As a child, my friends and I would talk about the books that we were reading while we ate our PB&J at the lunch table and on the bumpy bus rides home. Something tells me I wasn't your typical kid though. So, how do we get our students to discuss books? To share their favorites? To reveal why ... Read More
A Teacher’s Summer
What does a teacher's summer look like? Many use this time to become better teachers! Crazy, right? Here are some of my plans for these warm months. 1. Read! Kids Books Summer is a great time for me to get a jump start on chapter books that my 5th graders might be interested in during the ... Read More
Teacher Appreciation Week
Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week! At our school, we get all the students involved to show the staff how much we really care about them. It's a really simple, easy project that has a big impact. Each student receives a blank template to complete. Classroom teachers can decide to do this in ... Read More
Poetry Notebooks
Poetry is a wonderful way for students to build fluency and accuracy while reading. I was a little upset when they pulled it out of our second grade curriculum. I knew I wanted to incorporate it into our classroom, even if I wasn't explicitly teaching it to my students. I decided to have my ... Read More
The Westing Game
Many of my fondest memories of elementary school occurred in my fifth grade classroom. Not only did my teacher constantly expect our best effort, but she made learning fun. When I was moved to fifth grade a few years ago, my goal was to emulate her teaching strategies. Not a day goes by where I ... Read More
Flat Stanley goes on an Adventure!
Have you ever gone on an adventure with Flat Stanley?? It was one of my students' favorite activities in second grade! We would read the original novel by Jeff Brown (there's a whole series) together. It is a wonderful story about a a young boy who is flattened (but unharmed) by a ... Read More