Growth mindset is such an important mindset for teachers, students, and parents to know and understand. When I researched mindsets, I realized how much work I needed to do on myself before teaching growth mindset to my students and my own children. Once I realized the importance of introducing growth mindset to my students, I knew I need a purposeful plan to continue ... Read More
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Tips for Having a Substitute Teacher (Upper Elementary)
Planning for a substitute teacher can be pretty time-consuming. Add in a negative report from a substitute and substitute days can quickly become frustrating. This post will share my top substitute tips so you can rest easy that your students (and the substitute) are having a productive day in your absence. Post expectations for how to behave for a substitute teacher ... Read More
Writer’s Workshop Procedures to Teach
If you are anything like me, you want writing time in your classroom to be sacred and productive. You want your students writing, writing, and writing even more daily. You also want them discussing and sharing writing. And of course, you need to teach new skills and strategies. In order to accomplish these goals, you need a strong foundation in place. In order to get this ... Read More
Organizing Math Centers
Organizing math centers (or any kind of organization, really) is not my strength. I really have to work at it and find a system that works for me, trying lots of systems in the process. Through trying out these different systems (and I tried out a lot), I was finally able to come up with systems that really worked for me. On this post, I will share some ideas for ... Read More
Guided Reading Management | Tips for Managing Guided Reading Groups
Guided reading is my favorite part of the day, but it wasn't always. During my first two years of teaching I struggled with wrangling my students once they came to me and keeping them on task and focused on reading. Because my guided reading time is super precious to me, I had to quickly come up with some strategies to better manage my groups. In this post I am sharing ... Read More
Guided Math Procedures
Guided math instruction (whole group instruction + small group instruction + math centers) is a super powerful way of reaching all of your students. But, things can go south quickly. Just like any other aspect of school, students need to be taught procedures and expectations for guided math. In this post, we will take a detailed look at the must teach procedures to ... Read More
End of Year Reflection for Teachers
One of the best parts about teaching is that each year you start over with a new group of students, new challenges, and new opportunities to make a difference. Each year, you have the chance to grow and perfect your craft as a teacher. Each year when state testing is over, benchmarks are complete, permanent records are filed away, and the sun is shining, I start ... Read More
Organizing Anchor Charts
I don't know about you, but I love anchor charts. They are a regular part of my daily instruction in all subjects. Some (okay, most) are not Pinterest worthy, but they are a great anchor for what we are learning and a valuable reference for the students. However, with anchor charts comes the issue of displaying and storing them. Which ones do you hang? Which ones ... Read More
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
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
What to Expect When Teaching 5th Graders
I have been a teacher for seven years now, and I would have to say without a doubt that my favorite grade to teach is 5th grade. To me, 5th graders are the perfect age to make teaching enjoyable and make it challenging enough to keep it from getting boring. Teaching 5th graders does have its downsides (middle school attitudes at the end of the year is my least ... Read More
The Behavior Management Strategy that Saved My Sanity
I spent my first four years of teaching in an inner city, rough area. The students I taught had dealt with and experienced things that young children (or anyone for that matter) should never experience. With that type of environment often comes major discipline problems. I have never had a problem with classroom management over all, but there were definitely times when I ... Read More
