Following Directions Activities for Your Fall Class Party (That Actually Teach Something) "Draw a ladder leaning against the tree." I read the direction aloud and watched twenty-five pencils move. Then I read the next one. Add three pumpkins to the picture. By the time I reached Draw a scarecrow and a crow, the room was … Continue reading The Fall Party Activity That Teaches Precision
Author: kilesclassroom
The Distributive Property, Served as a Value Meal
Teaching the Distributive Property Concretely: The Value Meal Method I wrote 3(2 + 1) on the board and asked for the answer. "Seven," said a student in the front row. Three times two is six, plus one is seven. Half the class nodded. That's the moment I erased the board and drew a slice of … Continue reading The Distributive Property, Served as a Value Meal
Explorer Graveyard: A Halloween Social Studies Project for Upper Elementary
Students research an explorer, write a figurative language epitaph, build a headstone, and present it. The best Halloween hallway display you'll ever put up. The 4th grader stopped me in the hallway the morning after we put it up. "Who's Vasco Núñez de Balboa?" He had been reading the headstones. All of them. So had … Continue reading Explorer Graveyard: A Halloween Social Studies Project for Upper Elementary
How to Teach Figurative Language With Explicit Instruction (Grades 4 to 6)
Stop the guessing game. An explicit, step-by-step routine for teaching similes, metaphors, personification, and more, plus spooky October mentor sentences. I held up the sentence and asked the class what it meant. The wind howled outside the window. A hand shot up. "There's a wolf outside." Another hand. "The wind is sad?" A third student, … Continue reading How to Teach Figurative Language With Explicit Instruction (Grades 4 to 6)
Teach the Procedure While You Teach the Lesson
You're two minutes into a social studies lesson on ancient trade routes, and you notice half the class has written exactly nothing in their notebooks. Not because they weren't listening. Because nobody ever showed them what "take notes on this" actually means in your room. Do they copy the bold words? Draw the map? Write … Continue reading Teach the Procedure While You Teach the Lesson
Stop Making Rules. Start Teaching Routines.
A kid raises her hand in the middle of independent work and says the four words every teacher has heard a thousand times. "I don't get it." Not what part. Not where she's stuck. Just the whole thing, thrown up in the air like maybe you'll catch it and hand back something usable. Across the … Continue reading Stop Making Rules. Start Teaching Routines.
The Behavior You’re Seeing in Week 3 Isn’t a Discipline Problem; It’s a Procedures Gap
It's Thursday of week three, and you are standing in the exact spot you stood in on day one, watching the exact routine you taught on day one fall apart in front of you. The line that used to form itself is now six kids deep in conversation and two kids still packing up. The … Continue reading The Behavior You’re Seeing in Week 3 Isn’t a Discipline Problem; It’s a Procedures Gap
Why Movement Matters: Helping Students Learn Better All Year Long
If you’ve spent more than five minutes teaching upper-elementary or middle school, you already know something scientists later confirmed: kids learn better when they move. Their brains fire faster, they remember longer, and—maybe most importantly for our sanity—the classroom feels lighter, calmer, and more joyful. Movement isn’t a “break” from learning.Movement is learning. And the … Continue reading Why Movement Matters: Helping Students Learn Better All Year Long
The Routine That Changed My Classroom
I’ll be honest—classroom management was never about keeping kids quiet for me. It was about helping them feel safe, successful, and focused so the learning could stick. I’ve always believed kids do best when they don’t have to guess what’s expected. That’s why I lean on explicit instruction and clear routines every single day. In … Continue reading The Routine That Changed My Classroom
Meet the Teacher Behind Kile’s Classroom
Idiom Day- A super fun way to celebrate a figurative language unit. Talk Like a Pirate Day! Let me guess. You’ve walked into your classroom, looked around at 28 sets of eyeballs staring back at you, and thought, “Okay… how do I survive this without losing my mind?” If that sounds familiar, pull up a … Continue reading Meet the Teacher Behind Kile’s Classroom