The New Year Pivot: 4 Ways to Master the Post-Break Reset in Upper Elementary
January feels like a “New Year, New Classroom” in many ways. After weeks of holiday magic, relaxed bedtimes, and zero alarms, upper elementary students return with a unique blend of high energy and “brain fog.” While your pacing guide might be screaming for you to dive into long division or expository writing, the most productive […]
Stinky Feet: A Review Game to Get Your Students Overjoyed About Learning
Do you love to play learning games with your students? There is no better way to kick off your return to school, time after a break from school, or the fact that a math test is coming than by playing a game! What kind of game, you ask?! A simple review game.
Sharing 17 Great Games for Math Workshop and Our Blessings
Games for Math Workshop Seventeen games? Really? Yes, I’m sharing 17 great games for math workshop and my blessings with you this year. Enjoy! Last year, I wrote: “Every year, I create and stock my upper elementary classroom with a variety of math workshop games that either I have made myself or that I have […]
Reading Intervention Activities that Students Love
Introduction It’s almost testing season. If you’re anything like me, you’re looking for some great reading intervention activities that students love that don’t make you feel like you’re “teaching to the test”. Well, you’re in luck! My friends and I are here with a collection of wonderful reading intervention ideas that your upper elementary students […]
4 Fantastic Ways to Celebrate Learning through an Art Passion Project
Introduction: A Time to Celebrate Learning After the celebrations and collective sighs at the end of state testing every year, many students and their teachers may find themselves asking, “What now?” I have an answer to that question that focuses on 4 fantastic ways to celebrate learning through an art passion project (and other passion […]
Studying Novels
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 had a clawfoot bathtub in […]