The Blog
Classroom Tools: Three Ideas To Improve Focus
With most of us back in the classroom after a long stretch of distance learning, we’re seeing a lot of students still trying to adjust back to more traditional classroom environments. Thankfully, I have found some solutions to help improve…
The Week Junior: My Honest Review of the Magazine
Whether you are looking for the perfect holiday gift for your kids OR the perfect holiday gift for your classroom, I have the best gift recommendation for you (and as a bonus, it’s a gift that keeps on giving ALL…
What Can Dialogue Tell Us? Inferring Character Traits and Feelings From Dialogue
Typically teaching dialogue to your class might sound a little something like this…“Dialogue is when two or more characters in a text are talking. You will know you are reading dialogue because you will see sets of quotation marks. Now…
Indoor Recess Ideas: Activities all students will love!
Are you ready for two words that can make a teacher shudder?? Indoor recess! Oof. We all know our students need the brain break, a chance to socialize freely, and hopefully time to burn off that extra energy too. We…
Long Division: Strategies and Extensions for Upper Elementary Math
I’m so excited to chat all about teaching long division! Ah, division. Does the mere mention of it make the hair on your arms stand up? And the timing! Why do we always seem to be teaching long division during…
Teaching Collaboration Skills to Maximize Group Work Time
The teacher community is truly something special. Teachers are master collaborators. I’m sure you know exactly what I mean, like those times you’re planning with your team and someone throws out an idea for a new activity. Together you excitedly…
Addition and Subtraction Strategies for Upper Elementary
By the time students reach upper elementary, they often already have a lot of addition and subtraction experience. That doesn’t mean we can skip over this important skill, though! After a thorough review of place value skills, we always spend…
Beyond Story Elements: Encouraging your students to think critically about elements of the text
Teaching and analyzing story elements is a critical part of developing students’ comprehension skills. You probably talk about the setting, the characters, the problem and solution, and eventually the theme. I’ve talked before about the importance of teaching students to…
Analyzing Text Features in Upper Elementary
Captions, diagrams, italics, OH MY! I can’t wait to chat with you all about teaching text features to your students. The standards that hit text features call for students to know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print,…
Must-Have Math Manipulatives For Upper Elementary
Teachers loooooove school supples, am I right?? I find that also extends to hands-on learning tools, which is why I’m sharing some of my favorite math manipulatives that are great for upper elementary students. Hands-on learning isn’t just for younger…
How I Organize My Literacy Block
I LOVE hearing from other teachers, and one of the most frequently asked questions I get is, “How do you set up your math or literacy block?” A couple of months ago, I wrote all about how I set up…
Teaching Domain Specific Vocabulary
Today we’re chatting about the importance of explicitly teaching domain specific vocabulary. This standard calls for students to be able to determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a grade-level text, and whether you follow…
