The Blog
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…
Multiplication Fact Practice: Engaging Ways to Boost This Key Math Skill
Learning multiplication facts is an important part of elementary math. Knowing math facts fluently will help students tackle other math skills, as well as benefit them throughout their life. Unfortunately learning math facts can also be super boring because rote…
Low Prep Resources: Simple solutions that save time all year!
I know many of you head back to school in August, so you may or may not be starting to think about prepping for the year. I know for me, it’s always right around this time that I start really…
How to Play Scoot: Getting Started With Task Cards
Have you played Scoot with your students? It’s one of my most-recommended ways to incorporate task cards into your classroom, so one of the most common questions I get is, “How do you play Scoot?” I’ve been playing Scoot in…
Math Workshop Ideas for Upper Elementary
Whether you have 45 minutes or 90 minutes for your block math, how you set it up can make or break the progress you’re able to make with your students. I’ve had such varying setups for math, but for FIVE…
School-Wide Events: Fun and Educational Ideas to Build School Spirit
One of the most popular committees at our school is the school-wide events team, which plans activities that are fun for students, families, staff, and even the larger community. These events are used as incentives, academic boosters, fundraisers, etc. I…
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Incorporating Picture Books In Your Upper Elementary Classroom
I love incorporating picture books in the upper elementary classroom as much as possible. There’s often a misconception that picture books are only for younger students, but they’re a great way to reinforce concepts for upper elementary students too. I…
Practical Classroom Decor Tips
Mid-July is always that time of year when back to school thoughts start sneaking into my head pretty consistently. Maybe it’s all the school supplies in stores and the social media pictures of perfect classrooms that pop up this time…
Favorite Math Picture Books
I love incorporating picture books into math, so I am ALWAYS looking for new math picture books to add to our collection. When I asked some of my favorite teacher friends on Instagram and our Inspired in Upper Elementary Facebook…
Digging Deeper: Teaching Inference in Upper Elementary
Teaching inference is an important skill. Of course, by the time they reach upper elementary, many students are familiar with it, but it’s such a critical one and one that we can continue to hone and develop throughout our entire…
Teaching Language Skills: Nouns and Verbs
Upper elementary students are pretty familiar with the function of nouns and verbs, but that doesn’t mean we can skip teaching this crucial language skill. Nouns and verbs lay the foundation for building sentences, correctly punctuating sentences, etc. This is…
Teaching Coordinate Grids
There are some standards I highly anticipate teaching, and coordinate graphing is one of them! Teaching coordinate graphing in upper elementary can be a ton of fun, and there are so many ways to make it incredibly engaging. There are…
