Keep 'em Thinking With Susan Morrow

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Keep 'em Thinking With Susan Morrow

Where teachers share ideas to develop creative and critical thinking and make learning fun! Welcome! You can visit my website at www.keepemthinking.com

I'm Susan Morrow and I am passionate about working with gifted kids and high achievers. If you are a parent, teacher, or administrator, this is the place for you.

09/29/2026

October lessons can be spooky AND full of good thinking! 🎃

If you’re planning ahead, take a peek at these two resources:

💚 The Story of Frankenstein gets students reading and thinking about the story behind that familiar green face.

✏️ Spooky Story Writing gives students character, setting, and problem ideas to help turn “I don’t know what to write!” into a story they’re excited to tell.

Today only, save up to 30% during TPT’s 20th Anniversary Sale! Enter code 20YEARS at checkout.

Find these and more in my Keep ’Em Thinking store:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/keep-em-thinking-with-susan-morrow

08/26/2026

Ever notice how every writing prompt gets the same story back? This Write a School Tale Writing Center fixes that. Kids pick their own setting, characters, problem, and item card, so every story turns out different.

Inside you’ll find an instructional PowerPoint, a School Tale elements poster, graphic organizers, vocabulary charts, a writing checklist, and themed paper in two styles.

Made for primary kids but works great for grades 1-5. Perfect for Back to School and beyond.

Tip: don’t put all the cards out at once. I like to rotate 6-8 problem cards at a time so it doesn’t overwhelm little writers.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Writing-Center-August-and-September-Narrative-Writing-Prompts-4853803

08/24/2026

I love using these math joke posters and the accompanying activities in math classes! It’s a great way to get kids excited and engaged with math!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Math-Joke-of-the-Day-32-Math-Jokes-and-Enrichment-Activities-12818314

07/28/2026

One-size-fits-all instruction? It sounds simple… but it rarely works.

In every classroom, you’ve got a mix of readers, thinkers, dreamers, doodlers, and deep question-askers. Some students need scaffolds, while others are bored out of their minds waiting for a challenge.

💡 Differentiation doesn’t mean 25 lesson plans. It means small tweaks that meet kids where they are. Try this:

✅ Offer choice boards or menus so students can show learning in different ways
✅ Use “Must Do / May Do” tasks for built-in extension or support
✅ Let early finishers dig deeper with challenge questions or passion projects
✅ Try “Four Hardest First” – if a student can do the hardest problems, let them move on
✅ Give open-ended tasks with multiple entry points and no single right answer

You’re already doing more differentiation than you think. 💛
Keep leaning in—because one-size-fits-all instruction fits… almost no one.

06/25/2026

Every day, our students are watching.

They’re watching how we respond when someone makes a mistake.
They’re watching how we handle frustration.
They’re watching whether we keep our word.
They’re watching how we treat the student who struggles and the one who tests our patience.

Long after they’ve forgotten today’s lesson, they’ll remember how they felt in our classroom.

As teachers, we don’t just teach reading, math, science, or social studies. We teach kindness by showing it. We teach respect by giving it. We teach integrity by living it.

Our greatest lessons often happen in the moments we never planned.

The way we greet a child at the door.
The patience we show during a difficult day.
The apology we offer when we get something wrong.
The encouragement we give when no one else notices.

Our students are learning from us every single minute.

Teach your lessons well, but never underestimate the power of the example you set.

❤️ What is one life lesson you hope your students learn from watching you, not just listening to you?

06/24/2026

🚫 Rigor doesn’t have to mean more worksheets.

One of the biggest misconceptions in education is that increasing rigor means giving students more work.

It doesn’t.

Real rigor comes from asking students to think more deeply, not simply do more problems.

Instead of adding another page of practice, try asking:
💭 How do you know?
💭 Can you prove it?
💭 Is there another way?
💭 What if we changed one part of the problem?

Small shifts like these encourage students to explain, justify, analyze, and create. Those are the kinds of thinking skills that stick long after the lesson is over.

The best part? You don’t have to rewrite your entire curriculum. Just add one thinking challenge to the work you’re already doing.

Which idea from this graphic would make the biggest difference in your classroom?

👇 Share the number (1–10) in the comments and tell us why!

06/18/2026

A spark of curiosity can outshine a stack of worksheets. 💡

And honestly? I’ve seen it happen over and over again in my own classroom.

When kids are genuinely curious, they lean in. They ask better questions. They keep going even when it gets hard. That kind of engagement is worth more than any fill-in-the-blank page I could hand them.

So this week, give them something to wonder about. A mystery. A challenge. A question that doesn’t have one right answer.

Watch what happens.

What’s one thing you do to spark curiosity in your classroom? Drop it in the comments. I’d love to hear! 👇

06/16/2026

One of the most important things we can teach students is that mistakes are not something to fear. They are part of the learning process.

When students worry about being wrong, they often stop taking risks. They stay quiet. They choose the easiest path. They play it safe.

But real learning happens when students are willing to try, struggle, rethink, and try again.

Creating a classroom where mistakes are welcomed doesn’t mean lowering expectations. It means helping students understand that errors are clues, not failures. They show us what we still need to learn.

Here are a few simple ways to build that kind of environment:

✅ Normalize productive struggle
✅ Praise effort and reasoning, not just correct answers
✅ Correct mistakes with kindness and respect
✅ Encourage reflection and revision
✅ Celebrate risk-taking and perseverance

When students feel safe enough to make mistakes, they become more confident thinkers, problem-solvers, and learners.

After all, growth doesn’t happen because we get everything right. Growth happens because we keep learning when we get things wrong.

🍎 How do you help students feel safe taking academic risks in your classroom? Share your ideas below! 👇

06/13/2026

Choice changes everything in a classroom.

When kids get to decide how they show what they know, something shifts. They lean in. They stop waiting to be told what to do and start owning their learning.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. Let them pick their seat. Choose their writing topic. Decide whether to work alone or with a partner. Even small choices send a big message: I trust you.

After 41 years in the classroom, that’s one thing I’d tell every teacher. Don’t underestimate the power of a simple “you choose.”

What’s one way you build choice into your day? Drop it below! 👇

06/11/2026

The moment I started giving my students problems with multiple possible answers, everything shifted. Suddenly they were defending their thinking, debating each other, and actually enjoying math.

Rigor does not have to mean harder. It means thinking deeper. Here are three ways to get there without adding more to your plate:

1. Students write word problems to go with a picture
2. Show a problem solved incorrectly and have students find the error
3. Give open-ended problems with many possible answers

Save this for your next math planning session!

Address

110 Mountain Court
Signal Mountain, TN
37377

Website

http://www.keepemthinking.com/

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The Blackbird Academy
2806 Azalea Place, Nashville

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