Arlene Birt

“Somebody will have to be killed before they change it” This statement came regarding an intersection that has been the Read More...

  Crash! Oh, dear. Nelson’s box of 64 crayons just spilled again. Five children rush from their seats to help Read More...

O to be like thee… full of compassion!* As we looked at this hymn in staff devotions and thought of Read More...

“A charge to keep I have… to serve the present age, my calling to fulfill. O may it all my Read More...

“Time for Heggerty!” I say cheerfully even though I am tired of Heggerty*. Moans and groans come from the first Read More...

“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious light!” (Placide Cappeau) It really Read More...

Persecution and martyrs may not seem like topics for children, but at the time of this writing, it is a Read More...

“I’m thankful for vultures!” We were making a list of things we were thankful for and “vultures” was one item Read More...

Back-to-school supplies are stocked in stores, teacher meetings are beginning, and school cleaning is happening. We are preparing for another Read More...

“Don’t forget to pray for Monster!” This request was called out just as I was preparing to pray at the Read More...

“Tomorrow we don’t have school, because the teachers come to work. Monday when we come back, we have music and Read More...

“These girls are just not getting along. I think at one point each one has felt left-out or bullied. I Read More...

“We must be invisible!” my sister and I said to each other when a truck pulled out right in front Read More...

Stories are great for teaching academic lessons, spiritual lessons, and life lessons. Tell the story of “The Boy Who Cried Read More...

“Mrs. Birt, I have a question!”  Nelson called out.  Nelson has many questions. When is God’s birthday?  What does God Read More...

“How was your second day of school?” I asked a new teacher. “Not so good,” she replied. “I’m finding more Read More...

Bop! “I need an attitude adjustment,” Loren announced, as he hit himself on the head to give the adjustment. “I Read More...

  One of my first-grade art projects involved sprinkling dry tempera paint on wet paper. The children enjoyed the project, Read More...

“Effective instruction practices are an integral part of effective behavior management practices” (Sprick, 2006). Effective instruction influences student behavior and Read More...

Motivation My sixth-grade teacher pulled me into the hall for a conversation. “I know you can do better than this. Read More...

This file contains information, lesson plans, assignments, and activities for an Intro to Teaching/Student Teaching/Teacher Apprentice class. There are lesson Read More...

Sympathy Ice A sobbing child shows the teacher a bump on his arm. Another little person extends her hand, “See Read More...

In this post, Arlene responds to a question from a reader: “I am curious if you all or anyone in Read More...

Find the treasures in each day! I thought of this from a book I read to my class—the boy was Read More...

This study is geared for students in Grades 1 and 2 reading Sweet Potato Pie by Anne Rockwell, and includes Read More...

I loved hearing one of the first-graders asking, “Can I say the verses by myself?  I know them.”  This child Read More...

“Forty-one students?  How do you expect me to teach 41?”  complained the first-grade teacher in her students’ hearing. How did Read More...

“Teachers have a big impact and people remember their teachers years later.  I had lots of great teachers and they Read More...

“How do you wash these crayons?” asked a student.  I was puzzled—why does she want to wash her crayons?  Kayla Read More...

“Do you have paper bags?” “Can I have a plate?” Yes, to both questions—I have all kinds of things in Read More...

I was returning workbooks to my students, and to save a few steps, I gently tossed some books onto desks.  Read More...

Remember.  Memory.  Memorial.  We have a memorial service to remember someone, and come away from it thinking of that person Read More...

This is the first time I can remember that I’ve felt like maybe I can’t go on, maybe I won’t Read More...

Riley was lying across his desk today, on top of his teddy bear, with his head and feet completely off Read More...

After I read an article in which a teacher discussed relating to different groups of students, I commented to a Read More...

Caleb handed me a tiny scrap as he walked past. I wondered why he was giving me this trash. He Read More...

“It seems like no one cares about me!  No one wants to play with me.”  This was the perception Brenda Read More...

In this long stretch from beginning of the school year to Thanksgiving, the “honeymoon” is over. Here are some tools Read More...

Being consistent makes me tired!  And I am tired of trying to be consistent!  I know consistency is important, but Read More...

“Thank you for entrusting your children to me this year.  It is a responsibility I take very seriously.  Please pray Read More...

I just read a devotional titled “Feeling Underappreciated?” There are times I feel like I don’t matter, or what I Read More...

 “Refreshments will be served.”  Sometimes we hear this announced in regards to a meeting or event.  Refreshments are not something Read More...

Education has many acronyms such as ELL, ADHD, ESSA, and CCSS (English Language Learner, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Every Student Read More...

My first-graders enjoyed hosting a Reading Café where, instead of serving food, we served stories!  This was a fun culmination Read More...

 “Are you ready for school to start?”  180 school days ago, I began a post with this question.  I was Read More...

This simple printable page provides space for students to note their book choices for Reading Café, as well as someone Read More...

Share about a teacher who impacted your life. This was the topic assigned to discuss around our tables at the Read More...

Recently, one of my students asked how many days are left in first grade.  I replied that we weren’t going Read More...

