Teach reading comprehension effectively using the gradual release method. Lost in a Teacher’s Guide I was brand new to Utah. Like, hadn’t even found a place to live so I was staying in my cousin’s basement kind of new. Being a planner, I had gotten early access to my new classroom and lugged out all…
Reading comprehension strategies for 2nd graders and how to teach them. This post contains affiliate links. What Successful 2nd-Grade Readers Know and How to Teach It Reading Comprehension Strategies are Like a Messy Closet You know how when you try to clean out a closet, things get complicated really fast? Soon you end up…
Reading comprehension strategies for parents, teachers, and tutors to use with first graders This post contains affiliate links. Don’t Get So Busy With Decoding that You Forget This In a school hallway lit by fluorescent lights, I sat across a desk from a student. The tip of my pen hovered over a testing booklet as…
Strategies, interventions, and activities to improve reading skills in kids with dyslexia, for teachers and parents. This post contains affiliate links. When Reading Skills Aren’t Clicking Lauren* sorted cards with -at endings into one pile and -am endings into another pile. Then she read the -at list: “Bat, cat, sat, …happy?” guessed Lauren. “Let’s use…
Inside: Follow these five steps to teach a child to read. Helpful for parents, homeschoolers, and teachers that are teaching beginning readers. This post contains affiliate links. I looked like a mother hen with my chick gathered around me. Sitting on the floor with my legs crossed, I stared into six eager pairs…
How to make reading comprehension instruction engaging with ideas from the book Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst This post contains affiliate links. The Problem With Reading Comprehension Questions The book was thick and heavy with a dark blue cover. The print was small and the pictures were…
Inside: Use poetic devices to teach poetry writing lessons that will get your elementary students writing poetry in no time. There’s a little-known secret about teaching poetry writing that will blow your mind. I’m sure you’ve got a few kids in your class that would rather drop their pencil on the floor forty times in…
“And that is how we solve a compare problem!” I say triumphantly as I step away from a white board filled with pictures and numbers. “Ok, go ahead and try the next one on your own.” Quiet, blank stares, tapping pencils. No one knows what to do. That’s when I realized that I was teaching…
I’ve got a new parts of speech video to share with you today and this time it’s about verbs! I love to practice songs like this one and my noun song during those extra two to five minute chunks of time that pop up now and then. More parts of speech ideas:…
One year I had a juggernaut of a word wall (how’s that for vocabulary?…haha!) Adding a word frequently involved standing on precariously stacked kid-sized furniture or trying to check if a word was straight from an awkward crouch with my head held sideways. Each day when I read my students a picture book, I…
Kids love music and it’s so helpful for memorization! I’ve written before about using music for learning parts of speech here and here. I’ve had a few people say that they wish they could hear the songs instead of just seeing them on a chart. I’ve been getting my feet wet with video lately and…
If I were ever on a game show and asked to name all 50 states in alphabetical order, I could absolutely do it. And it’s not because I have a savant-like memory, it’s because in 8th grade we learned a song that listed all states in ABC order. I might not remember much else from…
There are lots of things you won’t learn about teaching during your time in college. How to start up your literacy block at the beginning of the year and what you should be teaching in phonics are on the list. Making attractive bulletin boards is another one of these topics. Back-to-School bulletin boards welcome your…
Make addition with regrouping simpler! If you have laid a solid foundation in place value, your students are probably ready to take on addition with regrouping. Kids can quickly get lost in what number to carry and where to write it. Fortunately, there’s a teaching aid hiding right in your desk drawer…the versatile sticky note!…
This sounds crazy but stay with me for a minute ; ) It works like this: *Explain or review that the short hand points to the hour. *Point out all of the little tick marks around the clock. Count them all together to establish that there are sixty. Explain that the long hand shows how…
Research about and best practices for teaching spelling in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade classroom. Do you ever feel like your teacher prep program left you with some major gaps? Like, how the heck do you really teach spelling? We’re probably all familiar with the technique of assigning lists and testing at the…
In my first year of teaching I was expected to use a writer’s workshop model where students almost always chose their own writing topics. This was before the Common Core standards and my district wasn’t very concerned about what genres students wrote in, as long as they wrote. I could definitely tell you that in my…
