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Mastering the ELA Standards in Middle School

Back to School

How to set up a new ELA classroom (5 things you NEED to have)

When you get the opportunity to set up a new ELA classroom, you have to have a plan, and no matter if you are someone who likes to color-coordinate, label everything, or keep the room bare, there are 6 things I would strongly recommend having.

When you are just starting out, teaching can be really exciting, but I remember those first moments when I walked into my classroom in the fall and looked around.

Suddenly the weight of an entire school year began to fall onto me.

Now, that may sound dramatic, but we are ELA teachers, after all, so I would be remiss if I left out the dramatic writing.

But, seriously. 

How many of you remember the first time you prepped your ELA class? Do you remember what books you read, papers you wrote, or projects you prepared?

I remember a few, but my teaching has changed so dramatically since then that the first-year me may not even recognize me today.

That is because I’ve gotten smarter with how I prepare, and I recognize what is most important.

Let’s dig into my must-have list!

5 things I now believe you NEED to have to adequately set up a new ELA classroom.

#1 | These Curriculum Breakdown Spreadsheets

Like it or not, teaching is not all sunshine and rainbows and creative projects. It is a series of standards and skills that you have to make sure students are working on and mastering throughout the year.

How can you prepare for such a mighty task? Plan well from the beginning.

There are Curriculum Breakdown Spreadsheets that will make planning much easier, and it is also a whole lot easier to make sure that nothing gets left out throughout the year.

Preparing Middle School Students for standardized tests: 6th grade standards checklist
Preparing Middle School Students for Standardized Tests: (7th Grade Standards Checklist)
8th Grade Standards Checklist

#2 | A Good Emergency Sub Plan 

You don’t get to pick when you get sick, and sometimes you need to punt. That means having a sub plan ready to go for those emergency situations.

Your emergency sub plan needs to be something that you can have ready to go any day. In your emergency sub plan, have a copy of your class lists, all handouts that the sub may need, and literally anything else that a sub may need to make this plan happen.

I don’t even like to have sub plans that are computer dependent since even that is sometimes hard for subs to manage. Instead, have a lesson prepared that has physical copies.

Trust me, when you’re puking your guts out at 4 am, you’ll be happy that an emergency plan exists.

This Figurative Language Emergency Sub Plan is great to have on the ready for this purpose!

I also believe in having a sub-tub ready to go, and you can read more about my sub-tub here.

#3 | Whiteboards and Markers

Yep. I appreciate a class set of whiteboards more than almost anything else because they are at once paper and presentation. We can use these whiteboards for formative assessment, to take quick notes, to jot down quick feedback, and to answer questions.

They are definitely one of the places I’m willing to spend the money.

#4 | An Organizational Plan

Have a good plan for both paper/physical product and printout organization AND organization in your Google Drive and on your school computer.

You need to start with a good organizational system right away otherwise, by the time you have the time to think about cleaning everything up, it’s too late, and everything is way out of hand.

You also want to file your resources and files in a way that when you leave the school district, it is easy to take your stuff with you. Again, this is good to think about in advance!

#5 | A Place to Hide the Good Stuff

Yep. I went there. 

On my list of 5, I am going to definitely say that you absolutely NEED to have a special spot in your classroom for your stuff because you never know who is going to use your room for what purpose. 

School classrooms get rented out a lot, and classroom doors are often left unlocked during free periods, during lunch, and before and after school. You need to protect your stuff by having a place where you put your good stuff away at the end of the day.

I like this place to have a lock, but sometimes even a closet with a door is a good enough option if you’re limited.

I also know that working with middle school students that boundaries can sometimes be an issue, so you don’t need to tempt them with even more cool stuff than you already have in your classroom.

There you have it. 5 completely mismatched items that I think are must-haves for anyone who is going to set up a new ELA classroom!

It may seem random, but each of these things is important in its own way!

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7 Idea-Generating Activities for Setting Goals with Middle School Students

These 7 activities for setting goals with middle school students will help your students pick topics, develop plans, and think about the best way to accomplish their goals.

Got to be honest…sometimes setting goals with students can cause a legit headache. 

Just saying the words ‘goal setting’ can send our students into a tailspin of statements like…

“I don’t have any goals.”

“I don’t know what to write.”

“This doesn’t work for me.”

“I’m not a goal-setter.”

And you know what?

We get it.

We all have those days when some of these types of tasks feel a little pointless. However, research study after research study has proven that goals (especially those that are written down, frequently reviewed, and honestly assessed) are incredibly valuable in schools and the workplace.

Thus, if we can help our students come up with a goal they are passionate about, they will be more successful in accomplishing that goal.

So, today, we are going to make coming up with goals easier for your students with 7 idea-generating activities for goal setting with middle school students.

These ideas were created with middle school students in mind. They are active, quirky, and thought-provoking.

