MINDS IN BLOOM BLOG

This is a square graphic that says, "5 Tips for a Successful Primary to Secondary Transition" with a photograph of letter blocks.

5 Tips for a Successful Primary to Secondary Transition

We’re so excited to shared that Samantha, from Samantha in Secondary, is our guest blogger today. Samantha has written an excellent blog post all about helping your students with the transition from primary to secondary grades, so keep reading to learn more — and what a timely post this is, as the end of the school year is a light at the end of the

Why I Believe in Positive Classroom Management

Why I Believe in Positive Classroom Management

Hello, teachers! I’m Jeanne Sovet, and this is my first blog post ever! I’m new to social media but not new to teaching, having taught elementary school for the past 19 years. What I really want to share with my colleagues is how much I believe in, support, and want to spread the word about positive classroom management. The program we use in my school

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

how to teach parts of speech to elementary students

8 Exciting Ways to Teach Parts of Speech to Elementary School Students

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

Admit it: STEM challenges worry you, and you intentionally avoid them. There's no reason to do that! STEM challenges are an excellent learning tool for ALL students. This post details five reasons you might be avoiding them and lots of tips to help you overcome those reasons.

5 Reasons You Hate STEM Challenges

Minds in Bloom is thrilled to welcome Kerry Tracy! She’s addressing why many teachers (only think they) hate STEM challenges and how teachers can approach them differently in order to use them as a successful learning tool. You are probably reading this because you’ve watched that teacher down the hall doing STEM challenges. The kids are always talking about it, but it looks like a

Mental Math Activities Every Math Teacher Needs

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

This is a square graphic that says, "Tips for Implementing Authentic Project-Based Learning."

5 Tips for Implementing Authentic Project-Based Learning

Minds in Bloom is excited to have RuthAnn Lane from Learning Lane guest posting for us today! RuthAnn has written a great blog post all about authentic project-based learning in the classroom. As an experienced PBL educator herself, RuthAnn shared some really fantastic tips and insight! Keep reading to learn from her and to get ideas for implementing PBL yourself. A few years ago, I

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

How to teach my students about prefixes and suffixes

15 Engaging Ways to Teach Prefixes and Suffixes

As you well know, your students need to have a clear understanding of prefixes and suffixes. But 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!  Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!  This post is your one-stop shop for effective and engaging lessons that will teach,

Inspiring Children to Love Languages and Translation

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

how can I make teaching vocabulary fun for my students

5 Fun and Effective Ways to Teach Test-Taking Vocabulary

The standardized testing season will be here before you know it.  Whether this time of year excites you or frightens you, it’s time to prepare your students for the big test. Teaching them test-taking vocabulary can really help. Not only will your students perform better on the text, they will also gain confidence in their abilities to understand and respond to difficult questions. Read on

How to teach critical thinking to my students

5 Easy Strategies for Developing Critical Thinkers

We’re excited to have Sydney from Love, Laugh, Teach guest posting for us today! Her post includes helpful insight and advice for developing critical thinkers in the classroom. As teachers, we all know how important critical thinking is, but sometimes it feels like an abstract concept to teach. Read on to learn Sydney’s suggestions! Developing critical thinkers in the classroom is essential to creating a

As teachers, we all hear about building rapport with students as a classroom management tool. However, sometimes its importance is forgotten. This guest post shares five reasons your students need to like you in order to learn from you, but that is a key component to students' learning! Click through to read this blog post.

5 Reasons Your Students Need to Like You to Learn

It was 2008, my first year teaching kindergarten, and building rapport with students was not at the top of my to do list. I was excited, nervous, and mostly just lost! It wasn’t my first year of teaching. I had been in the classroom for four years; however, I taught Pre-Kindergarten and at a private preschool. This was public school. To top it off, I

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.

what are some ways to help students self-regulate in the classroom?

Sensory Strategies to Help Kids with Self-Regulation in the Classroom

Self-regulation is the ability to calm yourself down when you are upset and cheer yourself up when you are down. In the classroom, students may need help with self-regulating their emotions and managing their behaviors. The ability for students to learn how to manage their own emotions and behaviors can be vital for them to be able to learn in a school environment. Teaching students

educational apps to use in the classroom

Quiver in the Classroom: Augmented Reality App

Minds in Bloom is thrilled to have Ann from Little Library of Learning guest blogging for us today! Ann has written a great post for us all about an incredible app called Quiver. When you’re using Quiver in the classroom (or in the library), you provide your students with coloring sheets and assign them to color them in a way that aligns with your lesson

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