A mini lesson should be 5 - 10 minutes. Try to keep it as close to 5 as possible. Mini Lessons When students are learning new material, they need to be fully engaged. Chances are, a room full of 8 - 11 year olds will not all be fully engaged…
It's that time of the year again – back to school! While some may feel sad about the end of summer (hey, it's ME), there's plenty of excitement ahead as we embark on a new learning journey. This year, I'll continue to make going back to school an unforgettable experience…
Fun with geometry? Who thinks teaching geometry is fun? I have a secret. It's pretty embarrassing really. In school, my least favorite subject every year was math. GASP. Why, you might ask? Well, when I was in elementary school, math was all about memorizing and recalling facts (yuck) and filling…
Did someone say FREE? Teachers love free materials, and in this post, I want to share my favorite sites for free teaching materials. We're in the homestretch of 2022 and, if your students are anything like mine they're ready for a BREAK. Undoubtedly, you're ready for a break, too. It…
Getting Started: How to Flip Your Classroom I'll start by saying that I owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to my new teammate. I have been curious about flipping my classroom for years, but didn't completely understand HOW to do it. My new teammate has been doing it successfully for…
Teaching vocabulary is essential for reading comprehension, and using mentor texts to model is a great idea. With mentor texts, we can work on so many skills. In this post, I'll share how I teach vocabulary in upper elementary. We’ve all heard about the science of reading, right? If you…
As elementary teachers, one of our primary goals is to set our students up for success. We want our students to know where materials are and to be able to use classroom resources independently while we work with small groups. At the beginning of the school year, I spend a…
In my experience, children love to make a difference. One year, something of value (I think really high end headphones, but I'm having a hard time remembering) went missing from the ESOL teacher's class and three boys in my class held a bake sale to raise money to replace them.…