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Question of the Day

As teachers, we try to make our classrooms an inviting place to be. We want our students to be excited about learning, and to be engaged in the content we are teaching. We want them to look forward to coming to school. But the reality is that not all of our students will be excited about school. Even still, we must give our best effort to make school as appealing as possible. We can do this through a myriad of ways. Rather than immediately jumping into the lesson for the day, teachers can take a few minutes at the start of class to warm students up and get them ready to learn.

One way to warm up students at the beginning of each class is through simple journal prompts. You don’t have to be a language arts teacher to incorporate journal writing into your curriculum– it can be used in any content area! Giving students a “question of the day” can help them get their minds ready to learn, focus, and participate. The question doesn’t even have to do with the content; it can be a silly, funny, or random question. Regardless of the kind of question it is, giving students a fun way to begin class can help ease them into learning and get them ready to focus. 

You can even go beyond just having them write by having them share their answers with a neighbor, then have a few students share with the class. This can be a fun way for everyone to think about the question in different ways, which encourages critical thinking. It also gets students talking to each other, helping foster class communication and relationships.

Thinking of a question to ask every day can sometimes feel a bit daunting. In case you need some question ideas, I’ve compiled a list for you! You can download the list and print a copy to keep in your files, ready to be used any time you need a question suggestion.

**This download is for personal or classroom use only. Do not sell, repost, or claim as your own.**

Question of the Day-2Download

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Applying for Our Scholarship? Here’s Some Tips!

Attention all graduating seniors! If you are planning on applying for our Build A Better Future Scholarship, this is for you! The final deadline is exactly one month from today! Final applications are due by 11:59 pm MST on Monday, April 13, 2026. Once a week until then, I will be sharing some tips and reminders for you to consider as you get ready to submit your final application.

As you put your project into motion, don’t forget to document your process through pictures and videos! Take pictures of you in action, working on your project. If you have volunteers helping you, snap some pictures of them as they work. If you host any kind of meeting, presentation, workshop, or class, have someone take a short video of you as you do your thing. If your project includes collecting donations of items, don’t forget to take some pictures of the donations that come in. Then, remember to take a picture of you at the place where the donations are being taken. If you think you’ll want a picture of something, take the picture!

One of the requirements for the final application is that you include a minimum of 5-10 pictures of your project in action. We also have a requirement for a short 3-5 minute video to be included with your application. You can certainly put some of your pictures in your video, but we also require that pictures be submitted separately as well. You can find the requirements for the video in our Scholarship Checklist, which can be found at the bottom of this page.

Beyond meeting the requirements for the final submission, having picture and video documentation of your project will provide you with lifelong mementos of the time you spent serving your community, and that is a priceless reminder of time well spent.

Scholarship-Checklist-2Download
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What I Wish You Knew… Teacher Edition

Unless you have been a teacher yourself, it is difficult to truly understand just how much teachers do behind the scenes– the long hours spent planning, grading, and creating, showing up to teach when you don’t feel well, or even the time spent outside of school worrying about their students. Teachers put in so much time and effort, and rarely get the acknowledgement they deserve. 

I asked some teachers to share what they wished parents knew, how parents have supported them, and what support they wish parents would give, and thought I’d share what they had to say!

What are some things you wish parents/guardians knew about you, your job, and/or your efforts?

  • I wish parents knew how many countless hours teachers spend outside of their contract hours. I wish parents knew the time and preparation that goes into setting up a classroom, planning lessons, and preparing for parent teacher conferences. I wish parents knew that I love their kid even when they are difficult. I wish parents knew the sacrifices we make away from our own kids and family to teach theirs. I wish parents knew that we really can tell if they are supporting their child’s education at home. I wish parents knew how many different hats we are expected to wear in one day. I wish parents knew the levels of disrespect happening at such a young age. I wish parents knew how much their child’s behavior affects others. I wish parents knew that we really are just trying to do our best and we are still humans with families and a life outside of the classroom.
  • I wish parents knew that teachers are not the enemy. We want your child to succeed, but when you don’t hold them accountable at home and don’t treat their education or the school’s time as valuable, your child sees it and develops the same impression. How you treat their teachers and education models how they feel about school.
  • How much screen time at home impacts student learning at school!
  • That we really are trying to do what’s best.

What are some ways parents/guardians have supported you in your classroom and teaching?

  • Asking if they could volunteer or asking how they could help, sending supplies, responding to emails or phone calls in a timely manner, giving feedback when I’ve asked for it and having open communication in general. If they know their child will be gone, help the student approach me so they learn those skills, but also help facilitate and follow through with me too. Your child is just that, a child. They need parents and teachers to work together.
  • I have had such amazing parents who have supported me in so many ways. Honestly, my favorite is just when parents are involved and paying attention to what’s going on at school.
  • Be involved. Sign up for things that the teacher puts out there. Come to parent teacher conferences. A simple thank you goes such a long ways.
  • Volunteering on field trips/class parties, donating supplies, working with their children at home on math & reading.
  • Parents have supported me by helping their child succeed at home which transfers to the classroom.

What are some ways you wish parents/guardians would offer/provide more support to you?

  • Ask their student to try and resolve the issue, whatever it may be, with the teacher first. If they need help, by all means… assist, but don’t do everything for them. Even if it’s an email to the teacher letting them know the situation and that you’re hoping the child approaches you. Model good relationships and communication between two adults.
  • Read the emails, be involved with your child’s learning, come to parent teacher conferences. Be patient with us. Teach your children respect and have that be the bare minimum expectation.
  • Continue to support their child by encouraging or setting up home routines that check their grades to keep them accountable and responsible and completing daily reading at home.
  • Making sure their child isn’t chronically absent, encouraging their child to read at home.
  • Pay attention and be involved.

