Guides for teachers
Long, practical guides with a table of contents, for the things that take more than a list.
- First-year teacher survival guide
A practical guide for your first year of teaching: the weeks before school, the first days, routines, weekly planning, a grading load you can keep, parents, colleagues and your own health.
- How to set up a kindergarten classroom
How to set up a kindergarten classroom: the floor plan, carpet, cubbies, labels with pictures, centers, a calm corner, a picture schedule and a plan for the first day of school.
- Elementary classroom setup checklist
A printable elementary classroom setup checklist: furniture and floor plan, walls, supplies, daily systems, paperwork, technology, a first-day kit and a countdown for the week before school.
- Sub plans that work
How to write sub plans that work: an emergency sub folder built once, a one-page plan for a planned absence, lessons a substitute can run, what to leave out, and coming back.
- How to run centers
How to run classroom centers: choosing a rotation, setting up stations, launching them over two weeks, the teacher table, accountability, noise and help, and fixes for the common problems.
- How to run a morning meeting
How to run a morning meeting: the four parts (greeting, sharing, group activity, morning message), setting up the circle, a first-week plan, scripts, short versions and fixes for common problems.
- Classroom management for beginners
Classroom management for new teachers: expectations, routines, an attention signal, relationships, specific praise, a calm ladder of responses, fair consequences, and when to ask for help.
- How to teach phonics step by step
A step-by-step way to teach phonics: what the evidence supports, a typical sequence of patterns, a 30-minute daily lesson with scripts, blending, spelling, decodable text, tricky words and checking progress.
- Student data privacy for teachers
FERPA, COPPA and PPRA in plain words for teachers, the everyday habits that protect students, what to ask before trying a new app, and what to do if something goes wrong.
- Planning a school year
How to plan a school year: the district calendar, counting real teaching days, mapping units, pacing with buffer weeks, assessments before grading deadlines, and monthly check-ins.
- Analytic vs single-point rubric: which to use, with one example in both shapes
The difference between an analytic and a single-point rubric, when each works, one presentation task written both ways, and how to switch in a free rubric maker.
- Rubric descriptors children understand: "I can" wording, one verb a cell, three grade bands
How to write rubric descriptors students can use: "I can" statements, one verb a cell, levels that differ by one visible thing, real examples for K–2, 3–5 and 6–8.
- Rubrics for kindergarten and 1st grade: three levels, pictures, no points
How to make a rubric kindergarten and 1st graders can use: three levels (Wow!, Yes, Not yet), a picture per row, no points, read aloud. Free printable and maker.
- Grading with a rubric in Google Docs: paste it as a table, total it, comment on each row
Grading with a rubric in Google Docs, step by step: copy it in as a real table, mark a level per row, fill the total line by hand, one comment per row, no retyping.
- A quiz that teaches: retrieval practice in ten questions
How to turn a quiz into retrieval practice: ten questions, three answer boxes, old material mixed in, answers right after, versions A and B from a free quiz maker.
- Distractors that aren't silly: how good wrong answers are built, and how to write your own
How to write multiple choice wrong answers that teach you something: a near miss, a real misconception, never a silly one, examples from math, reading and science.
- Exit tickets: twelve shapes and when each one works
The twelve exit ticket prompts in our free maker, 3-2-1 to Spot the mistake, by what each tells you: when to use it, the grades it suits, how to read the stack.
- Math fact quizzes by grade: what the quiz maker opens on, K–5
The math fact ladder behind a free quiz maker, grade by grade from K to 5: adding, taking away, times tables, dividing, what each part holds and how to print a quiz.
- Sight word checks without flash-card dread: Dolch, Fry and a listening quiz
Dolch and Fry sight word lists explained, and how to run a whole-class listening check in K–2 with a free printable quiz that hides the word until you say it.
- Passage quizzes: literal, inference and vocabulary questions, and how ours are built
Literal, inference and vocabulary questions for reading passages, K–8: how each works, how our 53 passages and their quizzes are built, and how to write your own.
- Projector etiquette: Paper, Night and Chalk, and when to put Peabody on the screen
How to use full screen and the Paper, Night and Chalk themes on a classroom projector, good projector habits, and when Peabody's reading timer beats a plain one.
- Science fair rubrics by grade: a K–2 poster, a 3–5 project and a 6–8 experiment
Free science fair rubrics matched to grade: a K–2 poster, a 3–5 project and a 6–8 experiment, what each row scores, how to print them for judges or change a cell.
- Your first week as a substitute
A substitute's first week, in order: the night before, the office, the first five minutes, running the day, and the note you leave. Plain steps for a new sub at any grade.
- When the teacher left nothing
No sub plans? The three-minute triage (the wall schedule, the teacher next door, the emergency folder, the office), then a whole day of review work you can make on the spot.
- Getting a room's attention as a substitute
How a substitute gets a class's attention without knowing its signal: asking the class, signals that work in any room, practicing once, and what to do when a signal fails.
- The first five minutes as a substitute
A substitute's opening, step by step: your name on the board, one sentence about yourself, attendance from the seating chart, and the day's plan said out loud.
- The last ten minutes as a substitute
How a substitute ends the day well: an early tidy, a quiet finish, work collected in labeled piles, a careful dismissal, and the note to the teacher before you go.
- Writing the note to the teacher
How a substitute writes the note to the teacher: what happened, not who is what; six headings in order; plain sentences to start from; and what to leave out.
- Subbing in kindergarten
A substitute's guide to kindergarten: arrival, the carpet, the bathroom, snack, lining up, rest and dismissal, short blocks, reading aloud, and letting the class show you how its day works.
- Subbing in middle school
A substitute's guide to middle school: periods and passing time, the seating chart, the school's phone rule, “our teacher lets us,” and teaching the same lesson five times.
- Long-term subbing
A guide for long-term substitutes: why the second week is different, planning with the grade team, routines you set, gradebook access, parent emails the school allows, and keeping a record.
- Reading a sub plan fast
How a substitute reads a sub plan in ten minutes: the parts every plan has, the order to read them, where teachers hide the important line, and what to do when parts are missing.
- Keeping a sub log
How a substitute keeps a one-page sub log: schools, grades, what worked and what to bring next time, written with no student names, printed and read before you go back.
- What a sub may and may not do
Questions a substitute should ask the office on the first morning, about supervision, medicine, discipline, phones, releasing students and contact, with safe defaults until you have the answers.
Looking for something shorter? Numbered idea lists for tomorrow’s lesson.