Lesson Resources
What’s Here
Implementing instruction effectively is critical. Your beautiful, organized classroom and perfectly detailed lesson plans don’t count for much if your instruction isn’t relevant and interesting to the kids. This page will help you discover ways to engage ALL of your students in instruction, and get them excited about learning. You’ll also learn techniques and find resources that help you manage your classroom while teaching with manipulatives, group work, and in other challenging situations.
Pages in This Section
Cooperative Learning
Fun Free Stuff to Print
Multiple Intelligences
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.Cornerstone Cross-Reference
Find even MORE lesson resources in The Cornerstone book and eBook! Book-exclusive content includes:
Ch. 25: Teaching Techniques That Minimize Off-Task Behavior
*How variety and creativity in lesson implementation make the difference: NINE pages of tips to help you keep your kids engaged WITHOUT spending hours designing perfect lessons and activities!
Ch. 26: Making the Most of Every Moment
*Guidelines for giving clear directions: how to get your kids’ FULL attention through special signals and ‘magic words’
*How to get students actively involved in your instruction and ensure equitable participation
*Teaching kids when and how to use choral response, and when to use individual responses
*How to maintain control during class discussions and instruction (without yelling or repeating yourself)
*Tips for eliciting student responses: when to call on low kids and when to call on high kids
*Handling the children who always want to be called on (and those who never do)
*How to support students’ answers and teach them to support one another, as well (instead of groaning and getting impatient)
*Ideas for supportive responses to wrong answers, off-topic responses, and “I forgot”
*Transition tips for between lessons and lesson components
Ch. 27: Hands-On and Cooperative Learning
*Inexpensive ways to get (and make) hands-on materials
*Organizing, distributing, and collecting materials and manipulatives
*Keeping kids on task with manipulatives: introducing routines and distinguishing between using and playing with materials
*3 guidelines to help you determine when to use cooperative groups
*Partner work vs. group work, and how to pair students up according to your purpose
*Managing cooperative work: teaching and reinforcing expectations, monitoring noise level, ‘jump start’ groups that are stuck, and getting your students’ attention when time is up
*A systematic approach to cooperative learning: assigning group jobs and/or leaders
*Solving social problems during group work: teaching respect and support, and what to do when cooperative learning just doesn’t work
Ch. 28: Time Management for Kids
*8 tips for teaching kids to use their time wisely, including the use of a ‘When Finished’ sign and ‘Not Finished Folders’
*Planning for fast finishers and slow workers: handling students’ workload needs and work rates on an individual basis (without losing your mind or creating extra work for yourself)
*Logical consequences for students who don’t get work done
*How to help the 6 types of time-management-challenged kids (The Brainiac, The Christmas Tree Kid, The Overly Unfoundedly Confident, The Dawdler, The Slow Processor, and the Perfectionist)
Recommended Resources
Using Music in Instruction
Songs for Teaching: Using Music To Promote Learning is the definitive site for any teacher wanting to use songs in his or her instruction. This site explains when and how to use music in the classroom, how to create your own songs, and includes an unbelievably extensive list of age-appropriate song lyrics and tunes sorted by every theme imaginable. The best part? It include lyrics, tunes, SOUND CLIPS (great when you can’t read music!), and where-to-purchase info if you want to buy a particular recording. A tremendous resource worth checking out, whether you are an avid music user or wanting to incorporate songs into your classroom for the first time. Be sure to visit the Classroom Management Songs page.
You don’t have to use songs that specifically address procedures or concepts: any song will quiet a group of kids. Here’s a beautifully-designed printable list of songs (organized seasonally) from Kelly’s Kindergarten that are great for early learners.
There are also sing-along-songs you can play from your computer from Mrs. Jones here.
Project-Based Learning and Home Learning Projects
Debra Henk’s book project ideas- wow!
2nd grade thematic units from Mrs. Hicks (very detailed lesson sequences).
Manipulatives and Hands-On Learning
Here’s a great page from Mathcats that shows you how to help students make and use their own manipulatives for use at home or school.
Thematic Teaching
Mrs. Fischer’s Kinder-Themes is a great model for anyone wanting to start a webpage, because her initial and primary purpose was to put all of her teaching ideas online by theme so she could access them more easily. Now she also has a class webpage linked to it and parents can see what she is doing in the classroom, read the words to the poems and songs their children are learning, and much more. I’d like to put my thematic ideas online in this format one day, too! Great idea.
Using Technology
Power Point presentations are INCREDIBLE attention-grabbers and so easy to set up! I use vocabulary PowerPoints each week with my kids prior to beginning our reading story (see examples from a Virginia 3rd grade teacher here).
There’s really no point in me elaborating here on PPT in the classroom when it’s already been explained so well on another site- check out technology ideas from Mrs. Hicks, which includes ready-to-use PowerPoint lessons, web quests, and more!
Classroom Websites
Basic instructions on how to create and maintain a class website, in very easy-to-understand language, plus more tips on the Computer Main Page at Busy Teacher’s Cafe.
This Q&A format on creating a webpage is really informative, especially if you’re a Virtual Vine fan like me and you wonder how in the world Cindy makes the site so wonderful! There are also lots of links to other sites that will help you build your webpage.
Teacher Web is great for novices and those who don’t want to bother writing HTML scripts and designing templates. This service costs $25 a year, and makes everything SO easy. All you do is type your info in- and the site looks adorable!
Mrs. Renz has an extensive collection of links to teacher graphics: great for use on your website or in class projects.
