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
Teaching Addition and Subtraction
When you teach upper elementary math, teaching addition and subtraction can be....awkward. Generally speaking, your students already understand the concept. Whether you want them to or not, they know and use the standard algorithm. Of course, there are some students who have not
Math Centers for Upper Elementary Students
Whenever I talk to other upper elementary teachers I find that math centers are something teachers either love or hate. There is rarely ever any middle ground when it comes to math centers. When I first started teaching, I tried centers and failed miserably. I didn't use them at
Strategies For Teaching Vocabulary
This post shares some of my favorite strategies for teaching vocabulary. As a reading teacher, the quote below certainly hits home. These are such powerful words concerning the importance of upper elementary vocabulary instruction, which is often neglected in today's
Grammar Worksheets & Activities
Grammar worksheets and activities don't have to be miserable and boring for students-or for you! Teaching grammar appears to be a something teachers either love or hate. There are a lot of polarizing opinions on how to teach grammar, punctuation, and parts of speech. Some say it
Teaching Geometry in Upper Elementary
Geometry is typically the one topic in math I run out of time to teach thoroughly. While I certainly believe it's an important topic, I do place my greatest emphasis on my standards that incorporate number sense and operations. With that shortened time frame, I have to make sure
Guided Reading Groups
Guided reading groups are one of the most complex areas of planning and instruction. I still remember when I first started teaching thinking, "Okay, I have my groups. Now what do I do?" Hopefully, this post will be helpful to anyone who has experienced that same thought or
Independent Reading For Upper Elementary
Independent reading plays an important role in the upper elementary classroom. My entire teaching career, I've known nothing but reading workshop and guided reading. I've never had a reading series to use, so I've spent an absurd amount of time researching and testing various
Balancing Cute and Content
Over the years I've read countless blog posts, social media posts, and comments over the debate of balancing cute and content. I think we can all agree that there is value to both, and it's certainly possible to teach with both style and substance. The purpose of this post is not
Guide To Teaching Reading
Teaching reading can be overwhelming with today's instant access to curriculum, resources, and pictures on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram. This post shares the ins and outs of teaching reading through reading workshop, guided reading, and literature circles and how you can use