7 Activities for Setting Goals with Middle School Students

#1 | 20 Questions

Simple and cunning, this activity for setting goals with middle school students is really quite simple. Ask the students to write down some part of their life they would like to improve. Then pair them up. 

Each student will get to ask the other a series of 20 yes/no questions in an effort to guess what the first student wrote down.

The trick is that the game is just a distraction. The main goal is just to get the students to write down something they want to improve on. You’ll instruct them to write their first goal around that part of their life.

The goal of this activity is to get students to think quickly. The game takes away the pressure of having to come up with the RIGHT thing to set a goal about. Instead, students are just asked to pick a topic on which they know they need to improve.

For many students, coming up with a topic to base a goal around is the hard part. However, once we hide the topic in the form of a game, it becomes easier.

You can also have them write down answers to these questions to get a similar result:

  • Write down the activity you’ve always wanted to try.
  • Write down the part of this class that is hardest for you.
  • Write down something that distracts you.
  • Write down a part of writing that is hard.
  • Write down your favorite topic in science.

#2 | The Game of Life

Our favorite part of The Game of Life is that we all secretly have an avenue that we hope our little car of people will take. 

To start this activity, let your students play the board game The Game of Life. Tell them that the person who’ll win is not the person with the most money but rather the person who is the happiest with their result in the end.

Once they’re done, ask them to rate their level of happiness and journal on what outcomes they would have rather seen their avatar achieve.

Use their writing to inspire their goal setting by having them pick one of their ‘ideal outcomes’ and consider what they can start doing today to achieve that outcome for themselves.

#3 | My Perfect Day

This is a writing activity, but it can be life-changing and eye-opening.

Ask students to consider themselves as adults. Ask them to write out their perfect day as an adult. 

For this activity, we are focusing on the day. So, their writing will probably have lots of times on it. At 6:30 am I wake up and have a latte made by my butler or at 7:00 am I am woken up when I hear my baby crying or I wake up at 4:30 am to head to the gym to lift weights.

The goal is to let the students have a little fun dreaming while also helping them to think through where they want to be in 8-12 years.

If your students go over the top with their planning, and get a little too silly, ask them to do a second write-up that is focused a little more on reality. 

Next, ask them to write about their perfect day as it would look at the end of the school year, but with that 8-12 year goal in mind. The goal of this activity is to get students thinking about what they can start doing as a 13-year-old to get them where they want to be in the future…What goals they could set now to have a better chance at making that future a reality.

For example, if their perfect day has them working as a lawyer, then their ‘end-of-year goal may have them participating in an 8th-grade mock trial.

Their goal for right now might have to do with researching the best clubs and teams an aspiring lawyer should consider trying in high school.

#4 | Spin the Wheel

This one is simple. Ask students to write down 5 areas of their life they are most interested in improving. (or 5 academic standards they want to improve), and then assign each to a spot on a spinner. 

Students will spin the wheel and see which one they land on. The first topic they land on 3 times is the winner and gets to be the focus of the first goal.

You can also use this method for class-wide goals.

We really like to have spinners like these handy for this kind of project.

What we find most interesting about something like spinning a wheel is that students often figure out which topic they really want to focus on most simply by waiting for the results. 

It is like the old trick of flipping a coin to make a decision. It isn’t about what side the coin lands on, it is really about which side you WANTED the coin to land on. This spinner activity can produce the same result. 

If your students come to you after spinning and say that they really want to pick one of their other topics, let them. Even though it goes against the rules of the game, we all know the main goal was just to get your students to pick a topic, and with this result, we all win!

#5 | Bingo Cards

Remember, when picking activities for goal setting with middle school students, goals can be based on a lot of different topics. We like using BINGO cards for working on behavior or healthy habits and activities.

As a class, come up with 25 healthy habits or activities (or good behaviors). Put them into a BINGO card generator like this one, and give each student a BINGO card. 

The students’ goals can then be based around the number of habits they want to incorporate into their lives or how many of these tasks they want to accomplish. The goal could also be based on the number of Bingo lines the student is able to create.

#6 | Tree of Dreams

Sometimes students need to see how accomplishing a goal can lead to changes long-term.

As a class, create a Tree of Dreams. A Tree of Dreams starts with a solid base. A single goal that is accomplished this year. Then brainstorm the different ways accomplishing that goal can affect other areas of the students’ lives or inspire other goals. 

Example:

  • If a student’s goal is to learn how to knit a scarf over the course of the next month.
  • Their next goal with that skill may be to knit a throw blanket.
  • Next, they may knit a pair of gloves and hat with a matching pattern.
  • Then, they may aim to learn another knitting pattern and make another scarf.
  • Then, they may create a pattern of their own.
  • After creating a pattern, they may host a workshop at the school to teach other people how to knit their pattern… and so on and so on.

