The first day of school is typically filled with all kinds of emotions. You're excited to meet your new students, show off your fresh classroom, and dive in to a brand new year. You're also likely feeling over-whelmed, scatter-brained (feeling like you are forgetting something...), and pressed for time to get it all done before day one. Setting a positive tone on the first day of school is crucial to setting yourself up for success. In this episode, allow me to walk you through your survival gui...
Jul 26, 2020•20 min•Ep. 28
It may be one of your least favorite things to spend time and energy on, but many would argue that it is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you will do all year. I'm talking about classroom management, of course. Classroom management is the foundation from which you build your entire school year on. Failing to get it set in place could send you in a year-long tailspin of behavior issues, inconsistency, and hair-pulling frustration. Don’t make the same mistakes that I made as a new teacher. Make developing...
Jul 19, 2020•20 min•Ep. 27
Positive classroom communities can make or break your school year. It’s that simple. Inventing time in building a strong community in your classroom will serve you well all year. In this episode, I’m share how a positive classroom community can change your entire year (for the better), and how to do it! We’ll talk about simple ideas that work in ANY classroom as well as resources to help make it easy! And - if you want a little extra help and motivation, be sure to join the “Getting Your Year in...
Jul 12, 2020•16 min•Ep. 26
We all need a tune-up now and then. Whether you’ve been teaching for 1 year or 20 years, teachers are life-long learners. Not only that, education is ALWAYS changing (for better or worse), and it’s always worth investing your time into staying current with new teaching strategies and best practices in the classroom. In this episode we’re diving deep into the best instructional strategies and practices to increase student engagement. And - if you want the fast-pass to success, be sure to join the...
Jul 05, 2020•31 min•Ep. 25
What makes the crock-pot one of the best kitchen inventions? It’s the fact that you can prep ahead of time, set it, and then forget it. You do the work early on, and then you don’t have to think about it as you go about your day. Then, once dinner time rolls around, all you have to do is grab a fork! You can do the same when it comes to planning for a new school year, too. Spend some time early on planning and mapping out curriculum and systems that will serve you the whole school year. In this ...
Jun 28, 2020•29 min•Ep. 24
Welcome to week 2 of the "Getting Your Year in Gear" summer teacher challenge! Set the foundation for a successful school year by spending time BEFORE the school year starts getting organized! This episode is packed with helpful tips for how to organize everything in your classroom from student supplies, to teacher materials, to game pieces, math manipulatives, and more! To join thousands of teachers inside the free challenge: visit classroomnook.com/yearingear For full show notes for this episo...
Jun 21, 2020•17 min•Ep. 23
Welcome to week one of the "Getting Your Year in Gear" teacher summer challenge! This week we are discussing how to design the perfect classroom! I've got tips for choosing a classroom theme or color scheme, how to arrange your classroom to make the most of your space, classroom DIY projects for decorating on a budget, as well as bonus tips for how to make your classroom cozy and inviting! To join thousands of teachers inside the free challenge: visit classroomnook.com/yearingear For full show n...
Jun 14, 2020•18 min•Ep. 22
Join me this summer for the 2020 “Getting Your Year in Gear” FREE teacher summer challenge as we prep and plan for the new school year with intention and purpose! It’s a challenge like no other and it’s designed to help you map out your school year so that you can have an incredibly successful school year! We'll be tackling Back to School To join thousands of teachers inside the free challenge: visit classroomnook.com/yearingear For full show notes for this episode, visit classroomnook.com/podca...
Jun 08, 2020•14 min•Ep. 21
In this episode, you'll learn how to build a stronger classroom community through establishing reading partnerships with your students. Reading partnerships go well beyond traditional buddy reading, and can be used to cultivate meaningful conversations between students. You'll learn action steps for how to prepare and set up reading partnerships in your classroom, as well as tips for helping students engage in deep and meaningful connections about the texts that they read together. For complete ...
