Teaching With Haley O'Connor

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

Picture Books about Mindfulness

Picture Books about Mindfulness

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite books about mindfulness to pair with my lessons and activities. Mindfulness is such an important strategy for us to teach our students, but it’s equally important that we practice it ourselves. Mindfulness means the ability to connect with our body and be aware of sensations and feelings. It’s often tied to… Read More

What’s Inside My Teacher Binders?

What’s Inside My Teacher Binders?

There are so many reasons to keep a teacher binder. If you’re like me, I keep most things on my computer. I utilize Google Drive as much as I can, and I LOVE my Google Calendar. BUT…there is something about writing things down that’s soothing and helps me remember them so much better. I also like to keep school and… Read More

Books for Teaching Self-Control

Books for Teaching Self-Control

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite read-alouds for teaching self-control. When we teach our students to have self-control, they are more able to handle big emotions. An overly excited student might run around the room or yell. An excited student who’s showing self-control might feel the same emotions, but be able to tell their friend how excited… Read More

Non-Verbal Reminders for Students

Today I wanted to share some ideas for students who need frequent reminds to stay on task, complete their work, and use safe hands and feet. During my first few years of teaching, I focused a LOT on positive relationships with my kids. That meant I really focused on the way I talked to my students. Instead of “sit down,”… Read More

Gratitude Read-Alouds

Gratitude Read-Alouds

Gratitude is a challenging skill for so many students. So many families focus on “saying thank you” as soon as toddlers can talk. However, we don’t often talk about what it means to be grateful and how we can really show that. Students become robotic and teachers say, “What do you say?” when we give them something. But that does… Read More

Favorite Fall Books

Favorite Fall Books

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite books for celebrating Fall in the classroom. I LOVE Fall. I’m not sure what my favorite season is…but I know it’s not summer. I’m always so happy when it’s over! I do NOT like the heat. So as soon as I can start celebrating Fall, I am ready! Depending on your… Read More

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  • As you get ready to go back to school, it is important to think about ways you can build parent teacher relationships. In this post, I am sharing 5 questions to ask families to help build a strong classroom community. You can use these questions at Meet the Teacher, for conferences or just to get to know students and their families through email. Use this free parent questionnaire to get to know more about your students and their family’s culture, beliefs, or religion.
  • Do you feel like you are ready for a new classroom management system? Are you ready to ditch the clip chart? In this post, I am sharing 5 classroom management strategies that will help your students feel valued and take ownership of their behavior rather than feel publicly shamed. These classroom management tools and ideas will empower kids to make good choices. Use these student behavior strategies to set students up for success. Focusing on intrinsic motivation is key.
  • Gratitude is a hard skill for students to learn but with picture books, they are able to better understand and learn how to be grateful. In this post, I am sharing 4 books about gratitude for kids. These kids books about gratitude are great to read around Thanksgiving. These are some of my favorite November read alouds. They are not necessarily Thanksgiving books but they do tie in very well into the month of November. These are great to read during classroom meetings or readers' workshop.
  • Struggling with classroom management this year? Today, I am sharing 4 classroom management ideas that actually work. These non-verbal cues for the classroom are a great way to help students stay on task and complete their work. Instead of using a clip chart, try one of these behavior management tools instead. These visual cues for behavior help students regulate their behavior on their own. Try one of these behavior management strategies today using picture cards and other classroom visuals.
  • Are you using clip charts as part of your classroom management system? In this post, I am sharing 4 reasons why you should stop using clip charts in your elementary classroom today. Using a clip chart for behavior problems damages teacher student relationships and student relationships with their peers. Clip charts for behavior also don’t work long term. It is time to ditch this behavior management system and try something new.
  • Are you still using clip charts for your behavior management system? If this is your go-to classroom management system, it is important to identify why you are using this to manage student behavior. In this post, I am sharing why teachers chose to use clip charts over other classroom management tools. There are tons of other classroom management strategies out there but clip charts for managing behavior still are high on the list, especially for new teachers.
  • Kindness lessons and activities by Teaching with Haley. Kindness is a great place to start your social-emotional curriculum and I’m excited to share some of my favorite ideas with you in this post. I cover my favorite kindness videos, kindness read alouds, and kindness activities. Including what kindness is, character education, what boundaries are, and more. Great social-emotional learning lessons for kindergarten, first grade, and second-grade students. Learn more
  • Digital phonics activities have become a hit in elementary classrooms. Digital resources are great because they are no prep for the teacher and they are super engaging for students. In this post, I share my favorite phonics activities during literacy centers, Daily 5, or guided reading groups. There are magnetic letter activities, vowel team activities and diphthong activities. Students can work on creating sentences, cvc word activities, and phonics patterns.
  • All Are Welcome is the perfect read aloud for back to school. It 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 book does a beautiful job celebrating diversity and helping students feel safe in our classrooms. Grab this All Are Welcome book activity!
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