Shows / Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
Do you ever feel like there’s just not enough time in the day to be the kind of teacher you really want to be? We know that feeling and we’re here to help! Each week on The Teacher Approved podcast, we discuss how to be the teacher you dream of being by elevating what matters and simplifying the rest. Join co-hosts Emily and Heidi of Second Story Window as they share research-based and teacher-approved strategies you can count on to make your teaching more efficient and effective than ever…
Episodes
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
55. Thriving as a Teacher: One Helpful Strategy
We have to confess something - we’re both suckers for personality frameworks. We believe they help pinpoint strengths and weaknesses that help you be more…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
54. What is The Science of Reading? Busting the 6 Biggest Myths of SOR
If you’ve been in education long enough, you know all too well about the pendulum swing, trends, and buzzwords surrounding education and new ways to teach…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
53. How Teachers Can Name What Matters to Survive the Mid Year Slump
You’ve hit the time of year where the newness of teaching has worn off, your kids might be a little too comfortable with you and their peers, your classroom is…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
52. 10 Teacher Approved Tips for Elementary Teachers That We Think You'll Love
Today is such a special episode because we are celebrating 1 year of the podcast! This is something we always dreamed about doing, but never thought it was…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
51. 4 Reliable Ways to Hit Reset on a Rough Day of School
Some days our students are in a funk, some days we’re in a funk, and some days, we’re both in a funk. When that happens, what do you do? When you’re having a…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
50. 3 Guidelines to Make Classroom Transitions Work Smarter Not Harder [Classroom Transition Series]
For the past few weeks we’ve been taking a deeper dive into classroom transitions. We’ve covered two different characteristics of transitions: having clear…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
49. Rapid Classroom Transitions: How to Save 45 Hours a Year [Classroom Transition Series]
Today, we’re continuing our conversation from last week that’s all about classroom transitions. Several studies have noted 3 characteristics of efficient…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
48. How to Make Classroom Transitions Simple With Clear Beginnings and Endings [Classroom Transition Series]
When thinking about all of the different elements of an effective classroom, we tend to plan for the big items: procedures, routines, and activities. And while…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
47. 6 Secrets to Literacy Small Group Success with Sara Marye
Take a look at your classroom instruction. If small groups aren’t part of your instruction, now’s the perfect time to implement them! Sara Marye, host of…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
46. 20 Best Inside Recess Ideas That Your Students Will Love
It’s most kids’ favorite (and some teacher’s too!) part of the school day: recess! Recess provides an opportunity for kids to release some energy and push the…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
45. January Classroom Jump Start
You took some time off to rest and relax over winter break, and now you’re refreshed and ready for the second half of the school year! But let’s be honest, it…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
44. Your One Word Theme for the Year [TEACHER FAVORITE]
We’ve always said that the beginning of the school year in September has the same feeling as New Year’s in January, which makes it fitting that we’ve chosen…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
43. Bouncing Back After a Break [TEACHER FAVORITE]
We hope you’re loving your break from school, and that it includes lots of relaxing and rejuvenation. However, you know that returning to school is soon…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
42. Shake Up Shared Reading with Cassie Tabrizi and Maria Walther
We want to help provide you with as much knowledge, strategies, and activities that will benefit your students as much as possible. So, we have another fun…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
41. How to Find More Time to Teach Writing with Megan Polk
We’re always looking for ways to help teachers be more efficient and maximize their time, and sometimes, we can’t do that alone. We have a unique opportunity…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
40. 2 Easy Things All Teachers Should Do Before Winter Break
In the weeks before a big break, especially winter break, teachers are in survival mode. You’re managing behaviors, planning lessons, and balancing…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
39. Our Top 20 Christmas Books For Your Classroom
As you all know, we’re big fans of books, whether we’re reading them for ourselves or to our students. Reading Christmas books during this time of year is…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
38. How to Survive December in the Classroom: 3 Creative Teaching Tips
As the holiday season approaches, it’s important to be aware how hectic and unpredictable this time can be for teachers, but also how fun and memorable it is…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
