Blog - I Love 1st Grade

Glow Day Room Transformation

12 May

Classroom transformations are such a powerful way to get our students excited about learning. Glow Day is no exception to this! Glow Games might just be my favorite classroom transformation. Let me tell you all about our Glow in the Dark ... Read More about Glow Day Room Transformation

10 Effective Strategies for a Chatty Class

21 Apr

Spring is here and we all have spring fever! Energy levels are higher. Students seem restless. Behaviors that have never been seen before appear. And your once quiet class becomes chatty. Every year I remind myself that this is normal. And to be expected… But that doesn’t mean we can’t remedy ... Read More about 10 Effective Strategies for a Chatty Class

Fostering Relationships in the Classroom

31 Mar

We all know that research says students need to feel included, loved, and safe in the classroom to learn. They also need to move. Team Builders are the best way to incorporate both of these! Positive relationships with teachers are important in supporting higher levels of self-esteem, higher ... Read More about Fostering Relationships in the Classroom

Hosting a Reading Restaurant

30 Mar

The Reading Restaurant was open this week and it was a hit! I served up some fabulous books and my first graders were totally engaged. If you haven’t tried a book tasting yet, I highly recommend you give it a try! It’s easy to do and an inexpensive room transformation. All you need is great ... Read More about Hosting a Reading Restaurant

Early Number Sense

14 Mar

Number sense is an absolutely critical math skill. Without number sense, computing and understanding relationships within numbers is difficult. We all know students that know algorithms but have little understanding of the math involved. These students don’t know what to do if an algorithm goes ... Read More about Early Number Sense

Making the Most of Guided Reading Instruction – Part 3: What are the Other Kids Doing?

3 Feb

This is the third part of this blog series, Making the Most of Small Group Instruction. If you want to catch up, find the first post here and the second post here. These are always burning questions: How do I work with small groups of students? What is the rest of the class doing? How do I ... Read More about Making the Most of Guided Reading Instruction – Part 3: What are the Other Kids Doing?