Teaching reading isn’t an easy task. There is so much strategy that we teachers have to focus on to help our students become strong readers. Plus, reading is a pretty important skill don’t you think? In all seriousness, we have a pretty big job on our hands when it comes to strategies for teaching first-grade reading comprehension. Strategies are key…
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3 Strategies to Keep Students Engaged in Reading
In first grade, we teach students how to read. Reading is one of the most important things a student learns to do. In my classroom we spend at least 30 minutes a day reading. It can be challenging to keep students engaged in reading. This blog post will share strategies to keep your students engaged in reading. Read to your…
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Strategies for Teaching Reading Fluency in First Grade
I love all things reading especially when it comes to teaching my students strategies to help them gain success. Watching my first-grade students learn to read gives me all the feels but it’s a constant work in progress to create strong readers. So, let’s talk fluency since we are approaching the end of the school year (BTW did you think…
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Creating an Informational Writing Piece: 3 Resources To Get Your First Grader Started
I was only going to do three posts in my writing series but here I am with a bonus! My last post about informational writing was a long one and I realized I have so many resources for my first graders that I thought it would be helpful to give you some more specific examples to start with the basics…
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A Simple Guide to Using Narrative Writing in Your Primary Classroom
Guess who’s back!…and here to talk all about narrative writing this time around. In my last post I talked all about opinion writing and how it’s definitely one of the most important areas of teaching classroom writing. Well…narrative writing is one of the most difficult to teach in my first grade classroom. Let’s be real kids are definitely great storytellers…
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Three Tips for Great Opinion Writing in Your Classroom
Does the idea of teaching writing to your students stress you out? Teaching first grade writing is definitely not a breeze and it doesn’t always come easy…In my opinion writing is one of the most important things to teach and it’s definitely wishful thinking that we can get all of our students to love writing. BUT we can give our…
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PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS: TIPS TO TRY IN YOUR CLASSROOM
Are you running out of ways to implement phonological awareness in your classroom? Sometimes we hit a wall and finding fresh fun activities seems impossible, well look no further. I am here to help you! Phonological awareness is the ability to hear different sounds of the spoken language, and how sounds work together to make words. It is critical for…
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New Year’s Activities for Primary Students
New Years is time for fresh starts. I love the idea of a clean slate filled with possibilities. Don’t you? When we return to school, we spend some time that first week back discussing the new year and resolutions. We read stories about New Years and growth mindset. We talk about different examples of resolutions that people in our…
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3 Tips of Effective Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences
Are you super stressed by the thought of having to do virtual parent-teacher conferences? I know I am. We have switched from Zoom to Teams this year and since we have been teaching in the school, I don’t have much practice using it. I am worried about the tech. I am stressed about building connections virtually. I am concerned because…
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Starting Writer’s Workshop in First Grade
This month we launched Writing Workshop! In our first grade classroom, we begin with expository All About writing but we talk about what Writer’s Workshop looks like throughout the unit. We review expectations, procedures, and practice getting into the writing routine and building stamina as part of this unit. In the beginning of the year, we stop writing and gather…
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How to Use Seesaw Effectively in Your Primary Classroom
Are you using Seesaw in your classroom? Do you want to? Maybe you need a Seesaw tutorial? Here are some tips to help you learn how to use Seesaw. Seesaw is a great tool for primary students to use with technology. It has many features that make it developmentally appropriate such as audio and video, writing tools that students can…
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Must-do’s for Virtual Meet the Teacher
We have been informed that we will be having a Virtual Meet the Teacher Open House in August. At first I panicked, I’m not going to lie! I have some 25 Meet the Teacher Nights under my belt. For me, it’s old hat. I’ve never had to meet my students virtually. I couldn’t fathom how it could be the same….
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Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom and Distance Learning
Many school districts and teachers like you know that the social and emotional learning is going to be necessary this upcoming school year. I have heard from many of you saying that you want access to an entire curriculum of social emotional learning. Social and emotional learning is important every school year. This upcoming school year it’s going to be…
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STOP THE SUMMER SLIDE
The summer slide is real! What is the summer slide? It is the academic decline that happens in the summer when students don’t maintain their academic skills. Students, especially students who struggle to make progress during the school year, lose skills over the summer if they don’t do anything to maintain skills. Research shows that the achievement gap has less…
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Celebrating the End of the School Year Remotely
The end of a school year can be a bittersweet time for many students (and teachers).
Five Reasons to Use Boom Learning™
Here we are in the midst of Covid-19 school closures and, if you are anything like me, you need e-learning resources. Maybe you have search the web for hours trying to find the right materials for your students and have questions and aren’t sure of what to use. I feel you! The frustration is real. Boom Learning™ is a website…
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How to Assign Certain Slides Using Google Classroom
If you are like me, you are just surviving in this brand new world of education. The learning curve is real. Remote learning is hard so I can use all the tips and tricks I can get. I have been getting a lot of questions from teachers who only want to assign a handful of Google Slides from a larger…
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Google Classroom Help
In this crazy time of school closures, we have embarked on virtual teaching. Many districts across the country are ensuring that every child has technology at home as well as internet. Teachers, including myself, are assigning work through Google Classroom. When working with technology in our classrooms, students let us know if the technology is working and whether the assignment…
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Spring Activities for the Classroom
Leap Year
It’s Leap Year so today I am sharing with you a resource to help teach your students all about it. We begin teaching about Leap Year by watching Brain Pop Jr. This gives great background information on the calendar and Leap Day. Next, we read the book from the Leap Day pack. I love this book because it explains Leap…
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Valentine’s Day Classroom Activities
February is a magical time of the year for the little ones! I have sweet memories of making a Valentine mailbox, treat bag, and passing out special valentines. Don’t you? Even though February is so much fun, it can be stressful to planning. It’s a short month with quite a few holidays! Here are some tips to help make it…
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Winter is Here So is Indoor Recess
It’s that dreaded time of the year, when recess moves indoors, and students go stir-crazy. Whether it’s snow, rain, or freezing temperatures, we are entering that time when recess moves inside. If you have a list of indoor recess ideas, your students will be able to get their wiggles out and give their brain a break. Here are 10 of the…
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New Year Goals
Follow my blog with Bloglovin Get the new year jumpstarted with goal setting. Teach students about growth mindset and have them create a goal! I have many ideas to choose from! January is the time we ramp things up in first grade. Students make the most growth this time of the year. It’s as if they marinated all fall and…
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