With King Charles III’s coronation coming up this weekend (Saturday 6 May), we’ve created some simple activities to help you cover this momentous occasion. I wasn’t even a thought in my mother’s mind when the last coronation took place (1953), so this is all quite new to me, but it looks like a rather large…
This blog post explains why explicitly teaching semantics is important, and how you can teach semantics to increase vocabulary. We also highlight some handy tools to do just that! What is semantics? Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It is concerned with how words and phrases are used to convey meaning, and how…
Have you had a chance to explore the new Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum? The Treaty of Waitangi – Te Tiriti o Waitangi is understandably a key focus. To succeed in today’s world, students need to understand the history of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and perspectives of those who are impacted by this important document…
A great Getting to Know You activity for your classroom takes a group of students who have just met and builds a sense of community. I remember sitting in front of my very first class. 28 Year 5 and 6 students, all sitting quietly, nervously on the mat, looking around at each other and then…
I recently was asked for some practical suggestions for using our new range of “A Week in NZ’s History” resources. I am passionate about providing practical tips for busy teachers, so I hope these suggestions help. Our “A Week in NZ’s History” resources Our Week in New Zealand’s History resource explores key moments within Aotearoa New…
The importance of improving students’ vocabulary cannot be overstated. Having a large vocabulary helps students to develop their reading comprehension and writing skills. In fact, research has shown that children with larger vocabularies achieve better results at school, including higher reading achievement in particular. Targeting morphology is one way to teach vocabulary. What is morphology? Morphology…
Research tells us that better listeners are better readers. We’ve put together this list of 10 Great Podcasts for Kids to highlight some excellent podcasts that provide active listening practice. Why Listen to Podcasts? Reading is a function of two key components: decoding and language comprehension. Listening is a key part of language comprehension. In…
Why You Should Be Teaching Text Structures The whole purpose of reading is to make meaning – that is, to understand what we read (reading comprehension). As teachers, we want our students to understand what they are reading; it is pointless, otherwise. As they move through the school levels, we also want them to understand…
With the unpredictability of the current school season, we’ve put together a series of free Learn at Home activity packs. These free home learning packs will be a useful tool if you need to isolate, or if you have students who are off school. Many of the resources are able to be used both in…
Collaborative activities are the perfect way to explore Waitangi Day and the Treaty of Waitangi. With Waitangi Day commemorated at the beginning of the school year, our resources help you to cover this important part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s history while it is front and centre in your students’ minds. In the first weeks of…
I am excited to share this blog post and explain my top five teaching resources from our Top Teaching Tasks range! There is something in our top five teaching resources for everyone! So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are out top five! NZ History Time Travel Adventure (Print and Digital) Year…
If you are in search of great Back to School activities for NZ or Australian classrooms – or even further afield, we have a great range available. I’ve also put together a great range of Back to School blog posts that will help you to get to know your students and set up the year…
I don’t know about you, but in planning the first week of school I always preferred to be overplanned and overprepared – you never know what can happen! The beginning of the year is so exciting – setting up your classroom, preparing resources, and looking forward to getting to know your new students. One step…
When I surveyed trainee teachers on topics they would like advice on, the resounding and clear winner was tips for Successful Parent-Teacher Communication. From memory, this topic wasn’t something covered when I was going through teacher training. However, there are so many benefits for parents being active in their child’s education, and clear communication will…
Ngā pakanga o Aotearoa – the New Zealand Wars took place between 1845 and 1872 and spanned many conflicts and regions within New Zealand. The wars were about who controlled the country and who owned Aotearoa’s land. Around 3 million acres of Māori land were confiscated or sold and 2899 people were killed, with many…
Samoan Language Week is held in 2023 from Sunday 28 May – Saturday 3 June. I’ve put this blog post together to highlight our Samoan Language Week Activities. Samoa Language Week – Vaiaso o le Gagana Sāmoa is a fantastic event held each year to celebrate the language and culture of Samoa. “Ma’au i lou…
In my previous blog post, What is Guided Reading? I defined guided reading and shared the research and history behind this approach to building comprehension. In this blog post, I wanted to follow-up to give you some Practical Tips for Running a Guided Reading Lesson. Not everyone is a fan of guided reading, and that’s…
In this blog post, I share with you how to use QR Codes as a Digital Reading Tool. I’ll also take you step-by-step through how to use a QR code and also explain how you can make your own. What are QR Codes? I am not going to attempt to explain that QR Codes are…
In this blog post, I explore the research behind our reading comprehension resources and the “why” behind the way we set out our activities. At the heart of it, here at Top Teaching Tasks, we provide reading passages and activities on engaging topics that help students to understand what they read. We do this by…
A common question I see regularly in teacher Facebook groups is “What is a good classroom read-aloud novel?” so I’m here to help. In fact, I knew just WHO to ask to help. Melina from Galarious Goods is passionate about books in a way that can really not be described. She is a fountain of…
I’ve previously explained how my reading programme features four main aspects: Reading to, Shared Reading, Guided Reading, and Independent Reading. In this blog post, I answer the question: What is Guided Reading? I’ll also look at some of the research and history behind this approach to building comprehension. What is guided reading? Guided reading is…
It has been great to see the response to our Beginning Teachers series. In this blogpost, the fantastic beginning teachers share their teacher tips. Grab a pen and paper and take some notes – there is a lot of gold here! Teacher Tips from a First-Year Teacher Make a to-do list that encompasses task, resources,…
What is Reciprocal Reading? Have you heard about reciprocal reading (also known as reciprocal teaching)? I love the way this strategy enables independent readers to work together in a self-managing team to discuss a difficult text. They teach each other and take turns leading. Let me tell you more about it! The four comprehension strategies students…
Building Content-Area Literacy into our Integrated Reading Resources I’m excited to introduce our two new integrated reading resources. These reading units help students to increase their literacy engagement and grow their understanding of texts across the curriculum (content-area literacy). For example, our Kiwi Innovators unit features interesting texts that don’t shy away from using scientific…
I am conscious of the fact that while many graduates are successful in gaining employment right away, others will spend time relieving at the beginning of their career. Others may choose to relieve at different points in their career for a myriad of reasons, so I wanted to provide some relief teacher tips and tricks!…
Learner Agency (also known as student agency) is key to providing opportunities for the development of key competencies and the application of learning. In this guest blog post, Kate Friedwald explores resources to support learner agency. Ensuring learners have a choice in their learning not only raises engagement but also supports the learning of vital…
We have all heard the importance of teacher self-care, and what screams self-care more than an Ultimate Teacher Survival Kit!? I asked my email subscribers what they would put in the Ultimate Teacher Survival Kit and they did not disappoint! Perhaps you could make a teacher survival kit for a teacher who needs a pick me…
In this guest blog post, Chelsea Donaldson shares a fantastic way to develop a positive classroom culture. I first saw Chelsea speak about this passionately on Instagram and I knew I wanted her to share the project on my blog. I am sure you will get a lot of great ideas – enjoy! It’s for…
I previously published a guest blog post by Sarah Tohill that examined the mentoring relationship of mentors and beginning teachers. Now, my fantastic group of beginning teachers will share their experiences of working with a mentor teacher. Some PCT (beginning teacher)/Mentor relationships are really positive, some could be called “interesting”, and unfortunately, some just don’t…
As part of our beginning teachers’ series, I wanted to look at using the beginning teacher release time. The way that beginning teacher release is used and allocated in primary schools around New Zealand is varied. I would go as far as to say that some schools do a poor job of allocating this to…
Top Teaching Tasks