Introducing the “Basketball classroom" - Ash is a teacher of 11 years who focuses on not only academic success, but also importantly personal and social success!

Ash aka @mrcurmisclassroom on TikTok is passionate about embedding real-life experiences into his lessons, such as using the Olympics to teach decimals or incorporating Wordle into language activities. He discusses why this approach is effective and how he comes up with his innovative ideas.

With a significant presence on TikTok, Ash uses his platform to share his teaching experiences and offer opinions on various educational topics. He addresses common misconceptions that teachers may encounter on social media and why it’s important to get the message right.

We also chat about one of his passions, classroom management, and how it underpins all learning. Ash gives three pieces of advice when managing your classroom:

• Prevention is better than cure
• Be the speed camera
• Differentiate for your learners

If you want to know what he means by these things, you will have to listen to the episode!

Whether you’re a new teacher looking for inspiration or a seasoned educator interested in fresh ideas, this episode is packed with practical advice and relatable insights.

You can access more teacher strategies, classroom inspiration and a wealth of resources by visiting our website www.rainbowskycreations.com.

Rainbows ahead,

Ashleigh and Alisha

Resources mentioned in this episode

Follow Ash @mrcurmisclassroom on Tiktok and Instagram

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About today’s sponsor: Mrs Edgar

Mrs Edgar’s is a teacher-founded business dedicated to making planning easier—and happier!

Their vibrant, high-quality planners are crafted just for Australian teachers, with term dates, public holidays, and thoughtful pages of practical tools like assessment trackers and classroom setups. Plus, with inspiring artwork and thoughtful touches, Mrs Edgar planners are designed to bring a little joy to every day.

Ready to empower your teaching and stay focused on your goals? Grab your 2025 teacher planner, stickers, lanyards are more from mrsedgar.com.au

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We’ve hit a huge milestone! This episode is extra special as we’re celebrating our one-year anniversary of podcasting! Over the past year, we’ve shared tips, inspiration, and conversations with passionate educators like you. But the journey doesn’t stop here—big changes are coming!

We’re excited to announce that our podcast is getting a new name—Rainbow Skies for Teachers—to reflect our mission of supporting all teachers who want to inspire their students and bring creativity, simplicity and joy into their classrooms.

In this episode, we chat about:

• The journey over the past year
• Why we’re changing the name and what it means for you
• Sneak peek at our upcoming membership—an inspiring community just for teachers
• How you can join the waitlist and be the first to know when doors open!

We also have some special guests coming in to join us with the celebration.

Before we go, we want to take the time to thank YOU for being part of this amazing year! A shout out to our team and awesome podcast editor Rosie too. Let’s keep growing and learning together!

Rainbows ahead,

Alisha and Ashleigh

Today’s episode was sponsored by ePlatform Digital Libraries. Visit www.eplatform.co to learn more about Decodable Readers and Digital Libraries for schools.

Resources mentioned in this episode

Join our exciting Membership Waitlist

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If you have been sitting on the fence when it comes to incorporating Yoga in the classroom but wasn’t sure how, or you’ve started but need some fresh ideas, then Giselle from Kids Yoga Stories in your gal.

Giselle has taken her passion for yoga, mindfulness and education to created books and resources with the intention of sharing the benefits of yoga for children everywhere. Not only will your students benefit from yoga practising but you will to!

In today’s chat we talk about:

• How yoga practice can benefit students
• Simple and effective yoga techniques to integrate in your classroom routine
• How you can integrate storytelling into yoga practises.
• Tips for teachers starting out on adding these tools to their teaching practice.

You can access more teacher strategies, classroom inspiration and a wealth of resources by visiting our website www.rainbowskycreations.com.

Rainbows ahead,

Ashleigh and Alisha

Resources mentioned in this episode

Learn more about Kids Yoga Stories - www.kidsyogastories.com

Connect with Giselle on Instagram @kidsyogastories and Facebook @kidsyogastories and Pinterest @kidsyogastories

Contact Giselle - giselle@kidsyogastories.com

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“Help! How do I differentiate?”—It’s the number one question we hear from teachers time and time again.

Gone are the days when teaching was a one-size-fits-all approach with students simply following along. Now, we understand so much more about how the brain works and how students learn in their own unique ways. That's why differentiation is absolutely essential in today’s classroom. It’s all about ensuring every student can thrive, no matter where they’re starting from!

But we know, it isn’t as easy as clicking your fingers and your lessons are differentiated. It takes time, skill and a toolkit of ideas and strategies.

Today we are here to share the strategies. Some you may tick off in your mind because you are already doing them, others might inspire you to give them a go!

We breakdown these 9 strategies to help differentiate in your classroom:

• Content
• Process
• Product
• Pacing
• Learning Environment
• Grouping
• Choice / Choice Boards
• Interest
• Readiness

You can’t possibly implement all these differentiation strategies at once, so think of these ideas like a menu that you can pick and choose from!

If this episode was helpful and you would love to hear more about differentiation in the classroom, write us a review and let us know! We value the feedback we get from our awesome teacher listeners.

