By Rachel Lynette
You may remember learning about parts of speech oh, so long ago in your own elementary school days. Perhaps your teacher just discussed the different parts of speech and then handed out a worksheet or Daily Oral Language (DOL), expecting you to figure out how to use the parts of speech in an actual sentence. How intimidating is that? But learning about the different parts of
Mental math may seem like an ingrained skill that doesn’t require practice or development. But, elementary students who are still growing may lack the capacity to solve math problems in their head. Practicing mental math prepares students for harder math equations and also helps them to solve equations more quickly and accurately. Without the help of a calculator or scratch paper, students have to rely
As you well know, your students need to have a clear understanding of prefixes and suffixes, but often these concepts (especially suffixes!) can be tricky to teach. Of course your activities need to be related to the standard, but you also want them to be fun! But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. This post is your one-stop shop for effective and engaging lessons that will
Minds in Bloom is so excited to welcome Ofer Tirosh of Tomedes to the blog! Ofer has written a fantastic post discussing the importance of inspiring children to love languages and translation, including information on why kids’ brains are better adapted to learning languages (as opposed to adults’ brains) and games that you can play in the classroom to help students practice translation. We hope
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.
Minds in Bloom is thrilled to welcome Ilinca from the blog Grumpy Dumpling! She’s sharing a fantastic list of vocabulary games for ESL students. Be sure to comment and let us know which ones you play! Teaching English or any other foreign language to kids should be all about fun! Apart from songs and stories, games are the perfect way to make your lessons fun
We’re welcoming back Sharon, from Classroom in the Middle, to Minds in Bloom today. Sharon’s sharing her insight on how to make teaching literary terms effective and engaging. Does just the idea of teaching literary terms to another group of middle grade kids make you want to forget about lesson planning and curl up in front of a good movie instead? Teaching (or learning) any
Hi! I’m Jo-Ellen from Love Believe Teach with Jo-Ellen Foody, and I’m delighted to be guest blogging for Rachel Lynette. Let’s talk about…word problems. I can start by telling you that I love teaching children how to solve word problems, but I won’t. Word problems are hard. Two-step word problems are even harder, and teaching how to solve them might be the most challenging skill
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
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
Hello Everyone! I am Erin from rrrErin2Learn and am so excited to be guest blogging for Minds in Bloom! I can’t remember life before I started focusing on ed tech in my classroom, but it was only two years ago that my technology administrator handed me a couple of iPads and the password to download “ALL THE FREE APPS I WANTED!” I admit, I went
Dawn is our guest blogger today, and she’s sharing her ideas on how to make vocabulary instruction engaging for our students. Read on to see what she suggests, and be sure to comment with which strategy you can’t wait to try in your classroom! Abolitionist, expedition, alliance, excerpt – all of these are words your students are expected to read and understand in Social Studies.
Hi there, friends… I’m Melissa from More Time 2 Teach, and I’m so excited to be visiting today as a guest blogger for Minds in Bloom! With so many holiday and class parties happening throughout the school year, I’m always looking for games to play that are simple, easy to setup, and LOADS OF FUN! The eight games that I’m going to share with you
Hi there! My name is Heather, and I blog over at HoJo’s Teaching Adventures! We all know that in today’s high stakes testing world, it can be hard to make learning fun and engaging. That’s why I want to share 10 ways to make learning fun with all of you here at Minds in Bloom today. So, let’s get started! 10 Ways to Make Learning
Hi! I’m Lyndsey from Lit with Lyns, and I’m thrilled to be doing a guest post on Minds in Bloom. Over the past couple of years, I have become somewhat (ok, extremely) obsessed with using task cards in my classroom. It started when I purchased Julie Faulkner’s Cite Textual Evidence Teaching Pack that included task cards. Once I saw how engaged my students were, I
Minds in Bloom is pleased to welcome Sharon from Classroom in the Middle! Enjoy her post full of ideas for different projects that you can do with your kids during the summer months! One summer, a project of mine was to learn to make pizza dough from scratch. Another summer, it was to learn to use Photoshop. (Years later, that project is still in the
