Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

Every Thursday, we're bringing you a weekly bonus episode highlighting new and favorite teacher-approved tips you can apply in your classroom as soon as today.  This week's tips are: [00:47]: Tip #1 - Ways you can start planning for future problems now. [05:05]: Tip #2 - Guest Tip from Ashleigh of Rainbow Skies for New Teachers - Gather supplies for future new students while preparing for you...

If you are anything like us, we loved setting up our classrooms with all our brand-new supplies and materials. They were clean, organized, and had all the right parts. However, by winter break (and realistically, sooner than that!), all our supplies were dirty, disorganized, dried out, and missing the majority of their caps. We eventually found a system that helped keep our supplies lasting longer...

Every Thursday, we're bringing you a weekly bonus episode highlighting new and favorite teacher-approved tips you can apply in your classroom as soon as today.  This week's tips are: [00:47]: Tip #1 - A list of our best first-day-of-school tools to help make the day successful. [04:45]: Tip #2 - How using a first-day-of-school script will be your favorite first-day-of-school tool. To hear mor...

Even though we’ve both been out of the classroom for a while now, we still remember the overwhelming chaos that the first day of school can bring. Meeting new students for the first time, covering essential procedures and routines, laying the foundation for class community, and engaging in meaningful academic activities, all while talking non-stop is a lot. We’re exhausted just thinking about it!...

Every Thursday, we're bringing you a weekly bonus episode highlighting new and favorite teacher-approved tips you can apply in your classroom as soon as today.  This week's tips are: [01:20]: Tip #1 - Why you should plan for the second day of school now. [03:57]: Tip #2 - Our favorite first-day-of-school tip from our community. To hear more about these tips, head to the show notes: https://ww...

We’ve got one question: Are you ready for the school year to begin again? While most of you are happy it’s summer and not thinking about the start of school, some of you are chomping at the bit to get into your classroom and start preparing for the new school year. So, if you’re in the latter group, this episode is for you! In today’s episode, we’re creating a personal plan for back-to-school read...

Every Thursday, we're bringing you a weekly bonus episode highlighting new and favorite teacher-approved tips you can apply in your classroom as soon as today.  This week's tips are: [05:20]: Tip #1 - Start creating an idea bank of independent activities that your students can do. [09:23]: Tip #2 - Steps for getting planning done in December without doing extra work. To hear more about these...

There’s a lot that goes into creating your daily classroom schedule. Trying to figure out how to effectively fit all the events you can’t control, where to put instructional time, and the smaller transitional moments can be extremely tricky. But don’t worry, we’re here to help! In today’s episode, we’re sharing eight steps to intentionally craft your daily classroom schedule. For all the resources...

Every Thursday, we're bringing you a weekly bonus episode highlighting new and favorite teacher-approved tips you can apply in your classroom as soon as today.  This week's tips are: [01:51]: Tip #1 - Welcoming a new grade level team member [03:31]: Tip #2 - Ways to support new teachers with Ashleigh from Rainbow Skies for New Teachers To hear more about these tips, head to the show notes: ht...

Being elementary teachers, we’re constantly working with our grade level team to enhance student learning, schedule grade level events, analyze student data, and so much more. You also know that the type of team you have can make or break your enjoyment at work. So whether you have a successful or dysfunctional team, this episode is for you! We’re sharing three practical strategies for making your...

Every Thursday, we're bringing you a weekly bonus episode highlighting new and favorite teacher-approved tips you can apply in your classroom as soon as today.  This week's tips are: [01:32]: Tip #1 - Ways to organize your classroom library setup. [04:55]: Tip #2 - Questions to ask yourself when setting up your classroom. To hear more about these tips, head to the show notes: https://www.seco...

Once it’s summer time, most teachers can relax knowing exactly where they’ll be when school returns in the fall. However, some teachers are preparing for a new grade level, or it’s pure panic as they learn about this new adventure a few weeks before school begins. So whether you’re changing grade levels by choice or by force, it comes with some unique challenges you need to be aware of. In today’s...

