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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Inside: Find out how to teach parts of speech so that kids remember what they have learned! I’m sharing my favorite ideas and activities. You’ve talked about pronouns for several weeks. You’ve given homework and review. You’re in the middle of your pronoun assessment and a student raises their hand and asks “What’s a…
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 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…