I’ve done a lot of experimenting with desk arrangements over the years. I’ve definitely found my favorite. Keep reading, I’ll tell you about it. I’ve also discovered that it’s smart to pick a few arrangements that you like and teach your students how to quickly move between the positions when the activity requires it.…
Skip counting ideas and activities for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade math class. This post contains affiliate links. If you teach 1st or 2nd grade you’ve probably spent a lot more time skip counting than the average person off the street. It’s one of those things that kids need a lot of…
If you’re not asleep during staff meetings, you’ve probably heard the phrase “research-based practices” thrown around a lot. Do you silently ask yourself, “Sooo, which practices are research-based anyway?” I don’t know about you but it’s been a little while since I originally learned about the people who did some of the major research in…
#1 Have Them Help Demonstrate – Your first instinct might be to choose a model student to help demonstrate a task. Try picking a student who struggles to follow directions instead. You may have to give them a lot of guidance as they demonstrate in front of the class but then you know they have…
With winter break quickly approaching, if you can keep your class from turning into all out chaos, you’re doing good. If you actually work in some academic content…well, you deserve something special from Santa ; ) I’ve got an ugly Christmas sweater contractions freebie to help you out. Students take words from two balls of…
You stayed up late pulling together an awesome activity that is sure to be a slam dunk with your students. You go in early to make the copies and put everything in its place. When your students arrive you start presenting your material. “Boys and girls, today we’re doing a rock investigation for scie…” You…
The seasonal aisle at my grocery store switched directly from Halloween to Christmas, but I refuse to ignore Thanksgiving! It’s one of my favorite holidays. I’ve got a Thanksgiving activity freebie for you! It’s a color by number that helps kids practice +10 and -10. It’s great as a math center, homework, or something to…
I’ve been doing so much “serious” blogging lately that it’s starting to get a little stuffy around here! It’s time for some teacher humor! You know when you’re on a roll, checking things off your teacher to-do list like a boss, and then suddenly everything comes to a screeching halt because you can’t find….the GOOD…
Reading Strategies What reading strategies do students need to learn, anyway? It would be so nice if the standards would just spell it out for us! Unfortunately, I’ve never seen that. I’ve racked my brain and made this cheat sheet of the reading strategies I’ve frequently seen in teacher’s guides, professional books, and trainings. Click…
I will never forget my first day of student teaching when my host teacher put a 2-digit by 2-digit division problem on the board and asked the kids to mentally solve it. I’m not sure what her point is here because I’m sure they’ll all be stumped. After a couple of minutes of silent “think time” she…
Inside: Teaching writing DOESN’T have to be complicated! With these simple strategies, you can improve students’ writing without having to work so hard. M rs. Braun? I turned around to an outstretched notebook in a kid’s hands. “I don’t know what to do next,” said the student. I leaned closer to decipher the…
Everything you needed to know about teaching phonics, you learned in college….right? Wrong! My professors were great, but there really wasn’t a course dedicated to teaching phonics. Once you have your own classroom it doesn’t take long to realize that the phrase “sound it out” will only get your students so far. Don’t worry! I’ve…
Research and best practices for teaching vocabulary in the elementary classroom. I’m back this week linking up with #TeacherMom for her Building Back to School series. This week we’re talking about language tools. I’ve done some digging to see what research tells us about teaching vocabulary. Here’s what I found: A Strong Vocabulary Is…
Back to School Tips I’m linking up my back to school tips with some other great bloggers today for the Back to School is as easy as 1, 2, 3 link up. After 8 years of teaching the one thing I wish I would have known from the beginning is this: I tend…
A list of activities that build number sense in the elementary math classroom. Especially for 1st and 2nd graders. This post contains affiliate links. “Mrs. Braun?” a second grader asked. “What comes after September?” With a smile, I responded, “October,” but my stomach tightened like it does when I realize I’ve left my curling…
You know, staff meetings bring out a lot of things in people…not all of them good. I distinctly remember one line that was said at a staff meeting that brought out some panic in me. But let me back up to say that I (and I bet probably you, too) got into teaching to have…
Teacher Humor – I used to work in a smaller town that had one WalMart and that’s where you’d find everybody on the weekends. The second I got cranky with my kid, tried to pick out some underwear, or looked for any health and hygiene products…”HI MRS. BRAUN!!!” Ahhhh! It’s all fun and games…
