Teaching upper elementary does not mean you have to miss out on all the holiday fun! I use this Thanksgiving writing activity with my big kids before Thanksgiving break. My goal in this lesson is to teach students to stop…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
You only have 76,775 minutes with the students in your class each year. That seems like a lot of time, but school days are busy and pass quickly. Because of this, you should choose purposeful activities to pack the most…
I use groups a lot in my classroom. I try to ensure that my kids get up and moving as often as possible, instead of sitting in their desks working all day. I use both homogeneous & heterogeneous groups in…
Our biggest goal as math teachers is to help our students become critical thinkers and problem solvers. I help my third graders develop critical thinking skills by using multi-step word problems in my math class every day. Think about when…
I have always been a little bit of a nerd. One example of that is I LOVE reading professional books in the summer time. The time off gives me time to un-wind and then begin thinking about the changes I…
