Showing all results for: winter

Write About Reading Ideas for Upper Elementary

Having students write about what they are reading is a great way to help students dive into analyzing a story, help make comprehension visible to the teacher, allow students to share their reading easily, and hold students accountable for reading. Whew, there is a lot of benefits for sure! However, sometimes as a teacher I found that I needed fresh ideas to keep my ... Read More

Free Math Puzzles for the Entire Year | Seasonal and Holiday Themes

Do you ever want something a bit different from the normal math fact or number sense practice? These fun math puzzles are just what you need! On this post, I will be giving you all the details about how you can get ten (yes, TEN!) sets of math puzzles to use with your students all year! About the Math Puzzles To solve the problems, the students use their knowledge ... Read More

Read Alouds for Teaching Theme | Mentor Texts for Theme

Teaching theme is something I really enjoy. I think it helps build character and an enjoyment of reading, in addition to being a key reading skill. When students realize that they are learning life lessons from the books they read, it often increases their enjoyment and engagement. In this post, let’s take a look at some of my favorite theme mentor texts or read-alouds ... Read More

Spring Activities for Upper Elementary

Spring is in the air! Spring is such a fun time in the classroom, but it can also be a not-so-fun time. The kids (and teachers) get spring fever and are ready for Spring Break. And most state tasting falls around this time, so that makes it really difficult for teachers. I decided a long time ago to embrace the spring fever and use it to my advantage. How do I do that? ... Read More

How to Get Students Excited About Writing

My first year teaching third grade, I had a student in my class who had very strong feelings toward writing. He hated it with a passion and wasn't afraid to let others know about how he felt. I am not sure that first year that I made that much of an impact one way or another on his feelings toward writing. To be honest, my first year teaching was kind of a big blur. I ... Read More

Fundraising Ideas for Schools and Teachers

With budgets decreasing more and more, many schools require teachers to have fundraisers to supplement field trips or pay for club functions. Today I want to share some tried and true fundraising ideas that are easy and students love. Many of these require no money up front and can be started immediately. My teaching experience has been exclusively in Title 1 schools so ... Read More

Free Groundhog Day Activities {Printable and Digital}

Groundhog Day isn’t the first holiday I generally think of when the month of February rolls around. However, I welcome any chance I can get to engage my students and spice up my classroom activities to give my students a break from our day-to-day routine (especially in the winter months). Whether or not Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, these free Groundhog Day ... 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

Christmas Activities for Upper Elementary

I love all things Christmas and have been fortunate to teach in schools where including Christmas in the classroom activities is permitted. We are always aware of different celebrations and incorporate other culture's traditions a lot, especially since I teach a diverse population of students. They love sharing about their holiday traditions. In addition to learning about ... Read More

Fall Activities for Upper Elementary Classrooms

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year! I love bringing fall into the classroom with fall themed activities. I wanted to share with you my favorite fall activities for upper elementary students. Fall Math Centers I always love incorporating seasonal math activities into my guided math classroom. You can read more about my guided math centers by clicking ... Read More

What Can You Put in an Interactive Notebook? {Freebie Included}

Interactive math notebooks are an amazing way to anchor your students' learning. In my classroom, our interactive notebooks become a personalized student textbook. The day before our mid winter break, I snapped a few pictures of my favorite interactive notebook pages from our math notebooks. I wanted to share these pages with you as a diverse look at all the different ... Read More