Yearly Archives: 2013

Share a Harvest of Attention-Getting Thanks!

¡Gracias!  (Spanish)       Je vous remercie! (French) Danke!  (German)      Спасибо! (Russian) धन्यवाद!  (Hindi)       ありがとうございました!(Japanese)    Asante! (Swahili)       Mèsi! (Haitian Creole)   Obrigado! (Portuguese)       Matur nuwun! (Javanese)   Salamat sa

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Posted in Mid-Week Focus

Comfort Cookin’ and Color-Related Writing to Manage Moods

Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers! Stop, look and listen…listen with an extra-attentive ear to your students when school starts tomorrow. Do they seem moody? If the answer’s yes, maybe you need to help them cook up

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Posted in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers

Wands, Words, Circle Time to Prepare Children for Learning

Looking for quick and easy ways to help children settle down at the start of a school day? Mid-Week Focus this week features more tried and true attention-getting tools and tricks – my own ideas and strategies that other teachers

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Posted in Mid-Week Focus

Catchy Halloween-Time Tricks & Bulletin Board Treats

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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Posted in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers

Color Rules Catching Attention to Teach Spatial Concepts

Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers! Color Rules! Red hot or not, it’s a known fact that color captures kids’ attention. Wow your students with cool color facts, like this one: Research shows that in the

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Posted in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers

Magical Teaching Tools Work Like a Charm

Grab a big black hat and get ready to charm students and catch their attention… Mid-Week Focus this week features quick and easy teaching tools and tricks that include an element of magic! (No special training needed.) In the United

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Posted in Mid-Week Focus

Surprise Students with Surprise Guest Appearances

Hi and welcome back to Attention-ology for K – 5 Teachers! Picture this…you and your students are getting ready to review the math they’ve been learning this semester before a major test. You blink and all the kids’ eyes have turned toward

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Posted in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers

Take a New Look to Re-Energize. Help Kids in the Process!

What catches your eye first when you enter your own instructional space? Mid-Week Focus today is all about taking a new look to re-energize your classroom and you, if you think that might be a good thing to do. Stop at

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Posted in Mid-Week Focus

Dog-gone Good Motivators for Young Kids to Read!

Hi and welcome back to Attention-ology for K – 5 Teachers! Big Animal Books & Soft Stuffed Animals Motivate Kids to Read – Looking for attention-grabbing dog-gone good motivators to encourage children in your K – 2  class to read more?

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Posted in Attentionology for K-5 Teachers

Celebrating Teachers Worldwide – 2013

Get ready to celebrate! Mid-Week Focus this week features World Teachers’ Day – 2013! MARK YOUR CALENDAR – Place a star on October 5, and make plans to pat yourself on the back if you serve children in an educational setting.

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Posted in Mid-Week Focus
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