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Incorporating a warm-up or “bellringer” activity into your class time can have many benefits. This is an opportunity to hit on skills that might otherwise not make it into your regular lessons, or skills that are important to your “unwritten curriculum” like lessons on life skills and social emotional learning. Another benefit to bellringers is …
The ELA Matters team has collaborated to bring you a range of fantastic back-to-school activities. These activities are not only designed to help you get to know your students on a deeper level but also to foster a sense of community.
Using collaborative posters is a fun, low-risk activity that is a great way to begin creating community in your classroom.
Why Include Social Emotional Learning in ELA? Creating a classroom community is essential at the beginning of a new school year as it fosters a positive learning environment where students feel comfortable and safe to express themselves and learn from each other, which can positively impact students’ social and emotional well-being. Social emotional learning (SEL) …
It’s hard to believe that it is time to start thinking about the next school year. The moment has arrived to shift our focus towards the back-to-school season. And you know what that means? New faces, new learners, and new adventures await us in the coming year. But here’s the thing, if we want our …
The end of the school year can be a stressful time, but taking a few moment now to plan and organize with help make the transition back to school in the fall smoother.
Mentor texts are one of the most powerful ways to teach writing because they offer students both a model to follow (in other words, build in scaffolding) as well as inspiration for what to say. If you’re looking for fun and engaging ways to incorporate mentor texts into the secondary ELA classroom, read on for …
Over the years, Sami has tried to use a variety of classroom routines to help students know what is coming: taped areas on the whiteboard, paper signs at the door, verbal reminders, folders with classwork, and more to help students be more organized throughout the year. For the past few years, she has consistently been …
What are digital portfolios? Student writing portfolios are not new in the world of education, but digital options have made portfolios increasingly more engaging and dynamic in the last decade or so. Portfolios are essentially a collection of student work in various forms to demonstrate learning over time and to allow students to reflect on …
Icebreakers and community building activities can be fun… so fun, in fact, that it can be easy to get carried away. If you’re like me, there’s been more than a few years you’ve made it to week 3 only to realize your way behind on your pacing guide. One of my favorite ways to build …