Jun 01, 2020•21 min•Ep. 20
Raise your hand if you just want to drop your things and run away from this school year! If you’re like me, you are SO ready to close the book on this school year. It’s been like no other year, full of a whole new set of challenges that we never expected to encounter. But - here we are. And you know what I’ve learned from it all? Teachers are freakin’ amazing! They made transitions and pivots and modifications in their teaching like a BOSS! I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this professio...
May 18, 2020•15 min•Season 1Ep. 19
We may be ending the school year unlike any other school year - virtually - but that doesn't mean you have to cancel all the fun! In this episode I'm sharing some simple and fun ways that you can end your school year during this time of distance learning. For complete show notes, visit classroomnook.com/podcast/18
May 11, 2020•17 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Looking for some inspiration to spice up your daily or weekly online class meetings? Check out these 10 fun teacher-tested, student approved activities that you can incorporate into your distance learning instruction on Zoom or Google Meet! For full episode details, links, and resources, check out the show notes at classroomnook.com/podcast/17
May 04, 2020•10 min•Season 1Ep. 17
As we think about where we are now in our school year with distance learning, there are many things that we CAN'T do. We can’t physically be with our students in our classrooms and therefore there are many activities, projects, and lessons that we just simply can't do. Things definitely look and feel a little (or a lot) different, and the way that we are teaching our students has most definitely changed. You might be feeling disappointed that this is the way you will be ending your school year, ...
Apr 27, 2020•9 min•Season 1Ep. 16
There's a new kid in class. And his name is “Distance Learning.” And we’re all not so sure how we feel about him. He’s been a little disruptive. He came to us with almost no notice or warning, and well, he doesn’t seem to be moving on any time soon. In fact, it looks as though many of us will be working with “Distance Learning” for the remainder of the school. You know what I’m talking about. Teachers all over the world are now in a new state of teaching. Something most of us have never done bef...
Apr 20, 2020•15 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Simply stated: Kindness needs to be a priority in your classroom. You can't do math or literacy centers if your students don't know how to work nicely in groups. You can't go on field trips if your students are constantly arguing on the bus on the way there. You can't have fun parties and events in your classroom if your students don't appreciate ANYTHING you do. It's super hard. Here's the reality - It's very hard to teach a room of students ANYTHING until you teach them to be kind. If you spen...
Apr 13, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 14
I loved teaching poetry, and for the most part, my students always loved our poetry unit. And -although I'm sharing this post with you in April (National Poetry Month), I want to encourage you to teach poetry all year long. You don't have to wait until Spring each year to bust out your poetry books - in fact - you shouldn't! Poetry is the perfect genre for teaching reading, writing, and speaking skills and strategies in a short period of time. Since poems are short, incorporating them into your ...
Apr 06, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 13
How many times do you waste minutes, hours, or even days searching for the perfect activity or lesson for students that you know you already have saved somewhere on your computer? You know the story…you’re about to teach a new unit and you remember a super fun lesson that you know would work perfectly. However, you just can’t seem to remember where you stored it on your computer. You search your desktop and computer files…endlessly. Then, when you finally find just what you’re looking for, you s...
Mar 30, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Wow - we are coming to a close on this mini-series all about author studies! If you've been following along from the beginning, get ready to hit the ground running with your own author study. In this final installment of the series, I want to get specific about the types of learning activities and reading responses that work well with an author study and will help enhance your students' author study experience. This episode is loaded with ideas and activities that work with just about any author...
Mar 23, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 11
The beauty of an author study is the ability to mold it and craft the instruction to your current classroom set-up and teaching style. Author studies work great with: whole-class instruction guided reading or small groups literature circles departmentalized classrooms picture book authors chapter book authors YOUR STUDENTS! The good news is there is no one right way to conduct an author study in your classroom. You can have a successful author study in your classroom no matter the set up or make...