Capturing a specific moment in time, painting a picture with words, a descriptive word picture—these are some ideas of a Read More...

“I told my class if they weren’t quiet at lunchtime, there would be consequences.  Now I can’t think of a Read More...

How do you prepare new teachers to do well? This document from Ephrata Mennonite School provides checklists and categories of Read More...

“Maybe God is giving you challenges this year, so you don’t get bored after all your years of teaching!”  Maybe Read More...

“This is for you,” Andrea said in a shy voice as she presented to me a grocery bag full of Read More...

One day after a chapel speaker reflected on being thankful, my students said “thank you” for everything.  “Thank you” when Read More...

Parent/teacher conferences are vital to good communications between the home and school.  The conferences give us a point of contact Read More...

“I must say I don’t really care for parent/teacher conferences.  I showed the paper to Seth and said, ‘Let’s just Read More...

Courtesy of Ephrata Mennonite School, this is a form used at Parent-Teacher Conferences. The form has prompts for teacher feedback Read More...

It seems all teachers are very busy right now, going to meetings and workshops, working on lesson plans and objectives, Read More...

Tuesday was a very difficult day.  I was exhausted by the end of the day and felt as if I Read More...

Are you ready for school to start? When people asked me that, I didn’t know how to answer!  I was Read More...

During Book Week, we had a lot of fun celebrating books and reading.  Mystery Readers visited classrooms to read to Read More...

First graders have interesting answers to this question:  What is an ideal teacher? I had to first explain what ideal Read More...

“When you said that, it made me feel happy,” a student shyly confided to me after I had spoken with Read More...

We named our teacher team “Little People.”  We chose this name because we teach the little people and because we Read More...

As curriculum coordinator, I work with a number of sales people and representatives of various publishers.  Much of the communication Read More...

“We need a break.  I am hoping for snow days.  I need to recharge.  It is a long time from Read More...

Yesterday we tried the response technique of NEWS.  I wrote NEWS vertically on the whiteboard and some of the children Read More...

Maybe I should phrase this as a question rather than a statement: “Little Things?”  These things may seem little to Read More...

In these lessons, students learn drawing by studying five ways of seeing: seeing line, seeing spaces, seeing proportions, seeing perspective, Read More...

This unit for devotions or Bible uses Bible stories where a stone or stones are used to remember and to Read More...

This scope and sequence for art includes a philosophy section and appropriate learning goals and art experiences for K-8. The Read More...

These three lessons focus on creation and God’s name in the Psalms; the feast of God’s word; and the power Read More...

Based on The Crayon Kingdom by Jennie Bishop, and reflecting the values of Psalm 133:1, this lesson guides children in appreciating Read More...

I developed the original unit for school and used when we took a day for Peace studies.  I adapted it Read More...

An outline of a unit Arlene Birt developed on prayer. Download this document now or read it below. Pass it Read More...

From the author: I had developed this originally for a VBS week.  I used it then for VBS and then Read More...

Taking Off! Going Up! On Your Own! is a lesson Arlene Birt developed for kindergarten and 1st grade combination class. The document contains Read More...

History/Social Studies The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive: biographical and historical resources; section on famous curves Recordings from the Library Read More...

Discovery School’s Puzzlemaker: Online tools for creating various types of word and number puzzles for students to do EducationOasis.com: tips, graphic organizers Read More...

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has math standards for pedagogical reform NCTE and IRA standards for English Language Arts Do Read More...

Met Museum: click on the Collections tab, then “The Collection Online” to see many of the works of art Google Read More...

LDonline: tells of modifications, many articles on ways to help or understand those with learning disabilities or special needs Enchanted Learning Read More...

Teacher Vision: lesson plans, graphic organizers, section on adaptations and modifications Teachers.net: Lesson plans and ideas from teachers; search by grade level Read More...

Math League: math contests, grades 4-12 MathFax:  math contests, grades 3-12 Math.com:  the math world online Metric Conversion Tools: online calculators Read More...

ExplorePAHistory.com: This site is packed with dozens of stories about Pennsylvania (arranged by topic), lesson plans for teachers (organized by Read More...

American Rhetoric: text, audio, video speeches of historical figures and on current events History.com/speeches: collection of audio and video speeches, by Read More...

MySpellIt: “Words You Should Know,” commonly misspelled words, word lists, and exercises to go with words WordCentral: an online student thesaurus, Read More...

Ball State University’s field trips program: Archived virtual field trips, such as visiting the Grand Canyon and the Grand Tetons, Read More...

Created for use in an Anabaptist history class, this document follows the development of song among the Anabaptists. The song Read More...

Rounding, fractions, percentages, and more: this 2-1/2 page document offers tricks and ditties to make teaching math faster and more Read More...

This teacher-created resource helps students offers eight questions or tasks to guide students reading Aaron's Civil War (CLP, 2011). Tasks Read More...

This document has ideas for teaching the economics standards, then “kid definitions” that Michelle Weaver developed. Download this document now Read More...

This is a printable organizer for use in helping students analyze texts. Download this document now or read it below. Read More...

Our team meeting agenda said we would celebrate successes and find areas to improve upon as we discussed testing results. Read More...