Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

Well friends, we have officially hit August! As teachers we know exactly what that means: summer is starting to come to a close while the beginning stages of school are starting to begin. The beginning of the school year always brought us a mix of emotions, especially the actual first day of school. We’re excited for a fresh start with new students, but also know all we have to do to get our class...

When students enter your classroom the first day and weeks of school, there’s a list of things to do and go over that is a mile long. Towards the top of that list is going over classroom expectations and introducing materials, routines, and procedures. Standing at the front of the room explaining each of these tasks is not only boring, but ineffective. Instead, we like to use a method called Guide...

We’ve been talking a lot lately about how to start back to school effectively and setting yourself and your students up for success. Two ways to have an efficient classroom is through procedures and routines that are aligned with your goals, and one routine we feel passionate about is a morning routine. In today’s episode, we’re sharing tips on mastering morning routines for a successful classroom...

While back to school activities are fun and allow you to get to know your new students, we want to challenge you to think about WHY you’re choosing that activity versus what the activity does. This requires you to think about your goals for the school year. In today’s episode, we’re sharing how to set up your back to school goals for a successful first few weeks of school. Send us your Teacher App...

The task of setting up your classroom with procedures and routines can be daunting and time-consuming, but it’s worth it in the long run. So in today’s episode, we’ll be sharing steps to establishing efficient classroom procedures for success. Grab your free Establishing Classroom Procedures plan here ! Send us your Teacher Approved Tip: https://www.speakpipe.com/teacherapproved Sign up for our FR...

There are so many different approaches to how to teach spelling. Yet, very few of them seem to actually teach kids how to spell! The truly ideal spelling program often seems like a unicorn. Does it even exist? Well, we think we found that magical unicorn in “chunk spelling”. In today’s episode, we’re sharing our spelling method that actually works. Grab your chunk spelling bundle. Connect with us...

Summer is a great time to work on professional development, but we all don’t have the time or money to sit at a conference. In today’s episode, we’re sharing an easy summer professional development of reading over the summer, plus a teacher approved tip that makes it easier for you to reference digital notes in the future! Sign up for our FREE Design Your Summer Challenge:  https://www.secondstory...

We all have goals and things we want to accomplish. But do you ever sit down and acknowledge all it took to get there? On today’s episode, we have guest Kelsey Sorenson who shares why you should own your teacher wins and the benefits of acknowledging them often. Sign up for our FREE Design Your Summer Challenge:  https://www.secondstorywindow.net/designyoursummer Sing up for Kelsey's virtual summe...

The last few episodes we’ve been talking about how to design your summer and last week was all about Heidi designing her summer. So in today’s episode, we’re continuing our conversation with designing Emily’s summer in order to make it her BEST.SUMMER.EVER! Sign up for our FREE Design Your Summer Challenge:  https://www.secondstorywindow.net/designyoursummer Connect with us on Instagram  @2ndstory...

Last week’s episode, we discussed how you can design your summer with recovery and readiness in mind so that you can start the upcoming school year from a position of strength. In today’s episode, we have an  open conversation about what we want our summer to look like in hopes to show you how to go about designing your own summer. Tune in next week to hear part two of this discussion! Sign up for...

It’s that point in the year where summer is just around the corner and that’s the only thing on our mind. The exact way that we each spend our summers may be different, but we all still need the same thing after a long year: recovery. On today’s episode, we’re providing plans on how you can recover from a crazy school year, plus a teacher approved tip for end of year incentives. Connect with us on...

After 2020, we all know how important closure is at the end of the school year. In this episode we walk you through how to include meaningful closure in your end-of-year plans. Plus a teacher approved tip for working with parents. Grab your FREE goal setting pages: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/looking-ahead-goal-sheets/ Check out our summer review packets: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/pr...

Nothing makes us feel more accomplished than doing something now that we will be grateful for later. At the end of the year, it’s hard to think about the beginning of next school year, but that’s exactly what we want you to do! In today’s episode, we’re discussing what you can do now to make the back to school season easier for you. Connect with us on Instagram  @2ndstorywindow . For all the resou...

The end of the year brings up a lot of wonderful school traditions. Some of those traditions include field day, whole school dance festivals, and a very common one, award ceremonies. But are award ceremonies really that rewarding for students? In today’s episode, we’re showing you 5 reasons why you should break up with end of year awards, while replacing the tradition with something more meaningfu...

We can see it - the light at the end of the tunnel that is the end of another school year! Although we can see it, sometimes getting in the mindset and getting there can be the challenging part. On today’s episode, we’ve come up with some ways to help you make it to the finish line at the end of the school year.  Connect with us on Instagram  @2ndstorywindow . For all the resources mentioned in th...

For a lot of us teachers, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel that leads us to summer. We’re so close, but yet there are still so many more days to teach, engage kids, and ultimately survive until the end. In this episode, we’re spilling our secret to surviving the end of the school year.  Check out our Theme Day Planning Guide Freebie Connect with us on Instagram  @2ndstorywindow . For...

Our favorite way to start our day was with a morning meeting with our classes. So in today’s episode, we’re diving into why having a morning meeting is an essential part of your routine and classroom community. Grab your copy of The Morning Meeting Book. Connect with us on Instagram  @2ndstorywindow . For all the resources mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.secondstoryw...

While our first thought is to review, review, review, we’d like to switch that thought to something different - retrieval practice. In today’s episode, we’re sharing how to incorporate retrieval practice into your test prep. Connect with us on Instagram  @2ndstorywindow . For all the resources mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/test-review

We recognize that any transition after break can be difficult, for both you and your students. In this episode, we discuss eight strategies that help with bouncing back after a break!  Connect with us on Instagram  @2ndstorywindow . For all the resources mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/bounce-back-after-break

We’ve all heard the saying your brain is like a muscle. But what does that truly mean? Basically, the more we use it, the stronger it gets. We can apply this same theory to retrieval practice, which is when we give students an opportunity to access information they previously learned from their long-term memory. Every time students access this information it becomes easier to retrieve in the futur...

What read alouds do you remember from when you were a student? Some of the books that are really memorable for us from elementary school are Where the Red Fern Grows, Charlotte’s Web, The Trumpet of the Swan, and The Little Princess.  Read aloud time was always one of our most favorite times of the day as teachers. It's such a meaningful way to connect with your students, especially at the end of...

This week, we're getting to know you as we invite you into our brand new co-hosted podcast, Teacher Approved! We are so excited to share this show with you and bring you a new episode every single week. Today we're sharing about our journey in education and how we created our TpT store, Second Story Window. Connect with us on Instagram  @2ndstorywindow . For all the resources mentioned in this epi...

Welcome to Teacher Approved, hosted by Heidi and Emily! With over two decades of teaching experience under our belt, we know how rewarding yet challenging teaching can be. In this podcast, we'll be sharing research-based and teacher-approved strategies that will help to reduce the overwhelm of teaching.  Don't forget to follow or subscribe so that you stay up to date on all of our latest episodes!...