In this post, I share five common reasons for student misbehavior. No matter how strong our classroom management is or how positive our relationships with our students are, we are bound to encounter student misbehavior. As I've said before, I firmly believe the most important
Why It’s Not Just Girl Drama, But Relational Aggression
As a teacher, I felt like one of my weakest areas was dealing with what is often called "girl drama." When I saw this as a teacher, I struggled to find the root of the issue, to have time to deal with the problem, and to know what to do about it. I was also uncertain of where to
Six Methods for Teaching Empathy
I don't know that it's possible to overstate the importance of empathy in the classroom. It is pure joy for me to watch children who are naturally empathetic work with their classmates. I watch them carefully weigh their words and actions as they think about how those words and
Your Most Essential Classroom Management Strategy
I recently wrote about my favorite back to school resources, but I consider this post my most important back to school post, as it covers what I feel is the most essential classroom management strategy: The power of relationships. While I know that technically our job is to teach
Classroom Organization Tips and Tricks
Classroom organization plays an enormous role in classroom management. This post shares a few tricks of the trade that I've picked up over the years that makes my classroom run smoothly. I don't pretend to be an excellent classroom decorator, but this that's not the purpose of
Lesson Plans Without Tears
Writing lesson plans and prepping for the week doesn't have to be an incredibly painful and time consuming process. A little organization can go a long way when it comes to saving time writing plans and making copies for the week. In this post, I'll share a few of my favorite
Test Prep for Upper Elementary
Now that it's what I not so affectionately refer to as "testing season", I wanted to share a couple of my test prep ideas. Some of them are tried and true, and a few are things I've tried out for the first time this year. I do want to throw out a disclaimer and say that I do not
5 Tips to Pack Up Your Classroom
It's not a lot of fun to pack up your classroom. There is no tired like teacher tired, especially at the beginning and end of the school year. The beginning of the year is hard, but it's new, fun, and fresh. By the end of the school year, we're not only physically tired, but
Managing Math Centers and Math Stations
I've always prided myself on classroom management, but as my class size increases, so does the difficulty in keeping students focused and on task. Math centers (or centers of any kind) are no exception.
I find that we start strong at the beginning of the school year. However,
Ready. Set. Go!
Tomorrow is open house for me, which means it has been crunch time in getting my classroom ready to go. It shouldn't have been that difficult, because I decided to keep the same look from last year. I still really liked the bright colors, and to be quite honest, I didn't feel
