Everyone has a story to tell. What is yours?
Are your students comparing and contrasting two characters? I suggest starting with picture books! 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… Read More
Primary students can make incredible reading growth each year and I am always looking for a quick and easy way to track that growth. This is a simple form that works for me, so I thought I’d share the idea with you. It’s just a table I created to match the levels our testing kits assess. Incoming reading level… Read More
Students need repeated practice on skills in order to work towards mastery. I recently shared with you how my grade level team uses a customized Daily Math Review for our morning work (click here to read more about it). Another key component of my morning is our math warm-up. A few years ago I purchased this pack from Jen Ross… Read More
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 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
I have tried all kinds of things for morning work over the years. Each has had its own pros and cons, but nothing ever seemed to be the right fit for my teaching, curriculum alignment, or student needs. So what does a teacher do in this case? She creates something that will work. My colleagues and I use a Daily… Read More
