a result of productive struggle. As teachers, this is what we should want for our students. Not to challenge

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Use these 5 tips to quickly and easily establish a classroom morning routine with your students this year.

5 Tips for Establishing a Solid Morning Classroom Routine

Establishing a solid morning classroom routine sets the tone for your day. When routines and procedures are carefully planned, taught, and modeled, students know what is expected of them. Begin a new school year with a plan. In the book, The First Days of School, Harry Wong says, “Student achievement

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Create a fun and engaging jungle themed classroom with this easy to use set which includes everything you need to set up an exciting classroom.

7 Reasons to Create a Fun Jungle Themed Classroom

One of my favorite things about having my own classroom is getting to decorate! There is just something exciting about a color-coordinated, organized, themed classroom. Students love it because your classroom is inviting and fun! Let’s take a walk on the wild side to learn 7 reasons to create a

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Having a teacher BFF can make your school life so much easier! Here are 10 reasons why having a teacher bestie is going to make your school year year amazing!

10 Advantages of Having an Amazing Teacher BFF

Every teacher needs someone at work to be their “person”- their Teacher BFF. Whether you have been teaching for 15 minutes or 15 years, you need that person who will always have your back. I couldn’t have made it through some of those school years without my amazing teacher friends.

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Use these 10 fun and creative ways to use a word wall in your classroom to keep your students engaged and excited to practice targeted words.

Creative Ways to Use Word Walls in Your Classroom

Word walls are collections of words that are displayed in classrooms. They are designed to be interactive tools that students can reference during reading and writing. Word walls help students see the patterns and relationships among words. They also provide a great teaching opportunity. After all, if we don’t use

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Help your students learn fun and exciting synonyms for the word said with these engaging activities they will love.

Teaching Synonyms for Said: A Said is Dead Alternative

Sometimes teaching dialogue in writing can feel like you’re banging your head against a wall. You’ve done all the things. You’ve modeled good examples, practiced, and repeated the steps over and over. BUT…your students writing still isn’t where you would like it to be. Especially with their word usage. They

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An ocean theme classroom is a great way to spark creativity and foster a sense of calmness in your classroom.

10 Reasons Why I Love an Ocean Theme Classroom

Have a new classroom and can’t decide on decor? Looking to freshen up an outdated theme in your room? Deciding on posters, labels, classroom library organization, and overall classroom decor can feel overwhelming. There are lots of things to consider when choosing a classroom theme. After all, you and the

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Providing choice in the classroom to your students in the classroom means happier and more engaged students all around.

Choice in the Classroom: Captivating or Chaos

Tired of receiving the same 25 projects or reading the same 25 stories every time an assignment is turned in? You’ve masterfully crafted the prompt, directions, and rubric to fit that specific learning target, but everything just comes back lacking. Now is the time to provide students choice in the

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Your students will love celebrating all of the fun holidays in May with these engaging activities they will love.

Fun & Creative Activities for May

May is such a busy time in the classroom. I sometimes refer to it as May Madness because of all of the extra activities and events that take place. Everyone is super excited about summertime, but there are still things we need to cover to wrap up our school year.

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Prepping for standardized testing is fun and easy with these engaging activities your students will love.

Fun Ways to Prepare for Standardized Testing

Spring is here and that means standardized testing is right around the corner. As teachers, we never want to “teach to the test,” but we need to cover certain standards and review skills so that our students feel prepared for the big week. Breaking out packets of worksheets with endless

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