Teaching With Haley O'Connor

Let's build a better world together-one classroom at a time!

Teacher Favorites: Dollhouses

Teacher Favorites: Dollhouses

Today I wanted to share my favorite “dollhouses” for encouraging creative play. I wanted to create a few posts in case you are a parent or grown up in a child’s life and are looking for gift ideas. These lists are also great for teachers who are looking to add more play into their curriculum and day. Sometimes I let… Read More

Teacher Favorites: Pretend Play

Teacher Favorites: Pretend Play

Today I wanted to share my favorite toys for pretend play. I wanted to create a few posts in case you are a parent or grown up in a child’s life and are looking for gift ideas. These lists are also great for teachers who are looking to add more play into their curriculum and day. Sometimes I let my… Read More

Teacher Favorites: Building Toys

Teacher Favorites: Building Toys

Today I wanted to share my favorite building toys. I wanted to create a few posts in case you are a parent or grown up in a child’s life and are looking for gift ideas. These lists are also great for teachers who are looking to add more play into their curriculum and day. Sometimes I let my daughter choose… Read More

4 Resolutions You Can Actually Keep

4 Resolutions You Can Actually Keep

Hi teacher! Today I want to share a few resolutions for the new year that I think you’ll actually be able to keep! As teachers, it is so easy to put everyone ahead of ourselves. You might be tempted to set goals about learning more about your reading instruction or organize your manipulatives. But you have enough on your plate…. Read More

My Favorite Fine Motor Games

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite games to keep on hand in your classroom. These would be great for indoor recess, but you could also make a case that they’re beneficial to have out during literacy or math centers, or even tutoring! Fine and gross motor skills deeply affect student success, and we often get so much… Read More

Sensory Friendly Classroom Materials

Sensory Friendly Classroom Materials

Today I wanted to share a few of my favorite “sensory friendly” materials to keep in your classroom. These are great to keep when students are a little “fidgety,” and seem to need extra sensory input. They’re also great to use when students need brain breaks. Most of these items you can find on Amazon, but I’ve tried to find… Read More

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  • Teaching students about self-control is a huge part of social-emotional learning in the classroom. Today I wanted to share some of my favorite read-alouds for teaching self-control. These children’s books about self-control will help students to regulate their emotions, especially kids with big feelings. You will not only find picture books about self-control, but you will also find regulating emotions activities. These self control books are great for your calm down area in the classroom.
  • Are you looking for ways to honor Indigenous people in your elementary classroom? Currently our social studies curriculum is entirely lacking if we only include Native American history in November. In this post, I share two simple ways you can honor Indigenous people all year long. You can share the true history of Native Americans and European settlers or you can read some Native American books to help celebrate Native American culture. Use these read alouds during readers workshop today.
  • Are you getting ready to teach about caribou and reindeer in your classroom? I love doing a quick thematic unit about caribou and arctic animals in December. In this post, I am sharing 8 caribou books and reindeer books you can use with any caribou activity or reindeer activity in your kindergarten, first grade, and second grade classroom. Use these books for your nonfiction books unit as well as for teaching students about nonfiction text features. Read these during readers workshop today.
  • Grab these All Are Welcome activities for back to school. This book is a great introduction to social-emotional learning about kindness, inclusion, and diversity. During the beginning of the school year, it's so important to set up a strong classroom community and start building relationships. This helps with behavior management and student learning. This literacy activity includes comprehension questions, vocabulary practice, and hands-on activities to go with All Are Welcome.
  • Looking for mindfulness books for kids? Look no further! In this post, I am sharing 8 mindfulness books for kids that tie into my mindfulness activities and resources. These mindfulness picture books for kids will help students to regulate their emotions and find calm in their day. Use these mindfulness children’s books in your calm down corner in your classroom. They are great for teaching students self control and calm down strategies during your social emotional learning block.
  • Looking for a teaching binder that will actually help keep you organized this school year? These teacher binders are great for keeping track of student data, parent contact information, parent forms and more. You can do all of your lesson planning right inside these editable teacher binders. Find teacher binder covers and teacher planner templates and ideas. You can also use these teacher planner covers for guided reading groups, your grade book and for guided math. Learn more!
  • Today I want to share a few new year’s resolutions that I think you’ll actually be able to keep as an elementary teacher. Find my top 4 new year’s resolution ideas that will help you feel refreshed. These new year’s resolutions for teachers are easy to implement. They include building relationships with students, practicing self-care, and taking a break from work. It is important to get rest, practice mindfulness, and listen to your body. Find self care for teacher ideas here!
  • Looking for books about gratitude for kids to go with your Thanksgiving lesson plans. While these 4 picture books about gratitude are not necessarily Thanksgiving books, they do tie in very well into the month of November. These are great to read during classroom meetings or readers' workshop. You can even do some thankfulness activities and gratitude activities to tie in with each of these books. You can also head over to my gratitude unit to get even more elementary resources and ideas.
  • Today I wanted to share some of my favorite reindeer picture books. These are a great addition to your caribou unit or to discuss Christmas traditions. You can tie these books into your Holidays around the world lessons as many students do not celebrate Christmas. You can use these books during guided reading, for shared reading, or for your morning meeting. You can work on reading comprehension skills including inferences, visualizing, and summarizing. They are also great for vocabulary.
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