Ask them to make a tree showing how accomplishing this one goal and rolling those skills into other goals could turn into a much bigger accomplishment. Just like a tree only has one starting point from the ground, it continues to grow and spread and become bigger and bigger.

#7 | Goldilocks’ Way

This activity is all about finding a way to accomplish your goals that is ‘just right.’

Just as Goldilocks had to sit in several chairs before finding the one that was just right for her, many of your students are not going to know how to accomplish their goals or make a plan that is right for them.

In this activity, students will establish a general goal. 

Example: I will read 5 pages in my book every day for the next 10 days.

Then, they will explore several ways to accomplish this task by considering the following question.

  • What is the fastest way to accomplish this goal?
  • What is the worst way to accomplish this goal?
  • What is the slowest way to accomplish this goal?
  • What is the happiest way to accomplish this goal?
  • What is the oddest way to accomplish this goal?
  • What is the most helpful way to accomplish this goal?
  • How would your parent/guardian accomplish this goal?
  • How would your best friend accomplish this goal?
  • How would a child accomplish this goal?
  • What is the right/best way for YOU to accomplish this goal?

It is fun for students to explore all the ways a goal can be accomplished and arrive at what is best for them. This reinforces that there are many different ways to plan for and accomplish a goal even if it is exactly the same as someone else’s.

SMART Goals

Once your students have their topics figured out, start working through the SMART goal process. To learn more about SMART goals, you can read this blog post. We also have a SMART Goals Template!

Smart Goal Template Resource

For many students, simply coming up with an idea to set a goal around will be a challenge. These activities for setting goals with middle school students are designed to get the brainstorming started!

Some of these activities will help students settle on a topic for their goal, and others will help them with the implementation plan. They will all encourage your students to have some fun while they work their way through the process.

If you are looking for some ideas on how to set teacher goals, you’re in luck. We just finished up a blog post just for you. Check it out here!

Happy Goal Setting!

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Let’s check in on your mental health, my friend

It is September and it is time to check in on our mental health. Have you incorporated these seven tips into your life yet?

Hey, you!

Yeah, you!

How are you?

No, I don’t want the automated answers of “I’m fine.” or “Okay.”

How are you really doing?

With the school year starting, I know it can be a high-stress time. Maybe you are nervous about the number of classes you are teaching or you have heard about different students in your class and are nervous about the dynamic. Maybe you feel unprepared…or unmotivated because that burnout you felt in May is still lingering.

If you are feeling any of these things, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. There is rarely a phase of education that is easy for any teacher. The beginning of the year is no exception. There is so much to introduce and the students need more guidance as they acclimate to their educational surroundings once again.

mental health quote

In this previous post, I talked about seven tips for mental health as you go through your school year. Check out the more in-depth version HERE or check out this simplified list.

  1. Have a circle of people who check in with you once every week. 
  2. Participate in school team-building activities.
  3. Do NOT take work home on weekends. 
  4. Partake in a hobby that does not relate to school. 
  5. Utilize any counseling opportunities your school may provide. 
  6. Set boundaries!
  7. Lastly, be kind to yourself and give yourself grace.

Looking at this list, how are you doing?

Are you spending quality time with your co-workers and being honest about your feelings and needs? Have you been able to avoid taking work home on the weekends? Have you set clear boundaries for yourself?

If not, let’s start today, shall we?

What can you do TODAY that will better your health over the following weeks or months of the educational year?

You may be thinking that there isn’t a lot that you can do…because let’s be honest…there is a lot in the educational world that we have little control over. However, you have more control over your mental health than anyone else. YOU can make an appointment for yourself with the school counselor. YOU can choose to focus on the positives of each day.

It is hard, I know! How can we possibly focus on ourselves so much when we need to focus on our students, our own children, our significant other, or our coworkers?

It’s a tough feat, but you DESERVE the attention just as much as anyone else. These people who need you so much NEED you to be healthy and happy. 

Think about it this way…

Recall a time when you got sick on a work day. Your nose clogged up, you had little energy, and your head was so full, that you couldn’t really think through your lesson plans. You decide to at least make it to lunch so that you don’t have to force your coworkers to cover for you. So, you get through your classes, altering your plans a little so you can at least sit down while teaching, and try your best to not lose your patience with the students because they are being…well…themselves.

Did they get the best version of you that day?

Sure didn’t!

And they won’t if you are anxious, stressed, depressed, tired, and so on.

So take care of yourself, fellow teacher.

Check out the list above. Take some steps to provide sanctuary and support for your mind.

We are all in this together.

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Try out these four EASY back-to-school activities

Try out these four EASY back-to-school activities in your ELA classroom. They are sure to get your students talking and having fun!

It’s official! The school year has started and you are probably ready to jump into some curriculum! But as you know, kids may not be ready to “jump back in” as quickly as you want. It is always best to have a couple of back-to-school activities ready to go!

