"Teachers are nothing less than incredible, creative, brilliant people. They find ways to solve problems in ways that are not only ingenious but also usually pretty cheap!

We call these "teacher hacks"."

A great list of books to read aloud to students in the first days of school.

Also consider:
Maybe - by Kombi Yamada - a book about the endless possibilities in all of us.
What Do You Do With A Problem - by Kombi Yamada - a great book to introduce and discuss the struggles you may face together as a class.

Add your favourites in the comments section below!

"Getting to know the students in your classroom can be tricky. It can be even tougher to connect when you’re teaching online. Despite the challenge, it’s more important than ever to find ways to check in and strengthen your relationship. Not sure where to begin? Here’s a list of 50 questions to ask elementary kids throughout the year."

(This article says the prompts are for elementary students, but they will really work for any age, adults included).

A student’s sense of belonging can come from connections with both peers and adults. This downloadable guide includes five strategies for building strong relationships with students and creating a positive school culture where everyone feels they belong.

*Activities & Templates are provided!

Some unique ways to get to know your new crew of students at the start of the year!
*surveys
*geeky show and tell
*try a maker project to learn their creative process
*scavenger hunt
*find out what they want to learn with a student leadership team
*tap into sense of wonder

Research shows that children are more likely to succeed academically and are less likely to engage in violent behavior if their families are involved in their education. Many parents say, however, that they feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in their children's schools. Teachers often feel under attack by parents who are highly involved. Learn how to bridge the gap. Included: A dozen activities to promote parental involvement and ten tips for involved parents.

Classroom Culture

Instill a sustainable, positive culture in your classroom with these lessons and activities.

Elementary - 8 Activities for Building a Compassionate Classroom Culture

Middle School - 7 Activities to Foster Decision-Making and Character Skills

High School - 6 Ways to Embed Mental Wellness into Classroom Culture

During the first weeks of school, your goal as a teacher is to build a PBL classroom culture with your students.

Starting off the year strong by building relationships and trust with parents through an early welcome. This video was created by Jessica Wall and Pam Sawatzky for the 2021-22 Sun West iLearn sessions.A strategy guide for educators is also included. 

"From AI to cellphone bans, being thoughtful about kids' media and tech use has never been more important."

Resources for: AI (free PD course for teachers), digital distractions, media, family engagement, getting set up for success, back to school activities!

Thom Gibson shares his ideas on how to design student jobs for your classroom community.
This fits into Distribution of Leadership in our REORDER framework and fosters developing 21st century competencies or skills.

"Humor, goofiness, joy, fun — these were actually vital to developing a creative classroom culture. When I taught middle school, we had a wordplay wall at the back with ridiculously bad dad jokes (things like “fire drill” and “slow jams” and “graduated cylinder”). We had Easter Eggs hidden throughout the classroom. We had our own version of a Rick Roll. If someone asked you to “share a link,” you had to “Cher a link” instead, sending them to a music video from Cher. "

This excellent resource includes videos, and some reading. It's very engaging - and fun! It's all about bringing joy to your classroom - which happens to spark community, creativity and foster risk taking! Win win win!

Teachers and students come to school bringing a wide range of backgrounds, languages, abilities, and temperaments. Get things off to the best start by asking them to respect their differences and make the most of their similarities. By sharing information on their lives and dreams, students and teachers can build community in the classroom that will support literacy instruction throughout the school year.

*Icebreakers
*Team building
*Party Games
*Classroom Games
*Board Games
*Card Games

Free Instructions (step-by-step) for good icebreaker ideas! On this website you will find over 100+ of our favorite family friendly icebreakers and group activities. These easy-to-follow guides are useful for a wide variety of settings: classrooms, corporate training and team building, camps, youth groups, parties, retreats, hanging out with friends! Please share this site with your friends!

Below, you can find them sorted by your group size (small, medium, large and extra large) and by type (active, get-to-know-you, team building, party game, etc.).

This Back to School Package sets you up to have an inclusive classroom,

Here is a list of all eleven resources included in this amazing inclusive classroom pack:
Intermediate Words of Affirmation Word Search
Intermediate Back to School Mindfulness Colouring Pages
Intermediate Inclusive Classmate Challenge Cards
Intermediate What Makes Me Special Social Media Template
Intermediate Words of Positivity Whole Class Activity
Intermediate Canadian Teacher Planner 2021-2022 School Year
Intermediate Inclusive Class Meet the Teacher PowerPoint
Back to School Intermediate Student Checklist
Canadian Teaching Calendar 2021-2022 School Year
Back to School Intermediate Teacher Checklist
Welcome Back to School Intermediate Meditation Activities

Summer vacation has come to an end and school is back in session! Students will reminisce about their summer fun as they follow a step-by-step HTML/CSS tutorial in the Text Code Editor, where they'll create their own web page that captures the spirit of their summer adventures. By the end of this lesson, students will have combined creativity with problem-solving skills while reinforcing coding concepts and HTML/CSS syntax.

Students write an owner's manual that helps them get to know their classroom, provides them with a sense of ownership, and lets others know about their classroom.

As we prepare for the fall 2020 re-entry to school, in thinking about specifically supporting learning, we have developed the “Sun West Return to Learn Process”.  This process reminds us of the best practices we already implement in our schools, continues to reinforce our PeBL philosophy and will help us work together to achieve “Success for ALL learners”.