When it comes to shopping for your classroom, never forget you do not need all the things! As a new teacher, I felt an immense amount of pressure to purchase things that I later realized I absolutely did not need. My advice is to focus on the essentials and the resources that will have a […]
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Nonfiction text structures can be a challenging concept for students to grasp. Because of this challenge, I used to wait until later in the school year to introduce these text structures. But, I realized that was a disservice to my students. They need time to process and and apply nonfiction structures in all content areas
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Lessons to teach prefixes and suffixes used to be one of those things I saved until the end of the year and would try to squeeze in right before testing. I don’t recommend that strategy. Mainly because it doesn’t work, at least not well. I have no doubt that my students left my classroom and
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First Chapter Friday is one of those ideas that checks all the boxes. Easy to implement No prep Students love it It gets kids reading First Chapter Friday is an easy way to introduce new books to your students and to encourage independent reading. Truthfully, it doesn’t need to be on a Friday. I just
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Integrating science and social studies with reading is a must. We all know that time is always a problem for teachers. There are simply not enough hours in the day to teach all that we’re expected to teach. It’s just not possible. Due to testing and/or district and state requirements, social studies and science often
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Math pretests can be incredibly helpful for upper elementary teachers. After the 2020 school year there were more than a few phrases I hoped to never hear again. Learning loss was/is definitely on that list. I’m still not sure how we can lose something if we never had it. When searching for data and “learning
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Do you ever wonder what 4th graders should know or be able to do? Changing grade levels is difficult. I still remember crying my eyes out the first time I had to change grade levels. It was devastating! It’s hard to sort through years worth of blog posts, resources, and articles to find just what
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Do you wonder what 3rd graders should know? Are you new to teaching third grade? Or, is it your first time teaching third grade in a long time? If so, you’re in the right place! If you’re looking for the same post for fourth grade teachers look here! It’s no secret that changing grade levels
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Do your students act as if the moment testing is over they are finished with school? While an early summer break may sound nice, it’s definitely a slippery slope, as it’s so important to keep students engaged after testing. I’ve learned that if I abandon classroom routines or deviate too far from our norms, I’m
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One way to increase student engagement is to incorporate math task cards into your instruction. You can use task cards with centers, playing Scoot, or even use them digitally. While I love using my more traditional task cards, I’m always on the lookout for out of the box ideas to keep the task cards novel
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