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
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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
Free Context Clues Activity for Grades 4-5
One of the best ways to see if your students have mastered a reading skill is to see if they can apply it in their writing. I love doing this with themes (read more about how I teach theme and use a working backward activity by clicking here) and text structure. It also works perfectly with context clues. This post will share a simple (but rigorous) context clues activity ... Read More
Around the Room : An Engaging Review Activity
Reviewing is a must in any classroom and subject area. My favorite ways to review are review activities that are low-prep, collaborative, and involve movement. Around the Room is one of my favorite ways to review that incorporates all of these characteristics. Keep reading to learn more about this low-prep engaging review activity that gets students moving and ... Read More
First 20 Days of Reading Workshop in 5th Grade
The first 20 days of reading instruction is such a valuable time. This is your chance to teach expectations and procedures and get your students engaged and excited about reading. This post will share a look into my first 20 days of reading workshop, including a free PDF version with my notes. Purpose of the First 20 Days of Reading Instruction The first 20 days are ... Read More
Free Paired Passages Graphic Organizers
Paired passages are possibly one of the trickiest reading skills for students (second only to text dependent essays). And for good reason. Some students struggle with reading and analyzing one grade-level passage and throwing in two doesn't make it any easier. From my experience, the best way to help students is to provide regular paired passage practice. Along with that ... Read More
Free I Can Statements – 4th Grade Literacy ELA
Having I Can Statements prepped and ready-to-go can help make your lesson planning a little easier. This post shares ready-to-print 4th Grade Literacy I Can Statements using the common core standards, including a link to an editable version. Want 5th Grade Literacy I Can Statements? Click here! About the 4th Grade Literacy I Can Statements There is one page for ... Read More
Free I Can Statements – 5th Grade Literacy ELA
Breaking down complex or tricky standards into digestible "I Can" statements can be very helpful for students and teachers. This post will share free 5th grade I Can Statements for literacy, including ideas on how to use them in your classroom. Need 4th Grade Literacy I Can Statements? Click here! About the Literacy I Can Statements This free set of I Can ... Read More
Close Reading Strategies – Overcoming Common Challenges
Close reading became the new buzz word in education with the coming of the common core standards and new rigorous high-stakes testing. It is an extremely effective strategy at helping students reach higher levels of text analysis, however it can also be challenging to implement (as with any strategy that promotes struggle and critical analysis). On this post, we will ... Read More
Annotating Tips for Close Reading
Have you seen that popular meme where the student highlights two entire pages of a text? It cracks me up every time I see it. One reason that meme resonates with teachers is because it is a very real struggle. Each year, it seems I have some students who annotate like crazy. Or the opposite and the students don't pick up a pencil or annotating tool the entire time they ... Read More
Close Reading Tips and Strategies for Upper Elementary
Close reading is a great way to get students to dig in and analyze a text. Close reading, when done right, allows for rich discussion and reflection while growing your students as critical, analytical readers. On this post, I will share close reading tips and strategies to help you implement this reading strategy into your instruction. Close Reading Tips and ... Read More
