Text structure is a very powerful reading skill that can really help students make sense of and analyze informational text. This post shares tips for teaching text structure, including pre-requisite skills, all the different text structure skills, and strategies for when students struggle. What is Text Structure? Text structure refers to how the details and ... Read More
Tips for Teaching Theme (And What To Do When Students Struggle)
Teaching 4th and 5th grade reading is not easy! The standards begin to get really tricky and the gap between what the students should be able to do in reading and what they can do can be pretty wide. One of the those standards that is tricky is theme. On this post, I will share some tips to help you teach theme to your 4th and 5th graders, including what students should ... Read More
Free Theme Activities
One of the best ways to measure if a student has truly mastered reading skills is if they can apply that reading skill over and over to new texts (including texts of their choosing). And the tricky skill of determining the theme of a story is no different. In order for students to truly master this skill, they need to be able to apply it consistently to new texts they ... Read More
Text Evidence Activities and Strategies – Tips for Teaching Students to Find Text Evidence
Teaching students to answer constructed response questions correctly and with sufficient text evidence can be quite the feat. A good starting point is to use an acronym such as RACE to help guide the students. But, that is just one part of instruction. The most difficult part is teaching students to find text evidence and then cite it appropriately to fully support their ... Read More
Character Traits Activities
Character traits are one of my favorite reading skills. I love digging in deep and analyzing characters. I also truly believe that learning about different characters, their traits, and what makes them exhibit those traits help students gain perspective and empathy. This post will share some of the ways that I introduce, teach, and/or review character traits with 4th and ... Read More
Decoding Strategies and Prompts for Upper Elementary
Helping readers decode larger words and employ more advanced decoding strategies is forever a goal of mine. As someone who has never taught primary, I don't have a large background in teaching decoding and phonics anyway. Couple that with readers who struggle because of gaps or because their initial instruction just didn't work, and you can see why this is a constant goal ... Read More
Reading Notebooks in 4th and 5th Grade
One of the things I do every year that really makes a difference in my students' learning is having them use notebooks to store notes, examples, work, and basically house all of the learning they have done that year. Having these notebooks makes it so easy to spiral content because the students have a ready-made resource to refer back to. On this post, I will share how I ... Read More
Free Reading Posters (4th-5th Grade)
Vocabulary is so important in instruction and the vocabulary of the skills and standards we teach is SO important. If the students can't tell you what theme is, they definitely can't apply that to a story or passage. On this post, I will share free reading posters to help you teach the reading vocabulary of the standards and help your students master it. About the ... Read More
FREE Reading Games and Centers for 4th and 5th Grade
While I am a firm believer in students reading real books that they choose and doing this often, I also love to include reading games and reading centers in my instruction. On this post, I will share three of my favorite types of reading games and centers for 4th and 5th grade, free reading games and centers for each type, and links to buy more if you are interested in ... Read More
Texts to Use for Guided Reading (If You Don’t Have a Bookroom)
One of the most common questions I get from teachers who want to implement guided reading is: My school doesn't have a book room. What can I use for guided reading texts? While a book room is the best possible scenario, if you don't have one, all hope is not lost. On this post, I will share six different options for texts to use for guided reading. Magazines One of ... 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 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
