Make Magic!

Hi and welcome back to Attention-ology for K – 5 Teachers! Grab a magician’s black hat, a wand and a (stuffed toy or puppet) white rabbit to kick off your very own magic show in class. Today marks the beginning

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International Festival of Attention-Grabbers – Russia

Hi and welcome back to Attention-ology for K – 5 Teachers! News to report since my post last week…my Attention-ology blog is now on Twitter @attentionology. Hope you’ll tweet along with me about tools and tricks to catch and keep kids’ attention

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Re-focus Attention with Loneliness Busters!

Hi and welcome back to Attention-ology for K – 5 Teachers! When you welcome students back at the beginning of a new school year, after a vacation, or following an extended time away from class due to any reason, including

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All Aboard for a New School Year!

Hi and welcome back to Attention-ology for K – 5 Teachers! Elementary school teachers in many parts of the world are busy preparing their classrooms for the opening of the 2011 – 2012 school year. Despite budget restrictions, educators are

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Bring a Dog to School!

Hi and welcome back to Attention-ology for K – 5 Teachers! The start time of every new school year varies from community to community, but effective welcome-back attention-getting tools and tricks work pretty much year-round. In fact, as the school

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Pop Out a Pop-Up Book!

Hi and welcome back to Attention-ology for K – 5 Teachers! Check out my blog pic below and see if you agree with other teachers who have “ooohed and aaahed” at this pop-up peacock book that it was a bargain

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Tell True Stories About You

Hi and welcome back to Attention-ology for K – 5 Teachers! Have you ever had the experience of bumping into one of your elementary school students away from school – let’s say at a local store, for example – when

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Teach with Puppets – Crafty Crowd-Pleasers!

Hi and welcome back to Attention-ology for K – 5 Teachers! Look at the little bear learning to read and speak Spanish in my blog pic here and see if you agree with me that a puppet can be a

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Betcha! – An Attention-Getting Trick

Hi and welcome back to Attention-ology for K – 5 Teachers! If the end of June means the beginning of a long summer break from school for you, let’s face it, FREEDOM is the glory word, fleeting though it may

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Catch Attention with a Garden of Creativity

Hi and welcome back to Attention-ology for K – 5 Teachers! Here’s a quick way to catch and keep your students’ attention…ask them a question that poses an artistic array of answers about posies! The question…When is a garden outside

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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