By October, my students are getting much better at identifying character traits, so it’s a great time to take that one step further: comparing and contrasting two characters. One of my favorite picture books for modeling how to do this is The Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume: If you’re not familiar, it’s a funny look at sibling rivalry… Read More
The Juice Box Bully
Just a couple of years ago, I had THAT kid in class. Do you know the kid I’m talking about? He wore the same scowling expression as Pete from The Juice Box Bully.He had me thinking about walking away from teaching. He brought me to tears in my classroom after the kids left each day (sometimes during recess breaks)…. Read More
Anansi and the Magic Stick
Anansi and the Magic Stick is an entertaining story for kids with a great lesson to learn. Here are some of my favorite activities to pair with this book. Hate is a very strong word, but let’s be clear…. I HATE spiders. But then I met Charlotte… And then there was this guy: I guess that means I don’t hate… Read More
Gooney Bird Greene – Character Traits, Story Retell, Freebies, and More
If you haven’t met Gooney Bird Greene yet, you are missing out! Gooney Bird Greene is a freckle-faced, red-headed girl who is absolutely as unique as her name. Throughout the book, Gooney tells absolutely true stories to her second grade classroom (though they seem far from the truth at first). Your students will be excited to hear about a… Read More
Horrible Harry’s New Look
Horrible Harry has been a classroom staple for several years now. There’s just something about the kids of Room 2B (and 3B) that kids can relate to and enjoy. While I still love my packs, it was time to give them a bit of a makeover. The first change was the cover – meet the not-so-new, but definitely improved, Harry:… Read More
Magic Tree House Makeover Madness
I’ve been SUPER busy making changes to my Magic Tree House packs. This has not been an easy task. There are 28 books in the series that I have packs for. I also have 5 different bundle options for these books. If you’re doing the math, that was 33 packs to update (previews, product descriptions, etc.). I told you it… Read More