Teaching With Haley O'Connor

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

Why Do Teachers Use Clip Charts?

Today is part 1 in a series about something I am very passionate about...clip charts and other types of public behavior management. Before I start this blog post, I want to share that I had a clip chart in my classroom for several years. My second year of teaching I added squares to "clip up" and thought I was REALLY progressive. I had no idea that what I was doing was so harmful. But I know ... read more

Why I Love Creepy Carrots

Hey teacher! Today I wanted to talk about one of my favorite read-alouds EVER. It's perfect for Halloween, but you truly could use this book anytime! Clear Story Elements When we are helping students retell stories, it's important that they have obvious story elements. After students have built this skill we can bring in more challenging texts. Until then, though, it's great to have ... read more

5 Questions to Ask Families

Hello!!! 😊 Today I wanted to share a few questions you can ask to connect with your students' families. You can use these questions at Meet the Teacher, for conferences or just to get to know students and their families through email. As teachers, we play a huge role in student success. We help students feel safe at school, enjoy learning and grow in academic and social skills. When we are ... read more

Lunar New Year Read-Alouds

Will you be teaching your students about Lunar New Year? It's such a fun and interesting holiday to spend time discussing and celebrating! Today I just wanted to share a few activities you can use in your classroom, as well as some great read-alouds to add to your day. If you'd like more ideas on celebrating Lunar New Year with your class, be sure to check out Ha's blog post Celebrating Lunar ... read more

Resources for your Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lesson Plans

Today I wanted to share some books and resources for teaching all about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This is such an important unit for students, but I hope these are resources you choose to use all year long. Black History, Civil Rights and Anti-Racism are conversations we can (and should) be having all year long. Lesson Plans More Than Just a Dream by Lanesha Tabb and Naomi O'Brien ... read more

5 Ways to Re-Establish a Strong Classroom Community

Starting the Spring semester is always exciting, but a bit overwhelming. Often, we realize how much content we still need to teach...where did half of the school year go?! But we're also met with students who have matured over the break and started to really blossom and show new strengths and abilities. At the beginning of the year, it's easy to focus on building a strong classroom family ... read more

Favorite Products for Indoor Recess

There's nothing quite like the feeling of looking outside and realizing it's going to be indoor recess today. EXCEPT for looking at the forecast and realizing you don't know when you're going to have outdoor recess again. I'll never forget when we had two weeks of indoor recess. I don't know how any of us survived. I wanted to share a few things that might make indoor recess a little bit ... read more

Favorite Books for Christmas

Today I wanted to share a few of my favorite books to talk about Christmas in the classroom! You probably know that I'm a HUGE proponent for balancing the holidays so that Christmas isn't your main focus. But, I also understand Christmas can and should be a part of your unit. Here's a list of my favorite books for the days you talk about Christmas! I've included a link to Amazon, but you can ... read more

8 Things to Consider for Your Holiday Unit

Happy December! I wanted to stop by and share some of my learning over the past few years about your Holiday unit. It's such a fun unit and topic and I know kids look forward to it everywhere. There are a few things we can do to tweak our language/resources to make sure we're respecting each culture, religion and family. Call it "Holidays We Celebrate" or "Holidays" as often as you call it ... read more

Books for Teaching Respect

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite books to support your lessons on respect. Having strong read-alouds makes it so much easier to introduce and reinforce social-emotional skills. Click each of the images to purchase these books on Amazon. Before you buy, though, be sure to check your local and school library! This post contains affiliate links. I receive a tiny stipend when you use my ... 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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