Every Thursday, we bring you a weekly bonus episode highlighting new and favorite teacher-approved tips you can apply in your classroom as soon as today.  This week's tips are: [00:46]: Tip #1 - Teacher Approved tip for spoiling yourself during a stressful time. [05:06]: Tip #2 - Teacher self-care tips you can do in the summer to make life easier during the back-to-school season. To hear more...

The feeling when you’ve just finished school and are officially on summer break is a feeling unlike any other. You’re sitting by the pool with no alarm clocks going off or papers to grade, and the start of another school year seems so far away that you can’t even see it. However, you know that feeling fades, and other feelings start to creep in and disrupt your relaxing summer break. We call these...

Every Thursday, we're bringing you a weekly bonus episode highlighting new and favorite teacher-approved tips you can apply in your classroom as soon as today.  This week's tips are: [02:39]: Tip #1 - Ideas for organizing your Pinterest boards. [06:19]: Tip #2 - 5 tips for finding quality teaching resources online. To hear more about these tips, head to the show notes: https://www.secondstory...

We have such a fun episode for you today! We’ve collaborated with our friend, Kelsey Sorenson, from The Educate & Rejuvenate Podcast, to do an episode swap. On our podcast, we love sharing practical tips and strategies that you can use in your classrooms, but Kelsey specializes in learning how to manage your mental health while having it all. In this episode swap, Kelsey shares a teacher minds...

We’ve been discussing lately how to have a well-balanced summer as a teacher. There needs to be equal parts relaxing and preparing for the next school year. But if you’re anything like us, your summer to-do list is so long and scrambled that you don’t even know which tasks to start with to make the biggest impact. So, in today’s episode, we’re sharing some practical steps to help you prioritize&nb...

Summer is just so close; you can feel it! This got us thinking there are two types of teachers in the summer. You either don’t think about school and don’t do any prep over the summer, OR you jump right into planning and creating for the next school year to avoid the stress and overwhelm in the fall. And while most teachers fall into either type, neither approach is effective nor helpful...

As teachers, we're always trying to find different ways to improve our instruction, activities, lessons, and classroom management to better benefit our students and their learning. We also love gifting our future selves, so why not combine the two? Taking some time to reflect at the end of a school year can be extremely beneficial in order to have a better year in the fall. So, in today's episode,...

With the end of the school year quickly coming to an end, you’re probably thinking, Yes, I’m finally done and don’t have to worry about school anymore! However, you know how much we love giving gifts to our future selves, which is why it might be time to start thinking about next year before this year is finished. To help you have a better back-to-school start, in today’s episode, we’re sharing th...

At this time of the school year, we all can feel it happening in our classrooms: our students are doing sloppy work, having decreased participation, showing minimal effort, avoiding assignments, and many more unfortunate behaviors. With the temperatures rising and summer just beyond their reach, student’s lack of attention is at an all-time high. So, to combat these behaviors, we’re sharing 10 tea...

We love hearing from all of you, especially when it comes to ways we can help give you a teacher-approved solution to a teaching headache or struggle that you’re going through. So, if you think you’re the only one dealing with an issue in the classroom, trust us, you’re not! After hearing from our community, in today’s episode, we’re answering a few of your questions on ways to retain learning for...

With the combination of end-of-year testing being over and the thought of summer break being just around the corner, it’s hard to engage your students in meaningful activities for the rest of the year. Even as teachers, we see the end in sight and are over the amount of planning since we’ve been doing it all year long. But don’t worry, we’ve got a solution to solve both problems! In today’s episod...

With spring finally here, you’re enjoying the nicer weather, the sun is shining, your overall mood is better, and you can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel that is the end of the school year. Unfortunately, so can your students. They’re coming out of winter where they’ve been inside, they are tired of being in the same classroom five days a week, and all they want to do is be outside...

It’s our podcast anniversary! We’ve been creating episodes that are full of strategies, ideas, and actionable tips that you can use in your classrooms today. And with over 100 episodes, we wanted to reflect on our favorite moments from the last two years. So, in order to celebrate, we’re sharing our teacher podcast favorites in hopes of walking down memory lane with our valued listeners. For all t...