Most of us are excited to get back into the classroom and teach a new group of students at the beginning of a new school year. Many of us are thinking about new teaching strategies to inspire students and new resources that can help us do our jobs better.
Here are some cool ideas to make your school year go a little easier.
STORAGE
Toothbrush holders work as great impromptu storage devices.
A clear plastic shoe bag can be used to store all kinds of small things, such as calculators, markers, erasers and more.
Use a tackle box to store markers, highlighters and other supplies.
Oriental Trading sells a range of classroom storage solutions online. Really Good Stuff sells a lot of, well, really good stuff like teacher supplies.
CLEANING
Use a child’s sock to clean off a dry erase board! A student can place the sock over their hand and clean the board easily.
Make arts and crafts cleanup a little easier by giving each student a masking tape bracelet, with the sticky side out. The students can quickly pick up tiny paper scraps using the bracelet.
Post a picture next to each area of the classroom (like the supply storage) showing how it should look when it’s clean, so students have a visual reference.
CRAFTS
Wikki Stix are affordable tools/toys that provide the opportunity for kinesthetic experiences and help teach fine motor skills.
TECHNOLOGY
So many software options are available these days to address common teaching strategies like timing lessons or helping students create audio or video assignments. Here are a few great ones, as suggested by Jeffery Sullivan.
Online Timers – Online-stopwatch.com has an on-screen timer. PC Chrono can be downloaded and installed so that it runs offline.
Creativity – MakeBeliefs Comix helps kids create their very own comic strip. Witty Comics uses pre-set templates to place images and words to create an impromptu comic. RealWorld Paint is a free image creation tool that can be downloaded and installed.
Activities – MarvelHQ has an Activities section that offers mazes, puzzles and games. Smithsonian History Explorer is a great resource with lesson plans and activities for students covering U.S. history.
Learning – Audiobooks can help challenged readers keep up with the classroom material. Sites like LibriVox, Loyal Owl and ThoughtAudio offer free audiobooks. Also, Storyline Online has an online streaming video program featuring famous actors reading aloud from children’s books.
These are just a few teaching strategies and resources that can help in the classroom. Welcome back!
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