Fast, Easy, & Simple Sub Plans for All Teachers
Alison Howd Alison Howd

Fast, Easy, & Simple Sub Plans for All Teachers

Every teacher knows the feeling. You wake up sick, or your own kid wakes up sick, and now you're lying in bed at 6am trying to remember your daily schedule well enough to write emergency sub plans from a fog of cold medicine.

It doesn't have to be that hard.

Read More
Elementary Computer Lab Lessons Done for You
Technology Lessons Alison Howd Technology Lessons Alison Howd

Elementary Computer Lab Lessons Done for You

If you are a computer lab teacher managing five or six different grade levels every week, you already know the drill. Monday is kindergarten students figuring out where to click. Tuesday is third grade deep into a Google Slides project. Wednesday is fifth grade wrapping up a coding challenge. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, you are supposed to have lesson plans ready, sub plans prepped, and a technology curriculum that actually makes sense from one grade level to the next.

It is a lot. And if you are piecing together your computer lab lessons one week at a time, this post is for you.

Read More
The Best AI Tool for Creating Teacher Organization Systems
Teacher Tools & Systems Alison Howd Teacher Tools & Systems Alison Howd

The Best AI Tool for Creating Teacher Organization Systems

The benefits of AI in education are everywhere right now. And most of that conversation is focused on generative ai for learning experiences: lesson planning, ai-generated content for students, tools that support critical thinking in the classroom. Those tools are real and they are useful.

But they are solving a different problem than the one most people in a school building face every single day.

Read More
Free Digital Citizenship Video Lessons for Elementary Students
Technology Lessons Alison Howd Technology Lessons Alison Howd

Free Digital Citizenship Video Lessons for Elementary Students

If you're looking for free digital citizenship lessons that your students will actually pay attention to, you're in the right place.

Teaching digital citizenship is one of those things that feels big and important, but it can be hard to know where to start. Between finding the right videos for different grade levels, figuring out which digital citizenship topics to cover, and making it actually engaging for kids, it's a lot. And if you're a classroom teacher who didn't sign up to be a tech teacher, the idea of building a whole digital citizenship curriculum from scratch? That's just too much.

Read More
Digital Citizenship Lessons for Elementary Students

Digital Citizenship Lessons for Elementary Students

If you’ve ever taught digital citizenship lessons to elementary students, you already know this:

It’s not a one-and-done lesson.

It’s not something you teach once during digital citizenship week and check off your list.

And it’s definitely not something students just remember because we told them.

This is something we have to teach, revisit, and talk about all the time.

Read More
How to Teach Technology Without Feeling Overwhelmed

How to Teach Technology Without Feeling Overwhelmed

Teaching technology in a K–5 classroom can feel overwhelming, especially with so many digital tools, new apps, and expectations. In this post, I share the simple system I use to keep my tech lab running smoothly, including routines, video lessons, and the exact tools I use like Google Sites, Google Slides, and Google Classroom. If you are looking for a practical way to improve student engagement and make your classroom easier to manage, this will give you a clear starting point.

Read More
An Edcafe AI Review for Teachers
Alison Howd Alison Howd

An Edcafe AI Review for Teachers

Thinking about using Edcafe AI in your classroom? The honest review walks through what it’s really like to use Edcafe AI as a teacher - from lesson planning and quizzes to slide decks and instructional resources - and whether it actually saves time.

Read More