Category: Back To School

Young child using a smartphone under bed covers at night, illustrating the sleep deprivation and phone-based childhood issues in The Anxious Generation
ADHD & Focus, Back To School, Mental Health, Parents, Professional Development
Lisa

The Anxious Generation TLDR: The Quick Version for Busy Parents and Teachers

I wish someone had handed me a short, plain-language guide to The Anxious Generation instead of 400 dense pages. I started the audiobook when it first came out and gave up partway through, because as a parent who has personally struggled with pretty much everything Haidt describes, it was a lot to sit with. I suspect I’m not the only one. I think a fair number of parents have avoided this book entirely because they also already have a pretty good sense of how bad screens and social media have been for their kids, and reading 400 pages confirming that feels like more than they can handle right now.

So here’s the short version. If you want the full read, with all the classroom stories, book recommendations, and personal detours, check out the full post here. This is just the highlights.

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Two children lying on a play mat surrounded by notebooks, using a laptop and tablet instead of the notebooks nearby, illustrating the screen-based versus play-based childhood theme in The Anxious Generation
ADHD & Focus, Back To School, Mental Health, Parents, Professional Development
Lisa

The Anxious Generation for Teachers: A Book Summary and Classroom Guide

If you’re a teacher or a parent (or both, like me), you’ve probably heard people talking about The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. I want to walk you through what’s actually in it, from a teacher’s perspective, and give you some practical takeaways for the classroom and home.

There is one theme that I believe deeply about parenting and this books reiterated my deep held belief and that is, Get the children out of the house to experience life.

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A bright yellow backpack packed with pencil, paint, scissors, calculator and notebook on a blue background evoking back to school energy and creativity
Back To School, Mental Health, Parents, Professional Development

Back to School Tips for Teachers: A Veteran’s Guide to Surviving the First Few Weeks

Lisa

There’s a Bored Teachers meme that I recently saw, and it was a first-year teacher asking a veteran how they manage to do it all. The veteran’s response was that the didn’t do it all. She picks her battles. She sets boundaries. She doesn’t grade everything, doesn’t always turn in her plans on time, doesn’t try to impress anyone. She gets her job done within school hours and saves the rest of herself for her family.

If you’re a new teacher reading this in the chaos the first week of school or back to school season, I have a few tips for you that I have learned over the years.

The beginning of the school year is exhausting in a way that’s hard to explain to anyone outside education. It’s not just the hours, it’s the sheer volume of new names, new systems, new copies, new emails, new everything, all landing at once. So consider this my list of back to school tips for teachers, veteran teacher to newer teacher, for keeping your energy up and protecting your sanity through it.

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First Chapter Friday classroom bulletin board displaying featured books to spark student reading interest
Back To School, ADHD & Focus, Book Club, Classroom Library, Read Aloud

First Chapter Friday for Fifth Grade Students

Lisa

Looking to start First Chapter Friday for Fifth Grade students in your elementary or middle school classroom?

Sharing the first chapter of a novel or text builds interest and understanding for your students and motivates them to finish the book. While the booklists were created for fifth grade, the books list may be great for fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students.

What is First Chapter Friday for Fifth Grade?

First Chapter Friday for fifth grade students sets the stage for the students to preview a variety of books throughout the year. The premise is basic enough, when you have time, read the first chapter (or first few chapters or pages) of a book aloud for your students.

When students take the time to start book, they usually get hooked. First Chapter Friday is kind of like an extended sneak peek of a text.

You can read more about the details of what First Chapter Friday is at First Chapter Friday Books and Resources for Upper Elementary & Middle School

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ADHD & Focus, Back To School, Managing Behaviors, Parents

Report Card Comments for Struggling Students

Lisa

What do you say when you have a student that is a hot mess, does nothing or is the worst student you have ever had the experience of teaching? Sure, it’s easy to write a comment about an easy student who is a pleasure to have in class. But, what do you write when you have to write something but feel like you only have negative things to say?

Read on for some suggestions to help you write thoughtful, well written report card comment.

Close up of blue vintage elementary school report card
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Back To School, Comprehension, Elements of Plot

Teaching Internal and External Conflict in Reading

Lisa

Teaching internal and external conflict is more than just teaching the vocabulary associated with this reading skill. Successfully navigating and understanding the conflict within a story is essentially the reason for going on any reading journey. All stories require conflict, without it there would be no story to tell and it would be boring for the reader to continue.

Giving students the skills to identify internal and external conflict helps increase students skills as independent readers and viewers of any type of story. Read on for tips on how to engage students and introduce internal and external conflict in your next reading lesson.

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Multiethnic mixed-race pupils classmates schoolchildren students standing in line waiting for boarding school bus before starting new educational semester year after summer holidays
Back To School, Classroom Library, Classroom Organization, Managing Behaviors

Engaging Back to School Reading Activities for Upper Elementary

Lisa

These back-to-school reading activities include read-alouds, classroom-library introductions, student reading surveys and movement-based reading discussions for students in 4th, 5th and 6th grade.

I have developed a variety of engaging back to school reading activities for upper elementary classrooms. I love to start every school year off with a variety of engaging back to school reading activities, trying to capture the joy and excitement I feel for reading and trying to pass that on to my new class of fifth grade students. Read on for some ideas on engaging back to school reading activities for upper elementary students.

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