Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

Teachers prepare all year for their students to take the end-of-year standardized test. This can cause teachers and students to feel stressed, overwhelmed, and anxious. But even though teachers are feeling all those emotions, they also have amazing tips and suggestions. So, instead of us sharing our ideas, we wanted to hear from other teachers. In today’s episode, our Teacher Approved community is...

With the end-of-year standardized tests quickly approaching, it’s time you start thinking about what kind of test review you’re going to do and how you’re planning on preparing your students. But since you can’t review everything from the year, how are you going to decide what content matters the most to review? Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered! In today’s episode, we’re sharing how to figure ou...

Do you remember what it was like in your first year or two of teaching? We remember the late nights and early mornings, the struggle to find the most effective classroom management system, and just all around, unsure of what we were doing. If this sounds like you as a new teacher, or as a veteran teacher you remember these feelings, this episode is for you! We have a special guest, Ashleigh from R...

It’s now the beginning of March, so you definitely know the dynamics and personalities of your class. And for some of you, you have the pleasure of having a chatty class. While it’s great to have students engaged and interactive in discussions, the talking and noise can make it difficult to teach and learn. So to help you with this situation, we’re sharing five chatty class tips that will make the...

As determined over the last few episodes, a student’s fluency foundation is critical to their success in reading. However, sometimes, as teachers, we’re unsure of the most effective ways to help students grow their fluency. But you’re in luck! To wrap up our series on fluency, we’re sharing five reading fluency activities and lessons that help students read more accurately and smoothly. For all th...

During the first semester of the school year, your students excelled and made progress as it pertained to reading. But you’ve noticed recently that students aren’t making appropriate strides to increase their reading progress. You’ve reflected on your instruction, but nothing major has changed. So what do you do? We’re here to help! In today’s episode, we’re sharing some common reading fluency pro...

We love sharing our knowledge, experience, advice, and practical tips with you each week, especially when it’s a topic we love talking about. Over the next few weeks, we’re discussing one of our favorite topics, which is reading fluency! Fluency is so important because it’s the bridge that connects decoding and comprehension, which is vital to a student’s reading success. In today’s episode, we’re...

When events only happen once every few years, or in this case every four years, it creates a unique opportunity to learn about and celebrate it in your classroom. This February we’ll have Leap Year, so we wanted to take advantage of that and created some fun ways to celebrate this rare occasion. In today’s episode, we’re sharing a few elementary Leap Year activities that engage your students while...

When we have challenges as teachers, we often feel like we’re the only one who is experiencing it or if we reach out for help it shows weakness. But in reality, if one teacher is struggling with a problem, it’s likely more teachers are dealing with the same thing. This is why we wanted to address some of the challenges teachers are having on the show. So in today’s episode, we’re answering element...

We have a special episode for you! Last summer we were on The Literacy Lounge Podcast with Ciera Harris where we had a wonderful conversation involving reading fluency. As teachers, we know how big of a hurdle it is when a student isn’t a fluent reader and our biggest question is how do we help our students become fluent readers? In today’s episode, we’re giving an overview of fluency and sharing...

We believe one of the best ways to learn new skills, strategies, and tips is through professional development. And now with so much at our fingertips, you can easily accomplish this by listening to podcasts. So, we thought it would be fun to share our favorite elementary teacher podcasts with you that highlight what makes each show unique and why it deserves a listen. For all the resources mention...

As you head back to school after a relaxing winter break, we wanted to help prepare you to start your year strong and on the right track. Just like you might have set some goals or thought about how you want this new year to go in your personal life, we decided to use the same concept but for the classroom. So in today’s episode, we’re sharing eight reflective questions to jumpstart your January c...

Well, it’s that time of year when the weather where you live can either produce snow, ice, rain, freezing temperatures, or poor air quality (depending on where you live, of course!). And while it can affect your commute to and from work, as teachers, it also affects your ability to have recess outside. Having an opportunity to burn some energy, play with your friends, and take a break from school...

You all know we’re big fans of picture books, and with so many amazing Christmas-themed books out there, it’s hard to pick which ones to read to your class or your own kids. That’s why we decided to make a list of our top 10 Christmas books and share them with you. In today’s episode, we’re discussing our favorite Christmas books for kids that range from 10 different categories. For all the resour...

You all know how much we love talking about classroom management and sharing tips to help you become more successful and effective in this area. Well we got an opportunity to reach another audience and talk with Sara Marye on her Stellar Teacher Podcast earlier this year discussing this important topic. So we wanted to share this episode with you as a reminder on how to troubleshoot classroom mana...

We know that your brain is focused on surviving these last few weeks until break and your to-do list might be a mile long. And while it’s going to sound crazy, we want to add to your list. However, it’s going to help you in the long run! We’re sharing what to do before winter break that will help you in January. For all the resources mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.s...

The weeks leading up until winter break can be a challenging time for teachers. There’s a lot of unstructured time, themed activities, and special events or assemblies to attend. So with all of that going on in the month of December, how will you ever make it through? We’ve got the answers for you! In today’s episode, we’re sharing three December teaching tips that are key for surviving and thrivi...

The magical feeling that the holidays bring is an opportunity you can’t miss to celebrate and participate in your classroom. With the arrival of December next month, we wanted to share some ideas from our Teacher Approved community on ways you can brighten your school days during this holiday season. So with the help of our listeners, we’re giving you plenty of December classroom activities you ca...

With the joy and fun that the holidays bring, it can also create chaos and escalated behaviors in the classroom. Our last three episodes focused on classroom management systems and strategies, but sometimes you need to add a booster to help tame those negative behaviors during the holiday chaos. In today’s episode, we’re sharing 5 techniques that help with December classroom management. For all th...

The last two weeks we’ve discussed classroom management and how to prevent and anticipate issues that may arise. And while we’d like to think our well thought-out plan will run perfectly, we know it doesn’t always happen that way. So what can you do when your plan isn’t enough? In today’s episode, we’re sharing how to increase the structure of your class by introducing behavior management rewards....

Dealing with classroom behaviors is just part of the job, but that doesn’t mean we should just sit back and wait for them to happen. Instead, we want to find ways that prevent and plan for the behavior mishaps. In our three part series on classroom management, last week we shared strategies for preventing behaviors, and this week we’re sharing step two in our classroom behavior management plan. In...

With school in session for a while now, you might be seeing some behavior issues starting to creep up that weren’t there before. And instead of just dealing with them as they come, it’s much better to put strategies in place that prevent behavior problems from occurring in the first place. Therefore, we’re going to spend the next three weeks discussing classroom management and how to get it back o...

Well, friends, we did it! The Teacher Approved podcast has finally made it to 100 episodes! This was always a dream of ours to do, so we wanted to think of a special way where we could celebrate with our loyal audience. We decided that whether you’ve been with us since the beginning or recently started listening, we wanted to compile a list of teacher podcast episodes. So we’re celebrating our 100...

When creating lessons and activities, we’re always striving for them to be engaging and promote active participation in the classroom. However, academic engagement is just part of what makes a student engaged. They also need to be behaviorally and emotionally or mentally engaged, which means they’re active in all aspects of the classroom. So in this episode, we’re sharing ways to increase student...

We know that classrooms vary by teacher, school, and districts, but one thing every classroom has in common is a need for attention signals. Whether your students are collaboratively working in the classroom, out at recess, or in the hallway and you need them to focus on you, attention signals are the most efficient way to do that. However, just because you give a signal, doesn’t mean it’s effecti...