Excellent Teaching

Animals - 5 Fabulous Picture Books about Animals

5 Fabulous Picture Books about Animals

If you’re looking for great books for bright kids, I’ve got five fabulous picture books for about animals that I think you’re going to love. One of them is a triumph of children’s publishing you won’t want to miss. I’ve grouped them together because these are all books about animals!

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bingo

Best Tips for Bingo in the Classroom

Quality review activities are essential for content mastery. I’ve written about my favorite ways to review (boring) stuff, and one of those suggestions was review games. Bingo in particular makes a great review game, and there are some best practies for making it as effective as possible. If you like

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school supplies - review strategies

6 Great Classroom Review Strategies

I’ve got ten strategies I follow when to create quality review opportunities, even of boring stuff. Let’s face it: sometimes there are things our students (or children) need to know that aren’t that exciting. We know that review is essential to deep learning, but how do we create quality review

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teacher and students

Celebrating 185 Terrific Teachers!

To celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week (celebrated the first full week in May each year), I decided to save up my allowance and recognize some teachers. I sent an email out to the Gifted Guru Insiders (you can become one here), asking for people to nominate a teacher they thought would

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clock

New Year Teaching Ideas

Almost every teaching idea about New Year’s Day focuses on making resolutions. I wanted to create something different for teachers, and I wanted it to be something that had a variety of ideas. Of course it had be able to done virtually and it had to look good. Oh, and

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digital kanban board

Digital Kanban Board for Students

If you’ve got students or a child struggling to keep track of assignments or feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work they need to accomplish, a Kanban board may be the answer. A Kanban board is simple to use, motivating, and has proven its usefulness over decades. It’s odd to

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gifted student as tutor

Why You Should Not Use Gifted Students as Tutors

Gifted students should not be used as tutors for other students as standard practice. This should not be a controversial statement, and yet somehow it is. Gifted children should not be used as short little mini-teachers for other students for a number of reasons, not the least of which is

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girl in-front of laptop

Encouraging Words about Virtual Learning

Teachers shifting to virtual learning from an in-person only environment can feel overwhelmed. It’s hard not to get caught up in logins and device issues and constantly shifting requirements and keep focused on the core issues. I’ve written about steps to take to prepare for online teaching, and I’d like

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prepare for virtual learning

6 Steps to Prepare for Blended Virtual Learning

Are you facing a year’s worth of learning experiences designed for regular classroom instruction, not knowing where to begin to convert it to a whole new world of learning? (But not in a cool Aladdin/Jasmine kind of way with a song and a flying carpet.) You probably aren’t describing the

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girl with online class

How to Make Distance Learning Engaging

We can make distance learning more engaging for learners. I know this is true because I’ve been engaging hundreds of students simultaneously in distance learning, and I’m going to tell you all of my secrets. The key to engaging students in distance learning is energy. You know how they say

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