Teacher planning is NOT something that comes naturally to me, and is something I have spent many years improving. Luckily, I have compiled a list of super easy lesson planning tips that will be useful for any teacher! When people who don't know me that well call me organized, I...
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One Simple Way to Improve Your Students’ Active Listening In The Classroom
One challenge you’ll definitely face every single September (especially if you are a maternelle teacher)?, Getting your French primary students to show active listening in the classroom! This can be a tough job for even the calmest 5 year olds, but if your students don't understand much French yet, getting...
Literacy Centres: 3 Ways to Help Your French Primary Students Be More Independent
Do any of these scenarios sound like you and your French primary students during your independent literacy centres? You've carefully explained in detail where to go and what to do at each literacy centre. When you tell students to go and get started, somebody looks at you as if you...
French Phonics: A Simple Solution for Teaching les Sons composés
One struggle that I've had with les sons composés as a French primary teacher? Teaching them in an effective, systematic way! You might be able to relate to this, depending on your school, but I have actually never been provided with a program or a curriculum to follow when teaching...
Homework Activities In the Primary Grades: Should You Be Sending It?
Homework... to send it or not to send it in the primary grades? Do you send homework activities in kindergarten? What about in grade one? Over the years, I have tried a variety of things, and thought a lot about homework activities in the primary grades. What I send home...
How to Use French Decodable Books to Teach Your Students to REALLY Read
Have you ever had this problem while using levelled, non- decodable books during guided reading with your French primary students? Your students are reading along, using their sight word knowledge, and then they get to the end of the sentence. There, they see a huge word that is something that...
Ending the School Year With Summer Math Activities and Crafts
Today, we will be talking all about one of my favourite June activities - summer math activities and crafts. June is definitely one of the craziest months of the school year! I have had some ridiculous things happen in the month of June throughout my career. Students bouncing off of...
The Best Kind of Word Searches for Early Readers
As a kid, I loved all kinds of word games, word searches, activity packs, etc. I would spend HOURS filling out books full of them. I am so excited to see my four year old daughter begin to enjoy them, too. That is why I decided to make these special...
Take Home Reading Bags Rotating: How to NOT Lose Your Mind!
My first year teaching, I remember switching out the guided reading books in my students’ take home reading bags was the BANE of my existence. Every Monday, I would try to find an activity my students could do independently that would take enough time for me to take out their...
Using Thematic French Writing Word Banks in Your Primary Classroom
I’ve said this in many other blog posts, and I’ll say it again… Teaching writing to primary students can be a huge challenge – especially in their second language! This is why I use Thematic French Writing Word Banks. Toss pandemics, virtual teaching, hybrid teaching, back & forth between online...