Rainbows ahead,

Ashleigh and Alisha

Resources mentioned in this episode

Join our exciting Membership Waitlist

Episode 52 - It Takes a Village to Educate a Child with Kylie Altier

Christmas Blooms activities for Grades K-2 and Grades 3-6

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In this powerful episode, we sit down with Kelsey Sorenson, a teacher, homeschool mama, certified life coach and author, to dive deep into the issue of teacher burnout. With educators leaving the profession at an alarming rate, we explore what's driving this exodus and how teachers can protect their well-being.

A recent Gallup panel shared that 44% of teachers said they are “always” or “almost always” burned out, outpacing all other professions. Perhaps a more shocking statistic than this is most teachers are surprised this statistic isn’t higher!

Kelsey shares everything she has learned about teacher burnout and how to stop ourselves getting to that place before it actually happens. And here’s a hint… it starts with self-compassion and curiosity.

Throughout this conversation we talk about:

• The burnout crisis in education
• Factors contributing to the current burnout epidemic
• Common patterns in burned-out teachers
• How to become an observer
• Self-advocacy for teachers

We need more of Kelsey’s message in the world for teachers. It is time to educate and rejuvenate ourselves to start to reverse the trend of teachers burning out.

If you know a teacher that is going through any of the things we talked about in this episode, please share it with them - we need to keep our amazing teachers in classrooms.

Rainbows ahead,

Ashleigh and Alisha

Resources mentioned in this episode

Connect with Kelsey via email- hello@educateandrejuvenate or on Instagram @educateandrejuvenate

Website: www.educateandrejuvenate.com

Purchase Kelsey’s book

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You have probably heard the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child” but what if we applied this to teaching? Kylie Altier has explored this exact idea of it taking a “village” to educate a child and what she discovered was career changing!

Throughout today’s episode Kylie shares how she has gone about this transformation of building a village outside the four walls of her classroom and sprinkles through some amazing stories of how doing this has impacted her and her students.

Not only that, Kylie shares 5 ways that you can also follow her lead and start to build your own village. We talk about:

• Asking for help
• Look near and far for villagers
• Varying requests of potential ‘villagers’
• Be an open door
• Expressing gratitude

The passion and fire for creating lifelong learners in her classroom is so compelling throughout this episode. It is one that will get you feeling pumped up and inspired (it did for us!)

If you want to join Kylie’s village, the links are below.

You can join the Rainbow Sky village on Instagram, TikTok or through our private podcast Facebook Group.

Until next week, there are rainbows ahead!

Alisha and Ashleigh

Resources mentioned in this episode

Transform your First Years, join our village for New Teachers

Find our podcast village here: Podcast FB group

Connect with Kylie on Instagram @mrs.altiersvillage or on her website www.readwithkylie.com

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It is often comforting knowing that someone has walked in your shoes before you. Today’s guest, Bridget, has been teaching for 18 months and is here to share all the truths about the good times, the not so great times and what has helped her survive and thrive in the first year of teaching - and Bridget is in fact thriving.

Bridget aka Miss Inclusivity on Instagram, is not only a new teacher but also a business owner so she knows first hand what it is like to be juggling lots of balls.

In today’s chat we talk about:

Where Bridget’s energy and passion comes from

What keeps Bridget motivated (because those first few years aren’t easy)

How to reframe your thoughts to have a positive mindset

The rollercoaster ride of teaching and her top tips for new teachers

Her lanyard business and how she helps teachers

You will love Bridget’s energy and passion! We hope you enjoy this conversation.

You can access more teacher strategies, classroom inspiration and a wealth of resources by visiting our website www.rainbowskycreations.com.

Rainbows ahead,

Ashleigh and Alisha

Resources mentioned in this episode

Transform your First Years, our membership that supports new teachers.

Shop Miss Inclusivity’s lanyards here: https://missinclusivity.com/pages/lanyards

Connect with Bridget on Instagram @missinclusivity and TikTok @missinclusivity

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Looking for ways to mark student work faster and in a more effective way? You have come to the right place!

Marking or grading work can be extremely time consuming and let’s face it, as teachers we can often feel very time poor. At the end of the day, marking/grading is all about giving students adequate feedback about their learning and for you as the teacher to monitor their progress. Too often we get caught up in the ‘rules’ our admin gives us, such as: You must mark every piece of work, written feedback needs to be detailed or bookwork is the only way to truly assess your student’s progress…

Well, we are calling out all of these things today! Stick with us as we talk about the true purpose of marking/grading student work and how you can save time as a teacher in the process.

We share our top 10 tips to help you mark / grade your students work in less time:

• Keep everything you need in one organised place
• Mark work as you go, giving immediate feedback to your students
• Have a designated spot in your classroom for books or worksheets to go if they need to be marked
• Group students to provide more detailed feedback when marking
• Skip the bookwork and marking altogether
• Mark as a class
• Make an investment in a personalised stamp to save time
• Try batching your grading / marking
• Mini marking keys are helpful
• Set homework that require no marking (if you need to set homework at all)

Finally, treat yourself for a job well done! If you loved these time saving ideas, then you should check out our mini course Transform Your Teacher Time.

Thank you for joining us for another episode of Rainbow Skies for New Teachers.

Rainbows ahead,

Ashleigh and Alisha

Resources mentioned in this episode

Learn more about saving time here: Transform Your Teacher Time

Check out teacher stamps by Miss Honey Teachers

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