I have a love/hate relationship with field trips. Some years they are great, and some I just want to sleep for twelve hours after the field trip and never speak of it again (surely I am not the only one, right?). Field trips can fun and super educational, though. It is nice to take the students out into the "real world," to expose them to new experiences, and teach them ... Read More
Browse the archives below for even more great ideas
Free Word Study Activity for Upper Elementary
A few years ago, I wrote a blog post about how I used a variation of Daily Three in my reading classroom. Since writing that post, I have gotten several questions about a word study activity I mentioned in the post. As an upper grades teacher, I have always struggled with finding word study activities that are appropriate for my students. To be honest, I still struggle ... Read More
Engaging Ways to Review
One of my biggest struggles as a teacher has always been students helping students all the skills they are learning in all the subjects. I have to be very purposeful about spiraling skills consistently so the students don't forget what was learned at the beginning of the year. Read more details about how I use spiral review in all subjects (and not just morning work) ... Read More
Amazing Race { Fun Test Prep Review }
As demanding and time consuming as our curriculum is, I have found that I always need to pause my pacing and spend some of my time reviewing after a long break from school. Today, I want to share with you a fun test prep review or "after a long break" review that my students loved last year. Here is the basic rundown of this fun test prep activity review: Students ... Read More
4 Ways to Gamify Your Language Instruction {Freebie Included}
Language instruction can sometimes get monotonous. However, there are ways to gamify your language instruction to make it more engaging. I want to share some practical and super simple tips to make your language instruction more engaging and "gamify it" for your students. I also have a planning present freebie that will help you try out a few of these ... Read More
Persuasive Writing Anchor Charts for Struggling Writers {Lots of Pictures}
Here are some of my favorite persuasive writing anchor charts that I have used to help my struggling writers write strong, detailed persuasive papers. These charts contain a lot of sentence stems and step by step directions for each paragraph. It may seem a bit formulaic in nature, but once the students feel comfortable, they will branch out and add their own style and ... Read More
Writing Choice Boards
My students absolutely love choice boards. They love choosing their own tasks and having that sense of ownership. So, I created a set of Writing Choice boards that aligned to Common Core requirements and coordinate perfectly with my Reading and Math CCSS choice boards. This resource contains 7 different choice boards with 15 prompts on each choice board, for a total of ... Read More
Easy and Engaging Writing Ideas
I use a Writing Workshop model in my classroom that involves a lot of sharing, talking, and writing! Since my writing block is at the very end of the day, I often have to use some strategic writing ideas that get the kids up and moving, and excited about their writing. I wanted to share with you two of those strategies that are a favorite of mine- and so ridiculously ... Read More
Transition Words {Interactive Notebook} Freebie!
Last week, I did a quick mini lesson on using transition words in writing. We talked about how transition words make stories sound better and help the reader move through the story. We discussed how clear organization is key to a successful story and how transition words are key to having clear organization. We made this anchor chart as a class of some common transition ... Read More
Teaching Persuasive Writing with a Mentor Text
I absolutely love teaching persuasive writing, and I love using mentor texts even more. This year, I used the picture book, I Wanna New Room. This read aloud follows the same format of I Wanna Iguana with letters back and forth from the child to the parents. My main focus for this lesson was on choosing a main point and providing valid resources to support that ... Read More
Writing Workshop Idea for Gathering Seeds: I Bet You Didn’t Know!
Hello, friends! I am back on this sunny Sunday with another post with another writing workshop idea about Gathering Seeds for Narrative Writing during Writing Workshop. Check out my previous post here for more ideas on generating narrative writing ideas. Today's post is a twist on making lists with a fun little organizer of sorts. Please don't judge my terrible ... Read More
Writing Workshop: Gathering Seeds
Have I told you guys yet that I am moving schools? Well, if not, I am moving schools! I will still be in 5th grade but I am teaching in a school that is known as a Literacy Collaborative School that uses Fountas and Pinnell with fidelity. I met with my literacy coach today to map out the first few days of school. While I was pulling out my seed notebook, I decided it ... Read More
