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Math | Anchor Charts | Decimals | Math Anchor Charts | Place Value | Task Cards

Decimal Place Value Resources & Teaching Ideas

It’s the beginning of the school year, and that means it’s time to teach place value. Right!?  It seems that this is the time of year that every single teacher, no matter the grade, is doing some sort of place…
READ POST Decimal Place Value Resources & Teaching Ideas
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Anchor Charts | Literacy

The Best Anchor Chart Paper Ever & A Giveaway!

If you’ve read Teaching With a Mountain View for any amount of time, it’s likely that you know how much I ADORE anchor charts for the classroom.  A couple months ago, Pacon contacted me about giving away some anchor chart…
READ POST The Best Anchor Chart Paper Ever & A Giveaway!
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Classroom | Back to School | Classroom Organization | Seasonal | Task Cards

A NEW Task Card Storage Idea and Early Finisher Activities

Sometimes, inspiration comes to us in the most unusual places.  For me, my latest task card storage inspiration was at an antique mall!  I was spending the afternoon perusing the booths with my favorite girls and kept seeing those beautiful…
READ POST A NEW Task Card Storage Idea and Early Finisher Activities
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Back to School | Classroom | Classroom Management | Seasonal

Back to School Survival: Building Rapport with and Making the Most of your School Family

It’s Back to School time ALREADY!?  Can you even believe that in a few short weeks students across the country will be heading back to class?  I can already feel the excitement in the air, from the students and the…
READ POST Back to School Survival: Building Rapport with and Making the Most of your School Family
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Classroom Pictures

{Peek of the Week} A Peek into Courtney’s 5th Grade Classroom

Peek of the Week is back, and I have so many beautiful classrooms to share with you!  I have been on a little blogging hiatus over the summer while spending quality time with my family, and it has been so…
READ POST {Peek of the Week} A Peek into Courtney’s 5th Grade Classroom
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Classroom Pictures

{Peek of the Week} A Peek Into Shannon’s 5th Grade Classroom in Australia

Welcome to another week, and another installment of Peek of the Week!  This week, we are visiting Shannon’s 5th grade classroom in AUSTRALIA!  Shannon has taught in Victoria, Australia for 13 years.  She is currently a student data coach and…
READ POST {Peek of the Week} A Peek Into Shannon’s 5th Grade Classroom in Australia
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Classroom Pictures

{Peek of the Week} A Peek into Sunny’s 4th & 5th Grade Classroom

I have been receiving a lot of submissions for Peek of the Week, and I continue to be amazed at your willingness to share your classrooms (and all your hard work) and the way you have all made your classrooms…
READ POST {Peek of the Week} A Peek into Sunny’s 4th & 5th Grade Classroom
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Classroom | Classroom Management | Classroom Organization

Create Curriculum “Bright Spots” You Can’t Wait to Teach!

If you need a teaching “pick me up” after a long week at school, I implore you to keep on reading, for  your own personal benefit, and for the benefit of your students… When I first met Angela Watson last…
READ POST Create Curriculum “Bright Spots” You Can’t Wait to Teach!
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Fluency | Literacy

Encouraging EXPRESSIVE Readers {A quick and easy activity with a picture book!}

It seems all young kids have a book that they adore.  You know the one… it’s the book that gets read every. single. day.  The one that they know all the words to.  The one with tattered edges.  Well, for…
READ POST Encouraging EXPRESSIVE Readers {A quick and easy activity with a picture book!}
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Classroom Pictures

{Peek of the Week} A Peek Into Charitie’s Science Classroom

Happy Thursday!  It has been a few weeks, but I’m thrilled to bring you Charitie’s Science Classroom as part of my Peek of the Week feature!  I have received so many amazing submissions, and I can’t wait to share them…
READ POST {Peek of the Week} A Peek Into Charitie’s Science Classroom
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Titanic | Seasonal

Titanic Lessons, Experiments, Activities, and More!

When I was young, I was never the girl who obsessed over boy bands. I was the girl who obsessed over the Titanic. Even before Titanic The Movie came out in 1997 and launched the world into a serious Titanic…
READ POST Titanic Lessons, Experiments, Activities, and More!
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Classroom | Classroom Organization | Classroom Pictures

{Peek of the Week} A Peek Inside REAL Classrooms

I am beyond excited to share my new project with you!  I am pleased to introduce to you Peek of the Week…a weekly peek inside REAL classrooms around the country! I came up with this idea after realizing that I…
READ POST {Peek of the Week} A Peek Inside REAL Classrooms

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I’m Mary

Welcome to my blog! I started blogging in 2011 and have amassed hundreds of posts full of engaging, research-based, and classroom-tested teaching ideas. Enjoy exploring!

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🍂👻 The leaves are changing, so it’s the perfect ti 🍂👻 The leaves are changing, so it’s the perfect time to share THREE of my FAVORITE fall picture book lessons, and they are PACKED with meaningful reading comprehension skills and can be adapted for a huge range of grade levels. These are tried and true lessons that I’ve used in my classroom and absolutely LOVE! 🧡

🍂 Comment below, and I’ll send you the links to more info about all three lessons, including the FREE printable for the Leaf Peeps.