37. Holiday Behavior Management Tips to Help You Survive Until Winter Break!
We’ve talked before about reward systems on the podcast and how we’re not their biggest fans. However, there’s always an exception to the rule, and that’s when…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
36. How Teachers Can Plan Lessons The Week Before a Holiday Break
During the first few weeks of school, a teacher’s focus is establishing routine, routine, routine! We know that’s the basis for a successfully run classroom…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
35. 5 Ways to Increase Student Engagement - Our Secret Weapon for Teachers
The recipe for a successful classroom includes a mixture of procedures, lesson plans, activities, and relationships. But the top secret ingredient? Student…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
34. Plan the Perfect Halloween Class Party With 7 Easy Steps
Have you ever had an idea for a party, but struggled on how to efficiently execute your plan? We’re raising our hands because we’ve definitely been there…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
33. Class Party Success - Our 7 Step Class Party Planning Checklist
Class party. Those two words can either bring excitement and joy to your face, or it can stir up stress and anxiety as a teacher. While having a class party…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
32. 5 Classroom Management Questions to Help Banish Bad Class Habits
You may have hit the end of your honeymoon phase with your class, and the procedures you put in place at the beginning of the year may be fading in their…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies31. 3 Easy Tweaks to Make Homework a Homerun
At the beginning of each year, we determine our classroom procedures and our policies around certain items. One of those policies that is up for debate each…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies30. Why Thinking Like Martha Stewart Will Transform Your Conferences
Having parent teacher conferences can be stressful, a little uncomfortable, and uneasy, depending on the conversations you’re going to have with parents. But…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
29. How to Be a Parent-Friendly Teacher
It has been said that parents are your biggest allies as a teacher, which is so true. Having parents on your side during the school year helps make your year…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
28. How to Launch Morning Meeting
It’s no secret that we love and value the importance of procedures and routines, and one of our favorite routines is our classroom morning meeting. We find it…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies27. Your One Word Theme for The Year
In many ways, the beginning of a new school year resembles what all of us celebrate at the start of a new calendar year in January...New Years. It’s a time for…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies26. The Cheapest Classroom Management Tool
As teachers, we tend to spend a lot of our own money on things for our classrooms. It can range from art supplies, flexible seating, extra school materials, to…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
25. Living in Your Season
It’s no surprise that the month of August can bring teachers a lot of emotions and stress. After all, preparing for back to school is a big task to tackle! We…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
24. First Week Wins
Each year, we anticipate the first day of school and spend all of our energy planning to make it run smoothly and perfect for our classroom of new students…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies23. Your Best Back to School Tips
With school just around the corner for many of you, that back to school feeling is getting closer and closer. We all strive to be the best teacher versions of…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies22. 3 First Day Truths
Well friends, we have officially hit August! As teachers we know exactly what that means: summer is starting to come to a close while the beginning stages of…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
21. Guided Discovery
When students enter your classroom the first day and weeks of school, there’s a list of things to do and go over that is a mile long. Towards the top of that…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
20. Mastering Morning Routines
We’ve been talking a lot lately about how to start back to school effectively and setting yourself and your students up for success. Two ways to have an…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies19: Your Back to School Goals
While back to school activities are fun and allow you to get to know your new students, we want to challenge you to think about WHY you’re choosing that…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
18. Procedures for Success!
The task of setting up your classroom with procedures and routines can be daunting and time-consuming, but it’s worth it in the long run. So in today’s…
- Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies
17. A Spelling Method That Works
There are so many different approaches to how to teach spelling. Yet, very few of them seem to actually teach kids how to spell! The truly ideal spelling…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies16. Easy Summer PD
Summer is a great time to work on professional development, but we all don’t have the time or money to sit at a conference. In today’s episode, we’re sharing…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies15. Own Your Teacher Wins with Kelsey Sorenson from Wife Teacher Mommy
We all have goals and things we want to accomplish. But do you ever sit down and acknowledge all it took to get there? On today’s episode, we have guest Kelsey…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies14. Best Summer Ever
The last few episodes we’ve been talking about how to design your summer and last week was all about Heidi designing her summer. So in today’s episode, we’re…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies13. Design Your Summer
Last week’s episode, we discussed how you can design your summer with recovery and readiness in mind so that you can start the upcoming school year from a…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies12. Recovering from the School Year
It’s that point in the year where summer is just around the corner and that’s the only thing on our mind. The exact way that we each spend our summers may be…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies11. Closing The Year
After 2020, we all know how important closure is at the end of the school year. In this episode we walk you through how to include meaningful closure in your…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies10. What You Can Do Now for Next Year
Nothing makes us feel more accomplished than doing something now that we will be grateful for later. At the end of the year, it’s hard to think about the…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies9. Breaking Up With End of Year Awards
The end of the year brings up a lot of wonderful school traditions. Some of those traditions include field day, whole school dance festivals, and a very common…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies8. Making it to the Finish Line!
We can see it - the light at the end of the tunnel that is the end of another school year! Although we can see it, sometimes getting in the mindset and getting…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies7. The Secret to End of Year Survival
For a lot of us teachers, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel that leads us to summer. We’re so close, but yet there are still so many more days to…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies6. Morning Meeting: An Essential Routine
Our favorite way to start our day was with a morning meeting with our classes. So in today’s episode, we’re diving into why having a morning meeting is an…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies5. Ditch Your Test Review (Try This Instead)
While our first thought is to review, review, review, we’d like to switch that thought to something different - retrieval practice. In today’s episode, we’re…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies4. Bouncing Back After a Break
We recognize that any transition after break can be difficult, for both you and your students. In this episode, we discuss eight strategies that help with…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies3. Strengthening the Brain
We’ve all heard the saying your brain is like a muscle. But what does that truly mean? Basically, the more we use it, the stronger it gets. We can apply this…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies2. Rethinking Read Alouds
What read alouds do you remember from when you were a student? Some of the books that are really memorable for us from elementary school are Where the Red Fern…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies1. Getting to Know You
This week, we're getting to know you as we invite you into our brand new co-hosted podcast, Teacher Approved! We are so excited to share this show with you and…
Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & StrategiesWelcome to Teacher Approved!
Welcome to Teacher Approved, hosted by Heidi and Emily! With over two decades of teaching experience under our belt, we know how rewarding yet challenging…