Cause and Effect is one of those skills that teachers shy away from. It's complex. It's tricky. It's not. Understanding cause and effect is a crucial skill for young readers to develop. It helps them make connections between events, improve…
Small moments in personal narratives go hand-in-hand. When we first teach about Narrative Writing, we focus on something we've done...usually a whole event: Our Pumpkin Patch Field Trip or Going to the Post Office. We help students craft sentences that…
Mrs. Nelson was my kindergarten teacher. We read The Gingerbread Man Monday, went to lunch, and he was gone. I remember running around the school in kindergarten chasing The Gingerbread Man. Each day we'd find him somewhere in the building…
Goldirocks...no, that isn't spelled wrong...is the cutest book. Mentor texts are such an integral part of a great lesson. Teaching about something and connecting it to a book can make a lasting impression on students AND entertain them. They won't…
Verbs are everywhere...and you're kindergartners are everywhere! Need quick mentor texts with these active words? This is it. The books will have a small verb FREEBIE and some ideas for sharing these with your students. Book Summary The Cow Loves…
New Old Shoes is such a great book about recycling and reusing. It's the perfect book for teaching students about real-world ways to care for the earth. I found this INCREDIBLE book at a thrift store for 99¢ and it's…
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…
Our school system doesn't start school until after Labor Day...so February is crazy with 100th Day, Valentine's Day, and Presidents' Day. Here are 100 ideas for the 100th day. Ok...I don't have 100 ideas, but here are few. 1. 100th…
WOW, where does the time go? My best advice for coming back form the holiday is jump into routines ASAP. Students crave boundaries and their routines are part of their boundaries. They find boundaries safe and predictable. The added bonus…
This silly r-controlled poem is one for the turkeys. Students will giggle as they discover r-controlled vowels throughout this poem. Control at Thanksgiving? Thank goodness I'm not talking about Thanksgiving dinner...or pumpkin pie. There simply isn't much control when it…
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…
Silly Sally is one of my favorite stories for back to school. Not only is written by the Audrey Wood, but it's a simple book with lots of layers. Silly Sally is so silly, it speaks to kindergartners in a…