Every year in the classroom, at least one parent would message me asking: How do I get my child to start reading at home? Some parents would tell me that no matter what they said, their child would not read. Instead, their child chose video games, toys, sports, etc. Now don't get me … [Read more...]
Virtual First Day Back to School: Lesson Plans and Activities
If you're looking for help with a virtual first day back to school, you've come to the right place. It's a pretty safe bet that most teachers will have to do some form of online teaching this year. Most states are creating their back-to-school plans with an emphasis on three different models for … [Read more...]
Character Ed with Picture Books and Free Writing Prompts
At the start of the year, I always take a day or two to teach character ed. Why? Because I want to set the tone for a positive classroom community on those first days back to school. A simple and effective strategy I've used to teach character ed is reading picture books to my students and having … [Read more...]
My Comprehensive Guide to Effective Re-Teaching
This blog post contains my comprehensive guide to effective re-teaching. All of the information found in this blog post can be downloaded in my free printer-friendly Ebook found HERE. You know that whole-class lesson where every single student immediately gets it and masters the content? Me … [Read more...]
My Best Resources and Tips for Nonfiction Text Structure
Many students struggle to recognize and use nonfiction text structures as a tool to assist their comprehension. Over the years, I tried many different strategies and resources to help my students master this skill. Some worked and some didn't. And some, I had to create myself or tweak to fit the … [Read more...]
How to Get Students to Master Nonfiction Text Features
If you're looking for ways to teach nonfiction text features, you've come to the right place. When students enter the upper grades, they are required to read more textbooks and informational texts. There is a shift from learning to read to reading to learn. These texts can be difficult for students … [Read more...]
How to Help Struggling Readers Read to Self
Teaching silent reading voices to struggling readers (or all readers!) is a powerful tool to increase reading comprehension and fluency. As your students approach the upper grades, most reading time is spent reading to self. We teachers always emphasize the importance of letting students choose … [Read more...]
Summarizing Informational Text
Summarizing informational text has several uses for students. It teaches them to determine the most important ideas in a text, ignore unimportant information, and connect the main idea and key details of a text in a logical way. Summarizing also helps improve memory and comprehension of a text … [Read more...]
Test Prep Coloring Pages: Encouragement and Motivation for Test Time
During test prep and test time, our students could use a little encouragement and motivation. This time can be so stressful for students and teachers. I've found that coloring pages with motivational quotes can really help students during the testing season. To ease the stress, I've created these … [Read more...]
Teaching Literary Theme in Upper Elementary
In the upper grades, your students are no longer reading fables with clearly stated morals or lessons. Your students must read a fiction story and determine a theme (message or lesson), which is not explicitly stated. In this post, I will share a step-by-step process to teach theme in the upper … [Read more...]
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