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Teaching with Jennifer Findley

Upper Elementary Teaching Blog

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Motivate and engage your students to be the best writers they can be with the tips, resources, and strategies shared in these articles.

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Check out these posts for writing strategies and resources!

  • Want to take a peek at how others teachers teach writing? This post details exactly how one teacher teaches writing in 5th grade using a writing workshop model.
  • This post shares practical and realistic tips to help teachers get students excited about writing and enjoying it. Must read for writing teachers!
  • FREE writing printables to use in interactive writing notebooks or in writing toolkits.
  • Writer’s workshop is the best way I have found to offer choice, increase engagement, and build writing stamina. Check out this post for the key writer’s workshop procedures to teach at the beginning of the year.
  • Looking for new engaging word work activities for your 4th and 5th graders? These FREE word work activities using Jenga will engage your students as they work with their spelling or word work lists.
  • FREE Word Study Activity for Upper Elementary! Read this post to learn about a word study activity that is perfect for 4th and 5th graders. Free printable to have your students complete the activity also included!

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Browse the archives below for even more great ideas

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

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

Free End of Year Writing Prompts

By the time the end of the school year arrives, I am digging down deep in my bag of tricks and searching my resources for new ideas to engage my students. Often, we have used our best activities and resources well before the final month of school. This post will give you some fresh end of year writing prompts just for that final month of school (with ideas on how to make ... Read More

Word Work Activities with Jenga (Free Printables)

Engaging word work activities for upper elementary grades can be hard to find. On this post, I will share three free word work activities to use with Jenga blocks. These are super engaging and can be used in a literacy center or played whole group if you have multiple Jenga blocks. Amazon affiliate links provided if you wish to purchase the Jenga blocks mentioned on this ... Read More

Prefix and Suffix Review with Jenga | Free Printables

Prefixes and suffixes are one of those skills that students need lots of practice and repetition with (in addition to seeing words with affixes while they are reading). This post shares an engaging prefix and suffix review that the students "play" with Jenga colored blocks. Amazon affiliate links provided if you wish to purchase the Jenga blocks mentioned on this ... Read More

Engaging Persuasive Writing Prompts (Free Download)

Persuasive writing is one of my favorite writing genres to teach. The students get so excited about the different topics and love debating and supporting their arguments and claims. On this post, I will share some of my students' favorite persuasive writing prompts with a free download of a printable list and task card version of the writing prompts. Student-Approved ... Read More

Videos for Teaching and Reviewing Figurative Language

Figurative language is always one of my favorite ELA skills to teach. It lends itself to fun, engaging lessons. This post will share videos for reviewing or teaching figurative language. (As with any videos that I share, I recommend that you watch the videos before showing them to your students.) Figurative Language Explained Running Time: 1:58 This short, ... Read More

Parts of Speech Review with Jenga | Free Printables

Parts of speech seems to be one of those skills that teachers constantly have to review year after year. To keep it fun and engaging, I created a parts of speech review that works with colored Jenga blocks. Keep reading for all the details and get the review printables for free! Amazon affiliate links provided if you wish to purchase the Jenga blocks mentioned on ... Read More

Outdoor Review Activities and Games

Reviewing concepts and facts can get tedious in the classroom, but not when you take the activity outside for some fun, friendly competition and sunshine. This post has five fun and active games for outdoor review that get your class moving while reviewing the information they need to know. These activities can be used as competitions to gain points for a class reward, or ... Read More

Thanksgiving Writing Activities | Pie Tasting

If you are familiar with my blog or my resources, then you know I love seasonal and holiday resources and activities. I love taking the students' excitement and channeling it into productive, engaging work. My favorite activities to do each year are Thanksgiving writing activities involving pie tasting. Materials Needed At least two different types of pies - I ... Read More

Welcome friends! I’m Jennifer Findley: a teacher, mother, and avid reader. I believe that with the right resources, mindset, and strategies, all students can achieve at high levels and learn to love learning. My goal is to provide resources and strategies to inspire you and help make this belief a reality for your students. Learn more about me.

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