As you know by now, I LOVE digital escape rooms! I think they add so much flavor to the classroom and students tend to love the challenge behind each one…even if they are about poetry, literature, or grammar!

Check out these two digital escape rooms below as well as a couple of other back-to-school activity ideas!

 

Sign Up for a FREE plot structure digital escape room!

 


 

 
 
 
 
 
 


 

 

 

BACK-TO-SCHOOL ELA ACTIVITIES

Back to School DIGITAL ESCAPE ROOM – Figurative Language

Back to School Digital Escape Room - Figurative Language

Try out this Common Core-aligned DIGITAL Escape Room! It will give you a solid idea of what your students know in figurative language and will have them starting the year in a fun and competitive way.

This digital escape room requires the students to complete five tasks:

  • Task 1: Figurative Language Sort
  • Task 2: Figurative Language School Supplies
  • Task 3: Riddle Me This – Decoding Activity
  • Task 4: School buses on the GO Figurative Language
  • Task 5: Piece It Together – Puzzle Activity

ELA Back To School DIGITAL Escape Room

Back to School Google Classroom Ready Digital Escape Room for Reading Comprehension

The students will be actively engaged in some friendly competition with this Digital Escape Room while showing you what they already know about reading comprehension.

This digital escape room requires five tasks:

  • Task 1: Nemo’s First Day – Chronological Order
  • Task 2: Where Do I Sit? – Reading Comprehension
  • Task 3: Riddle Me This – Decoding Activity
  • Task 4: Football Friends – Plot Structure
  • Task 5: Piecing It Together – Puzzle Activity

“I Wish My Teacher Knew” Activity

I wish my teacher knew...

This activity is fairly simple but provides a lot of value. Often, we teachers get so busy starting the school year, we fail to ask the students what THEY want out of the school year…what THEY want out of us as teachers. 

So, to start, try out this activity. You simply hand out a couple of sticky notes to each student and allow them to write down a couple of personal facts that they wish their teacher (aka YOU) knew about them. Sometimes, students open up right away and tell you some very interesting information. Other times, they may allude to something that you will have to learn more about as you progress through the school year. 

Add another question or two if you feel so inclined. You could ask them one of their specific goals for the year or what they specifically need from you as the teacher. One year, I asked the students what their weakness is with regard to school and how I can help them with these weaknesses. It was very eye-opening for me as a teacher.

No matter which questions you choose, this activity helps your students feel cared for and helps you start building a relationship with each one of them.

Mnemonic Name Activity

This one is fun and inspires lots of creativity. Students essentially create their own mnemonic devices for their names. I encourage them to use high-level words that share the same letter or sound as their first name. These crazy names usually help me learn my students’ names rather quickly! So, it is a win-win!

Try it out!

You can even use specific vocabulary from the school year if you so desire! This will require a bit more work up front, but could be worth it when the students learn more vocabulary words this year!

When you are eventually ready to jump right into that curriculum of yours…

Be sure to use the standards to align your curriculum. If you want help doing this, check out one of the following blog posts below!

Using Standards to Drive Your Curriculum

A Standard-Aligned Curriculum that Promotes Mastery

Happy teaching!

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The Power of Prepping your Sub Tub

Here are four reasons why prepping a sub tub is the most important thing you can do for yourself at the start of the year.

In some jobs, taking a sick day is rather easy.

In some jobs, you can call in sick and everything continues to move forward without you.

In some jobs, a lot of people besides your couple of work friends may not even know you are gone because the corporation is just THAT big.

Teaching is not one of these jobs. You need a sub tub!
But teaching is not one of the jobs!

The students are very aware if you are gone for the day and the world DEFINITELY does not go on without you there. You have to plan for it and as you probably already know, it is very stressful trying to organize your lesson plans at three in the morning while you battle a fever or the stomach flu.

A SUB TUB is a folder or caddy that houses all of the materials that a substitute teacher may need on any given day. Having a sub tub is one of the most important things you can do to avoid feeling overly stressed while sick. It provides all the necessary information to your substitute teacher so that you can take care of yourself at home.

4 REASONS YOU NEED A SUB TUB

1. You can put all your energy into taking care of yourself.

Usually, you don’t know that you are going to be sick. Illness can pop up overnight and it is hard to prep for something that is so unpredictable. If you don’t have a sub tub, you will have to…

  • get up early.
  • put in a request for a substitute.
  • organize your lesson plans.
  • collaborate with a coworker to ensure that he/she can make sure the sub gets a hold of said plans.

All of this doesn’t even include emergency protocols, important policy information, etc.

If you already have a sub tub created, it will hold all of the important information AND lesson plans for the day.

2. A sub tub provides an emergency sub-plan.

It is always a good idea to have a general lesson plan ready to go in the sub tub, so if for some reason you can’t provide a current one, the students will still reap the benefits of the class. In this situation, plan a digital escape room or something that can be completed at any time of the year. The digital escape room below is one of my go-to’s.

