This is my great-grandmother, Nikoline, an immigrant from Norway in the late 1800’s. Because of her, I am smitten with everything Norway, and the Norwegian Advent is no exception. The advent celebrates the days prior to Christmas and in Norway, this Christmas calendar is called julekalenderen.
Read MoreI love exposing my students to the various cultures and beliefs around the world. I have found that December is just the month for this cultural exploration!
Read MoreThe month of November is such a gift! There are so many beautiful things to weave into your teaching this month that will enrich and excite your students. In fact, I usually don’t have time for all the things I wish I could teach in this bounteous month!
Read MoreThis year is flying by! My class just reached the 50th day of school, and we celebrated with some 50s fun to mark the half-way point to the 100th day. My students loved the opportunity to roll up pant-legs, throw on poodle skirts, slick back the hair, and pop some bubble gum!
Read MoreNovember is a great month to talk turkey in the classroom. I love connecting turkeys to student learning because it brings back childhood memories of growing up on a farm, which included thousands of turkeys.
Read MoreThis fascinating new series takes young readers through the worlds of natural science and man-made inventions. Good quality STEM readers are hard to find, you will love this series. To get you started, I would like to offer you a Promo Code: STEMOCT419 to save you 15% off your purchase of $50.
Read MoreBook studies are a great way to allow students the opportunity to authentically experience Core Standards using both informational and literature texts.
Read MoreAre you looking for a great Halloween song that your kids will love?
Read MoreMy favorite season is here! It’s Fall again! Time for pumpkin spice, sweaters, hot apple cider, scarecrows, and spooky spiders! My students always love learning about fascinating creepy crawlies, and learning about academic skills through fun spider themed games.
Read MoreWant to have some scarecrow fun in your classroom? Celebrating scarecrows is a great holiday-free fall theme. In the fall time of the year, scarecrows are everywhere, and face it — everyone loves scarecrows!
Read MoreIt is through play that young children make sense of the world in which they live — a time to learn, discover, and to be — spontaneous; a time to be active participants in their own learning.
Read MoreNursery rhymes are a very effective way to build important language skills. Not only are the rhymes filled with complex words and thoughts, children naturally love rhythm, movement, poetry, and song. What better way to practice language than within the safety of spontaneous chants, rhymes, and songs. The reciting of rhymes improves memory and metacognition along with other skills that are great for brain development.
Read MoreI picked a few apples in my garden this afternoon. Not only did I get a delicious bite, but I got that excited feeling that goes with thematic teaching. An Apple Thematic Unit is always fun, engaging, and rewarding!
Read MoreOne of my favorite parts of teaching kindergarten is how easy it is to incorporate STEM into the curriculum. Kindergartners have a natural curiosity about the world around them and a love of the natural world. My Science Center is one of the easiest areas in my classroom to prep and one of my student’s favorite places to be during the day!
Read MoreSetting the tone for the school day in a play based way prepares students for a day of learning. Through play students develop self regulation, deepen social competence, increase oral language and vocabulary skills, explore, discover, create, negotiate, problem solve and much much more!
Read MoreBy Holly Gilbert, Content Specialist for Playworld
It’s hardly a surprise to anyone that children love to play. There’s a reason every kid longs for recess, after all. Fortunately, the benefits of play-based learning have long been touted in the educational sphere. Play allows children to explore new concepts, exercise their curiosity and creativity, and learn to interact with each other in an unstructured environment.
Read MoreI recently took my grandchildren to see “Toy Story 4”. At the beginning of the movie, a very distraught Bonnie goes to kindergarten orientation. During the orientation, the teacher asks the children to make pencil holders, and Bonnie, alone and afraid, begins to cry. Always reliable, Woody sneaks out of her backpack (where he has been hiding) and quickly grabs some art supplies from the trash and dumps them in front of Bonnie. Bonnie opens her eyes, then proceeds to make a friend for herself from the discarded supplies that she names “Forky.” With her new toy in hand, she is able to find the courage to make it through the rest of Kindergarten Orientation.
Read MoreThe kindergarten years are important years where solid foundations are laid - foundations on which future academic success are set, if you will, in foundational stone. During these early years it is of upmost importance to teach deep — not wide!
Read MoreMy husband and I just went through the process of dividing my Mother-in-Law’s things between her children in preparation of her living in a nursing home. All I could think as we sorted through it was that, in the end, it was just stuff. Why do we need it all? The experience encouraged me to simplify my life; eliminating that extra stuff that is filling spaces in my house, not filling spaces in my heart.
Read MoreA farm theme is a great example of how starting with a general idea can mushroom into many smaller themes. Actually every facet of a farm could lend itself to thematic instruction. After I present the broad theme of the farm, I let my student’s interests guide the way to the facets that most interest them.
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