Student Engagement Do you feel like you have to practically put on a circus to achieve student engagement with your lessons? Before you bring out the lions, tigers, and bears, take a step back and see if one of these small changes might be the missing piece in your student engagement puzzle. Make It “Doable”…
Teacher Humor {{{SIIIIGGHHH}}} It’s been too long… definitely time for another installment of teacher humor! So we all know the student who is sure they’re being ever-so-helpful by SHHHHing the rest of the class with a force only know to cat-5 hurricanes. There are many classroom mysteries. Maybe you’ve encountered this one. If I…
Ideas for teaching math fact fluency strategies in first and second grade. A Continuum of Math Strategies Math strategies develop along a continuum (see the dashboard above). We teachers can build students’ mathematical power by recognizing where they are on the strategy continuum, and helping them to move toward the most efficient strategies.The Institute…
What should I read next? Looking for something new to read? Get a picture book recommendation based on which classics you (or your class) know and love! Whether you’re into the silly monkey antics of Curious George, the sequential style of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, or the imaginative adventure of Where the…
Teacher Humor All of today’s teacher memes are inspired by the crazy stuff students do. Take this first one; do you know who I’m talking about? That kid who you swear was to your left but then you look up and he’s suddenly to your right. The next time you look up he’s…
Teacher Performance Pay When my last school started talking about implementing performance pay for teachers, it put a knot in my stomach. I imagined that test scores would be the main, perhaps only, means for measuring teacher performance. While student academic growth (even if not on grade level) is one mark of teacher quality there…
Printmaking for Kids I’m always looking for kids’ art projects that really look like art and this is a good one. Printmaking allows kids to use paper and paint in a new way! Materials: paper tempera paints plastic page protectors cotton balls clothespins Sharpie markers (optional) 1. Draw big outlines of flowers and leaves on pieces…
Mixed Up Chameleon Craft If your students love The Mixed Up Chameleon by Eric Carle then this is the perfect craft for them. Students cut out different animal parts from old magazines and put them together to make a new mixed up animal. It also includes a template for writing about what the animal would…
Mother’s Day Craft Life as a teacher is definitely easier when you have all your students’ moms on your side! Click the picture to pick up an easy and fun bath salts craft you can have students make for Mother’s Day.
You may have seen the news article going around right now about things that 3rd graders wish their teacher knew. In response, here are several things that I wish my students knew. I bet you could add several of your own. I wish my students knew: -I don’t like all this testing either.…
Today’s teacher humor is inspired by school supplies. How could school supplies be funny….well, teachers know : ) Creativity is something that we encourage in our students. Frequently, their creativity knows no bounds, like with school supplies, and all the ways they can think up to use them as things…other than school supplies. Teaching tip…
If you asked the average person off the street what they would say to help someone struggling with a tricky word, I bet a lot of the responses would be, “Tell them to sound it out!” And then the average person off the street would say, “What kind of question is that, anyway!” : )…
Teaching coordinate graphing has never been so lively! Here are ideas to engage all kinds of learners. Capture the Penguins Coordinate Graphing Game Turn coordinate graphing practice into a game! MathWire.com has several different coordinate graphing games to play but I loved this one! Students fill the grid with some kind of marker. Here the…
For your entertainment, teacher humor! If you’re old enough to remember MacGyver then you’ll get this one. I notice a few constants with the art projects for kids that I see on Pinterest. Most involve some kind of genius way to use cheap/free materials like paper plates, paint color cards, toilet paper tubes, etc. Just…
There’s a lot of room for creativity in teaching. Here are the things I’ve been creating lately: Here’s a fun project when studying habitats. I took a piece of butcher paper and painted a simple African savanna scene. I had the students illustrate animals and add them to the scene in a place where they…
Unraveling Response to Intervention I set out to unravel and get to the heart of Response to Intervention (RTI) like I’ve done before with close reading. I was surprised to read on the RTI Network’s website that, “there is no single, thoroughly researched and widely practiced ‘model’ of the RTI process.” Of course, that would…
Happy Monday! I dug back through some old pictures to find this synonym and antonym anchor chart for Anchors Away Monday with Crafting Connections: Synonym cinnamon bears (there’s a tongue-twister for ya!) and antonym ants. My students referred to this chart quite a bit.