If I know I am going to be working on a specific unit for a while, I tend to add a lesson plan more specific to the unit we are currently working on. *Remember, most substitutes don’t have access to a school computer, so the lesson plans will need to be hard copy.

I did have a system set up with one of my co-workers where I would email the day’s lesson plans to her to print off in the morning. She would lay out my sub tub on my desk and simply add the printed lesson plan to it so it was ready when my sub arrived!

3. Your sub will know what to do in an emergency.

Although most subs will know to go outside during a fire or go to the tornado shelter during a tornado, they may not know exactly the route to take to avoid overcrowding in the hallways. At my school, we have specific routes that each class takes so that the flow of students doesn’t encourage chaos. So, I have hard copies of drill protocols, emergency routes, class rosters, lockdown instructions, and a school map all ready to go in my sub tub!

4. Sub tubs keep all student work organized.

In the back of my sub tub, I have a file for each class so that the substitute knows to put any student work into the designated files. This helps me keep each class organized rather than just having a huge pile of student work on my desk when I return to school. Plus students aren’t always great at putting names on their papers. If the work is sorted out by class, I can use the process of elimination to figure out the no-names!

Overall…

There are many reasons beyond the four mentioned above to have a sub tub. It is hard enough prepping for a normal curriculum day, but trying to plan for one when you aren’t feeling the best is even harder! Make it easy on yourself and do the work now, so you don’t have to do it later!

Happy teaching!

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For more back-to-school tips that may benefit your overall well-being, check out this blog post which covers 7 mental health tips for teachers!

8 tips for setting up your ELA classroom

Use these 8 tips to set up your ELA classroom and encourage student independence and academic productivity.

I love bright colors! There is just something about bright colors that give me energy and I want to produce this same type of energy in my students EVERY👏SINGLE👏DAY!

Putting some attention into your classroom at the beginning of the year not only helps you create the vibes you hope for, but also can make your life a lot easier! 

Do you really want your students to hand in every single paper to you? Or would you prefer to teach them how to hand their work in somewhere else?

Do you want students to continuously ask you for a pencil? Or would you prefer they know how to get one for themselves?

Check out the tips below to help you set your ELA classroom up for the year!

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8 Tips to to Ready your Classroom for ELA Awesomeness

Be sure to have a fully-stocked classroom library!

As an ELA teacher, you will want your students to read as much as possible. Trust me, if you depend on each student making it to the library to get a reading book for each free-reading session, you may find yourself easily frustrated. Not all students love to read and will take their time getting to and from the library. It will be best to have a selection of good titles already in the room for students to choose from!

Create a designated reading space

I know you may not have a lot of space in your classroom, but if you do, a designated reading space is a must! Even at the middle school level, my students loved to get out of their desks and get comfy on a bean bag or large pillow on the floor during free reading time. It allowed them to be more comfortable and space out from the rest of the students.

Construct a focus wall complete with “I Can” statements

To help students stay focused on the unit goals, construct a focus wall where you can place posters and “I Can” statements for student reference. Placing them on the wall gives you a good place to reference during lessons and provides the students with a daily reminder of the unit goals!

I Can display board

Compose supply caddies for quick and easy use

I used to have a supply closet. I thought it was a good idea until it got so messy that it added more stress than anything. Eventually, I took an idea of another fellow teacher and created several supply caddies for students to use. Each caddie had necessary ELA supplies like paper, pencils, white-board markers, scissors, erasers, etc. These caddies made it easy for students to grab a pencil or quickly jump into group craft work!

Provide a student work display area

Although not all will admit it, students love to have their work displayed. Provide wall space or display boards where students can display their own work. My school had cork map rails directly outside my classroom for this exact purpose, but you can always throw a few in your classroom as well!

Designate a place where students collect and turn-in hard copy work

This idea is a MUST! Although you may be 1-to-1 and a lot of work has gone digital, students will need to have access to different worksheets throughout the year. I made sure to have trays or hanging files close to the door to house these worksheets. Students could pick up missing work in this location or hand in missing work in a designated hanging folder. It saves them the need to come up and talk to me directly AND gives them a place to look should I be out of the classroom.

Set student desks up in pods for quick group work

There are lots of ways to set up your desks in the classroom, but I do believe pods to be one of the best for ELA. Students collaborate often, discussing passages and working through writing assignments. By placing students in pods of four or five, students can easily work with several other students without moving their desks. This arrangement encourages collaboration which is exactly what your students will be doing a majority of the time!

Students working in pods

Create a personalized home base (desk) and be sure to have sub plans

When you aren’t teaching, you spend a lot of time at your desk. I have found that creating a space where I can focus is just as important as creating a space for students to learn. Use a color scheme that you enjoy and personalize your desk with pictures, sports fan gear, or inspirational quotes to get you through even the longest of days! While you are at it, go ahead and create a couple emergency sub plans and find a place to keep them readily available. I like to hang mine on a hook off to the side of my desk so they are always easy to find and ready to go!