I LOVE pairing picture books that share similar themes, and I’ve come up with MANY different paired sets. It’s research-based and gives students opportunities to compare characters, analyze how different authors develop similar ideas, and make connections across texts—all while keeping fun, seasonal themes with authentic texts!

Here are the three lessons I’ve been LOVING over the past few years:

🍁 The Leaf Peeps: We read four adorable leaf-themed books and compare their topics, themes, and important life lessons. These books pair together extraordinarily well and work well anytime between now and Thanksgiving. BONUS: I have a FREE lesson guide and reflection for this one!

👻 Gustavo’s World: You can use any combo of these books, and the kids just love them. We explore character traits, character change, and theme with these sweet spooky stories. Then students create their own characters (with Play-Doh!) and imagine a new book for the collection!

🎃 Stand Out: We pair Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden, Beatrice Likes the Dark, and The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt to explore what it means to stand out and embrace our differences. The discussions are SO good, and the lessons behind the books are so impactful!

These are the kinds of lessons I always LOVE most. Simple to prep, rich in discussion, and full of opportunities for students to think deeply about what they’re reading AND grow as little human beings. 💗
Picture books are one of my FAVORITE ways to teach Picture books are one of my FAVORITE ways to teach character development skills in upper elementary, and these are some of the very, very BEST! 📚❤️

Every week (and sometimes more often), I use a carefully selected picture book to help my students explore some big personal growth concepts! I incorporate books about everything from managing big emotions and navigating friendships to embracing differences, building confidence, and working through challenges. 🫶 

I love how a single picture book can lead to some of the most meaningful conversations we have all week!

I’ve rounded up several of my favorites, along with a specific learning objective for each one, so you can see exactly how I use them in my classroom.

And YES, picture books absolutely belong in upper elementary classrooms! 🥰

Which of these have you read with your students? Any favorites I need to add to my collection?
Can I tell you about one of my FAVORITE types of n Can I tell you about one of my FAVORITE types of novels to teach (I mean, if you know me, you know they are ALL my favorite, but this type is a ✨ students ✨ favorite — and not just while you’re teaching poetry)!📚🩷

🥁 Novels in verse! If you haven’t tried teaching one with your upper elementary kiddos yet, this is your sign.

I’ve found they’re the perfect way to get my readers to actually SLOW DOWN and pay close attention to the text — what’s said and what’s left unsaid. When there are only a handful of words on a page, every single word has a job to do. A line break changes everything. A word sitting all by itself on the page? Figurative phrases that tell more than an entire paragraph alone could? There’s a reason the author made every single choice. 

🌟 And for teaching inference? Oh my goodness. So much is left unsaid in these books. Truly, so much. My students have to piece together what a character is feeling from tiny details, and the conversations we have are AMAZING.

I just put together a whole blog post with everything I love about teaching them, my favorite titles for grades 4, 5, and 6+, and a giant list of annotation ideas you can use right away. 🎉 Comment below, and I’ll send the info your way!
Book beads ➡️ Book Lanyards ⭐️ No matter which one Book beads ➡️ Book Lanyards ⭐️ No matter which one you choose, your kids are going to love this reading celebration!! 🥰 

Comment below, and I’ll send you all the info or both options!
❇️ I have a few must-have anchor charts in my clas ❇️ I have a few must-have anchor charts in my classroom each year, and these are two of them! 🚨 BUT, I don’t just hang them up and go. It’s so important to spend time teaching my students how to use the prompts in their reading responses, how to develop their questions using each prompt, and discussing how to answer each type of prompt. 

Once students are familiar with how to use the prompts, they are able to have so much ownership over their reading response while also thinking critically about the book or chapter being discussed!

🎉🎉Comment below, and I’ll send you a link to three free sets of reading response resources and my favorite reading response task cards!
You won’t ever catch me in an ELA teaching positio You won’t ever catch me in an ELA teaching position where I’m not teaching word parts. 🩷💚 I believe wholeheartedly in the value of teaching morphology, especially in the upper grades! 

Comment below, and I’ll send you info on ALL my resources, including an entire FREE starter kit for teaching your students the basics of prefixes and suffixes!
🎉We start every math class the same: I read just a 🎉We start every math class the same: I read just a few of these mental math cards orally, step by step, and when I’m done, I count down from three silently using my fingers. When my students see a closed fist, they share their answers in unison. It’s so quick, simple, and low stakes for kids. They increase in complexity throughout the year, and I’ve seen massive gains in my students’ mental math abilities.

Comment below, and I’ll send you the info! ❤️❤️
Podcasts in the classroom are SO fun while still b Podcasts in the classroom are SO fun while still being academically worthwhile! 👏 🎙️ I designed them to address listening and reading comprehension skills in an engaging, relevant format. Each one comes with show notes and assignments and covers topics ranging from sports and science and tales and more! 🥰 Comment below, and I’ll send you all the info.
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