MINDS IN BLOOM BLOG

elementary thanksgiving activities

10 FREE (and AWESOME!) Thanksgiving Activities You Can Download Now

Fun Thanksgiving Activities for Your Elementary Students Tired of the same old “trace your hand” Thanksgiving Activities? This post has lots of ideas to spice up the holiday season. (Did the word spice make you want a latte like it did me?) Check out the freebies we’ve included, and grab as many as you’ll use. Critical Thinking Thanksgiving Activities Thanksgiving Analogies Analogies are fun little

5 Ideas to Keep Your Students Engaged and Learning

Make Every Minute Count: 5 Ideas to Keep Your Students Engaged and Learning

As a teacher, you probably know how difficult it can be to fit all of your responsibilities, ideas, and daily to-do list items into one school day! But, even with your busy schedule, you may have small pockets of free time when you don’t have anything planned with your students.  It’s during these times, like the last five minutes before dismissal, that you can make

In today’s world of digital media, our students often only hear about current events in passing, sometimes even over social media. Utilize these 23 no-fuss printable worksheets and activities to engage your students in the learning process while teaching current events in the upper elementary classroom! #currentevents #upperelementary #teachingcurrentevents

17+ Ideas for Teaching Current Events in Upper Elementary

In today’s world of digital media (mostly social media), our students often only hear about current events in passing. For instance, they may overhear a parent stream a news story broadcast on Facebook Live or accidentally catch a few seconds of the six o’clock news while flipping the Smart TV input to Netflix. Long gone are the times when a family would gather like clockwork

STEM is totally fun and engaging on its own, but you can kick up the learning and level of meaning even more by incorporating word games into your STEM subjects. This blog post shares a variety of vocabulary games teachers can use with STEM and STEAM students to help them learn relevant vocabulary. Click through to read the full post.

Word Games to Teach Kids STEM Subjects

STEM subjects are on the rise, and for good reasons. By studying science, technology, engineering, and math, kids will develop the skills needed for lucrative careers and to lead the next generation into the future. However, while parents and teachers see the benefits, kids aren’t sticking with STEM. Nearly a third of college students who began pursuing a STEM degree transferred out of the field.

5 Easy Ways to Add Academics to Video Games

We are excited to welcome Erin to the blog today! Erin has written a really inspiring post about ways to add academics to video games, which is something I’m sure many teachers would shy away from. Read on to learn more about Erin’s ideas and suggestions! At the end of the school year last May, a parent asked to speak to me after class. She

Have you ever thought about how you can use matches to teach metaphors? What about using an ostrich egg to teach writing? Our guest blogger shares an insightful post about using the unexpected to teach the everyday, so click through to read her ideas in full.

Matches, Eggs, and Sidewalk Chalk: Using the Unexpected to Teach the Everyday

We’re delighted to welcome Rebecca Gettelman to Minds in Bloom today! Rebecca is sharing some really awesome ideas about using the unexpected to teach the everyday lessons, like grammar and writing. Read on to find out more! If you search through my teaching boxes, mixed in among the red pens and teacher’s manuals of the typical middle school teacher’s stash, you will find a box

Comic strips provide instantaneous differentiation, believe it or not! You can do a wealth of different assignments and activities using comic strips, mind maps, and storyboards. All of these lend to differentiating your instruction, engaging learners, and contributing to academic growth.

Comics to Differentiate Instruction

Please welcome Lauren Martin to the blog today! She’s sharing how to use comics to differentiate instruction and reach all learners. She understands the challenge of meeting the needs of all learners and wants to help all teachers effortlessly differentiate every day! Differentiating to meet the needs of struggling learners and Special Education mandates does not need to be time consuming or complicated. Comics are

Strategies to help students focus and pay attention while listening and learning

Brain-Based Doodle Notes for Education

Minds in Bloom is thrilled to welcome Brigid from Math Giraffe to the blog today! Brigid is sharing her insight on an up-and-coming trend in education: doodle notes! Do you have students who doodle in class? Have you ever assumed that they are not paying attention? You may be surprised to find out that the opposite might be true. As far as learning goes, these

It may not seem like it, but project-based learning is the perfect way to meet all of your students' needs. There are a variety of ways in which project-based learning can be implemented and tweaked to do just that.