Get ready to smile, it’s time for teacher funnies! Hey principals, want a cheap way to raise staff morale? I’ve definitely stepped on a few fingers doing this move: And a management strategy we all know and love…
I made this chart with my class when we were studying 3D shapes. All of the kids cut and taped together their own shapes. Then we held them up and counted the faces, edges, and vertices. The avalanche of card stock shapes went home with the kids (thank goodness) but we kept this chart to…
When you’re not serving as a social worker, cheerleader, data analyst, and preacher (you know, for those “Come to Jesus” talks) why not play some parent-teacher conference bingo?!? Some of these are meant to be funny, some are sad, and some are just realistic. Can you get a bingo at parent teacher conferences? : )…
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…
Copy machines…it’s a love/hate relationship… The Men’s Warehouse guy gets it… Yeah, cause I don’t have much else to do anyway…
Fairy tales are old stories told and retold again, but do they deserve a place in a modern language arts curriculum? Besides the fact that the Common Core standards require exposure to fairy tales, there are other reasons why fairy tales should be included in reading instruction. Fairytales spark the imagination – Can you imagine…
I just made this anchor chart for kids who are new to the concept of arrays. Click the picture to download this anchor chart for FREE! I highlighted the main vocabulary kids need to know about arrays. This chart could be projected during a lesson, put up on a math bulletin board, or…
It’s time for another installment of teacher funnies! Nobody likes staff meetings, especially when this happens… I used to get really frustrated about kids that wouldn’t do work for me in class, and then I decided maybe the parents should help shoulder the burden. When you get your class list for a new school year,…
I used this Recipe for a Sentence anchor chart to introduce my 2nd graders to the concept of subject and predicate. To make it a little more “kid-friendly,” we called the subject the naming part of the sentence. It names who or what the sentence is about. The predicate is the telling part of the…
Its the 2nd Monday of the month which means its time for Monday Made It with Fourth Grade Frolics! There is never any lack of projects to work on in my life so I’m excited to share with you what I’ve been up to lately. I love to make greeting cards and recently found a…
What is close reading? If you look around Pinterest at anchor charts about close reading, it gets really overwhelming really fast! It seems like it’s about every reading strategy you’ve ever seen all put together at the same time. How the heck do you craft a lesson around that? It’s time to take the rocket…
If you were in elementary school in the 1980s and 90s like I was, you’ve probably seen your fair share of holiday sweaters on teachers. Kids today shouldn’t miss out on holiday sweaters just because teachers have moved on to more fashionable apparel…haha! So here is some fun contraction practice perfect for the weeks before…
Just in time to help you push through until winter break…teacher funnies!!! Teacher: Joey, do you have your homework today? Joey: No, my mom forgot to put it in my backpack. Love that excuse. We call this “snaggle tooth” in my family: I do love moms who send cutesy (or even just delicious) treats for…
Here’s an easy idea for teaching area and perimeter that your students will love! Take them outside (but first, make it clear that it’s not recess time!). Have them follow behind you in a line as you walk around the edge of the basketball court (or playground, or blacktop, or whatever you have). Yell out…
I’m excited to link up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It! My first project is this silly bulletin board made of some thrift store neckties. I made the big turkey and then realized I could us the little tie ends I had left to make a baby turkey. This is a library bulletin…
I only became aware of color by number educational activities a couple of years ago and I think they’re so much fun! I made one just for Thanksgiving that helps students practice adding and subtracting 10 from a 2-digit number. Click the picture to grab yours! Enjoy : )
It’s time for another installment of TEACHER FUNNIES! I think parent relations have to be one of the hardest parts of being a teacher. Those little cherubs go home and tell their parents a (stretched and twisted) story from the day and next thing you know, you’ve got an irate mama/papa bear on your hands…
Freebie! One of the keys to teaching reading comprehension is showing kids how proficient readers think about text. Teachers have to find a way to make their thinking visible. One way is with graphic organizers. Here is a free set: The first one is filled in with the steps for growing…
