Can you guys believe how close the end of the year is? It will be here before we know it! So will the end-of-the-year party. While the kids LOVE parties, they can be a headache for teachers. HERE is my post on some tips for a simple (but fun!) classroom party. I know by now […]
When it comes to classroom parties, I am all about keeping them simple, making them easy to manage, and letting parents help as much as possible. I put together the top 11 minute to win it games for classrooms that you can use for any classroom party throughout the year. If you have parents willing […]
“Where can I find books for guided reading?” I get asked this all the time! You get excited to implement guided reading as part of a balanced literacy program, but then the issue is finding leveled sets of books (usually six per title) to use with your little readers. The struggle is real friends. If […]
With Earth Day around the corner, I thought it was the perfect time to share this DIY Earth Day Necklace. I got this idea from a great teaching colleague. You know the kind. The kind that you would team teach with any day, go to when you have an idea, but just aren’t quite sure […]
If you have been able to catch any of my Facebook lives last summer or even heard me present, you will always hear me talk honestly about book shopping. When I was in the classroom, I was always SO fearful of letting all of those little hands touch my books. After all, I had spent […]
April is such a fun month for science! Spring is a few weeks into season, flowers are blooming, baby animals are being born, and everything seems to be coming to life. Science for April is filled with engaging activities from farm life to recycling to life cycles, and the rainforest habitat. These themes work so […]
We primary grade teachers know that kids come to school with a variety of letter knowledge. Some kinder, and even first grade, students are still working on letter identification. This was the case for most of the schools I taught in. In her book, The Next Step in Guided Reading, Jan Richardson says that students who […]
With guided reading, it always seems like there are so many tools. I think this is right. There just are so many! I have written HERE about my favorites, HERE about some more things I used all the time, but it just never fails. Every time I walk into the Dollar Tree I can’t help […]
As technology in education advances, more teachers have access to iPads in the classroom. How neat is it that we have more ways to reach our learners! Using iPads during guided reading might seem difficult, but it’s just the opposite! Even if you only have one iPad for you and 22 friends to share, there […]
Podcasts are such a fun way to hear about new things going on in education, learn about new technology, improve your classroom community, or find a few tips and tricks. They range from people sharing real life, personal experiences to experts in educational science sharing new information. Some are as quick as 10 minutes, while […]
Do you struggle to get to science every day? Do you find your students needing more support to master science content and vocabulary? One way I love to tackle science concepts is through science read alouds. There are so many beautifully illustrated and well-written nonfiction and fiction books out there to help teach our students […]
Word walls can be used no matter what grade you teach. Between anchor charts and students’ products, I know classroom real estate is valuable! So let’s talk about word walls and how to make them worth the room they take up. What is a Word Wall? Word walls in the primary classroom are the centerpiece! It’s […]
Guided reading–it truly is the heart of reading instruction in my classroom. Not only is it my favorite part of the day, but it’s a time when kids get instruction that leaves them truly feeling empowered to be the best readers they can be! Whether you are new to guided reading or you’re already successfully […]
The 100th day of school is a pretty big deal when you are in kindergarten and first grade! Growing up, I never remember celebrating this day in elementary school. Now, it’s totally a “thing”! For my first graders, our day was filled with making 10 sets of 10 as we counted to 100 and celebrated […]
As classroom teachers, we need all the help we can get, amen? Wouldn’t an assistant be nice? Someone to remind you of things, tell you the weather before you run outside for recess, set the timer for you even when you are on the other side of the classroom? Well, there’s something for that, friend. […]
After launching literacy stations and putting procedures in place, they tend to go pretty smoothly. Some days, however, they can get chaotic, especially after a break, a long holiday weekend, or a few days with a substitute. We all have been there! It also happens between station rotations in a single day. Friends, even classrooms […]
As a teacher, we often use technology in our classrooms to support our students learning and to enhance it. We want to give them the best, the latest, and the greatest! We go to trainings on the latest tech tools for our students, but not always for us. Often times we aren’t given tools for […]
Launching literacy stations is a big task! You plan each station, carefully explain each one, provide time for your students to practice the station, and then let them go. But what happens when they don’t last the full 20 minutes at a workstation? What happens when they constantly need help? What happens when your little […]
