Are you looking for fun, versatile games for the classroom? I know I always am! My favorite thing ever is taking a super simple, low-prep game and turning it into something educational. The BEST games are ones that can be easily adapted to use for any subject. Today I wanted to share with you one of my favorite, versatile games for the classroom… Musical chairs! Yes! Musical chairs! Everyone knows how to play it, it’s SO low-prep (just need some chairs, music, and a worksheet). And the best part is you can play this game in ANY subject! I obviously used it in math, but since it’s a game that’s…
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10 of the Best Elementary Math Ideas and Activities
Brilliant Elementary Math Ideas Are you on teacher Instagram? If not, you should be! Instagram is one of my favorite ways to find amazing ideas for teaching elementary math. When you connect with hundreds (or thousands) of teachers across the globe, you learn so much! Today, I wanted to share some of the most GENIUS elementary teaching tips and ideas for math that I’ve found on Instagram. If you like the ideas, too, then click the links for each one and give them a follow! 1. Teaching Times Tables I love this tip from @perfectforprimary! Instead of teaching times tables in order from 1-12, she teaches them in a more…
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9 Back to School Tips for a Successful Start to the Year
9 Back to School Tips Back to school is just around the corner! Whether you start back in just a few weeks or still have a whole month ahead of you, you’ve likely already started getting ready for the first days of school. I know that back to school can be such an overwhelming time, and it can be hard to keep track of all the things you need to do. To help you out, I’ve compiled some of my favorite back to school tips to help you start the year off on a good note! Tips for Back to School The beginning of the year is really important to…
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Teacher Organization Part 6: More Teacher Organization Tips
To wrap up our organization series, I thought it’d be fun to do a compilation of some amazing tips from other teachers! So, I reached out to some teacher bloggers and Instagrammers, and they’re kindly sharing helpful ways they’ve gotten organized in their classroom. Here are some of their favorite teacher organization tips! Library Organization Tips Library organization can be tricky! Here are a few teacher organization tips for keeping those books organized. “Using the app BookBuddy has saved my life when it comes to classroom libraries! The app is user friendly and is so easy to check books in and out of your classroom library! I used to have…
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Teacher Organization Part 5: Time Management for Teachers
Happy Tuesday, friends! I can’t believe this is the last week of our teacher organization series! Today’s post is a little different as it is all about time management for teachers. We’ve mostly been focused on getting our classroom organized for the new school year, but time management is such an important part of staying organized as well! I wanted to make sure to spend some time talking about this before the series ended. As you know, I pride myself on my organizational skills as a teacher. But I also consider myself a really great manager of my time. Time is EVERYTHING as a teacher! We have a countless number…
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Summer Guest Post: 5 Teacher Organization Hacks for Your Space
I’m Allie, also known as The Gypsy Teacher! I teach abroad, and am currently in Tanzania, East Africa. I’ve been teaching elementary school for five years. I love helping teachers build strong classroom communities and engage all of their learners! You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, as well as on my website! We all need more teacher organization, right? Sometimes I feel like I have all the bins, folders, and containers, but I don’t consistently use them to keep my teacher area organized. Whether you have a teacher desk, a teacher area, or a teacher table, I’ve got five teacher organization ideas to keep your space organized…
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Teacher Organization Part 1: Organization Basics
One of my top skills as a teacher and the thing I probably pride myself the most on is organization. I cannot function in a disorganized room, and firmly believe that staying organized is crucial to your success as a teacher. I know a lot of teachers consider this a strength of theirs as well; however, I have also met many who struggle with teacher organization skills and have run into problems because of it. I decided to focus my blog this month on helping teachers prepare their classrooms for the upcoming year with a teacher organization series. Every Tuesday and Thursday in August, I will share a post focusing…
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Meet the Teacher Handout & Tips for Success (+ FREEBIE)
Meet the Teacher Handout & Tips Meet the teacher day/night can be a super exciting but also super stressful time. Exciting because you’re meeting your new students for the very first time, but stressful because you’re also meeting their parents and you want to make a good first impression. You may also have a lot to prepare – such as getting a meet the teacher handout ready – in addition to all the other beginning of the year stuff on your plate! There is a lot to think about when preparing for meet the teacher. I’m sure all schools do it a little differently, but in my opinion, meet the…
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7 Tips for Classroom Organization in a Small Space + FREEBIE!
Anyone who knows me knows how much I obsess over keeping things organized. I am by no means a Type A person, but organization is necessary for my sanity. My third year teaching, I started a new job at a charter school that rented its space from a church. The church uses our classrooms on Wednesday nights and Sundays, so we have to break down our rooms twice a week. This wasn’t too much of a challenge my first year there as I was in a big room with lots of storage space. The next year, however, I moved to 2nd grade — and a smaller classroom with little storage.…
