Teacher's Brain Blog

How To Teach Students To Be A Good Citizen

August 6, 2021 teachersbrain education, Teaching Tips

We teach many things in the primary grades like math, writing, and reading. Apart from that, we also teach things like social skills, listening, following directions, and how to be kind. Another important subject to teach is how to be a good citizen.

Students can be good citizens by following rules, being responsible, helping others, being respectful, and making good decisions. This doesn’t come naturally to younger learners, so we must remember this concept and include it in our lessons.

I created my Civics and Government resource to help teach about rules and the importance of being a good citizen!

This resource covers many concepts that will give students a strong foundation. They’ll learn how to become good citizens by teaching them about rules and laws, conflicts, and fair decisions in a fun and engaging way. It has a tattle tale lesson plan, interactive notebook pages, posters, center activities, and a Write the Room Activity.

Included in this resource you’ll get 9 full weeks of lesson plans including:

Weekly detailed lesson plans for 9 Weeks
Home Connection parent letter
American History journal cover
Word Bank for the Journal
KWL
Printables to insert as a journal or use individually covering 9 weeks of American history
Rubric for the journal
Nine interactive notebook pages (suggested to do once a week on Fridays)
An optional Interactive Notebook (If you don’t already have a spiral started for students to create their interactive pages.)
Classroom posters
Primary source activity
Months of the year (What Comes Next)
Write the Room activity
Sort the Pictures (rules vs laws)
Tattle Tale Officer – Teach students the difference of being helpful or hurtful
Big Problem, Medium Problem, Small Problem Posters

These activities can be used on their own or in centers! After this unit, students will understand how to be good citizens and the importance and value of rules. Check it out here!

Looking for more resources for elementary? Check out these engaging geography activities!

In what ways do you like to teach students to be good citizens? Let me know in the comments!

How Are Virtual Field Trips Helpful in Education

August 2, 2021 teachersbrain Back to School, Teaching Tips

The world is at your fingertips thanks to technology! I find that resources like virtual field trips are terrific for providing experiences for students in your classroom who might not have opportunities to visit places across the globe.

There is nothing quite as exciting as a field trip for students. There is also nothing quite as exhausting for teachers as a field trip. Virtual field trips can provide excitement to learning about locations, animals, culture, or imagination while connecting across your subject areas. You also don’t need a permission slip signed and returned!

How are virtual field trips helpful in elementary education?

Teachers say that in-person trips and virtual visits provide real-world text connections.
Technology allows students to travel around the world.
Students gain cultural understanding when they are exposed to other countries.
Virtual field trips allow learners to engage and explore new places.
Teachers are not exhausted by planning and attending an in-person field trip.
There are no worries about forgetting lunches or finding volunteers to chaperone.
Students can learn about animal habitats or dangerous places like a volcano!
They are FREE!

It is hard to replace visiting real places to help enhance learning experiences, but during the pandemic, I found virtual field trips beneficial.

You don’t have to buy anything to make a virtual trip. There are lots of places like the San Diego Zoo online that have fantastic links to see animals in real-time. I like to have students dress up as part of the trip theme, include writing, centers, math, or science activities to complete the field trip.

If you don’t want to plan a virtual field trip, for just a few bucks on TpT, you can find them already made and ready to take your class on some exciting adventures!

Here are a few popular field trips for K-2 Classrooms:

Beach Themed – Learn about beach safety and what it would be like to go to the beach.
Earth Day – Take your class to the recycling center safely!
Camping Themed Trip – See a bear and other animals while learning about camping.
Zoo Trip – Be their favorite teacher by taking students to the zoo! They can find hidden animals, write about the trip, take a plane ride, and more!
Wizard School – This is a GREAT way to teach your class about fiction and non-fiction stories. Students will visit a school for wizards, use their imaginations to write their own stories, learn about the life cycle of a frog and enjoy a home project with parents!

I hope you have fun learning with your students this year in the comfort of your own classroom!

Read all about How to Set Up Your Virtual Classroom

Engaging Geography Lessons For Kindergarten And First Grade

July 30, 2021 teachersbrain kindergarten survival, Teaching Tips

When you think of teaching kindergarten and first grade students, you often think of letters, numbers, reading, math, etc. Those subjects are extremely important, but it is also beneficial to them to introduce the subject of geography!

Learning about the different countries around the world is so important. To these kiddos, they may not even realize that there is more out there besides what they can see. It’s so fun to teach them about all of the different countries, continents, and people around the world and watch their eyes light up in wonder.

Learning about geography is so vital to students because:

It teaches them about the diversity of locations and cultures in other countries around the world.
It helps them know where they are and what else is there- giving them a sense of location.
It helps them understand the impacts of changes in the environment on land and people.
It helps them understand and appreciate nature.
It helps them understand the world and their place in it.

For kindergarten and first graders, you want to start with the basics to introduce the topic. First, teach them about maps and globes, cardinal directions, landforms, bodies of water, etc. This will help them understand the essentials as you get more detailed in your lessons.

After they understand that, try introducing our country and the states. You can teach students where they are located. Make it extra engaging by teaching about the locations of famous landmarks or attractions. Next, get the students involved by asking them about their favorite vacation destination and then finding it on the map together. Geography can be so fun!

If you are ready to dive into geography with your students, I have THE go-to geography resource for you.

My Geography Resource includes 9 weeks of geography lessons and hands-on activities that are perfect for kindergarten or first grade students. It has everything you need including lesson plans covering positional words, landforms, bodies of water, cardinal directions, maps, globes, personal information, and seasonal weather changes. It has crafts, interactive notebook pages, posters, a “Me On The Map” flip book, and a write the room activity.

Here is a breakdown of the 9 weeks:

Week 1: Positional words to describe locations
Week 2: Identify maps and globes
Week 3: Cardinal directions
Week 4: Identify land and water on a map
Week 5: School and community places
Week 6: Personal information (phone number and address)
Week 7: Landforms
Week 8: Bodies of water
Week 9: Seasonal Weather

Additionally, you will get posters and directional signs for your classroom, a fun Earth hat, photo instructions of how to put materials together.

Check it out here!

For more social studies resources, check out my TpT shop!

Teachers Pay Teachers Freebies for Back to School

July 26, 2021 teachersbrain Back to School, Teacher's Pay Teachers

Back to school time is the BEST time to grab some freebies! We have spent our summer money, so spending is tight. There is a feeling of excitement to go back to school and the dread of not wanting to go back and give up our summer. What better time to grab some back-to-school freebies to save you time and money?

If you are an elementary school teacher or a homeschool mom, we have some amazing back-to-school resources for you that are FREE! I teamed up with a few other teacher-authors to bring you some favorites! All you have to do is click the images of the resources you want below and DOWNLOAD from TpT.

This is our way of saying thank you for all you do!