Teacher Burnout Explained in Two Pie Graphs This is a non-scientific (but probably pretty accurate) graphic I have created using my experience as a teacher. Another title for this chart could be “Teacher Burnout Explained in Two Pie Graphs.” I’m sure you can relate or even add some of your own crazy pie sections. Healthy…
I’m linking up today with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It! Here are projects I’ve been working on lately! Some of these projects were done for my home but I would love to do them for a classroom as well. We recently moved into a new home so I’ve been in organization mode for…
Every teacher needs a few fun, fast, easy, tricks up his/her sleeve. Here are a few easy classroom management tricks I’ve picked up over the years. Need a Second to Get Ready for the Next Lesson? I got this first one from an art teacher I used to work with. She would have a few…
Honestly, I don’t ever remember learning syllable rules when I was in school, and amazingly enough, I still learned how to read. When I first started hearing about syllable rules (as a teacher) they were complicated statements like, “with a CVC pattern, if the vowel is short then divide after the second consonant.” Holy…
Welcome to teaching! Where the salaries are low and everything is your fault! It’s a good thing there are people that care about kids and contributing to society because otherwise nobody would take this job. Mechanical pencils are writing utensils? False. They are plastic chisels designed to chip away at a teacher’s sanity. Students…
FREE Craftivity! This is a simple cut-and-paste collage style compass rose craft. It helps kids understand how a compass rose works and learn the order of the cardinal directions (plus it looks great hung up in the hall!) You can pick up the template for free HERE. Here’s how it’s done: You will need…
Ideas for teaching personal narrative writing to first, second, and third graders. This post contains affiliate links. Where to Start with Teaching Personal Narrative Writing Before students start to write their own personal narratives, they need to be exposed to a good example or two. Read a personal narrative mentor text like one of those…
I’m excited to be linking up with 4th Grade Frolics today for the September edition of Monday Made It! I’m not sure I inherited the enthusiasm for holidays that most teachers have, so I’m really working on it this year. Just today I finished this fun Halloween-themed color by code activity, and I’m offering it…
A reading comprehension strategy for elementary students This post contains affiliate links. 6 Signposts for Close Reading If you’re a teacher that means you’ve been successful enough in school to get a college degree. This also means you are probably a natural “comprehender” when it comes to things that you read. I don’t remember being…
Teaching Phonics Looking back I’m not sure how this happened, but somehow I got through college without actually learning phonics rules. Hold on, hold on! I know how to read and I know letter sounds but as far as actual “rules” that I could tell my students…I was lost. And I know I’m not the…
Hopefully the honeymoon period isn’t over yet with your new students, but in case you need a dose of teacher humor, here it is : )
Have you been noticing colorful spools of tape on the end caps at your craft store? And the name on it…Washi tape? What in the world?!? I like to think of Washi tape as the more refined version of colorful/patterned duct tape. I decided to “Washify” a set of plain glass canisters. These canisters would…
Problem: Getting a good, solid literacy block up and running seems so complex, I don’t even know where to start. Solution: It doesn’t magically happen on the first day of school. It’s a process that takes the students and the teacher several weeks to ease into. Here’s a basic structure that I have found works…
Today I’m linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It! I’m always on the look out for kids’ art projects that actually look artsy and interesting (you know, more than just crayon or marker on paper). I found some great inspiration from Kimberly at The Learning Tree and tried a print making technique. You…
Teaching with Play Doh If you don’t have a class set of Play Doh cups, you may want to consider purchasing some. (Or even asking for parent donations.) Play Doh can be used for a wide variety of activities and it’s very motivating for students. Nobody wants to be the kid that gets…
Decorating your classroom isn’t one of your most critical duties as a teacher but if I’m going to spend 40-60 hours a week in my classroom, I want it to be a colorful, attractive environment! Here is what I’ve done with my classroom: I feel very lucky to have windows! I know not everybody does.…