Take the time…

now to set your classroom up the way you desire. As the year gets busy, you will thank yourself for already having certain systems in place to handle the chaos of the school day!

Once you have your classroom arranged, all you will have left to plan is your curriculum and if you need any help with that, you should really check out The Sparkly Notebook’s new product line. This new product line has a resource for EACH common core standard! Check them out here! If you are looking for some tips and tricks to unpacking the standards and building your curriculum on your own, check out this blog post! It will give you A LOT to think about! Enjoy!

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Back-to-school, morale-boosting activities for teachers

Need some morale-boosting activities for the start of the school year? Check out these five activities for back-to-school time!

It’s back-to-school time!

“Yay!” or maybe you’re a “Nooooo!!!!!” Ha! Either way, the new year is starting and we need to figure out some ways to truly build some serious morale.

Although it may be hard to get everyone into that “Whoo-hoo, let’s do this!” mood…morale-boosting activities can definitely help start the year on the right foot! Teachers already have lots to do, so there is no need to overthink these activities. Whether you are an administrator, teacher leader, or general education teacher, feel free to implement or suggest the following activities below!

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Back-to-School, Morale-Boosting Activities for Teachers

Social lunch hour

Sometimes all teachers want is a little bit of time to chat about what they did over the school year. It’s always nice to get lunch or even receive a little extra time over lunch to get together with fellow teachers and simply chat.

Suggestion Box

Teachers have had a little time to think over the summer and may have new ideas that may better the school as a whole. Provide a Suggestion Box for teachers to anonymously suggest new ideas or policies for the upcoming school year. Teachers get to speak their minds and share their ideas WHILE administrators get a feel for what is on their teachers’ minds.

suggestion box for back-to-school

Silly Awards

A lot of silly things happen throughout the school year. During the summer, or at the beginning of the year, collect silly memories from different staff members. (If you like the idea, you can always do it at the end of each year to use for the following school year.) Hand out different silly awards in honor of these silly happenings, and allow your staff to remember some of the good things that happened the previous year! It will be good food for the soul!

Give staff what they really want

Ask most teachers and you fill find they enjoy the simple things in life. A casual day here or there or a breakfast treat can go a long way in boosting their spirits! It may be a good idea to send out a survey to ask staff what it is that they would enjoy as random energy boosters and then find ways to incorporate those small boosters throughout the year.

Teacher Digital Escape Room

back-to-school digital escape room for teachers

Use this fun professional learning and team-building digital escape room as a fun activity to start the year! It covers three very important professional learning topics but allows for some competition and fun along the way!

For an entire blog full of information about this professional learning escape room, click here.

Sign Up for a FREE plot structure digital escape room!

 


 

 
 
 
 
 


 

 

 

Feel free to use any of these ideas!

Schools are always looking for new and unique ways to energize the school staff and maybe these ideas will help. Feel free to implement or pass any of them on to your administrators as potential activities for the first few days of school! 

Have fun!

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Two back-to-school escape rooms for ELA

Looking for an engaging, yet common-core-aligned activity for back-to-school time? Check out these digital escape rooms!

The first couple of school days are always a toss-up, aren’t they? 

Sometimes, I can get through a quick get-to-know-me activity. Sometimes, I get through a question-answer session. Sometimes, everything goes wrong (technology already doesn’t work, class is delayed due to missing kids, etc.) and I get NOTHING DONE!

So, what is the best way to start the school year?

I don’t think there is a RIGHT way. I know, for myself at least, I try to avoid going over the syllabus during the first day or two…simply because that is what all of my fellow teachers do…and let’s be honest…it is pretty boring stuff!

Instead, I want to jump into my English curriculum without fully overloading the students. I want to have some fun while also having the luxury of walking around and getting to know my new students during the day.

So, I created some escape rooms specifically for this time of year. I love them because they challenge the students but also allow me time to go through the roster, check in with different kids, make connections, and take mental notes about who seems to work well together.

Sign Up for a FREE plot structure digital escape room!

 


 

 
 
 
 


 

 

 

DIGITAL ESCAPE ROOMS FOR BACK TO SCHOOL

Figurative Language (Back-to-School Digital Escape Room)

Get the students to collaborate right away with this figurative language escape room. It is a ready-to-go option and will give you a solid idea of what your students know in figurative language. All you have to do to start is share the link with students and let them go from there!

This escape room includes the following tasks:

  • Figurative language sort
  • Figurative language school supplies
  • Riddle me this – decoding activity
  • School buses on the go
  • Piece it together – puzzle activity

Reading Comprehension (Back-to-School Digital Escape Room)

Allow your students to show you what they know with reading comprehension while ALSO actively engaging in some friendly competition.

