Yearly Archives: 2012

The Magic Hat – Mid-Week Focus – Helping Kids Cope

Hats off to teachers…it’s time for Mid – Week Focus! Mid-Week Focus is all about quick and easy ways to approach teaching to keep kids on task in any instructional setting. Let’s share insight and practical ideas. Let’s blend fun

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Posted in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers, Mid-Week Focus

EXTRA Attention-Getters

Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers! Do your students sometimes race through their work like mine TRY to do? I wrote the word TRY because I make a point to explain to kids in my

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Posted in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers

The Magic Hat – Mid-Week Focus – Encouraging Kindness

Hats off to teachers…it’s time for Mid – Week Focus! Mid-Week Focus is all about quick and easy ways to approach teaching to keep kids on task in any instructional setting. Let’s share insight and practical ideas. Let’s blend fun

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Posted in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers, Mid-Week Focus

Musical Tricks to Help Kids Learn!

Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers! Ever find yourself tapping a nearby object to the beat of music around you the way I found myself tapping the steering wheel yesterday to the beat of a

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Posted in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers

The Magic Hat – Mid-Week Focus – News Prompts

Hats off to teachers…it’s time for Mid – Week Focus! Mid – Week Focus is all about quick and easy ways to approach teaching to keep kids on task in any instructional setting. Let’s share insight and practical ideas. Let’s

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Posted in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers, Mid-Week Focus

Engage Students with Dialog Beyond Stories!

Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers! I read a fascinating article recently about an American educator, Jane Vella, who developed an approach dubbed “dialogue education.” I’m not “talking” about story writing or telling in this

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Posted in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers

The Attentionology Traveler

Hi! I spent some time yesterday with a powerful attention catcher – keeper… A PUPPET. I pulled a puppet, Little Bear, from a (pretend) nap inside a golden gift bag at a Poetry Party I brought to 100 first grade

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Posted in The Attentionology Traveler

The Magic Hat – Mid-Week Focus – Tech Tricks

Hats off to teachers…it’s time for Mid – Week Focus! Mid – Week Focus is all about quick and easy (most of the time – once in while, we have to study strategies, like the Tech Wizard suggests that we do

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Posted in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers, Mid-Week Focus

Host a Patterned Paper Poem Party!

Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers! Think about it…better still…catch your students’ attention by asking them to think about it, about this…every season and every holiday has its own special symbols and patterns. Where I

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The Attentionology Traveler

Hi! A change in my travel plans due to Hurricane Sandy’s approach along the east coast of the US prompted me to share another attention catcher – keeper… …POSTING SIGNS OF CHANGE along with KEY SKILLS TO MASTER in CHANGING

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Posted in The Attentionology Traveler
Barbara Cleary has been serving as a resource to hundreds of educators for more than 25 years. An award-winning writer, producer, teacher, and trainer, Barbara’s focus is on offering easy, fun tools and tricks that support K-5 curricula and assist teachers with classroom management.
Quick tips for common classroom conundrums: K-5
Situation: Students continue to use lackluster verbs in their writing.

Solution: Show toy cars and pretend to make them zip across a page, telling the class that good writing includes action words (verbs) that have "zip." Ask the class for examples of "zippy" verbs like zoom, race, flash, rush, etc.

Related Posts: Start Students' Engines for Writing