Back to School Season is here! Click to see my favorite first week of school activity.
The cooler temperatures make the think of pumpkin spice, bonfires, and… Chris Van Allsburg! His books are must-reads for upper elementary teachers. The fun storylines easily catch students’ attention. In this post I will highlight how I use his book, The Stranger, to teach my students to make inferences. To introduce inferencing to your students,…
Addition and subtraction with regrouping is a tough concept! This concept is abstract and often our students are not ready to understand the process. In this post I will highlight some strategies I use to help my students become great at addition and subtraction with regrouping. Have you ever seen this e-card? 8 year old…
Teaching upper elementary does not mean you have to miss out on all the holiday fun! Try this fun Thanksgiving writing activity with your big kids before Thanksgiving break. As Thanksgiving approaches, I love taking time to help my students pause and reflect on what they’re thankful for. Gratitude writing can be tricky for upper…
Common Core requires third graders to begin to find the central message of their fictional texts. This means the theme or message will be written in a short sentence. Instead of “Friendship” students will have to choose a phrase like “Always be loyal to your friends.” Third grade is the first year when this hard…
Multiplication is a big deal in 3rd grade. It’s the first thing that pops in my mind when I think of 3rd grade math. I make an effort to spend a lot of time really teaching my students the math behind the multiplication facts because I fully believe that helps them master their facts. We…
In my previous post, I wrote about branching out from traditional number talks and incorporating content. You can read my post about what this looks like in my classroom & the benefits I saw from making this change. Today, I will highlight my place value number talks and the different activities that I chose to…
I love the idea of beginning my math class with number talks. My students were engaged in discussion with their peers about the computation process. They were sharing different ways to solve the same problem. There were lots of smiles and “ahhh! I get it” moments. But, I like to keep things fresh in my…
I certified in Literacy: Reading and Language Arts in 2017. This is one accomplishment that I am very proud of but it was also one of the hardest things I have ever done. The idea that only “40% pass their first attempt” was always in the back of my mind. While I was working, I…