Teaching With Haley O'Connor

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

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Meet Haley

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Hi! I’m Haley!

In 2010, I entered my very first classroom. I had just graduated with my teacher certification and degree in English as a Second Language. I was ready to take on the world and make an impact! I covered the bulletin boards in fabric, set up our (tiny) classroom library and had a week of lesson plans ready to go. My students walked in and “the best year ever” began! I went home that evening and burst into tears.

Nothing went as expected. My students came with so many needs and I couldn’t possibly meet them all. Some were hungry, some were brand new to the country and many were significantly behind their peers in social and academic skills. I truly struggled that year. For every 100 things I tried, 10 were successful.

The summer after my first year, I discovered my very first teacher blog. A few days later, I started writing my own. And a week after that I created my first teacher resource…word wall words with boxes around the letters. I knew my incoming first graders needed help with visual discrimination and I figured other classrooms could use them too. I devoured books like The Comprehension Toolkit, Literacy Stations that Work, and Guided Math. I gained confidence, learned the importance of relationships and collaborated with amazing teacher colleagues.

As they say, “the rest is history.” This website…my little piece of the internet…it’s here because of you. I know where you are. I’ve been there and I want to provide you the tools and strategies I didn’t have. Here you’ll find blog posts about best practices, resources that will help you teach and activities that engage your students.

Here are a few truths that shape everything you’ll see at Teaching with Haley.

  1. Relationships come first. A student who feels understood and loved will always be more successful.
  2. Social and emotional skills need to be taught just like math and reading. Students don’t know what it means to “be kind” or “make good choices” unless we teach them.
  3. Learning is messy and loud. Our classrooms should be too.
  4. Healthy teachers make the best teachers. We need to be physically and mentally healthy and take care of ourselves so we can take care of our students.
  5. Empathy for others isn’t something we add on to our week when we have time. It’s part of our classroom fabric and shapes the way we teach and interact with students. Our students are entering a world that’s more diverse than it’s ever been, and our classrooms are where they learn to accept others and themselves.
  6. A little humor is good for the soul and the classroom.
  7. Mo Willems is the best.
  8. There’s no problem a little chips and queso can’t fix.

So that’s me! I hope you’ll spend some time exploring, drop me a message and subscribe to my mailing list.  I can’t wait to go on this teacher journey with you!

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  • Building a classroom community is one of the most important things teachers can do and it greatly impacts our students academically! I created these units to support classroom instruction by explicitly teaching students about what we expect from them. In the same way that we provide direct instruction, activities, and practice in math and reading, I believe we should provide these same things for character education. | Social Emotional Learning | Character Education |
  • Nonfiction Text Features - This unit is packed with activities to get your little ones exploring, identifying, and using text features in their nonfiction books. Teacher Resources Elementary | First Grade Printables | Printables for Learning | ELA Resources |
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  • This pack is perfect to practice addition and subtraction word problems. This story problem uses numbers 1-20, but mostly focuses on working with numbers between 10-20. Each topic has 10 word problem pages with 2 versions, a full page where students show their thinking by drawing a picture and writing it in words and a version has journal prompts. Spring Lesson Plans | Elementary Printable Worksheets
  • Mother's Day Crafts, Printables, and Activities: This packet is FULL of activities to celebrate the important women in your students' lives! You'll find crafts, writing pages, coloring pages, coupons, and more for your students to give to their moms! I also included options for aunts, grandmas, teachers, and blank for students who aren't in traditional living situations. | First Grade Resources | Printable Lesson Plans | Elementary Curriculum
  • Do your students need additional practice with inferring and drawing conclusions? These activities will build your students' skills in an engaging and fun way!To introduce the lesson, your students will read a letter from local superheroes who need help defeating Mean Max! After the introduction, students will read 4 clues about a location in the community. Then, they will use their schema to make an inference and write about it.
  • Social-Emotional Learning: Respect Lesson Plans and Activities by Haley O'Connor. This unit on RESPECT and is part of a year-long curriculum for teaching students how to have great character! However, this unit could also be used as a stand-alone resource for teaching all about respect in the classroom. In this packet, you will find 4 detailed lesson plans on respect, as well as additional printables and resources! Perfect for teaching Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, Homeschool students.
  • This adorable classroom sign is perfect to hang outside your door, or to print off as a large poster and hang in your room. Remind your kiddos that everyone is welcomed and loved!
  • I believe our students need to know exactly what we expect of them and also how we feel about them! These posters are perfect to introduce in classroom meetings and discuss. Once you have discussed them, they make adorable decor that will always remind your kiddos about the culture of your classroom! They are perfect for promoting growth mindset, accountable talk, and relationships in the classroom.
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