How My Innovation Journey BeganA reflection on innovation in the classroom by guest blogger and 5th grade teacher Kelly Honn The phrase I heard often in my undergraduate classes at Northwest Missouri State University was that we should all aspire to be “lifelong learners.” I took that to heart and let it guide me through each of my twenty-five years, …
Engaging fiction picture books are easy to find. 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers usually have plenty of them in their classroom libraries. However, nonfiction and informational text picture books that are actually engaging and on an appropriate grade level are much harder to find. If you are trying to be intentional about doing more nonfiction read alouds with your …
Written by Guest Blogger Kerry Heino As teachers we often long for the beginning of summer vacation, the start of a well-deserved holiday and a break in our all-consuming career. How easily we forget though, how hard that final week of school can actually be; weather that is unbearably hot, with often no air conditioning, curriculum that is done being …
One of the best ways to help students become more fluent readers is to have them do repeated readings. This type of fluency activity can get old very quickly, especially to 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. Liven up your repeated readings using “silly voices” – a no prep activity that makes repeated readings more fun.A Fluency Idea for 3rd, …
Why Should I Use Partner Reading in My Upper Elementary Classroom?Partner reading (also known as paired reading) is a reading strategy where two students are paired together and read a given text aloud to each other. Often, students are paired strategically. For example, teachers could pair readers that are on the same level, or pair a more fluent reader with …
Entering your 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade classroom the day after having a substitute is always a nerve wracking experience. Chances are, you’ve had some of these questions run through your head before you open your classroom door. Did the sub leave a terrible note? Did the sub leave any note? How did my students behave? Will my classroom be …
Preparing your 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students for state testing can sometimes feel boring, contrived, and frustrating. Teachers, however, are experts at turning boring things into engaging activities. Below are some of my favorite ideas from Pinterest to help you prepare and motivate your students for their state test. Or, check out these other activities and ideas to help …
When teaching upper elementary students about main idea, we often stick with the same questions over and over again. What is the main idea of the passage? What details from the passage support the main idea? While these are good questions that students need to know how to answer, there are many other aspects to main idea that students need …
Keeping students on task and engaged around Valentine’s Day is hard. The excitement – and the candy – that comes with this holiday can be a distraction for many 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students. Use this free Valentine’s Day fraction activity to help keep students engaged and learning while still celebrating Valentine’s Day.Free Fraction Valentine’s Day ActivityThis Valentine’s Day …
Black history – the influence of African Americans on culture and politics, the historical treatment of African Americans in America, and the impact different African Americans have made – is too complex and important to only teach in February or on MLK day. However, Black History Month is a great opportunity to spend some intentional time on that history. This …