Narrative writing lessons are my favorite writing lessons! They are also a great way to get to know students on a deeper level. However, without highly structured narrative writing lessons personal narratives aren’t always easy for students to writ. Children have a tendency to write a list of events, rather than a fully developed narrative. […]
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When I started teaching writing to elementary students, I had no clue how to actually teach writing! In fact, I could barely remember receiving any writing instruction as a child! Those first few years, I made writing instruction the focus of my professional development. I soon found that writing workshop was my favorite strategy to
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No prep end of year ideas and activities are essential for teachers. During the end of the year, teachers are swamped with DIBELS, DRA, portfolios, inventory lists, etc. so we want as many easy prep activities as possible! In this end of the year resource, there are 15 activities that are truly different from the
As summer break quickly {but not quickly enough} approaches, I’ve wanted to find engaging and creative ways to enrich and review our reading and writing standards. I also wanted to squeeze in a few fun, but easy, art projects, because we’ve worked hard all year and deserve a little fun! I decided to create a
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Research projects have a bad wrap these days. I certainly remember completing my fair share of boring research projects, but it doesn’t have to be that way…not even close! In fact, my students have been begging me to assign a state or country research project. That may sound a little strange, but there’s a reason
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As a student I dreaded learning about the scientific method. I still have memories of sitting at my kitchen table in tears, because I could not wrap my head around independent and dependent variables. As a teacher, I don’t want my students to repeat that experience. The scientific method should be fun for students, and
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By the time we finish testing, I’ve taught all, or most, of the standards, so I have a little more flexibility than normal. I certainly don’t want student learning to stop, but it keeping our momentum can be a challenge. As the school year winds down, it’s beneficial to both reteach and enrich. Student work
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It seems like during the weeks leading up to testing all I can think about is preparing for our state test. Then after testing, my lesson plans are wide open. For the most part, I’ve taught all of my essential standards, but I certainly don’t want the learning to stop after testing. Each year as
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Types of word problems are always a challenge for students. There are so many processes involved in solving word problems that it can be challenging to pinpoint concerns. Is it reading comprehension? Is it computation? Are students overly relying on key words? And the list goes on. One of my favorite strategies is to make
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Writing about math is an important part of math instruction. When I was in elementary school reading was reading, writing was writing, and math was math. Each subject area was defined and limited to one thing. Now it seems like one subject blurs into another. We have students writing about what they’re reading and reading
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