A few years ago, I read Mike Jung’s Unidentified Suburban Object to my fifth-grade class for the first time. As always, I introduced the protagonist before I began. Her name is Chloe Cho, so I wrote that on the board. One of my students, who shared her last name, shoved his hand up in the air and asked why his name was on the board. “Because that’s the character’s last name,” I said…
I love, love, love when I can situate my math lessons in real-world contexts. Teaching financial literacy is such a great way to make math tangible and engaging. If you feel the same way and are looking for some fun Canadian money worksheets for kids, you’re in the right place! These Canadian money math worksheets will help students learn to count money, make change, and round amounts to the nearest coin or bill!
February is Black History Month in Canada and the US, and I’ve got a free article with questions for you English and/or Social Studies teachers! The Colored Hockey League was founded in 1895. They were a huge hit in Nova Scotia, but they’re virtually non-existent in our history books. What caused their untimely demise?
Here are some picture books and related material about Black history in Canada. Use them for Black History Month and throughout the year! Any books that were written by Black authors have been tagged with the #OwnVoices hashtag.
There are so many things you could spend your money on when setting up your first classroom. I know that I bought things when I first started teaching that I never ended up using… and there were things I wish I’d bought earlier to save myself so much time! Here are eleven things I feel were actually worth my money.
Before students start memorizing their multiplication facts, they need to understand how multiplication works. Math based on pure memorization will only get you so far! Here are five different ways you can introduce single-digit multiplication to your students. Even young students can engage with these math strategies and there is so much potential for making math visual, integrating music and the outdoors, and engaging in hands-on learning!
When I teach about puberty, I want all my students to understand that there is nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to how their bodies and their classmates’ bodies work. I especially want to push back against the stigma around discussing menstruation. The way I see it, puberty education and social justice are inextricably linked. This is what I do to bring in social justice perspectives when I teach my fifth-grade students about puberty!
As a kid, I actually didn’t mind tests. I was one of those kids that thrived under a time limit, crammed well, and was able to regurgitate information then immediately forget it. Looking back, I can see that my test-taking skills haven’t helped me much in my day-to-day life. When I started teaching, I knew I wanted to avoid tests as much as possible because I wanted a more authentic view of student learning. These four strategies have been my main modes of summative assessment.
Making inferences is such an important reading strategy, and it’s one that I find many of my students struggle with at the beginning of the year. In the upper elementary grades, we spend less time worrying about decoding and start to shift our focus to that deeper comprehension. That requires the ability to make inferences, and inferencing is a skill that needs to be taught!
Read aloud time is my favourite time of day in my classroom, and my students love it too. In fact, on the very rare occasion where we have a day without a read aloud, I am almost guaranteed to hear grumbling. This didn’t just happen on its own! Check out this post to see some ways you can breathe life into your read aloud time!
I’m a grade five teacher in beautiful B.C. I love teaching fifth graders because they’re old enough to have big conversations but still eager to have fun and use their imaginations. In the classroom, I love talking about social justice, engaging in hands-on math, and sharing great books. At home, you can probably find me creating resources for teachers, reading in a chair by the window, or buying more books.