In my classroom, students start each morning by completing a page from my Daily Morning Work resource. Before we started a morning work routine, our mornings were chaotic. Students were were lingering in the hallway, socializing, or using the time to read or finish work from the previous day. … [Read more...]
Role Playing with the American Revolution {Freebies Included}
Social studies has always been one of my absolute favorite subjects to teach. I get so excited about United States history, and I do my best to make a potentially boring topic come alive for my students! There are a lot of opportunities for hands-on, get out of your seat lessons and projects in the … [Read more...]
Compare and Contrast Two or More Characters in a Story {Freebies Included}
I'm back for the next part of our character development lesson using Verdi by Janell Cannon. For this lesson, I will be sharing how we used the book to compare and contrast two or more characters in a story, drawing on specific details from the text. To read the first blog post in this series, … [Read more...]
Inferring Character Traits Through Dialogue (Plus a Free Graphic Organizer)
Have you ever come across a mentor text that literally covers five standards and you squeal with delight? Or am I the only crazy person that gets excited about these types of things?! After reading Verdi by Janell Cannon with my students, I just couldn't contain myself! I have so much to share … [Read more...]
English Language Arts Print and Go Freebie
Happy snow day everyone! Well…at least to my midwest and northeast friends, right?! BRR! It is cold! I hope you are all staying safe and warm! And to my friends in the south, or wherever you are that's warm, we are all very jealous! This has been my view for the last two days: I swear the … [Read more...]
Building Community Around the Holidays
Happy Mid-December! We're almost there! I hope you're all enjoying your kids these last few weeks before break, and that they aren't too "excited" for the holidays! I'm here today to share with you this amazing Stocking Stuffer Community Building idea we did in our classroom from Susan Moran … [Read more...]
Throwback Thursday- Cant.Stop.Crafting! Scratch offs!
I am linking up with the adorable Cara from The First Grade Parade for her Throwback Thursday Linky Party! This took A LOT of courage my friends! My earlier posts from way back when are down right SCARY. Please don't judge and maybe don't meander TOO far back (they're THAT bad!). Blogging has … [Read more...]
Fraction Color by Number Freebie
I created this free resource for you all! It is a FREE St. Patrick's Day "Color by Fraction" page. I put a bunch of these Color by Number for Big Kids activities in all of my holiday math packs, and my kids LOVE them! Fractions can be such a tough concept for students to master, so why not … [Read more...]
Social Studies Freebies and Ideas- The Columbian Exchange
I don't know about you, but my FAVORITE subject to teach is social studies. Something about the Revolutionary War and Colonization makes this girl sing! One of the big topics we cover in 5th grade is the Columbian Exchange. Per usual, our textbooks provide us with literally one sentence on this … [Read more...]
Summarizing Fiction Texts Simplified!
Seems simple, RIGHT? Read a chapter, write a summary... Our students see this a lot, whether it be on our reading assessments, in our own classroom work, or on our state assessments. Bottom line, we want our kids to be proficient (and feel confident) in taking out the important elements from a … [Read more...]
