St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is the time to wear green, read about leprechauns, and pick shamrocks. It is also a great time to introduce fantastical and magical folktales in the classroom!  I am sharing some of my favourite St. Patrick’s Day picture books to bring the magic into your classroom!

Here is a list of St. Patrick’s Day picture books that your students will enjoy. Links to the books on Amazon are included, but you may also be able to find read-aloud videos on sites like Storyline Online and YouTube!

1.  The Leprechaun's Gold by Pamela Duncan Edwards - A nonfiction book offering a real account of what the holiday is all about with some pretty colourful illustrations! 
2. How to Catch a Leprechaun by Adam Wallace - A hilarious story of a leprechaun’s attempt to dodge all of the traps around town!
3.  Fiona’s Luck by Teresa Bateman - A beautiful folktale about a brave girl, Fiona, with a mission to get the luck back for the people of Ireland. 
4. That’s What Leprechauns Do by Eve Bunting - A funny tale about some mischievous leprechauns! 
5. The Worst Luck Book in the Whole Entire World by Joey Acker - Nameless is back at it again, stuck in the Worst Book, but this time he wonders if he can get any more unlucky. 
6. Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie dePaola - Inspired by Irish Folklore, Jamie is a lazy guy who finds himself on an adventure after meeting a leprechaun.

If you need some fun activities to add to your St. Patrick’s Day plans, check out this digital/printable St. Patrick’s Day activity resource. Perfect for distance learning or face-to-face teaching, this holiday themed resource contains interactive reading, math, and writing activities to celebrate March 17th in style.  The ACTIVITIES include:

⭐ Presentation and Quiz

⭐ Scavenger Hunt 

⭐ Riddles and Jokes

⭐ Listen to a Story and Comprehension Questions

⭐ Language Activities - Plurals and Syllables 

⭐ How To Trap A Leprechaun 

⭐ Crack the Code Math Activity 

⭐ Maze

Watch the video to preview the resource!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Simple Machines

Simple machines are a fundamental part of physics and engineering, and understanding how they work is important for many fields. They are also often used as building blocks for more complex systems and devices, and learning about simple machines can help students develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills. In addition, simple machines are often found in everyday objects and can help students understand how these objects work and how to use them effectively. Teaching about simple machines can therefore be a useful and interesting way to introduce students to physics, engineering, and problem-solving.

Check out my new resource! It has eight presentations about the six simple machines! Each presentation can serve as a COMPLETE lesson. In addition, each presentation has discussion questions, information, and digital or printable activities. To culminate the unit, students create their own Marvellous Machine!

Click here to visit my store and this product!

THREE Tips for Teaching Online

As an online elementary teacher since the beginning of the pandemic, I have learned a few tips and tricks that I wanted to share.

Teaching online effectively requires striking a fine balance between possessing expertise in your field, technical know-how, and transforming this knowledge into something that can be understood through a refined teaching skillset. 

Your biggest advantage as an educator is that no one else can teach quite like YOU can. Your personality, approach, and style are what set you apart from other people that teach your subject. Your uniqueness is your strength. 

So, you have chosen your platform and started to plan your lesson. You have considered the concept, achievable outcomes, and content.  Now let's combine these elements into an online lesson to create an experience that engages students.

ENGAGEMENT

Provide many opportunities for students to participate in the learning. Get creative in promoting student discourse through polls, chats, whiteboards, online groups, and sharing their screen. Actively interact with the students to build a healthy professional relationship and an effective learning community.

FEEDBACK

Providing continuous feedback: Provide meaningful feedback in an informative and engaging manner throughout the lesson. Regular check-ins can be short exercises, surveys, collaborative feedback, and the chance to voice their questions, thoughts, and opinions to become part of the learning conversation. 

MIXING LEARNING TOOLS

Through images, videos, animations, and text, students have many modes in which to grasp the content clearly. Cater to many  learning styles as you create and present your content – utilize media, tell engaging stories, demonstrate activities, and intertwine pictures and text.

What other tips would you provide to online teachers? 

Post a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Hey there, pumpkin! Pumpkins of every size and kind are a favourite autumnal treat. Students love analyzing and describing their pumpkins. Culminate the day by carving pumpkins and roasting the seeds.

To start the pumpkin fun, look at these EIGHT low-prep activities! Findings can be recorded in their student booklet. Use as whole class instruction or easily set up as stations, centers, or rotations.

The eight activities include:

1. Estimating the number of seeds in a pumpkin
2. Measuring mass
3. Making a pumpkin treat
4. Measuring circumference
5. Designing a jack-o'-lantern face 
6. Measuring height
7. Comparing pumpkins
8. Buoyancy

The resource, Pumpkin Stations, can be purchased from my TPT store.

Truth and Reconciliation Day

On September 30th, we honour the Indigenous children who were sent away to residential schools in Canada. It is also a day to learn more about the history of those schools. Today, it is also known as Orange Shirt Day or the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The “orange shirt” in Orange Shirt Day refers to the new shirt that Phyllis Webstad was given to her by her grandmother for her first day of school at a residential school in British Columbia. When Phyllis got to school, they took away her clothes, including her new shirt. It was never returned. 

The message that Phyllis wants to pass along on Orange Shirt Day — and every day — is that every child matters. Orange Shirt Day was started by Phyllis to educate people about residential schools and to fight racism and bullying.

There are many ways you can get involved! 

• Wear an orange shirt on September 30th. 
• Share Phyllis’ story.
• Trace your hand and write something on it that you can do to help others feel like they matter. 
• Read books by Indigenous authors. My favourite books are shown below!

Looking to share picture books authored by Indigenous authors? Each of the shown books are featured in my resource. There are comprehension checks, writing prompts, and response to literature activities for each of the NINE books!

Welcome to my updated blog! New look, but I will still be posting teaching ideas, activities, picture book suggestions, and freebies!

Back To School Games and Activities

Struggling to know what to do first days Back to School?! Those first days of school are so important! It is time to get to know everyone and building a classroom community.  I thought I would share some of my favourite back to school fun in my ready-to-go resource! 

Games and activities are perfect for making connections, establishing expectations, and building a community. Encourage your students to share about themselves with icebreakers, all about me and getting to know you activities. 

Click here to view the resource!