This escape room includes the following tasks:

  • Nemo’s first day – chronological order
  • Where do I sit? – reading comprehension
  • Riddle me this – decoding activity
  • Football friends – plot structure
  • Piecing it together – puzzle activity

Don’t put too much pressure on yourself…

Whatever you choose to do during these first couple of days of school, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. The first days are essential in that you are learning names and making connections with your students, but the activities themselves don’t have to be super complex.

So, give yourself some grace and enjoy them!

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For more back-to-school activities, check out this blog post!

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Using standards to drive your curriculum

Teaching is about more than just planning fun lessons. Use the following steps to use standards to drive your curriculum!

We teachers all come into the teaching world with a similar mindset. We all have these amazing, fun ideas for the classroom…dreams about being the best teachers that are most loved by our students because we plan these fun, authentic lessons. We feel confident (or should we say hopeful) that the students will learn all that they need to know because gosh darn it they are going to have fun!

Then… 

we get to the classroom and realize teaching is SO MUCH MORE than a fun activity. Rather, we realize we need to teach lessons that align with our grade-level standards. We need to be able to show that our students are mastering these standards and have data to prove it. And then we realize…

Yikes! Teaching is way more complicated than we originally thought!

Fortunately, most schools follow the Common Core which specifically shows us the skills our students should master throughout the academic year. It shows us what we NEED to be teaching! 

In essence, the Common Core makes it easier on us! The standards are like destinations on a map, but we get to choose which road we take and which vessel to use!

Would you like to drive the jeep or the van today, kids? Ha!

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After Common Core was established, I went through a training that taught me how to break down the standards and was on a planning committee at our Regional Educational Services Agency (RESA) with lead ELA teachers from other districts. Both of these opportunities really helped me gain knowledge and a system for digging into my standards and helped me learn the need to have a standards-based curriculum.

I learned that not only is planning my curriculum around the standards important but blocking standards together is THE BEST way to teach ELA effectively!

Follow the steps below to use the Common Core standards to drive your curriculum.

Deconstruct the Standards

Before you can start creating lessons, you have to dig deeper into the standards to determine exactly what they are asking and what the prerequisites are that need to be covered. 

Deconstructing standards can be a bit time-consuming, but totally worth it! If interested, I have a blog post on deconstructing standards and a template on my TpT store. Or you can check out this blog post which walks you through how to achieve ELA standard mastery!

Create a Curriculum Guide

After you have carefully deconstructed each standard, create a curriculum guide. I would set it up with a chart that includes a column for the standard itself, possible learning targets, important vocabulary to cover, and a column for the number of units you have in total. 

curriculum guide

Ensure your unit assessments and benchmarks cover all the standards.

For this, I would definitely use the backward design; create a list of standards covered on each benchmark/unit assessment to have for when you start planning out the design of your units. Oftentimes, this process is done as a core team and should be a priority for your subject area each year.

If you happen to have your assessments built out already, feel free to grab this FREE RESOURCE to audit each assessment to ensure each covers the rigor and weight of each standard.

Design your units and block your standards together

This is the fun part…the part where you get to design the fun, authentic lessons your students will love you for!

Many standards are taught well together and so it is best to block standards together in a way that allows you to cover more territory in one unit. 

For example: 

  • 7RL1 states “Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.”
  • 7W6 states “Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.”
  • 7L1 states “Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. “

All three of these could easily be put into one main lesson or unit to effectively teach all three skills. For example, I could have my students read an excerpt from the memoir Night and then post several prompts for them to build analyses upon. They could then publish their analyses onto online discussion boards and build conversations around those discussions. Of course, students must “demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar” which I will be teaching mini-lessons on throughout the entire year.

See how it works?

When it is all said and done…

the goal is to ensure that students have mastered all of the necessary standards by the end of the year. Thus, you as the teacher must know the standards and make a plan to cover all of them!

Feel free to check out my 7th Grade Editable ELA Curriculum Guide Product HERE!

Additionally, you can access a blog post on how to Deconstruct Standards into Learning Targets HERE.

If you have created a guide for most of your standards but feel like certain ones are lacking mastery, check out my new product line which includes a product for each Common Core standard. Check out the entire product line at my TPT shop!

Happy Curriculum Planning!

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Teachers, take care of your mental health with these 7 tips…

Use these 7 mental health tips to keep your mind and body healthy during the upcoming school year. You owe it to yourself!

Mental health is such a tough topic to address. There is definitely a stigma around it that we can’t seem to break through.

When I first became a teacher, I was definitely young and naive. I was happy simply because I was ignorant of the challenges the other teachers, parents, and students were experiencing. I came into my classroom every day and did what I could and then left in peace (for the most part).

Then, around year three my mindset began to shift. I found myself worrying more about my curriculum, worrying more about getting everything done, and worrying about my students. I truly started to recognize some of the challenges they were experiencing day-in and day-out and was determined to help. I wanted to help. I NEEDED to help.

