September is an educator's New Year's Day. Let's make some resolutions for this upcoming year. What changes are you excited about making? Do you have a favorite back-to-school ritual to get you primed for those opening days with students and staff? How will we create welcoming and affirming environments to set the stage for learning and community building? We're including a few gems here for you.

Be well & breathe,

Liane Benedict & Kate Ginney

Activity 31 Creative Solutions:

This activity encourages creative problem-solving. Pick four or more different objects, such as a coffee can, a potato peeler, a knit hat, and a book. Split students into even teams. Now present a situation where each team has to solve a problem using only those objects. These scenarios can be anything from students are stranded on a desert island and must find a way to get off or survive to students must save the world from Godzilla. Give the teams five minutes to figure out an original solution to the scenario, including ranking each object based on its usefulness. When the five minutes are up, have each team present their solution along with their reasoning to the class. (Tip: Don’t make the scenarios so easy that it is obvious which objects will be most useful.)

Explore all activities here.

On a daily basis, ELLs are adjusting to new ways of saying and doing things. As their teacher, you are an important bridge to this unknown culture and school system. There are a number of things you can do to help make ELLs' transitions as smooth as possible.

Access the complete resource here.