If Not the Algorithm, Then What? The summer before my school was implementing Common Core math standards, we all attended a 3-day training. In 2nd grade we tackle “regrouping” (or borrowing and carrying) in addition and subtraction. It’s a big deal for us, it’s our thing, and we’re proud to teach this critical skill. I…
Sometimes the best way to survive the challenges of teaching is to laugh! I hope you have a full-time janitor at your school but I once worked at a school where the janitor left at 2:00 pm every day…and that is the inspiration for this meme: If you’re a brand new teacher, you probably don’t…
Today I’m linking up with Miss V’s Busy Bees to talk about assessment! Have you had this experience during math: “Everybody tell me what the answer to the problem is..” “Seventeen!” You think: Wow! My kids are doing great with solving math facts. Then you go to test them only to find out that some…
When I teach measurement I always wonder how kids make it so dang difficult! “Mrs. Braun, I measured my desk and it’s 2 inches long!” …..wait, WHAT!?! Every year I have taught, I encounter a kid who finds a different way to measure incorrectly. After a while it starts to get humorous! I’ve found that…
Between trying to put supplies away and answering about a million questions, it’s really helpful to have something kids can do independently and quietly for a few minutes during your first few days back to school. Your kids will love solving the doubles facts (within 10) and coloring the picture based on the answer they…
There are lots of things you won’t learn about teaching during your time in college. How to start up your literacy block at the beginning of the year and what you should be teaching in phonics are on the list. Making attractive bulletin boards is another one of these topics. Back-to-School bulletin boards welcome your…
Supplies: paperwatercolor paintblack tempera or acrylic paintthin paint brushes (better quality brushes if available)sponge pieces (optional) Practice: One problem with art projects is that kids can get easily discouraged if their product doesn’t turn out the way they thought it would. A few years ago I discovered that having kids practice a few elements of…
I’m linking up today with The Teaching Tribune where teachers are offering up their best bit of teaching advice. Here’s mine: I first heard this at a training a few years ago and it really made me stop and think. Of course we have to offer corrections, redirection, and constructive criticism to our students. But…
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown was one of my favorite books from childhood. Looking back at it now, the bright orange, green, and blue illustrations (and those crazy striped curtains) seem a bit strange compared to what book printers are currently putting out. But there was something about the lulling lilt of the words…
A reading comprehension and art activity to go along with Mo Willem’s book, Knuffle Bunny. This post contains affiliate links. The Book Knuffle Bunny is the first in a series of three great books by Mo Willems. The story starts with little babbling, bright-eyed Trixie and her dad taking a trip to…
I know some teachers that can get away with using the same five center activities all year. That seems so simple and straight forward… but I’m always looking for something new to put in the rotation! My students seem to enjoy some variety as well. So here are some word work/spelling center ideas: Look, Cover, Write,…
Whether you’re new to literacy centers or you’ve been doing them for a while, it’s always fun to get some new ideas and kids definitely enjoy some variety. Here’s is a collection of centers I’ve had success with for word work, writing, reading, spelling, and grammar: Magnetic Words There are lots of…
You’ve talked about pronouns for several weeks. You’ve given pronoun homework. You’ve done a pronoun review. You’re in the middle of your pronoun assessment and a student raises their hand and asks “What’s a pronoun?” Are you kidding me!?!!!? One year I decided to try something different. Visuals: I’m a person that likes to see…
One of my favorite activities for starting the year in 2nd grade is counting to 1000. Imagine this classroom scene – Instructions have been given, materials have been passed out, and everyone is working silently…at least for a few minutes! I know when I have those rare moments in class that I have found an…
Improve math fact fluency for addition and subtraction by teaching first and second graders how to choose the best math strategy for a fact. Matching Strategies to Equations Problem: I’ve taught my students lots of math fact strategies but how do I get them to put those strategies to use?!? Solution: Learning HOW to…
Problem: It’s like pulling teeth to get my kids to edit their writing. They frequently turn it in, saying they’ve edited, and I still find lots of mistakes I know they could have corrected on their own. Solution: Shake up your editing routine! Here are some ideas for making editing fun: Rainbow Editing Coloring coding makes…
