Classroom competition ideas

As a teacher, I encourage competition healthy for students in class. Competition is a great motivator. It can help students stay focused...

There are times throughout the year when it seems like your classes just aren’t going right. You are working hard on your lessons, thinking of engaging applications, and even trying to add ch…

Create a positive classroom culture in your classroom with these five activities

Keeping it all together can be difficult in your classroom. I know that I am CONSTANTLY looking for ways to manage my classroom. Here are FIVE of my favorite classroom management ideas: Teacher vs Student Class Management by Will Teach for Tacos She focuses on target behavior and awards the students with tallies if they display those behaviors during class. This is genius! You can download the printables by clicking the link above. I love how she says to keep the scores close so that the…

Setting the tone of the school day can be so important, which is why I love the idea of incorporating these wildly fun Minute to Win It Classroom Games.

Don’t get me wrong — I love candy. And, a jolly rancher, a tootsie roll, or a starburst can work wonders in the classroom for student motivation and enthusiasm. So can pizza parties, and cupcake days, and brunch, and…I’ve had so many types of food parties I can’t even keep track! Recently, however, I’ve been […]

The Unfair Game is a totally unfair twist on Jeopardy that your students will LOVE to hate! Learn how to play and find sample game boards in this post.

Real talk: classroom management has always been my biggest struggle as a teacher. I think that this is true for a lot of teachers. It’s one thing to read about classroom management strategies in a college classroom, but it’s a whole other ballgame when you’re standing in front of a roomful of middle schoolers and you are somehow expected to keep them all in line! I’ve had a few tough groups over my first few years, and I needed something to up my classroom management game. The classroom…

Having a classroom management system in middle school is so hard!! A lot of it is too “elementary” for them and they just won’t buy into it! If you want a management system to work for any grade level, there has to be buy in from the students. When I was in college I had a professor who was like Mr. Feeney to me & he told us, “a child will do anything for a Jolly Rancher.” I used this to my advantage & made it into my classroom management system! Jolly Rancher Wars is a weekly challenge…

Happy F-R-I-D-A-Y! I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching again for the Five For Friday linky party! Here are five very random things about my week... This week, Sam & I found out where we will be staying in San Diego! I'm going out on a bit of a limb here by sharing this with you, as you never know if this information will change, but as of now, we will be living here for about 7 weeks: This is the Residence Inn located in the Gaslamp Quarter, which is right by the harbor. Kayla and I…