Embracing the Fidget: Fidget Deals for the New School Year!
It is great to be back to the blog, after our end of summer break! I hope you all had a wonderful rest of your summer and were able to recharge before the beginning of the school year. The beginning of the school year is all about setting expectations within the school building and classrooms or teaching areas. In my last post, I explored how incorporating fidgets into professional development sessions can help educators better understand the potential of fidgets in the classroom. I also shared some favorite fidgets, offering practical options to enhance focus and engagement for both students…
Play to Learn: Tenzi and More!
Today in the Play to Learn series, we are deep diving into the TENZI family of games! We will begin with the original TENZI game, that began this collection of games. TENZI is an exciting and quick-paced dice game that promotes fast reactions and is very easy to learn. To play TENZI, you roll your 10 dice as quickly as possible. The game comes with instructions for eight additional variations, including SPLITZI, MEGA TENZI, and TENZI TOWER. Playing TENZI helps children develop rapid and confident number recognition while being highly enjoyable and straightforward to play. It’s ideal for early finishers…
Play to Learn: Dice of Fury
The first three games we have looked at in our Play to Learn series have been games that take longer to play. Settlers of Catan, 60-90 minutes Carcassonne, 30-90 minutes Ticket to Ride, 30-60 minutes There are ways that teachers can be creative with how the games are played, saved, collaboratively played across different classes of the day, but sometimes we need quick games. Quick games can still connect to content in the classroom, but are time savers! Here is one of my FAVORITE short games to use in the classroom! Dice of Fury Think Yahtzee, with more…
Top Teacher Picks: Must-Have Games for Home and Classroom from Amazon Prime Day
Welcome to the ultimate guide to my favorite teacher items and math manipulatives, all available at unbeatable prices during Amazon Prime Day! As a dedicated educator, I know how essential it is to have the right tools to enhance the learning experience for our students. From engaging math manipulatives that make abstract concepts tangible to indispensable classroom supplies that keep us organized and efficient, this list has everything you need. Join me as I share my top picks, all at amazing discounts, to help you make the most of this year’s Prime Day deals. Get ready to stock up on…
Play to Learn: Ticket to Ride
The first American Style board game we will look at in the Play to Learn series is Ticket to Ride. This is one of the easier strategy games to play when entering this genre of games. It is in the group of games I first learned how to play and one of the first games I teach and suggest to new groups of gamers! Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure where players gather and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities across North America. Longer routes earn more points. Additional points are awarded to players who…
Play to Learn: Carcassonne
In the second blog post in the Play to Learn series, we will look at the game Carcassonne. This game is similar to Settlers of Catan, in that it is a Euro-style game. The game is based on mechanics versus story and theme. Carcassonne is a tile placement game. Players are looking to match tiles and place tiles to gain experience points (XP) . Tiles are picked at random and have illustrations of southern French landscape. Meeples represent people in the game and score points for the players. There are four types of tiles in the game. Farmland,…
Play to Learn: Settlers of Catan
One of my favorite hobbies is to play board games. There are many special moments in my life tied to playing games- meeting my husband, our proposal story, fun times with friends and so many more! Now when I mention board games, I am not talking about the classic ‘family game night’ games. I am talking about board games that have more strategy and themes involved in them. In many classrooms, we find Monopoly, Life, Connect 4, Candyland- the more classic ‘family game night’ games. What if we looked at some of these more strategic and thematic games that fit…
Embracing the Fidget: A Transformative Approach to PD for Teachers
As a Mathematics Teacher Trainer, I’ve discovered that working with adults during professional development sessions is remarkably similar to teaching in a classroom. Teachers often joke that they are the worst students, and there’s some truth to that. Teaching is an exhausting profession. You’re always “on,” wearing multiple hats, and masking your true feelings to be the best educator for your students. The stress is compounded when you have to plan for a substitute teacher, knowing that your students might only receive review material instead of advancing in new lessons. You might even have to reteach the content upon your…
