Children and adults both love "Minute to Win It" games and challenges, and they are perfect to incorporate into the classroom for instant excitement and engagement. This post shares the three ways to use "Minute to Win it" games in the classroom and a free PDF with directions for 25 games to use in your classroom. What are "Minute to Win It" Games? "Minute ... Read More
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Free Math Test Prep Task Cards for Vocabulary – Grades 4-5
As a teacher, you know how important it is for your students to have a strong grasp of math vocabulary. Without a solid understanding of the language and terms used in math, students can struggle with problem-solving, understanding instructions, and communicating and explaining their math ideas and answers. To help you (and your students), this post will share free math ... Read More
Teaching Students to Restate the Question (with Freebies)
I remember being shocked (and more than a little frustrated) when I realized my fifth graders couldn’t restate questions in complete sentences... even simple questions. On the spot, I had to pivot my lesson. If your students struggle with restating questions, this post will share the tips and strategies I have learned and put in place that helped my students. Tip #1: ... Read More
Engaging Test Prep Activities and Ideas
If you are looking for engaging test prep activities that will excite your students and make them want to practice and review the material before the big test, check out this collection of engaging test prep activities. These vary in prep and materials needed and work for nearly every subject and concept. Jenga Test Prep First, we have Jenga test prep. This works ... Read More
Math Test Prep: Types of Math Questions
One thing I learned after my first year of teaching was that my students can master a math skill but not show that mastery on a test. One reason for this is the types of questions can throw the students off or confuse them. Especially if the students' mastery of a skill is still emerging or progressing. A way to help with this is to ensure your instruction and assessments ... Read More
Reading Test Prep: Types of Reading Questions
Are you looking for resources to help with your reading test prep? Do you want to review the different types of reading questions your students will encounter on the test to build their confidence? This post shares a free resource for reviewing and practicing different types of reading test prep questions. This free test prep resource will help you prepare your students ... Read More
How to Create Google Forms for Your Students
Whether you’re using more digital activities because of distance learning or you are just wanting to incorporate more technology in the classroom, Google Forms is an excellent option. One of the best parts about Google Forms is that they are not limited to Google Classroom users. In fact, you can use Google Forms with any online platform or website that allows you to ... Read More
How to Assign Google Forms to Your Students
As we move more to online learning, teachers are having to post work online for their students. For many teachers, that means assigning work on Google Classroom. For other teachers, that means emailing work to students or their parents or posting work on their websites or other learning platforms for students to download. One easy-to-use option for teachers to use no ... Read More
Text Evidence Activities and Strategies – Tips for Teaching Students to Find Text Evidence
Teaching students to answer constructed response questions correctly and with sufficient text evidence can be quite the feat. A good starting point is to use an acronym such as RACE to help guide the students. But, that is just one part of instruction. The most difficult part is teaching students to find text evidence and then cite it appropriately to fully support their ... Read More
Around the Room : An Engaging Review Activity
Reviewing is a must in any classroom and subject area. My favorite ways to review are review activities that are low-prep, collaborative, and involve movement. Around the Room is one of my favorite ways to review that incorporates all of these characteristics. Keep reading to learn more about this low-prep engaging review activity that gets students moving and ... Read More
Reading Test Prep Strategy – Work the Text
In a perfect world, all of the reading strategies and techniques we teach our students would easily transfer over to testing situations. However, that is not the case for a lot of our students. This post will share one of my go-to reading test prep strategies that helps keep students engaged while reading lengthy texts and supports their comprehension. This reading ... Read More
Test Taking Strategies (Free Resources!)
Purposeful test taking strategies can build confidence and help students show what they know on standardized tests. This post shares tips for teaching test taking strategies, the difference between test prep strategies and best practices, and free resources for the specific strategies I teach my students. Note: I did not create the catchy sayings for the strategies. I ... Read More
