Classroom Connection – travelteachlove

Going Green (Screen) In the Classroom

January 11, 2019 No Comments

Well, we officially survived the holiday season! As we ease into the swing of things returning to school I thought it would be fun to take some time to reflect on my favorite project students completed so far this school year. I talked a little about our Holidays Around the World project in my last blog post, but I didn’t get a chance to share about the projects students completed. Students had a blast learning about a country of their choice and how they celebrate the holidays there. They worked hard researching, taking notes, and writing informational paragraphs. But it […]

Classroom Connection

Tech I’m Loving

November 16, 2018 No Comments

Podcasts, green screens, Google Classroom, and endless apps. The list seems to never end of new ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. Over the summer I poured over blogs, listened to educational podcasts, and scoured Instagram to catch up on the latest and greatest in technology to get inspired for the upcoming school year. Now that we have two and a half months under our belts, there are a few pieces of technology that I can’t imagine living without! 1.Remind- This is an oldie but a goodie! I have been using Remind for about 5 years now and I […]

Classroom Connection

Feel Good Friday

October 19, 2018 No Comments

Yesterday we started the positive vibes in the room with a little activity during Morning Meeting. I saw this activity on Instagram (I wish I could remember which teacher did it!) and knew right away I wanted to try it out in my own classroom. Each student picked a number, kept it secrete and wrote a positive comment to the student in our room whose number correlated to that number. It was a quick, fun way to get students thinking about others. I reviewed the notes and tucked them into student mailboxes to read and take home that afternoon. Today […]

Classroom Connection

SeeSaw for the Win!

October 12, 2018 No Comments

Over the summer I listened to some podcasts about a new tool I could use in the classroom called SeeSaw. Now granted I had seen a thing or two about it before on Instagram, but I hadn’t taken the time to research it to find out more. Why did I wait so long??? SeeSaw is both a website and app that allows students to create an online portfolio of work that is shared with their family. It has been super easy to use and the company even runs free PD sessions online, so getting up and started was a breeze. […]

Classroom Connection

Ditch the Desks! Why I Love Full Flexible Seating

October 2, 2018 No Comments

I scan the room and I can’t help but smile. Student are sitting at our low table illustrating vocabulary words softly talking, another student is standing and swinging her foot on the bar connected to the raised desk, and tucked into the cozy round chairs (so popular in our library section we had to make a rotation chart for who gets to use them) are two students hard at work. Everyone is working. Everyone is focused. Everyone is comfortable where they are. Flexible seating has been evolving in my classroom since the day I was first hired. Starting with just […]

Classroom Connection

Summer Classroom Furniture Finds

July 28, 2018 No Comments

I know it is still July and I should be lounging around, thinking about anything but school, but this is when I get most excited about school. With the summer ahead of me I have time for new classroom projects, researching new ideas and scouring Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration for next year. First project of the summer was transforming three discarded book shelves from dingy, sad, hand printed shelves into a teal dream. A little wash and paint goes a long way. I can’t believe my luck that my mum came across these beauties for free at her school. […]

Classroom Connection, Math

100s Chart Addition with Badminton

April 24, 2018 No Comments

Birdies went flying yesterday as students practiced addition facts. After an inspiring visit to the Target Dollar Spot this weekend I had an idea to merge badminton with our 100s chart painted on our school’s playground to practice math. Students found out it wasn’t as easy as it looked to land a birdie on the 100s chart. Cheers rang out when students landed one in a square. Since it was an introductory lesson to teach students how to play an outdoor math game, we played as a whole class. Normally students would play as a team, working together to land […]

Classroom Connection, STEAM

End of the Year STEM

April 13, 2018 No Comments

I have been working like crazy putting together new STEM lessons to do with my students as we wind down the school year. With a few holidays coming up I knew there would be opportunities to tie in STEM activities to reinforce student learning. First up, it’s finally Spring! (sort of) While the weather may beg to differ, it is indeed officially spring. With the start of a new season I thought, what better way to celebrate than with a Spring themed STEM lesson making windmills. Students had a blast constructing and testing out their windmill designs! It was a […]

Classroom Connection, Reading

Read Around the World

March 24, 2018 No Comments

A few weeks ago to cap off our reading week celebrating Dr. Suess’ birthday, our school had a reading marathon. It was an entire day dedicated to reading and doing reading activities. Honestly, it was my favorite day of the school year so far. I mean come on, reading, ALL DAY! How does it get any better than that?! I knew that reading all day, even with breaks in between for activities, might be a bit of a stretch for some of my second graders who don’t have enough stamina built up yet to do that. So I brainstormed some […]

Classroom Connection, Reading, Social Studies

Think Global! Retelling Stories and Folktales From Around the World

March 12, 2018 No Comments

There are so many simple ways to get students to think globally. Last week I had my students practice retelling a folktale when it came to me. Duh, if I am going to have students practice sequencing a folktale through retelling, why not add a simple question asking students to tell me where in the world the folktale originated? It was a simple one question addition to a graphic organizer that I could easily make myself. That thought was all I needed, I was off and running with more ideas. Instead of just including the question of where the folktale […]