You can do this one in conjunction with packing up the classroom library: each child chooses a favorite book and tries to convince classmates to read it over the summer. There are…
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APR
03
2012
Group Activity Idea: Encore!
Here’s a Morning Meeting activity idea from 80 Morning Meeting Ideas for Grades 3–6, by Carol Davis: Encore! Students team up to connect vocabulary words with favorite songs. How to Read More…
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MAR
29
2012
Group Activity Idea: Lost Tooth Poem
Here’s a Morning Meeting activity idea from 80 Morning Meeting Ideas for Grades K–2, by Susan Lattanzi Roser: Lost Tooth Poem Children will relate to this poem about a missing Read More…
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MAR
27
2012
Sharing Idea: Who Remembers My Favorite Book?
Playing a fun remembering game builds on children's listening and memory skills.
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MAR
20
2012
Sharing Idea: My Favorite Season . . . and Here’s Why!
Here’s a Morning Meeting sharing idea from 80 Morning Meeting Ideas for Grades K–2, by Susan Lattanzi Roser: My Favorite Season . . . and Here’s Why! Challenges students to Read More…
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MAR
15
2012
Greeting Idea: Secret Handshake
Here’s a Morning Meeting greeting idea from 80 Morning Meeting Ideas for Grades 3–6, by Carol Davis: Secret Handshake Greeting Creating secret handshakes taps students’ creativity and builds community. How Read More…
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MAR
13
2012
Greeting Idea: Backward Day Handshake
Here’s a Morning Meeting greeting idea from 80 Morning Meeting Ideas for Grades K–2, by Susan Lattanzi Roser: Backward Day Handshake Greeting Students pass along a friendly handshake, but say Read More…
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JAN
27
2012
Bringing Rules to Life
Do you think that without looking, your students could name your classroom's rules? Most teachers establish classroom rules at the beginning of the year, and many devote time to modeling and practicing…
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JAN
05
2012
Try This: Y-Charts for Revisiting Rules
Are you looking for a strategy to help your students navigate particularly tricky times of day, such as transitions, recess, lunch, or dismissal time? Try making a "looks like/sounds like" chart (often…
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DEC
27
2011
Questioning Your Assumptions
Winter break can provide teachers a bit of time and space to reflect on how the school year has gone so far, and to decide what adjustments to make in Read More…
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NOV
16
2011
Need a New Mattress?
At this time of year, people who work in schools often start feeling a bit frayed. Now that the school year is well underway, the "honeymoon period" of the first weeks is…
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NOV
10
2011
Teaching Future Scientists
"Young engineers, it looks as if you have mastered skyscrapers. Now you are ready for the challenge of building a bridge!" said the teacher to a small group of children in a…
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OCT
24
2011
Teaching Children How to Converse
These days, curriculum often recommends using "partner chats," "turn-and-talk," and other one-on-one conversation strategies to help students reflect on and deepen their learning. Although it may seem like a simple thing, chatting…
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OCT
24
2011
How We Want Our School to Be
Several years ago, teachers at Ironia Elementary, a suburban New Jersey school with 600 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, began working with their students each September to create classroom rules—simple but…
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SEP
29
2011
Invisible Children
Are there invisible children at your school? A recent series of comments on the Responsive Classroom Facebook page got me thinking again about how many children go through their school days feeling…
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SEP
22
2011
Books for Guided Discovery: Crayons
Use a book to kick off a Guided Discovery lesson or to reinforce learning from it. A great read-aloud can open children’s minds to the magic and possibilities of the Read More…
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AUG
22
2011
First Day Memories
I never loved the first day of school. My teaching depended so much upon knowing my students, and until I got to know them, I never felt entirely comfortable.Having said that, I do…
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AUG
19
2011
Joplin Schools Open On Time
One night this week the national news included two snippets related to our country’s schoolchildren: one I found very discouraging and the other really heartening. The discouraging news was that one in…
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AUG
18
2011
On the First Day, Less Is More
When I started teaching, I always planned way too much for the first days of school. It took me a while to learn to make the first day of school a comfortable,…
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JUL
01
2011
Mudge
How can you create a powerful sense of community in your classroom? With the leisure of summer, we can ponder questions like this and plan ahead for next year.
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JUN
21
2011
What Could Be
As teachers of young children, we do not always get to see our hopes for our students fulfilled. We have to trust that we and their future teachers will make a difference,…
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JUN
15
2011
Decluttering Starts Now!
How much of the stuff that’s cluttering your classroom could be gone before school starts up again? Teachers keep all kinds of stuff we never use. Why do we keep these things?…
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MAY
20
2011
Celebrating Friendship
Take time at the end of the school year to help children reflect on how they have worked to get to know each other, efforts they have made to be kind, and…
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MAY
18
2011
Reflecting on Hopes and Goals
As the school year winds down, how will your students reflect on the hopes, dreams, and goals they set for this year? Many books could inspire this sort of reflection, including those…
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MAY
18
2011
Read-Alouds for Remembering
How has your class grown this year? What acts of kindness have they done for each other? What have they learned? What do you hope they will remember? Children's books can be…
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MAY
12
2011
Positive Reinforcement
Last week I took part in a panel discussion about the pros and cons of positive reinforcement on Rae Pica’s online radio show. Her producers asked me to join because they read…
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MAY
10
2011
Class Clown
Question: I am a parent of a very bright second grader. He reads at roughly a fourth-fifth grade level and has very strong math skills. The problem is he seems Read More…
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