Make Project-Based Learning Fit Your Students’ Needs

Please enjoy this guest post from Matt of Digital: Divide & Conquer. He’s sharing a lot of really excellent insight into making project-based learning work for all learners.   We live in a world of projects. From our homes to schools, we are knee deep. It’s the reality of our lives. If the real world is filled of projects, shouldn’t a student’s classroom world be filled,

Some teachers like to claim that there is no time for arts integration in their general education classroom, but our guest blogger begs to differ. In this guest post, she shares a variety of ways that arts integration can occur in general education classrooms.

Creating a Life with Arts Integration

Today’s guest blogger is Tracy from Wild Child’s Mossy Oak Musings. Tracy is sharing her insight on how integrating arts into general education makes for more rigorous, long-lasting learning. Enjoy! Many moons ago, in a teacher’s lounge far, far away, I sat around a lunch table with my colleagues eating a tuna fish sandwich, while trying not reach for the sleeve of thin mints seducing

Many teachers have said it before, and our guest blogger is saying it again: It IS possible to integrate art into all curricular areas! Our guest shares her insight into doing just this and describes different activities and projects she's done over the years to integrate art into her teaching.

Integrating Art into All Curricular Areas

Hi,  I am Susan from Lopez Land Learners.  I want to share you with engaging and entertaining ways to integrate art into all of your curricular areas. If your school is anything like our school, we don’t have an art teacher, so any and all art projects come from me. Budgets, along with the demands and pressures on testing, have taken that scheduled time out

Tips for implementing genuis hour into your classroom

Implementing Genius Hour in Your Classroom

Hi everyone! My name is Kimberly Crouch from English, Oh My! My passion as an English teacher is sharing my love of literature with my students and giving them the foundations of reading and writing to be successful in high school. I am truly honored to be guest blogging on Minds in Bloom, and I find Rachel Lynette to be a true inspiration and role model for teachers.   Besides

When is the last time you reflected on your teaching strategies? Have you considered whether you're a drill-and-kill teacher? Learn alternative methods to teach repetition that are more fun and involve play.

Am I a Drill and Kill Teacher?

Please welcome Joy, from The Teacher down the Hall, to Minds in Bloom today. She’s exploring the idea of drill and kill in instruction and how teachers can find more effective ways to build mastery. The makers of Prevnar 13 are asking: What if one push-up could prevent heart disease? What if one stalk of broccoli could protect you from cancer? My adopted textbook company seems to

Have you tried pop-up books in your classroom? Your students will go crazy over these fun, interactive writing activities! Get all of your kids excited to write by trying out the pop-up books our guest blogger describes in this post.

Utilizing Pop-Up Books to Engage Your Student Authors

Hello! I am Jill from Coffman’s Creative Classroom. I am a third grade teacher who loves finding new and exciting ways to get my students engaged in their learning. Thank you, Rachel, for allowing me this great opportunity to share my ideas on your blog! We all know it is not an easy task to engage all students in writing. We all have students who struggle to

What are some fun ways to use board games in the classroom?

How to Teach with Board Games

Please welcome today’s guest blogger, Amy from Teaching Ideas 4U. Her guest post about board games not only fits right in with our new “because learning should be fun” tagline, but it will also inspire you to let loose a little and teach in an unconventional way! Enjoy! Hello!  My name is Amy Mezni, and I love board games.  Love them.  We have so many

Did you know that you can use fairy tales to teach a fully interdisciplinary STEAM unit? Read our guest blogger's explanation of how she used fairy tales--and the castles within them--to teach a STEAM unit that had her students reading, writing, building, imagining, speaking, listening, and more!

Caution: Castles Under Construction–Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead

Today’s guest blogger is Jennifer from  Stories and Songs in Second, a second grade teacher who is passionate about integrating musical moments and quality children’s literature across her curriculum. Read on to find out how she blends important science, math, social studies, and art concepts into her ELA fairy tale lessons! I’ve always loved fairy tales, and I can’t wait to launch my unit every spring.  So

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