Where creativity & learning collide.
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 spentMore
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 whoMore
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 read alouds. There are so many beautifully illustrated and well-written nonfiction and fiction books out there to help teach our students manyMore
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’sMore
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 celebratedMore
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.More
My first year of teaching, I had a fabulous science instructional coach at my school. He was really great at pushing me, which just made me a better teacher. He encouraged me to do individual science journals with my kindergarten kids. I wasn’t sure if my kids were ready to write in their own journalsMore
It’s here! Monday will be the big day as we have to wait another 7 years before we can catch a solar eclipse at 100% totality here across America. How awesome is it to see something like this? The science nerd in me just loves it! You may be wondering, “How can I explain thisMore
The Basics Sight words otherwise known as high frequency words are the most common words found in beginning children’s reading materials. Each set of words builds upon the other. Once a set of sight words has been mastered, a new set is introduced for mastery. The two most common sight word lists are Fry’s 1000More
Guided reading has several tiny bits and pieces that come together to make your time at the table successful. I feel like the more I taught guided reading, the more aware I became of each puzzle piece. One of the pieces that I don’t think I fully grasped the power of until years later wasMore
Having a birthday at school is always a special treat for students. Here are five ways you can help your students celebrate their special day without breaking the bank and without the extra sugar rush! Planning ahead and prepping a classroom set before the year begins will give you a head start to making yourMore
Classroom time is so precious, and somehow things seem to just slip away sometimes. The floor is a mess. I lost time to re-test those sight words. The stack of papers to pass back is literally falling off of my table. I decided there had to be some hacks I could use to save someMore
RTI–those 3 letters that just make you want to pull your hair out sometimes. As elementary teachers, we already prep for so many content areas. Sometimes adding RTI to the plate is just too much. At least this is how I felt at times. Managing RTI was just going to send me to the looneyMore
There is something special about the holiday spirit that just lends itself naturally to teaching our little ones about kindness. While I think this is something that should be taught all year, the holiday season makes it easier. It also is a stressful time of year for parents, co-workers, and everyone. It can be aMore
Bringing science to life in hands-on ways is so important for our little learners. When it comes to teaching about weather and seasons, my students are always glued. I think that’s mostly because we don’t have all types of weather where we live. It’s mostly hot and hotter! Because of this, we do a lotMore
Writing is a time of our day that often gets squished to the end of the day, especially in kindergarten. So often we think, “Well, they aren’t reading yet so they aren’t ready to write much. They can just draw pictures.” You’re right, they can draw pictures, but have you ever thought about how that isMore
Word work, or word study, is an important part of the balanced literacy approach to teaching reading. This is the time for the teacher to provide explicit, direct, and systematic teaching instruction on the foundation of the English language. This is not a big chunk of our day, but it’s a part of our dayMore
Teaching and structuring a guided reading lesson can seem overwhelming at first. I know that when I sat with my kids for the first time, though I had seen a great model, I was so worried about fitting it all in. I wasn’t sure if I was even teaching what I should. I felt likeMore