Teachers cannot do it alone! Parent support is absolutely crucial for student success. Parent support is incredibly helpful to teachers, too. Not all parents have the time or resources to be in the classroom volunteering, but all parents can take a few minutes to read emails or papers sent home, as well as to be aware of what is happening at and with school. 


At the end of the day, parents and teachers both want the same thing– for students to succeed and be good people. Working together to achieve this is so much more effective than putting the responsibility all on one party. After all, team work makes the dream work!

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Book Summaries, But Make Them Relatable

Have you ever read a book so good you couldn’t put it down? You devoured the story line, related with the characters, and could imagine the whole plot in your mind- it was SO good. Then, a week after you finished it, your friend asks you what your favorite part of the book was or what it was about, and you are completely stumped. For the life of you, you cannot remember any details– just a simple plot summary. 

I know I can’t be the only one who has had this kind of thing happen to them. I think that this happens to us as adults because of a few reasons: we’re reading through material fairly quickly, which doesn’t give our brains enough time to fully process and store what we read, we have so many other things competing for mental storage space as adults that the details of a story often get pushed out, or maybe our reading is interrupted. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons this happens is that we subconsciously know we aren’t being tested or graded on what we read like we were when we were in school, so our brains kind of filter out the smaller details, without any real effort from us. When there are higher stakes, we tend to focus on something more intently, and therefore remember more about it. In school, we often ask students to write down things about their reading– because we know it will help them retain information better. 

Giving them an assignment associated with the reading makes them accountable and will help encourage more active reading. But just taking notes on a story sounds kind of boring, if I’m being honest. If we make it relatable and/or engaging, students are more likely to remember and make sense of what they read– and they are more likely to want to participate in the assignment. When students write down information, it creates a mental connection, which helps to cement information in their minds.

I’ve created two different worksheets you can print off and use. Each worksheet uniquely asks students to recall information from their reading, and does so in an engaging way. Feel free to print them off and use them with your classes. Both worksheets would be most effective for students in upper elementary grades or students in middle/junior high.

**Downloads are intended for classroom or personal use only. They are not to be sold, reposted, or claimed as your own.**

Plot SquaresDownload
Character Text ThreadDownload
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Walking Report Cards

My kids’ school had their final Parent-Teacher Conferences of the year last night. It’s wild to think that we are getting so close to the end of the school year! Last night’s conferences were different from the others we’ve attended this year. Typically, we sign up for a time slot to sit down and talk with each teacher for 10-15 minutes. Those are great, and I love hearing about the progress my children are making and talking with their teachers. 

Last night, however, they did what is called a “Walking Report Card” where the kids were in charge of the night. The teacher provided a set of instructions, then, using a checklist provided by the teacher, the students were expected to take over from there. Each teacher had set up four or five different stations, which we rotated through at our own pace and in the order we chose. Each station focused on a different area of study: science, math, reading, writing, and/or social studies. 

Rather than the teacher going over some of our kids’ work, our kids got the chance to show us what they have been learning about. We were able to see their progress in action! It was such a cool opportunity for the kids to take control of the conference. They felt so empowered and important while they took us through the rotations. Additionally, they took so much pride and ownership in their work as they showed us what they could do. 

It was a nice break for the teachers, too, since they could casually roam the room and answer any questions parents had for them rather than sit at their desk all night. They still had to prepare for the night by collecting work samples to send home with parents, as well as to set up the stations, but the conferences themselves were much more relaxed. 

The stations looked different for each grade, but they all had the same goal: to let the students show what they know. A math station might ask students to complete a couple of equations, draw out an array for a multiplication problem, use a candy bracelet to show their knowledge of fractions, or complete a word problem. Science stations could include activities like demonstrating how magnets work, drawing how a sound wave travels between two objects, labeling the parts of a plant, and so forth. For a reading station, teachers might have students read a passage then summarize what they read, do a timed reading to see how many words they could read in a minute, or reading a short story they had written. For writing, my third grader showed us how he could neatly write a sentence in cursive. My fourth grader read me a passage he had written about the Boston Tea Party. My kindergartener got to show us how he can write the correct word to match a picture. 

There were so many different ways for students to demonstrate their learning, and it was so neat to see first hand what my kids are learning about and doing at school. They did take a little longer than traditional conferences, but the outcome was worth the extra time, and the pride each student felt during and after was priceless!

Does your school do walking report cards?

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Final Reminder: Strategy Plan Deadline

We are just a few days away from the Strategy Plan deadline! Remember, this form is NOT required, but is simply a way for you to get feedback on your project prior to the final submission in April. The Strategy Plan is due by Monday, March 9, 2026 at 11:59 pm MST. You can click here to access the Strategy Plan.

As a reminder, the deadline for final application submissions is Monday, April 13, 2026 at 11:59 pm MST. All requirements, FAQs, and other information about the scholarship can be found on our website.

We are looking forward to reading about all of the amazing projects you’ve been working on!

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Lucky Leprechaun Math

Top o’ the mornin’ to ya! Can you believe we are already to March?! This year is flying by. Even though time is going quickly, March can sometimes feel like such a long month since there aren’t really any holidays or breaks from school. What better way to brighten up the month than by some fun holiday themed math? 

Click on the file below to download and print a fun worksheet that focuses on addition and subtraction. Recommended for kindergarten or first grade.

**Download is for personal or classroom use only. It may not be resold, reposted, or redistributed.**

Lucky Leprechaun MathDownload