Poem of the Week: Value with 4 lines of text by CATHY COLLIER. Using a short poem each week, students can incorporate reading, spelling, sight words, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, onset and rime and so much more.
Making a list is a Back to School Center. We all know students come to school starting at a variety of levels and we varying levels of background knowledge. We spend the first few weeks assessing where they are and…
Alphabet Charts can be fun! Using alphabet charts can increase vocabulary, make connections and entice students to have fun with words. These charts are not necessarily sound charts. I whole-heartedly believe in sound charts. Charts with NECESSARY and PURE connections…
Maps and Globes are typical social studies skills, but we need to make sure these standards are not taught in isolation. Integrating the standards is vital. At my previous K-2 school, we had half-day kindergarten. That's right...3 hours to get…
Fractions at the kindergarten level area all about understanding equal parts and fair shares. As you know, math isn't my thing...but even I can do kindergarten math. We do not talk about numeral representations of fractions and we don't label…
I blogged about a sequencing center in 2015, but I'd like to talk about a six different steps for teaching sequence and creating success. Students can be directed through a variety of experiences moving experiences from teacher-led, teacher-directed to student-led,…
I blogged about Predicting back in April 2014, but I think it's worth talking about again. (Click here to see the original post.) When students can use predicting effortlessly, their comprehension can increase. Predicting allows students to put pieces of the…
We need to make sure students know how to write AND they need a writing rubric to support it. The Big 3 is an easy and effective writing rubric. I have debated and drafted and debated and drafted and tried…
I actually had someone tell me early readers didn't need to know about cause and effect because "it was too hard to bring it to their level." I, respectfully, disagree. It's not necessarily about the skill, it's about the approach.…
Let's warm up with the polar bears and summarize. Warming up to summarizing is easy with Polar Bear Past Bedtime. I am in coastal Virginia and we don't do snow often, but as the weather gods would have it we…
Character traits questions are infamously answered with "happy" and "sad." But we need to move students beyond that. Just teach them and practice. It's easy. One of the most common questions during a comprehension conversation is "How does the character…
Making sets to 5 is a game-changer for students! When they can see sets of 5 with automaticity, they will soar. You know I'm a reading girl. I have a math husband and I gave birth to two math-minded boys,…