Over the summer, I made math toolkits with tons of math charts and resources to help my students during math centers. I knew I wanted something similar for writing and I finally have it ready to share with you. These writing toolkits are full of FREE writing resources and charts that will help your students become independent and confident writers. This post … [Read more...] about Writing Toolkits (Free Writing Resources for Upper Elementary)
Thanksgiving Read Alouds for Upper Elementary {Free Printables}
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays by far! You can find several Thanksgiving activities for math and literacy (including free writing prompts) HERE in a previous post I wrote. In this post, I will share two of my favorite Thanksgiving read alouds and the activities I use with them. These read aloud and the accompanying activities are perfect for literacy … [Read more...] about Thanksgiving Read Alouds for Upper Elementary {Free Printables}
What To Do When Your Students Fail a Test
One of the biggest questions I had to tackle as a new teacher was "My students failed this test. What am I going to do about it?" Instead of binging on junk food (or in addition to), I learned to look at it reflectively and use these situations to grow myself as a teacher and to grow my students as learners and test-takers. Read on to learn some constructive next steps … [Read more...] about What To Do When Your Students Fail a Test
Assessing Math Centers
Picture this: your students are working diligently on math centers. You have been pulling small groups and students are really starting to "get" the math concepts. Then, it is the end of the week and your students turn in all their math center work. You stare at the huge pile of papers, a bit daunted with the idea of grading all that student work. Can you picture that? … [Read more...] about Assessing Math Centers
Planning Read Alouds in Upper Elementary
If you are familiar with my blog, you likely know that I love using read alouds in my classroom. They are a great way to build community, to expose students to a variety of text, and to teach (and model) reading skills. For more information about the benefits of using read alouds in upper elementary classrooms (with implementation tips), click HERE to read a previous … [Read more...] about Planning Read Alouds in Upper Elementary
How to Get Your Students to Follow Directions
Getting students to quickly follow directions is a work of art for sure. My first couple of years teaching, I am not sure how much of my instruction time I wasted repeating directions, clarifying unclear directions, redirecting students who were not following directions, you get the idea! The next couple of years, I experimented with strategies and techniques to get my … [Read more...] about How to Get Your Students to Follow Directions
Halloween Read Alouds for Upper Elementary {Free Printables}
Using read alouds in my classroom is right up there with math centers on my list of favorite classroom activities. And I LOVE integrating holidays into my read alouds. Today, I want to share with you my favorite Halloween read alouds suitable for upper elementary classrooms. To read more about implementing read alouds in your classroom and the benefits, click … [Read more...] about Halloween Read Alouds for Upper Elementary {Free Printables}
Guided Reading Binder for Upper Elementary {Free Forms}
Guided reading has always been a staple in my reading instruction. But, as much as I love guided reading, it is so easy (like scary easy) to have a jumbled mess of lesson plans, running records, and other random forms in piles upon piles at my guided reading table. To combat this, I streamlined my guided reading binder into a super functional organizational tool with all … [Read more...] about Guided Reading Binder for Upper Elementary {Free Forms}
How to Plan a Math Lesson (Whole Group)
As if it were yesterday, I remember my college days of spending long hours writing huge, detailed 10-15 page lessons for each lesson that I taught (or even just planned!). Then I got my first teaching job and quickly realized that was not going to be possible in the real world of teaching. However, there are still clear steps that I take when I plan a math lesson (many, … [Read more...] about How to Plan a Math Lesson (Whole Group)
Read Alouds in Upper Elementary
One of my favorite times of the day is sharing a read aloud with my students. In today's post, I want to share some reasons why upper elementary students should still be read to, what you can read to them, tips for managing read alouds, and how to use read alouds in upper elementary classrooms to help the students master the standards. Why are read alouds in upper … [Read more...] about Read Alouds in Upper Elementary
Classroom Management Tips for Upper Elementary
Over the years of teaching 3rd through 7th grade, I have learned a few classroom management tips that were life savers for my management and classroom. I spent the first four years of my teaching career in an inner city, urban school. Teaching in that type of environment really allowed me to fine tune my management. Now, I would not be honest if I said I never had … [Read more...] about Classroom Management Tips for Upper Elementary
September 11th Lesson Idea (Free Printables to Use with Paired Read Alouds)
September 11th is quickly becoming a forgotten tragedy in many students' minds. The students we teach in elementary schools today were not even alive on this day in 2001. However, I still spend September 11th (or the week after if it falls on a Sunday) remembering the day. I like to focus heavily on the heroes of the day and how people came together, instead of the … [Read more...] about September 11th Lesson Idea (Free Printables to Use with Paired Read Alouds)