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Math

A Quick and Easy {Differentiated} Review Activity

This will be a quick blog post, but it’s something you can use in like… 5 minutes if you need to!  Last year toward the end of the year, when I was reviewing a standard strand with my students before…
READ POST A Quick and Easy {Differentiated} Review Activity
Upper elementary test prep resources, ideas, activities, anchor charts, and motivators to make test prep engaging.
Classroom | Classroom Management | Task Cards | Test Prep

The Great Big Collection of Test Prep Resources

It’s that time of year…whether you dread it or just deal with it (or do a little bit of both), state testing time will be here before you know it.  Let’s face it–nobody looks forward to administering hours of tests,…
READ POST The Great Big Collection of Test Prep Resources
Teachers2Bare2BHeroes
General

Teachers Are Heroes Sale

Did you ever know that you’re a child’s hero?  Even if they haven’t told you, I am most certain that you are.  And today, TpT wants to recognize that when you walk into your classrooms every day, you are a…
READ POST Teachers Are Heroes Sale
Oreo2BStacking2BMean2BMedian2BMode2BLesson2B3
Anchor Charts | Math | Math Anchor Charts | Task Cards

Oreo Stacking Contest for Mean, Median, Mode Lesson!

Last year, I posted a picture on my Facebook fan page of my students stacking Oreos.  It was such a hit that I promised I would blog about it, and I completely forgot.  Until now!  I loved the idea from…
READ POST Oreo Stacking Contest for Mean, Median, Mode Lesson!
Pentominoes2Bto2Bteach2Bperimeter
Anchor Charts | Geometry & Measurement | Math | Math Anchor Charts

Perimeter & Area of Irregular Shapes

I was spending hours reminiscing and looking through old photos when I came across these few photos that I had taken of a lesson on perimeter of irregular shapes.  I remembered how much I loved it, and I wanted to…
READ POST Perimeter & Area of Irregular Shapes
Line2BPlot2BActivities2Band2BResources
Math | Anchor Charts | Graphs and Data | Math Anchor Charts | Task Cards

Line Plot Activities and Resources

Line Plots.  When I even think of the words, I shudder.  It’s one of the trickiest concepts for students.  What do those Xs mean?  The numbers on the bottom? YOU WANT ME TO PUT FRACTIONS ON THERE!?  I have racked…
READ POST Line Plot Activities and Resources
Cause and Effect 2020 1
Literacy | Reading Skills | Task Cards

Teaching Cause and Effect in Upper Elementary

Upper elementary students have a lot of experience with cause and effect, but that doesn’t mean you can skip this skill! Here are some ideas for doing more when teaching cause and effect that I used with rather high 5th…
READ POST Teaching Cause and Effect in Upper Elementary
Teach students to analyze firsthand and secondhand accounts with this anchor chart, interactive notebook template, and task cards.
Literacy | Anchor Charts | Free | Informational Texts | Literacy Anchor Charts | Reading Skills | Task Cards

Analyzing Firsthand and Secondhand Accounts

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.6: Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided. I’m not going to lie. This was a scary standard for me to tackle. It’s one…
READ POST Analyzing Firsthand and Secondhand Accounts
Upper elementary Halloween and fall activities for math, literacy, and science. Includes many FREE resources that big kids will love.
Holidays | Halloween | Seasonal

Educational Upper Elementary Halloween Activities for the BIG KIDS!

Every year, I find myself frantically searching for upper elementary Halloween activities that are suitable for the big kids. There are tons of adorable activities for the K-1 crowd, but finding activities that are both educational and engaging for older…
READ POST Educational Upper Elementary Halloween Activities for the BIG KIDS!
Novel2BFinal2BProject
Literacy | Novel Study | Novel Study | Novels & Picture Books

An Amazon Listing Cumulative Novel Project!

It’s no secret that I love a good cumulative novel project as an assessment.  I usually spend the entire novel brainstorming how we can sum it up!  Sometimes the projects are a miss (you don’t get to read about those!)…
READ POST An Amazon Listing Cumulative Novel Project!
Teaching compare and contrast in upper elementary is simple and fun with this picture book and accompanying activities.
Literacy | Anchor Charts | Literacy Anchor Charts | Reading Skills | Task Cards

Teaching Compare & Contrast

A few weeks ago, my two year olds and I were perusing the shelves of the library when they stumbled upon a book that they wanted to read “because there is an apple and an orange, and I like fruit!”…
READ POST Teaching Compare & Contrast
Use this free lesson to establish your classroom rules and build respect in the classroom all year long.
Classroom | Classroom Management

The One Rule Classroom: Just a little RESPECT!

There are so many ideas for classroom rules, and I love and respect many of them.  I remember my mentor walking in on my first day of teaching while we were generating class rules.  The kids, by nature, were shouting…
READ POST The One Rule Classroom: Just a little RESPECT!

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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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