Thanksgiving Resources

Thanksgiving is almost here! I thought you might be able to use the following Thanksgiving resources this week with students (or maybe even next week with your families!):

THANKSGIVING PASSES:

How about telling your students you are thankful for them with free pass from their teacher? Consider changing up the passes with this editable copy of the Thanksgiving Passes so you can change them up and make them the type of passes you are comfortable giving out to your students!

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Teacher Reveal: Create excitement around announcing students’ assigned teachers!

It seems that for decades, elementary students (and their parents) eagerly await the reveal of who their teacher will be for the upcoming school year. Some schools post teacher names and class lists on the school’s windows, some send out postcards, and others have teachers call each family to introduce themselves and reveal that they are the assigned teacher for the year. Last school year, on our campus, we tried a new way to reveal homeroom teachers to our families that was loved by families and staff.

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Have Fun in your Online Meetings! Game Ideas for Class, Staff, or Family Online Meet-ups

Have Fun in your Online Meetings

On my campus, while we are working hard to meet the academic needs of students remotely, we are also focused on ensuring that students still feel connected to their teacher and their classmates.  In the same way, while I want to meet the work needs of my staff members, I also want to ensure that we stay connected as a staff and continue to grow and build our culture – even remotely.  Teachers are planning weekly class Zoom meetings for team building and culture building. As a staff, we are hanging out in a virtual staff lounge on Zoom and also sharing memes, jokes, and ideas on a staff padlet wall. Staying connected during this difficult time is so important for our students’ and our own mental health! After the first few – “It’s so great to see you” Zoom class or staff meetings, it can be hard to come up with more ideas for bonding and having fun together from a distance. Here are some ideas I’ve found across the internet that I hope you’ll find useful! Continue reading

4 Take-aways from edcamp Cy-Fair 2019

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This weekend I had the joy of being a part of edcamp Cy-Fair. If you’ve never attended an edcamp, it is a gathering of educators who come together with no agenda – to learn and grow from the knowledge each person in attendance holds. We brainstormed topics we wanted to discuss, created a schedule of what would be discussed in which rooms, and had real conversations with other hard-working educators. I loved hearing what others are doing in their schools and classrooms that work and brainstorming together ways to improve things that aren’t working. Here were my 4 biggest take-aways from edcamp Cy-Fair 2019: Continue reading

5 Quick Ways to Share Positive Feedback

5 Quick Ways to Share Positive Feedback (1)

I love creating and sending quick notes of encouragement to teachers and friends. My favorite go-to for creating these was an eCard type app (it was called Red Stamp), but it is no longer available in the app store, and it stopped working (boo). I haven’t found any other ecard app that compares and have been looking for creative ways to pass on positivity and praise. Whether you are experiencing the same sadness over this particular app, or you just want some fresh ideas for sharing feedback, read on for 5 ways to quickly and easily provide positive feedback. Continue reading

Level Up Professional Learning, Growth, and Sharing with Gamification

Level Up (3)Gamification of learning is an exciting trend in education. I’ve heard of many different schools and districts that are using ideas started in the classroom to gamify Professional Development by offering learn-on-your-own modules that teachers can complete to earn points or badges. I have been interested in this idea and have even started developing ideas for setting up a choice menu and badges for a summer professional development offering for my staff (more details to come 😉 ), but this morning, after listening to a couple of episodes of the Well PlayED Podcast on my morning run, I was inspired to gamify EVEN FURTHER! Continue reading

EDU Podcast Tasting + Podcasts & Pedometers for PD with Choice and Movement!

Podcasts & Pedometers Graphic

We are offering a new kind of PD this spring at Ault Elementary inspired by an idea shared by Tricia Reilly @PrincipalReilly at EdCamp Cy-Fair. Instead of a standard “sit and get” we are encouraging staff to get up and move as they listen to an educational podcast of their choice – taking care of their minds and bodies during this stressful time of year! Continue reading