I had a hard time choosing this month’s book recommendations, there are so many great picture books! I finally narrowed down my favorite read alouds for December that represent a variety of holidays. Since Ramadan and Diwali follow the lunar calendar, they are celebrated at different times each year. Diwali is in October or November and Ramadan is in April…
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Unsure of what to get your colleagues, teacher friends or kids teachers? This list is full of the best teacher gifts that they will love! The best part is they work for holidays, birthdays, Teacher Appreciation Week, or just because. Teachers don’t expect gifts but they sure are appreciated! We especially love handwritten notes of appreciation. Even though it is…
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In first grade, we not only get to teach students how to read but how to think about their reading, too. These skills are very important but can be so hard for first graders to grasp. Teaching students how to think is not an easy task. We teach lots of strategies. Strategies are a great way to teach students to access their…
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Elementary teachers have so much to do! We teach all of the subjects and are expected to be knowledgeable and plan for each one. Reading is one of the hardest subjects to teach. In first grade we teach students how to read. We provide the foundation. Without a strong foundation in first grade, students will have reading deficits in future…
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We are about to enter the beginning of the holiday season, a time where children act like it’s a full moon and the barometer is dropping on a daily basis. This time of year can be crazy! I understand all too well the struggle of keeping students’ attention during this time. Today I thought it would be fun to share my…
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What does your classroom morning routine look like? Are you trying to juggle students, parents, taking attendance, looking at emails, notes, all while you want to get started teaching so your students are working on something meaningful without having to give the same directions over and over again? I’ve got a few things that I’ve implemented over the years that…
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Guided reading is important work in every grade, but especially first, where students must move through a lot of levels in a year. Guided reading offers students meaningful instruction that is intentional. Texts are at a student’s instructional level of reading {ie: not easy, not too hard, just a little challenge}. Planning and prepping for Guided Reading can be overwhelming….
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Do you have a Calm Down Kit in your classroom? I love mine. It is a great way to teach your students selfregulation by providing them the tools they need to calm down. Social and emotional learning is essential in our schools today. Our students need to be taught how to deal with emotions and know that we understand and care…
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Flexible seating is just that – FLEXIBLE! It has so many benefits for children. A few years ago, I added flexible seating options in my classroom but the students still sat at tables, in chairs. Two years ago, I made a VIP {Very Important People} table with balance balls. My students were super motivated to get picked for the VIP…
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Closing up the school year can be stressful. Doing a few things several weeks in advance can help. Here are five tips to help you maintain your sanity at the end of the year. Note: It’s incredibly important to keep your classroom intact as much as possible until the very last days of the school year. It’s tempting to start…
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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 activities! I wanted to create games that…
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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 the situation. In this blog post, I will share…
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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 academic self-efficacy, and more confidence in future employment outcomes (Ryan et al.,…
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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 books, a serving tray, and…
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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 wrong. Some of them can’t even tell if the answer they got makes sense or…
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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 create independence with my…
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I have said it before, but I truly believe small group time is the most important time of our day. Small groups are the backbone of my instruction because I can meet the needs of all of the learners in my classroom. Combined with whole class instruction and activities, small groups help me ensure my students master the standards and…
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This is the second installment of my blog series, Relationships Matter. Read the first blog post here. When trying to build relationships with students, discipline can get in the way. Behavior programs or clip charts negate any positives you are doing in your classroom. When you pass through the halls at school and hear “Pull a red ticket” or “You’re…
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It’s a new year and that means time to reflect and change. The MOST important thing when it comes to my classroom is relationships. Relationships are what drives students {and teachers} to want to come to school and take risks. When we feel safe and like we belong, we are more willing to make mistakes. So how do we…
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I believe that small group time is THE most important time of our day. Small groups are the backbone of my instruction. Small group instruction allows me to really meet the needs of all of the learners in my classroom. Together with whole class instruction and activities, small groups help me ensure my students master the standards and skills at…
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There should be a time for writing every day. Your students need to know that you value writing, and the best way to do that is to make sure that students write each and every day. Let’s talk about how this looks in my classroom. We begin with a mini lesson. This is where I model. How and what…
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As a teacher, I feel it is my duty to teach students tolerance, acceptance and empathy. We want every single student to feel accepted and know that they belong. I love picture books. I especially love picture books that inspire, provoke, and promote amazing classroom discussions. Let’s look at ten picture books that I use to teach students about important…
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Every primary teacher knows how important sight words are to beginning readers. When many of these words show up in our reading material, all phonics instruction gets thrown out the window because the majority of these words do not follow phonics rules. You just have to know these words by sight. Did you know that the first 25 Dolch words…
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