I love task cards. I use them in every subject area, but I used to always associate them with math. Not anymore. I started using task cards for novel studies this year and it has changed my life. Maybe that sounds silly, but I mean it. How I got started…
When I first started teaching, I taught littles - three-year-olds, kindergartners, and first graders. Picture books were my jam. I used picture books to teach everything. Some of my favorite authors were (and, honestly still are) Maurice Sendak, Vera B Williams, Ezra Jack Keats, Kevin Henkes, William Steig, Leo Lionni, Bill Martin, Jr., Eric Carle, and Audrey Wood. I…
Women's History Month is coming soon, and certainly, I want to share resources and teaching tips to help you and your students celebrate. This month is really important to me, and here's why... Have you ever heard of Charley Darkey Parkhurst? I certainly never had before I became a fifth…
If you're a teacher, you are currently teaching a Dorothy (someone who is being tormented mercilessly, yet is forging on), a Beans (a bully), a Mutto and a Henry (bystanders), and a Palmer (someone who just wants to be accepted and is confused and hurting in his own way). I have found that reading Wringer aloud to my whole class (sometimes 2 or 3 classes depending on the year) is a great way to broach and discuss these painful coming-of-age topics. The bonus is that in all of my years as a fifth grade teacher, I have never taught a student who has read it! It makes for a great read aloud experience filled with surprises.