Teaching with Jennifer Findley
Upper Elementary Teaching Blog
Fractions..most either love them or hate them. I have a love/hate relationship with them. I love the models and how the skills can sometimes be made pretty concrete. I don't love how all the skills build on each other and all the skills the students must have mastered to complete one problem. By the time the students get to 5th grade, if they have gaps in their fraction … [Read more...] about 5th Grade Fractions | Pacing and Checklist
One thing that I have discovered teaching 5th graders is that sometimes you need to gamify a task or activity (even in the smallest way) to get student buy-in. For math, I did this easily with my roll and answer math centers and my students really enjoyed the slightly different way of practicing computation skills. For quite some time, I have wanted to create similar roll … [Read more...] about 4th and 5th Grade Reading Center {Low Prep and FREE!}
Do you have students in your 4th-6th grade class who just can't seem to master their multiplication facts? No matter what you try (flashcards, incentives, computer based programs), they just can't get past their 5s (and are shaky with their 3s and 4s)? I have always had several students in my classrooms over the years that really struggled memorizing and recalling their … [Read more...] about Multiplication Facts Strategy for Upper Grades {Freebies}
Happy Holiday Season! I am joining with some fantastic TpT author/bloggers to bring you some time saving tips to get help you get through the holiday season! The biggest issue that hinders time management during the holidays is definitely behavior management. Something about the holiday season and the looming Christmas break that makes kids (and teachers...) a little … [Read more...] about Time Saving Tips this Christmas Season
As a parent of an 11 year old, nonverbal severely Autistic son, I find it difficult to balance work, life, family, and everything in between. I am not a writer by any means. However, I wanted to share this quick poem I wrote about what life with an autistic child is like. This may resonant with anyone who has an autistic child or has or has had students with … [Read more...] about Autism is…What Having an Autistic Child is Like
Long Division is every teachers' (and students') worst nightmare, it seems! Every year, my students come to me with very little number sense. This makes dividing with two digit divisors so difficult. In response to this, I started teaching my students "Easy Breezy" division, a spin off of partial quotients that provides that much needed support for struggling … [Read more...] about Partial Quotients: Easy Breezy Division {Lots of Freebies}
Hey there! It's Amanda from The Primary Gal! Earlier this week, Jennifer invited me to write a guest post in order to share one of my newest morning routines. As many of you, I have the standard morning routines, such as turn in homework, sharpen pencils, and go to the restroom. From there, rather than the typical morning work that I have previously used, I have began … [Read more...] about Math Warm Ups {Guest Post: Freebie}
My students absolutely love choice boards. They love choosing their own tasks and having that sense of ownership. So, I created a set of Writing Choice boards that aligned to Common Core requirements and coordinate perfectly with my Reading and Math CCSS choice boards. This resource contains 7 different choice boards with 15 prompts on each choice board, for a total of … [Read more...] about Writing Choice Boards
Is anyone else feeling the push to prepare their students to be successful with paired passages and paired texts from state assessments? We are in Georgia for sure! In fact, our state test focuses heavily on constructed responses with paired passages. Yikes! The majority of my students are not strong readers when they come to me. Throw in paired passages, and we have a … [Read more...] about Scaffolding and Differentiating Paired Passages and Texts (Free Resource)
I don't know about you guys, but I love the day AFTER Halloween! That is when I go to the local store and stock up on candy for my students (and myself!). I definitely need a little sweet motivation to help me get through the rest of the holiday season. The best part about after Halloween candy are the sale prices! My local Walmart puts the candy on sale for 50% off. … [Read more...] about Halloween Freebie {Buying Candy After Halloween}
I use a Writing Workshop model in my classroom that involves a lot of sharing, talking, and writing! Since my writing block is at the very end of the day, I often have to use some strategic writing ideas that get the kids up and moving, and excited about their writing. I wanted to share with you two of those strategies that are a favorite of mine- and so ridiculously … [Read more...] about Easy and Engaging Writing Ideas
Last week, I did a quick mini lesson on using transition words in writing. We talked about how transition words make stories sound better and help the reader move through the story. We discussed how clear organization is key to a successful story and how transition words are key to having clear organization. We made this anchor chart as a class of some common transition … [Read more...] about Transition Words {Interactive Notebook} Freebie!
