Author: Jessica Boschen

Jessica shares her passion for teaching and education on What I Have Learned. Jessica has 16 years of elementary teaching experience and currently homeschools her two middle school boys. She enjoys scaffolding learning for students, focusing on helping our most challenging learners achieve success in all academic areas.

Earth Science

Earth’s Biosphere: Hands-on Activities for Upper Elementary Students

The Earth’s biosphere is the sphere that students are already part of, making it a great anchor for teaching Earth’s systems. Every organism on the planet, from the bacteria in…

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Earth Science

Weather Activities for 3rd Grade: Climate and Hazards

Weather activities for 3rd grade cover some of the most naturally engaging science content in the elementary curriculum. Students already have opinions about the weather, and NGSS standards 3-ESS2-1, 3-ESS2-2,…

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Teacher Professional Practice | Classroom Management

Questions to Ask Parents at Parent-Teacher Conferences: A Teacher’s Guide

Twenty minutes with a family go fast. If you spend most of it talking, you leave the conference knowing exactly what you walked in knowing, which isn’t much. The best…

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Earth Science

How Plants Prevent Erosion: 4th Grade Science Experiment

This prevent erosion science experiment has 4th graders compare bare soil to soil with plants, measure sediment in runoff, and draw diagrams to understand how vegetation protects against erosion.

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Teacher Professional Practice | Classroom Management

Student-Led Parent Teacher Conferences: A Complete Guide

Student-led parent teacher conferences completely change the dynamic of conference week — and once you’ve run them, it’s hard to go back. Instead of spending twenty minutes narrating a student’s…

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Classroom Management | Teacher Professional Practice

Parent Teacher Conference Tips That Actually Work

Parent teacher conferences can feel like a marathon with back-to-back families, limited time, and a lot of ground to cover. With a clear agenda and a few intentional parent teacher…

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Math

Teaching Geometry in Elementary School: Shapes, Area & Perimeter

Geometry can feel like the easiest math unit to teach because students already know what a square looks like. But teaching geometry in elementary school well means going beyond shape…

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Earth Science

Water Cycle for Kids: A Teacher’s Guide for 2nd–5th Grade

Teaching the water cycle for kids works especially well in elementary science because the topic recurs at multiple grade levels, each time with greater depth. Students encounter it first in…

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Math

How to Teach Fractions in Elementary School: Strategies, Models, and Activities

To teach fractions well in elementary school, conceptual understanding has to come before computation. The Number and Operations: Fractions (NF) domain builds steadily from 3rd grade through 5th, and each…

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Science | Instructional Strategies

62 Science Jokes for Kids

Nothing gets a laugh out of a class faster than a well-timed science pun. Whether you’re wrapping up a chemistry unit, taking a brain break during earth science, or just…

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Life Science

Food Chains and Food Webs: A Teacher’s Guide for Elementary Students

Food chains and food webs are one of those topics that sound simple on the surface but become more complex as students move through the grade levels Students encounter the…

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Earth Science

Space Science for Elementary Students: A Teacher’s Guide for 2nd–5th Grade

Space science for elementary students varies by grade. The NGSS sequence builds from patterns students can observe (shadows, seasons, day and night) to the physics behind those patterns (Earth’s rotation,…

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