Teaching with Jennifer Findley
Upper Elementary Teaching Blog
For my reading instruction, I use a lot of mentor texts to teach key reading skills. This makes the skill authentic and relevant, and it helps students see the connection between the skill and real reading. Also, mentor texts are fun to read, and even my fifth graders love being read to. Today I want to share a Spring mentor text that is always great for teaching the … [Read more...] about Using The Gardener to Teach the Influence of Point of View RL.5.6 (Spring Mentor Text)
One of the best parts about teaching upper elementary students is taking picture books and using them as mentor texts for reading instruction. I love when my students come to our community area (a giant rug) and we listen to and discuss a short, engaging picture book. Click here to see all of my mentor texts and picture books for 4th and 5th grade. I also love taking … [Read more...] about Spring Read Alouds for Upper Elementary
I am a huge fan of engaging and exciting test prep activities that really encourage and motivate my students. However, I also see the value in some good old fashioned pencil and paper test prep. It definitely has its place and will definitely help prepare the students for the "boring" test. Also, it prepares them for middle school, high school and beyond where they will … [Read more...] about Ways to Make Paper and Pencil Test Prep Review Engaging
I will have to admit it that I was a bit on the fence when I first heard about teachers using Bean Boozled in the classroom. If you are not familiar with this "game", the players spin a spinner to determine which color jelly bean they will eat. The color could be one of two different flavors: a yummy flavor (peach or berry for example) or a disgusting flavor (barf or … [Read more...] about Bean Boozled in the Classroom (Jelly Belly Challenge): Engaging Test Prep
Unfortunately, most of the engaging test prep review activities involve multiple-choice or short answer review questions. A lot of these activities don't lend themselves to the rigor of the constructed response questions that are now on many state assessments. With this in mind, I wanted a test prep review activity that works well with constructed response questions or … [Read more...] about Speed Answering: Engaging Test Prep Reading Constructed Response
Testing season is almost here (or already here for some of you!). I always embed review throughout the year in using spiral review, but I also take 2-4 weeks (depending on pacing) to review before our high stakes assessments. I like to do a mixture of text prep activities ranging from paper and pencil review to games. I try to include a lot of engaging test prep in my … [Read more...] about Playing Jenga: Engaging Test Prep
In all my years of teaching, I have always taught classes where a majority of my students needed extra support for math. If you are familiar with my blog, you know that I use guided math centers and small group math instruction quite a bit to meet the needs of all my students. Over the years, I have learned several strategies to effectively support my students and … [Read more...] about 7 Ways to Support Students with Math Centers
St. Patrick's Day is not a big holiday but it is one of my favorites. I love all the themes that come with this holiday: sneaky leprechauns, pots of gold, and luck galore. This makes it perfect for themed math centers and fun writing prompts. This post will share my favorite St. Patrick's Day activities for upper elementary students that are engaging and aligned with our … [Read more...] about St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Upper Elementary
Over the last decade, there has been a major shift in reading assessments. Students used to be assessed only on multiple choice questions. However, now they are required to write constructed response reading questions. Answering constructed response questions requires a different set of skills than those that are needed for multiple choice questions and can be a … [Read more...] about Ways to Support Students with Constructed Response Reading Questions
With budgets decreasing more and more, many schools require teachers to have fundraisers to supplement field trips or pay for club functions. Today I want to share some tried and true fundraising ideas that are easy and students love. Many of these require no money up front and can be started immediately. My teaching experience has been exclusively in Title 1 schools so … [Read more...] about Fundraising Ideas for Schools and Teachers
Math centers are a huge part of my math instruction, and over the years I have had my students complete a lot of different math centers. However, in the past three years as I become more comfortable with math centers, I have begun incorporating at least one higher level math center as part of my normal math center rotations. To see what I typically have in my guided math … [Read more...] about Higher Level Math Centers for Upper Elementary Students {Including Free Centers}
One of the toughest things about teaching fifth grade is definitely the word problems. By fifth grade, a lot of students have become so dependent on using key words that they no longer even read for meaning when they're solving word problems. However, as fifth grade teachers know, key words only take the students so far. I have read many articles and blog posts that are … [Read more...] about Solving Word Problems Without Relying on Key Words
