The Blog
Tips for Increasing Student Engagement and Motivation
I’ll never forget my first year teaching (for a lot of reasons!). I was fretting over my first formal observation when someone joked about them all being dog and pony shows anyway. I didn’t really understand what she was saying…
Differentiating and Meeting the Needs of Gifted Learners
We often have meetings and professional development about helping struggling learners, but I’ve found that it’s rare to talk about differentiation for gifted learners. While helping our struggling learners is extremely important, providing differentiated opportunities for our gifted students can…
Factors, Multiples, and Math Facts… oh my!
Working with factors and multiples is an important upper elementary skill that helps students solidify number relationships. However, it isn’t a skill that comes easily for all students. Here are numerous ways I teach and reinforce factors, multiples, and math…
Incorporating Podcasts in the Classroom
Have you ever wondered how you could bring podcasts into your classroom? Using podcasts in the classroom has gained popularity over the past few years and with good reason! They are a great way to challenge students’ listening skills, and…
The Ultimate List of Teacher Hacks
After you’ve been in the classroom for a few years, you pick up teacher hacks and strategies for classroom management that make you think – how did I ever live without this?! Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are amazing resources for…
6 Ways To Integrate Daily Grammar Practice Into Your Routines
Grammar. It’s a part of English whether you love it or hate it (I’m a love it kind of girl! My grammar college courses were some of my favorites, and I LOVED diagramming sentences!) and we have so many opportunities…
4 Spelling Strategy Tips for Upper Elementary
Teaching spelling to upper elementary students can be somewhat of a head scratcher. When I was in school, we were given spelling books. Each week, we would be required to memorize a list of words, complete activities, and then pass…
Tips for Using Literacy Centers in Upper Elementary
Reading centers, literacy centers, reading stations… whatever your school calls them, they are often overlooked tools in the upper elementary classroom. However, reading centers are an integral and successful part of my literacy instruction. In fact, I’d dare to say…
Activities for Teaching Punctuation: Quotation Marks, Dialogue, and Apostrophes
Students who don’t use punctuation often miss the point. Get it?? That’s a lame joke, but it speaks to our upper elementary students’ larger struggle with using quotation marks and apostrophes. By the time students enter upper elementary, they have…
How To Organize Student Supplies
There’s just something about back to school time that makes my heart so happy! In the weeks leading up to our first day, I can’t pass a store display of school supplies or organizational tools without swooning. Give me all…
Classroom Management Tips: Essential Daily Routines
As you begin thinking about back to school, it’s likely that classroom routines and classroom management tips have been teaching topics on your mind. It doesn’t matter how long I’ve been teaching, I always reevaluate and improve my classroom routines…
A Complete List of Back to School Read Alouds
Back to school is a time filled with lots of emotions – anxiety and excitement included! (And I’m not just talking about the teacher.) Including back to school read alouds into your daily routine is a great way to talk…