Problem: I’m concerned about my students losing ground over the summer. Solution: Send home a fun summer packet for them to work on! Here is a FREE sample of my 2nd grade packet: And here are full packets for both 1st and 2nd grade:
Problem: I would love to study poetry with my class but I’m not sure how to go about it. Solution: Read on! Here is a way to structure a week-long study of poetry: Preparation – Choose a few poems for you kids to work on all week. For 2nd graders I would choose 4 to 7…
Problem: I want to introduce my students to a wider range of poetry than just the typical Shel Silverstein funny stuff. Solution: Branch out into songs as poetry, even hip hop as poetry! One of my students’ favorite poems to study all year is “Rapper’s Delight” by Sugar Hill Gang. The classroom scene goes something…
Problem: My kids are really bored with test review but we’ve got to do it anyway! Solution: Make it a game! This is a little bit like Jeopardy but I make some modifications to ensure maximum engagement. Use index cards or pieces of paper to create the “game board.” This one is set up for…
Problem: My kids need some poetry mentor texts and it’s hard to find something (other than expensive anthologies) at the bookstore. Solution: Pick up Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. So much depends upon a blue car splattered with mud speeding down the road These are the first few cryptic lines…
Problem: How can I get kids to master skip counting? I can’t spend several lessons on it. Solution: Skip counting takes repetitive practice but it’s not something you would want to devote a whole lesson to many times throughout the year. Instead, short, frequent skip counting routines can help all students master skip counting. Skip…
Problem: My students have such a hard time with unknowns in all positions of math problems. (Common Core standards 1.OA.A.1, 2.OA.A.1) Solution: Give them plenty of exposure to part-part-whole! It seems so basic, just a way of showing the two smaller numbers that combine to make a bigger number. As shown on the picture, 3…
Problem: I need a fun way to address manners with my class. Solution: Badness For Beginners is a hilarious book about the Wolf family. Mommy and Daddy Wolf work tirelessly to teach their two wolf cubs to be bad. Your students will immediately recognize that the lessons Little Wolf and Smellybref are learning are exactly…
Problem: My students aren’t acting the way I tell them to act! Solution: As with all things related to behavior, there isn’t necessarily one solution but successful classroom management starts with setting clear expectations. I specifically remember an instance during my student teaching when I was trying to get kids on task by standing at…
Problem: I feel like I’m not building very strong rapport with some students, especially those that struggle with behavior. Solution: Problem behavior can have many causes and potential remedies. One idea certainly won’t be a quick fix for every kid but this is something I’ve found helpful: I had a big “ah-ha” moment in…
Problem: I’m dying to find something funny and interesting to read aloud to my class. Solution: Read them The Witches by Roald Dahl! When a boy and his grandmother go on vacation they discover that they are sharing their hotel with a group of disguised witches that have a plot to destroy all the children in England! …
Problem: I love cute and colorful bulletin boards but I don’t have a lot of time or money to spend on them. Solution: With the number of hours a teacher spends in his/her classroom, I think it’s so important to have a fresh and aesthetically pleasing classroom environment. To put some color on the walls,…
Problem: It’s sooo hard for some of my students to memorize their multiplication facts! They can’t do harder math because the basic facts take them too long to figure out. Solution: Sometimes a silly rhyme is all it takes. To this day, when I need to solve the fact 6 x 8, I think to…
Problem: It’s so hard to come up with enough for my students to do when I’m making sub plans! Solution: On sub days I’m all in favor of activities that are simple, take some time, and involve at least some skill practice. Here’s a fun freebie to help you out. It’s a math fact color-by-number.…
I remember a professional development session where the presenter projected a piece of text with lots of blanks where words should have been. A quick glance at the format told us that it was a letter. The first line said, “Dear ______,” Someone instinctively said, “Dear John!” The presenter filled in the word “John.” It…
A strategy to teach elementary students for increased math fact fluency. Problem: My students spent so much time counting on to add. It’s not efficient! Solution: While there are a variety of strategies for adding, one of my most recent discoveries is what I call the “in betweens” strategy. Here’s how it works: …