Mar 16, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Author studies are a powerful way to help students fall in love with reading. After you've made the careful decision on what author you and your students will focus on, selecting great books is the next step! Great author studies include GREAT books that showcase the author's best work. And - we can use these books to not only hook our readers, but to teach reading (and even writing!) skills along the way! In this episode we dive deep into how to make the perfect curation of books that your stud...
Mar 09, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 9
There are a lot of things that we do as teachers to help turn our students on to reading. We hope that the books we read aloud to them or expose them to in our classroom libraries will help them to find a life-long love for reading early in life. One of my favorite ways to get students excited about reading is to have them participate in an author study. Author studies are a great way to get your students reading, talking, and ENJOYING new books in your classroom -- all by the same author. Putti...
Mar 02, 2020•17 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Let's face it. There are some things that students learn in school, take a test on, and then don't reeeeally need to remember ever again. ( um - 10th grade logics and proofs anyone? ) However, there are MANY things that we teach our students that are the building blocks for much of what they will learn in future grades. Math facts are one of those things. Knowing them is the foundation for sooo much of what is to come in their learning, and NOT knowing them creates a huge barrier to our students...
Feb 24, 2020•9 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Audio books are great for more than just a listening center. Although they are likely a staple in your reader's workshop instruction, they have potential that goes far beyond reading centers! Using audio books can benefit your elementary students in so many ways. Of course they can be a great model of fluency and expression, but they also help develop listening skills, give students the opportunity to focus only on the content, rather than the act of reading itself, and even can be a great tool ...
Feb 17, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Do you have a beautiful and organized looking classroom? Are all your lessons plans prepped and ready for the rest of the week/month/year? Does everything in your classroom match perfectly? Do you have a cute teacher planner? What if I told you that being an effective teacher didn't depend on your classroom's color scheme or decor? Don't get me wrong. I LOVE a pretty classroom, but today I'd like to share with you 7 habits that I truly believe are the foundation to being an effective and success...
Feb 10, 2020•7 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Music can be so influential in the way we feel or think. Music has always played a huge part in my life growing up and even today. And - when it comes to the classroom, there are ENDLESS ways to use music to spark excitement in learning. Music can be a powerful tool in the classroom to set the tone for the day, or even to inspire and motive students in their learning! It's a teaching strategy that EVERY teacher should be using regularly in their classroom. If you're not already using music in th...
Feb 03, 2020•10 min•Season 1Ep. 4
It was the first day of school. I had *some* idea about the kinds of students that would enter in my classroom that year, but I had NO idea that the struggle would begin day 1. Let me paint you a picture. I was in an integrated 4th grade classroom with 23 students and 4 adults. I was working along side a special ed teacher (who was actually just a long term sub for the teacher on maternity leave - she was amazing though!) and 2 of my students had one-on-one aids. Our classroom was small and the ...
Jan 27, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 3
It's no secret - teaching history in the elementary classroom can be a struggle. Teachers are faced with the challenge of making people and events of the past relate-able to young students who have a hard time even remembering or caring about the events and people of last week , let alone last century ! That's why making history come alive in your elementary classroom is so crucial to making students care about what they are learning. As teachers of young students, we are setting the stage to de...
Jan 19, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Teachers often put a lot of their focus on monitoring and tracking their students' reading abilities and often forget to provide opportunities for students to connect with other readers in their classroom. Helping our students to feel part of a classroom community of readers can have some many positive impacts on their attitude toward reading. In this episode, Rachael shares 3 simple reading activities and practices that you can learn about today and implement in your classroom tomorrow that wil...
Dec 20, 2019•10 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Welcome to The Classroom Commute Podcast! If you have a classroom and a commute, then you're in the right place! The Classroom Commute Podcast is THE place for busy teachers who want actionable tips, simple strategies, and a little fun on your ride in to school! Carpool with Rachael each week as she helps to send you in with a grin! In this first introductory episode, learn all about the host, Rachael Parlett, why she started this podcast, and what you can expect from future episodes! Head to Th...
Dec 20, 2019•4 min
