1-833-933-4TFD Blog
Create More Space by Laura McDonnell
Discovering Ways to Empower and Connect in the Classroom What is the best way to set up your classroom? What is the best use of space in the classroom? And, how can we continue creating spaces for students to thrive? Because each teacher is different, each makeup of students is...
The Stay-at-Home Gratitude Scavenger Hunt by Laura McDonell
Listen Re-Discovering the Blessings that Surround Us “No duty is more urgent than giving thanks.” (James Allen) Being grateful is not automatic. Practicing gratitude is one of the quickest ways to lift your spirits and lift the spirits of people around you. How do People Respond? When asked what they...
Current Practical Application for Models for Early Childhood Education
Listen Every day of the pandemic seems to create more questions and fewer answers on how to educate our youngest students. However, in their fear, worry, and caution, educators may be forgetting that there are some excellent models already in existence from which we can pull experiences and resources that...
Non-Standard Units of Measurement in Early Math
We recently had a great question from a teacher. She asked if anyone else hated teaching non-standard units of measurement in math. That reminded those of us who teach math of many years of the same frustration and struggle. However, when we sat down and talked about it as a...
Talking to Young Children About Scary Things
Listen Many of us are frightened or overwhelmed right now, and children know that. It isn’t a matter of “if” they notice, but a matter of “when”. Teachers and parents alike have struggled with talking to their children about big, overwhelming topics since the dawn of time. It’s not new,...
Important Daily Language Routines for Pre-K
Listen Why? You may already have many routines established in your early childhood classroom, but do you know why you’re doing each thing? It’s an important question to ask yourself (and possibly the teachers around you). Some of the traditions and routines we’ve used for years just aren’t developmentally appropriate...
Goal-Setting with Young Students (Pre-K through 2nd Grade)
Listen Goals are like a road map. Setting and achieving goals are important life skills, and people aren’t born knowing how to do it. Many of the most successful people in the world rely on setting goals as motivation and a way to harness self-direction. Teaching children to set goals,...
Teachers as Facilitators
Listen Recently in a conversation with colleagues, one of our writers overheard a seasoned educator say, “Children can’t learn on their own. It’s obvious! Otherwise, there would be no need for teachers.” And there was a time - fairly recently, even - when that was true. However, now any child...
12(ish) Great Games for Math Learning in Grades K-2
Listen We love using games to reinforce learning skills! We went through our cabinets and lockers and pulled out some of our favorites for games that help kindergartners, first graders, and second graders with numeracy, addition, subtraction, and even money. So without further ado, here are a few of our...
Great Games for Learning, Part 1: High School ELAR & LOTE
Listen Having fun is psychologically and neurologically beneficial to learning. When students and teachers play, the brain produces a concoction of “happy chemicals”, namely dopamine and endorphins. Oxygen levels even increase. When there is an opportunity for collaborative risk and reward, learning is far more likely. The novelty created by...
What Happens in Pre-Kindergarten
Listen Read In education, it’s uncommon to have much of an opportunity to see what happens in other classrooms, let alone what happens on campuses of a different level. Yet everything done in one level is built upon all that has happened before it, and each new level provides a...
The Best Ways to Support Young Children In and Out of Class
Listen It seems like the longer I teach, the fewer skills students come into kindergarten with. Most students used to have numerous self-help and problem-solving skills, but now those skills are in the minority. Why is that happening? Why do more and more children come to school unable to do...