Word work is so important for our young learners to become successful readers and writers. I believe in the power of these important skills based activities so much that I am starting an entire series of articles on word work! I’ll walk you through everything you need to get started. Whether you are just starting…
Students love experimenting. They love to try new things, just because. They like to see what happens when they take a specific action or make a certain decision. To some this is trouble – but I like to call it curiosity. And curiosity is the starting place of learning. While experimenting comes easy in some…
Famous Americans and historical figures are an important part of the first grade curriculum, but teaching non-fiction biographies to lower elementary students can be very challenging. The text is usually heavy and difficult for students to understand. It was important for me to figure out a way to introduce these important historical figures to my…
Buzzing bees, butterflies, longer days, and beautiful flowers announce the arrival of spring after a dreary winter. Students and teachers are already counting down the days until summer vacation. But there is still so much learning to pack into the last few months of school. I know all too well just how busy the spring…
There are so many different ways to assess your students on their knowledge and understanding of a text. When I was in the classroom, I loved to use a scaffolded approach to this. One of my favorite tools for my students to use in response to text was, and still is, graphic organizers. Graphic organizers…