Enjoy Teaching with Brenda Kovich - Ideas & Freebies

I enjoy teaching, and you can too!

After 35 years teaching upper elementary students, I still love it. What’s the recipe for a long, fulfilling career? To survive, happy teachers organize, plan, and simplify. To thrive, they learn, engage, and dive in. Read on for ideas, tutorials, and inspiration to enjoy teaching.

Brenda Kovich, NBCT

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ELA

Engage your students with ideas for building genre-based units and targeting specific skills. Yes, you can make standards-based learning fun.

Science

Energize science instruction with activities and experiments that kids love. For even more engagement, add related videos, simulations, and STEM challenges.

Math

Spark curiosity with hands-on, minds-on learning. When you activate kids’ mathematical reasoning, they can’t wait to come to school each day.

Teaching Ideas

Maximize Teaching to Make Every Moment Count | Effective Instruction

May 9, 2021

Brenda Kovich

Dive In, Learn

incidental vocabulary, interdisciplinary teaching, maximize teaching, review

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Maximize teaching with these clever strategies from master teachers. Then, when you get up in front of your students, you’ll be teaching more than just your current lesson. First, make…

Encourage Autonomy in the Classroom | Student-Centered Learning

May 2, 2021

Brenda Kovich

Dive In, Learn

autonomous learner, autonomy, guide on the side, sage on the stage, student-centered learning

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How can you promote autonomy in your classroom? First, put kids in the driver’s seat. Establish student-centered learning. Instead of the “sage on the stage,” be the “guide on the…

Improve Your Teaching Mindset | Lift, Don’t Push Kids to Greatness

April 25, 2021

Brenda Kovich

Dive In, Learn

improve teaching, scaffold

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To improve your teaching, lift, don’t push. Mediocre teachers push their students through the curriculum. You know – coverage. But great teachers do something different. They scaffold instruction so every…

Teaching Slow Changes to Earth’s Surface | Geology Activities for Kids

April 18, 2021

Brenda Kovich

Engage, Plan, Science

deposition activities, erosion activities, geology for kids, slow changes to Earth's surface, weathering activities

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Teach slow changes to Earth’s surface – weathering, erosion, and deposition – with hands-on science experiments. With just a few simple materials, your students will experience these changes firsthand. (more…)

How to Build an Erosion Table (AKA Stream Table)

April 11, 2021

Brenda Kovich

Engage, Learn, Science

erosion table, geology activities for kids, slow changes to Earth's surface, stream table

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Need an erosion table for your classroom? Try building this D.I.Y. version. All you need is a package of paint tray liners and an egg carton. (more…)

Teaching Fairy Tales Activities for Kids | An ELA Unit

April 4, 2021

Brenda Kovich

Engage, English Language Arts, Plan

comparing fairy tales, fairy tales, fairy tales activities, fairy tales activities for kids, teaching fairy tales

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Fairy tales provide the perfect theme for a complete ELA unit. Sure, you can read and compare them. But you can also pull in informational text, figurative language, poetry, and…

Mythology Lesson Plans – ELA Activities for Middle School Kids

March 28, 2021

Brenda Kovich

Engage, English Language Arts, Plan

Greek myth lesson plans, Greek mythology lesson plans, myth lesson plans, mythology lesson plans, mythology middle school, mythology upper elementary

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Looking for a complete set of mythology lesson plans? Try this free set to round out your current unit. As kids read The Lightning Thief, they learn about characters, point of…

Teaching The Lightning Thief – Percy Jackson and the Olympians

March 21, 2021

Brenda Kovich

Engage, English Language Arts, Plan

Mythology Novel Study, Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Perseus, teaching mythology, The Lightning Thief

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The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan motivates kids to read. What’s more? You can teach mythology, summarizing, inferences, and vocabulary. Check it out! (more…)

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Ideas, Tools, and Expert Advice
to Get the Most Out of Teaching

I enjoy teaching, and you can too!

ELA

Science

Math

Teaching Ideas

Maximize Teaching to Make Every Moment Count | Effective Instruction

Encourage Autonomy in the Classroom | Student-Centered Learning

Improve Your Teaching Mindset | Lift, Don’t Push Kids to Greatness

Teaching Slow Changes to Earth’s Surface | Geology Activities for Kids

How to Build an Erosion Table (AKA Stream Table)

Teaching Fairy Tales Activities for Kids | An ELA Unit

Mythology Lesson Plans – ELA Activities for Middle School Kids

Teaching The Lightning Thief – Percy Jackson and the Olympians

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Brenda Kovich

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Ideas, Tools, and Expert Adviceto Get the Most Out of Teaching

I enjoy teaching, and you can too!

ELA

Science

Math

Teaching Ideas

Visit my Teachers pay Teachers store.

Ideas, Tools, and Expert Advice
to Get the Most Out of Teaching