My Teaching Ideas - Ideas for Teaching 2nd Grade and 3rd Grade » Teaching Tools

Teacher’s Forum Now Open!

crystal — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 02:18:14 +0000

When I first started this website, my original intention was to share the various teaching ideas I have used over the years specifically in 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. However, over the last couple of years I have been blown away by the numerous, creative ideas that other teachers have posted in the comments of each article!

That was the “ah ha!” moment.

I wanted to create a place where preschool and elementary teachers could share ideas, get feedback, chat, etc. Teachers just like you are full of amazing ideas, and now you have a place to share them!

The forum is brand new, so it’s wide open for you to jump in and start sharing ideas, asking questions, etc. You’ll see that it is broken up into categories from preschool up to 5th grade to help organize discussions and make it easier to get what you want, when you want it.

So come on in, we can’t wait to meet you!

–> Click here to enter the new My Teaching Ideas forum <–

Learning Board Games for Elementary Grades

crystal — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 03:32:31 +0000

I absolutely love making learning as fun as possible, so whenever I can include some sort of learning board game into my curriculum, I will. The following games are just a few that I really enjoy using!

Great Games For The Overhead: Math – This is such a fun way to include the entire class into various math games. This book comes with fun overhead transparencies and printables for the children to use during the game. SO much fun!

30 Wonderful Word Family Games – This book has a lot of fun games to play with students with teaching word families!

Great Games for the Overhead: Reading – Here’s another fun overhead game, except this one covers various reading skills at the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade level. The book has overheads and printables for the students! Really engaging!

File-Folder Games for Math – Instant file folder games are always helpful, especially for centers. This book contains various Reading skills that are made into colorful file folder games.

These are fun Bingo games called “Wingo” that focus on phonics skills! I purchased mine at The Schoolbox.

If you need some “print and play” board games for various areas of the curriculum (elementary leveled), then visit the following website:

http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/gameboard.htm

This site is really great! There is a long list of colored printable games that just need to be printed. There are also random game cards and wonderful teaching tools. These make great center ideas!

Hope this helps and HAVE FUN with your learning board games for elementary grades!

Primary and Elementary Graphic Organizers for the Classroom!

crystal — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 03:27:26 +0000

I love to use graphic aids / graphic organizers in my second-grade classroom. Student response to stories, articles, books, and more is key to building comprehension of the primary-aged child. I try to include graphic organizers in my curriculum on a weekly basis. Sometimes finding just the right one can be distressing as you may need a graphic organizer for writing , reading, or other areas.. The following is a list of ideas and tips when searching for that perfect elementary graphic organizer to use in your primary classroom!

Graphic Organizer Summary

1. The Big Book of Reproducible Graphic Organizers: 50 Great Templates to Help Kids Get More Out of Reading, Writing, Social Studies and More – This book has a variety of grade appropriate graphic organizers for children. I love this particular book because the organizers are cross-curriculum (language arts, social studies, science, math, and study skills). These organizers are also visually appealing for the primary age-child and are unique enough to ensure challenged thinking!

2. Graphic Organizers And Activities For Differentiated Instruction In Reading – This is an awesome book for differentiated learning using graphic organizers. Each reading organizer is developed for usage for all those different levels of learning we see every day in the classroom. Leveled practice is key when teaching reading skills to children of various abilities. There are three levels (introductory, intermediate, and challenging) to support the children in your classroom! Wonderful teaching tool!

3. EdHelper has free printables of elementary graphic organizers. There are various types of free graphic organizers available for print out with Adobe Reader. I like that these organizers are sorted into categories for a more refined search. (General, Sorting, Graphing and Charts, Sequencing, Storytelling, Miscellaneous, etcÃ¢â‚¬Â¦)

Link: http://www.edhelper.com/teachers/graphic_organizers.htm

4. EduPlace has quite a collection of graphic organizers to choose from but the organizers are little plain, and they aren’t sorted into any categoriesÃ¢â‚¬Â¦it’s just a long list to have to go through to find what you are looking for. Also, many of these aren’t grade appropriate for the primary aged child.

Link: http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer

5. SmartDraw is a neat computer program that can be downloaded or bought in a hard copy form to create your own graphic organizers. There is a free download there to try it out for a period of time before a purchase is made.

Link: http://www.smartdraw.com/specials/mindmapping.asp

If you know of any other resources or examples of the best graphic organizers, please mention them in the comment section below!