Teaching word problems is often the most challenging part of the curriculum for a math teacher. This veteran teacher shares nine tips and tricks for teaching word problems to help your students master them and to make them less challenging for you to teach!

9 Tips and Tricks for Teaching Word Problems

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

Anchor charts are a fun addition to the classroom, but they can be overdone. Read our guest blogger's advice for keeping them simple and effective for the students' benefit, because that's what's most important - student learning! Click through to read all of her suggestions.

Anchor Charts 101: Keep It Simple, Keep It Clean

Today, we’re welcoming Sara from Inclusive Insights. She’s sharing her 101 guide to creating simple yet effective anchor charts. We think you’ll find it useful!   As teacher, I know our anchor charts can get a bit carried away. There, I said it; don’t hate me! We spend hours making them as colorful and creative as possible. It’s just what we do! In the end,

Every teacher has at least one student who participates in chronic book browsing--always looking but never reading! Here is an idea to end that cycle.

Put an End to Chronic Book Browsing

Minds in Bloom is thrilled to welcome Stephanie to the blog today. Please enjoy her post about helping kids find books they like in order to put an end to chronic book browsing!   As we all know, every precious minute counts in the classroom!  This is why I knew I needed to find a way to put an end to the professional book browsing

A speech language pathologist (SLP) shares her insight into how language development progress improves critical thinking growth. She also shares tips for how teachers can identify when students need assistance with language development and what can be done to help those students.

Language Development Progress Equals Critical Thinking Growth

Today’s guest blogger is Amy, who is a school Speech-Language Pathologist. She’s sharing her experiences in helping a child’s language progress to boost her critical thinking ability. In my line of work as a public school SLP, it is my job to identify and serve children who have speech and language needs. I serve so many children who are missing the ability to think critically

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

Being good at mathematics is often stigmatized and stereotyped. Learn how to encourage a growth mindset in mathematics in your child to prevent stereotype threat and self-induced poor math skills.

Encouraging a Growth Mindset in Mathematics

Hello! I am Mary Dournaee, a credentialed math and physics teacher. I am so excited to share some ways that teachers (and parents) can help develop a growth mindset among students. Thank you, Rachel, for allowing me this opportunity to share ideas on your blog! Sarah loves elementary school. Indoors, she’s getting messy with classroom crafts and projects, while outdoors, she’s running, climbing, and sliding

Teachers everywhere know how hard it is to fit in all your standards so that you teach everything you're supposed to teach in a school year. Often, teachers don't meet this high expectation, because there's just too much. How can we start making it happen? Our guest blogger shares her insight on integrating standards so that you can fit more curriculum into your lessons - curriculum that's interdisciplinary! Click through to read more.

Integrating Standards So You Have Time to Fit It All In

Hello everyone! I’m Tammy, and I’m excited to have this opportunity to share with you today here at Minds in Bloom! While most of my experience has been in teaching fifth grade, I currently teach third and have been teaching since 2004. Although I teach all subjects, I have a passion for teaching science. I love creating hands-on and engaging lessons and activities. When I first began my student teaching, I could not wait to get

Does the task of organizing centers make you feel faint? It doesn't need to thanks to the five tips shared by our guest blogger! Click through to read this blog post full of five useful tips to help make organizing centers a breeze - for both you and your students!

5 Tidy Tips for Organizing Centers in Your Classroom

Hi! I’m Jamila, and I am a certified K-5 educator and instructional coach and K-8 certified administrator who has been educating youngsters and supporting teachers since 1997! Today I’m excited to guest blog and share some great “Tidy Tips” that will help make organizing centers a snap! The most frequent question I hear from newbie and veteran teachers is, “How do you stay organized?” So

Reach all of your students using these three tips for speech and language strategies for the classroom teacher. All of your students can improve their communication skills, not just your speech therapy students!

Speech and Language Strategies for the Classroom Teacher

Hello! I am Hallie Sherman, and I am a licensed speech-language pathologist. I am excited to be here today to share some strategies for classroom teachers to use in their classrooms to promote communication (for ALL students, not just those receiving speech). Thank you, Rachel, for allowing me this opportunity to share strategies on your blog! “Communication? Why do my students need that in school?”

Sometimes we need to change up our instructional routines to increase student engagement. This post from HoJo is sure to be helpful for making that happen, as she shares 10 ways to make learning fun and engaging for our students! I love her ideas, so click through to get the full list of suggestions!

10 Ways to Make Learning Fun and Engaging

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

It's easy to get frustrated with students who have ADHD; I'm sure we've all been there, as educators. However, our guest blogger is sharing her insight on how teachers and other educators should handle ADHD gently for the benefit of the kids who struggle with it. She's sharing some really great ideas for ways to do this, so click through to read her post.

ADHD: How to Handle Squirrely Kids More Gently

Here’s Lessia Bonn, from I am Bullyproof Music, on addressing ADHD with increased kindness and understanding!   ADHD: We flit, we float. We sail on quirky boats. We talk about tangerines when you asked us about pumpernickel. Oh jeez.   My mom used to groan in my direction, “Look how you get!” I’ve had mud on my face my whole life. ADHD life is disorderly. Squirrels rule

This is the struggle of every elementary teacher: finding ways to fit science in. With so much emphasis placed on reading and math, science (and social studies) often falls to the wayside. Fortunately, our guest blogger is sharing a fantastic post about fitting science in by using inquiry-based learning. Read her post to get all of her insight on this subject!

Finding Ways to Fit Science In

Our guest blogger today is Jan from Dr. Jan’s Math and Science Lab! She’s sharing her thoughts on how to fit science in through inquiry-based instruction into today’s schools. Enjoy! Science instruction in elementary schools has been dwindling for some time now.  As a science lover, this has been a disheartening reality.  In my research as a doctoral student, I learned that science is only taught an

Ever heard of test prep rallies? Check out these ways to have test prep rallies at your school to head into standardized testing with a positive mindset!

Score with Your Test Prep Rally

Hi, I’m Sandra. I’m so honored to be writing about test prep rallies for Minds in Bloom. Test pep or prep rallies are motivational school assemblies that occur right before state testing and focus on raising student confidence and enthusiasm. You might wonder what makes me qualified to tell others about prep rallies. Well…I just may have invented them. I’ve been doing rallies since 1985

Are you on the hunt for a teaching job? Interviews for teaching positions can be grueling, but you can be better prepared for the questions you'll receive in them. Read this blog post with detailed tips for a successful interview for a teaching position!

How to Land a Teaching Job: The Keys to a Successful Interview

Please welcome Devon Ferguson to the blog today. Devon is sharing his tips on how to land a teaching job through a successful interview.   Are you a new teacher looking for your first job or an experienced teacher looking for a new one? The first thing you need to do is nail that interview, and here’s how. Now, I’ve done a career’s worth of

What is social-emotional learning? This guest post explores more about this important educational concept that helps to promote not only positive behavior but also a positive classroom culture and learning environment.

Making Time for Social-Emotional Learning

I’m Retta from Rainbow City Learning, and I am so excited to be invited back as a guest blogger here on Minds in Bloom! I am happy to share with you the ways I’ve found to make social-emotional learning (SEL) a part of every school day. I know that your teacher plate is already full with all of the standards that you have to meet,

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