Using story problem situations, or word problem types, to teach problem-solving in the elementary grades. The Problem with Problem-Solving I was tearing my hair out trying to get my students to solve word problems accurately! They would grab the two numbers they saw and randomly add or subtract them :::sigh::: Then I found what I affectionately…
It’s time for Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics! Have you heard of “The Progressions” for Common Core math? I went to a workshop a while ago and the presenter said The Progressions is like a Common Core math bible! I thought, why was I never given a copy or a link to this…
This is the second part of a mini series about songs for teaching parts of speech. If you missed the first post about nouns and verbs, you can find it here. Click on any picture to print off a copy for yourself from Google Docs! Sing The Adjective Song to the tune of The Itsy…
Let’s start February off right with some teacher humor! I usually assign partners and kids say, “Why can’t we pick our own partners?” Uh yeah, I know how that will turn out… It seems like the kid who can find every little typo and word that you said incorrectly, is also the same kid who…
Take a G and an E and O, And add a little R-G-E, To a W-A-S-H, I…N…G If you add 2,000 pounds, That makes a ton, So what have you got? You’ve got a lot! George Washington! This is part of a silly song I remember from way back in 5th grade when we were…
“Mrs. Braun, you know that mark, it’s like a curve, I can’t remember what it’s called, but do I need to use one here?” When kids get to second grade and they’re exposed to contractions, possessives, writing lists, dates, and more, they start to get really bamboozled about the difference between commas and apostrophes. They…
Here is your daily dose of teacher humor, enjoy!: This seems to be a problem at many schools: They always do this: You’ve just read a story problem, or the first sentence of your read aloud, and someone’s hand is frantically waving. You think they must have something amazing to say so you call…
It’s the second Monday of the month which means it’s time for Monday Made It! Over winter break I redecorated my master bath! I’ll spare you the before pictures but the walls were all dark brown, it had a plain builder-grade mirror, and a dilapidated Roman shade that didn’t work. Here’s what I did: …
I just love anchor charts so I’m linking up again with Deb from Crafting Connections for: This week my anchor is about author’s purpose. There’s no sense in looking for the author’s purpose just to look for the author’s purpose. If we can figure out the author’s purpose, then we can read purposefully. If kids…
Ideas for teaching low reading groups for maximum effectiveness My stomach tightened a little as I pulled out my small group data sheet. I had been working with a group of some of the lower readers pulled from each class in my grade level. I was taking care of the other teachers’ babies and…