Teaching with Jennifer Findley
Upper Elementary Teaching Blog
Are you looking for an engaging and meaningful way to review prefixes with your students? This post shares a high-interest free prefix reading passage (with extension activities) designed specifically to authentically review a variety of prefixes with your 4th and 5th graders in the context of reading. About the Prefix Reading Passage Practice This prefix practice … [Read more...] about Free Prefix Reading Passage for 4th and 5th Grade
Children and adults both love "Minute to Win It" games and challenges, and they are perfect to incorporate into the classroom for instant excitement and engagement. This post shares the three ways to use "Minute to Win it" games in the classroom and a free PDF with directions for 25 games to use in your classroom. What are "Minute to Win It" Games? "Minute … [Read more...] about Minute to Win It Games in the Classroom
Do you want to engage your students AND improve their vocabulary and morphological skills with one activity? This post shares details about creating and implementing a word chain activity using morphology with your 4th and 5th graders (including freebies to help you get started!). This morphology activity is not only engaging, but also a great way to develop a deeper … [Read more...] about Morphology Activity – Word Chains with Free Resources
Morphology instruction can greatly improve students' vocabulary and comprehension skills. This post shares several engaging and effective morphology activities that teachers can use to help students understand and use morphemes (prefixes, suffixes, bases, and roots). These activities include lots of free activities (including a huge email exclusive freebie!) and also … [Read more...] about Morphology Activities for Grades 4-5 (Including Free Activities)
When testing is over and summer break is on the horizon, it can be a challenge to keep students engaged and learning. One way to use this time is to review literacy skills that always seem to need a review AND are engaging for students. Idioms (and other figurative language) are always a great skill to incorporate into end of year activities. This post will share a free … [Read more...] about Free End of Year Literacy Activity – Idioms Sort
As a teacher, you know how important it is for your students to have a strong grasp of math vocabulary. Without a solid understanding of the language and terms used in math, students can struggle with problem-solving, understanding instructions, and communicating and explaining their math ideas and answers. To help you (and your students), this post will share free math … [Read more...] about Free Math Test Prep Task Cards for Vocabulary – Grades 4-5
One topic I look forward to teaching during ELA each year is figurative language. It is such a fun concept that my students always seem to enjoy. Even though it is enjoyable, the different types of figurative language can be tricky for students to keep straight, especially students who are English Language Learners. This post will share a free set of figurative language … [Read more...] about Free Figurative Language Posters for Grades 4-5
Those winter months can be long and cold, so I look for any opportunity to mix things up in my classroom. Celebrating holidays can often add a little extra and engage students in reading. Presidents' Day provides a great opportunity to teach some history, while also changing up the daily routine just enough to get a little extra engagement from students. This post shares … [Read more...] about Free Presidents’ Day Reading Activities (4th & 5th Grade)
Solving constructed response math tasks can be tricky for students. To help my students, we practiced this all year with different skills we are learning. The post shares more information about constructed response math questions and a few free 4th & 5th grade tasks with a winter theme that you can use to sneak in some extra practice with a relevant seasonal … [Read more...] about Free Constructed Response Math Tasks (Winter-Themed)
Are you wanting an activity that will boost your 4th and 5th grade students' vocabulary and morphology skills? Having a morphology word of the day routine is a great way to engage students and increase morphology and vocabulary skills. Read more about this morphology activity and grab free templates on this post. Morphology of the Day Routine There are many ways to … [Read more...] about Morphology Word of the Day Activity (Free Templates)
I remember being shocked (and more than a little frustrated) when I realized my fifth graders couldn’t restate questions in complete sentences... even simple questions. On the spot, I had to pivot my lesson. If your students struggle with restating questions, this post will share the tips and strategies I have learned and put in place that helped my students. Tip #1: … [Read more...] about Teaching Students to Restate the Question (with Freebies)
During those first few months following the holidays, teachers and students can find themselves stuck in the winter blues. When February 2nd rolls around, I am always excited to implement a few easy-to-use activities for Groundhog Day to spice things up a bit in the classroom. This post will share free Groundhog Day activities for reading skills and comprehension. … [Read more...] about Free Groundhog Day Activities (4th & 5th Grade Reading)
