There are so many books available at our fingertips now more than ever. With the help of Amazon, Barnes and Noble, small bookstores, and local libraries, thousands of children’s books are a click or just a short drive away. There are so many books to choose from that it can
Do you love elementary read alouds as much as I do? There are two moments I anticipate with excitement every year in my classroom: When Charlie Bucket finally gets his Golden Ticket and the class cheers wildly (because they always do) and when Charlotte dies and even my toughest little
This is the tale of how a 3rd grade teacher who once hated teaching paragraph writing (spoiler alert: it was me) used a simple system called Paragraph of the Week to transform her reluctant writers into excited authors and rapidly improved student writing. For real. It can be really challenging
Raise your hand if you dread teaching main idea and details to your elementary students. I think it’s one of the trickiest things for kids to grasp. However, teaching main idea and details is simple once you have a solid understanding of the literacy concept and a systematic approach to
Exit ticket, exit slip, exit card, exit prompt, exit pass… All of these terms are used interchangeably to describe a quick assessment given at the end of a lesson or class period. Not only will I share everything you need to know about using exit slips in your classroom, but will
This Me on the Map resource is my #2 all-time best seller. These Me on the Map activities are hugely popular among elementary teachers in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th! It is a great way to help kids conceptualize geography. It’s also the perfect way to kick off a
Before I share the 3rd grade fraction activities I created, let me share something: having taught fractions to 3rd graders for many years, I know how challenging the concept can be. I had used a couple different math curriculums over the years. They all lacked in several important (and in
I was so tired of hearing a collective groan from my students wshen it was time for writing. I thought there had to be simple solutions out there for how to motivate students to write. Where I saw the struggle, frustration, and dislike for writing emerge from my students was when
What’s the first word you think of when I say “homework?” It’s one of those hot topics that people feel very strongly about one way or another. However, more often than not, it’s a requirement. As a result, I am here to share homework ideas that will make your life
I often get asked for advice on creating a classroom library checkout system. Teachers invest a lot of their own personal time and money into accumulating books and setting up a class library. While they want those books in the hands of their students, they have just cause to be
The classroom library plays a very important role in elementary classrooms. There are so many different ways to organize it. It can feel daunting! Read below to get some helpful classroom library organization ideas to help you set up your classroom library in a way that truly works! 7 Classroom
Understanding a character’s words and actions will help to support a student’s overall comprehension of a text. Being able to visualize and summarize character traits are prerequisites to higher levels of comprehension, such as synthesizing information, making inferences, and forming opinions. This Charlotte’s Web packet will help to strengthen those