It's okay to put your mental health first and your teaching second.

But, as you probably already know, so much of the educational experience is out of our control. 

I couldn’t control the random events that occurred day to day that would interfere with my curriculum like fire drills, assemblies, students leaving for different activities, etc.

I couldn’t control the attitudes of my students’ parents. No matter how much I believed in my teaching style, there was always one parent who wouldn’t agree and would add stress to my life.

I couldn’t control my students’ work ethic. I am not talking about all of them, but you know the ones I am talking about. I would find myself caring about their success more than they did, which was a problem in and of itself. So, I would spend hours trying to figure out new ways to motivate them…which wasn’t always successful either. Let that revolving door continue.

I couldn’t control the votes at the next school board meeting.

I couldn’t control the amount of training we had for scary situations like tornados and school shootings. These used to be simple drills, but nowadays, these drills are more pertinent than ever and we teachers are feeling the weight of it. Will we have the right training? Will we make the right decisions in a crisis? Will we be able to protect our students as well as we hope to…as well as society expects us to?

It’s a lot.

And if you have been losing sleep over any of the items mentioned above, you are NOT ALONE!

I feel it too! 

In understanding my lack of control in a lot of situations, I work harder to control the things I can. Isn’t that what they keep asking us to do?

  • Let’s try a different method with Danny because we can’t control his parents and maybe we will get through to him trying the next best thing.
  • Let’s try tracking this new data in order to understand why we have so many bubble kids these days.
  • Let’s add an extra meeting once a month to go over any extra drill questions or concerns that we may have.

It makes sense… do more to feel like we are in more control, but at the end of the day, sometimes this “more” just leads to burnout. 

In the Omaha Public School system in Omaha, Nebraska, the district revealed that 97 teachers retired and 497 teachers resigned at the end of the 2021/2022 school year.

497 TEACHERS! IN ONE DISTRICT!

Now, I am not going to go into detail about my thoughts on why this is happening. Rather, I would like to use it to assure you that burnout is REAL and mental health is IMPORTANT!

So, let’s do what we typically do, shall we?

Why don’t we try to control what we can control?

We need to have a plan of attack heading into the next school year to keep ourselves healthy…to keep our minds healthy. Let’s have a plan of attack so that we can resist burnout and keep ourselves healthy.

*I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. I am simply sharing some tips I have learned along the way.

7 Mental Health Tips for Teachers

Create a circle of supportive coworkers

Have a circle of people who check in with you once every week. Having friends in general always helps with mental health, but having coworkers who intentionally check in with you about your wellbeing (and vice versa) encourages you to consistently reflect on how things are going and make decisions that are better for your well-being.

Participate in team-building activities

I know that sometimes team-building activities don’t seem very important. I know that sometimes they seem pointless at the beginning of the year when you are busy trying to plan your curriculum, but they do add some camaraderie in the school building which will be so important as you work through the school year.

Avoid taking work home on weekends

I know this one especially can be a tough request, but you need to FORCE yourself to take a break your work from time to time. Those test scores can wait one or two more days. I promise. The kids will be just fine!

Partake in a hobby that does not relate to school.

Allow your mind to be able to shut school off and do something else. Maybe you could start playing in a sports league, or participate in a book club, etc. It’s good to have hobbies outside the school and it may even be best to have friends outside the school as well. I always find that when I am with teachers, we talk about teaching. So, I started to incorporate a bit more time with my non-teaching friends in order to give my mind a break from even talking about school.

Utilize any counseling opportunities your school may provide.

At my previous school, they offered three free counseling sessions for each teacher. Utilize these as much as possible because your emotional and mental well-being needs regular checkups just like your physical body does.

Set boundaries!

This one is important, so I am going to say it again. SET BOUNDARIES! Brainstorm with other fellow teachers on some of the boundary issues you are experiencing. Do you get stressed out about the emails that arrive in your inbox in the evenings? Well, try shutting off your notifications on your phone so you don’t even see them until the next day. Maybe, you could work with your principal to make clear policies about when teachers will respond to emails.

I always thought that all teacher emails should go into a “night mode”. Basically, an automated message would get sent out to any parent who emails after hours indicating that the teacher is out of the building for the night and won’t return the email until the following day. How awesome would that be!? Not only would it provide clear communication to parents but it would FORCE teachers to set their own boundaries as well!

Lastly, be kind to yourself and give yourself grace.

If you have to push back a lesson or two to slow down, do so. Use your sick days if you are feeling off; that is what they are there for! Allow yourself more time to take care of yourself. You deserve it!

All in all, you can do this!

I hope these tips help you as you move into the next school year. I truly know how you are feeling at this point and so do a lot of other teachers. We are in this together and even though there are a lot of details with regards to education that we can’t control, we can control our own happiness and we have a right to do so! 

Be safe! Be happy! Chat soon!

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