The Best Six Tricks to Keep You Organized for Good | Feel like you’re drowning in paperwork and classroom materials? Can’t find important resources when you need them? Utilize these simple steps to organize your teaching resources and keep your classroom organized for good. | everythingjustso.org

So many of you are scrambling to find resources to send home with your students due to the COVID-19/ coronavirus pandemic. And for parents, many of you are wondering what to do with kids at home.

Determine Importance: Time to Drop What Doesn’t Work | The first step in simplifying your workload as a teacher is to determine importance. Deciding importance will guide all of your decisions as an educator - what you teach, how you teach, the teaching resources you use, and how you spend your time. Dropping what doesn’t work not only simplifies your workload, but also improves your performance as an educator. Guide sheets included help you through the process. | everythingjustso.org

180 Books to Celebrate Women’s History | Women’s history shouldn’t be taught in March alone. Instead, help students celebrate the achievements of women all year long with this list of 180 children’s books. | everythingjustso.org

Whether you’re looking for mentor texts for guided reading, popular kids titles for close reading activities, or just the best kids books to celebrate school holidays, this list is for you. It includes several categories of celebrated women including artists, athletes, authors, creators, scientists, and more.

Three Simple Ways to Improve Communication with Families | One of the best ways to improve relationships with your students is to build strong connections with their families. With all there is to do, this can be difficult to do. Here are three simple ways to make it work. | everythingjustso.org #parentcommunication #classroommanagement #upperelementary

Building personal connections is one of the most important components of being a successful teacher. When students know you care, they are more apt to listen to and learn from you. This is especially true for students who are struggling. Mentor Meetings is one classroom management strategy that really works. Partnering students with adults who care is a great way to encourage, build trust, and extend a student’s community. | everythingjustso.org

Ten Children’s Books that Teach Kids to be Kind | When teaching character skills, it’s often helpful to start with a children’s book. To support my monthly thankful for kindness writing, I compiled a list of popular children’s books that are perfect mentor texts. These are the best children’s books I’ve found for kindness. | everythingjustso.org #childrensbooks #kindness #kindnessmatters #kindnessbooks #upperelementary

One Simple Exercise for Teaching Students to be Thankful | November and the holiday of Thanksgiving provide the perfect opportunity for sneaking in lessons about thankfulness. This simple exercise will kickstart a process that you can repeat all year long. Post includes free printable.

How to Improve Student Relationships Through Simple Writing | Communication, like in any relationship, is key to building a positive classroom community. Although we know it’s important, finding the time to talk authentically with students can be difficult. However, there are a few strategies that build relationships with students and make a big impact in classroom behavior. These three classroom management strategies (and free writing resources) are simple and are sure to improve behavior management in any classroom. | everythingjustso.org

Classroom Organization Tips for an Easy End of the Year | Closing up shop at the end of the school year can be time consuming and a bit overwhelming. However, following a few organization tips several weeks in advance can dramatically reduce and ease your workload. Here are six steps for classroom organization at the end of the year and a free printable tool to help keep you on track. | everythingjustso.org

It’s easy to choose cute over substance when celebrating school holidays. But our students deserve more. Here are three reasons why choosing substance over fluff is always better when celebrating holidays in the upper elementary classroom. Plus help finding teaching resources to bring both meaning and fun when planning holiday activities throughout the year. | everythingjustso.org

10 Super Simple Resources to Encourage a Love of Poetry | April is National Poetry Month. Whether you’re looking for fresh ideas to use in the month of April or all through the year, these ten simple resources will help encourage a love of poetry in your upper elementary students. Use these popular children’s books, teaching resources, and other materials to broaden students understanding and appreciation of poetry. | everythingjustso.org

On Read Across America Day, move the focus from Dr. Seuss Week to its intended purpose – encouraging students to celebrate reading. Rather than focusing on one author, it’s the perfect time to create a reading day for exploring diverse children’s literature from multiple writers. Here’s how I celebrated Read Across America in my upper elementary classroom in the simplest, but most effective way.

Do you love painting projects, but hate the mess? Finally! A way to keep arts and crafts in the classroom without the mess! Learn about the best way to paint with zero mess.

The Best Tool for Art Projects I Have Ever Seen | Love art projects but hate the mess? Use this painting tool and never have a mess again. | everythingjustso.org #upperelementary #artprojects #artintheclassroom