Preparing for Standardized Testing All Year No matter the time of year, teachers, students, and administrators across the country are always feeling the pressure to prepare their students for standardized testing. Standardized test results carry so many consequences for teachers, schools, and districts that it sometimes can feel like the ONLY priority. I struggled to balance the pressures of standardized test results with effective instruction in 4th, 5th and 2nd
Alaska: A Place for Students to Cool Down It is so helpful to have a quiet, calm space in the classroom that students can escape to when they need a break or a little space for themselves. Students may benefit from a break in the cool down corner when they feel tired, overwhelmed, or upset. It is important to allow students space when they need it. And it’s just as
Recount Folktales & Other Stories The 2nd grade standard RL.2.2 and 3rd grade standard RL.3.2 both require students to learn how to recount stories from diverse cultures and determine their central message or moral. This standard puts a focus on fables and folktales from diverse cultures. Teaching this standard can be a lot of fun. In this post, I share my strategies for teaching this dynamic standard along with a
How Fluency Assessments Develop Strong Readers Regular reading assessments can seem like a waste of time – especially when they require individual student focus. But when done correctly, assessments that focus on both comprehension and fluency can help you target your instruction more effectively so you can maximize your students’ reading potential. Reading assessments can also provide you with progress monitoring data that will allow you to track student growth
Make Mornings Easier! Morning time can be chaotic! In my classroom, kids were trickling in at different times. They were excited and always chatting. I was being pulled in a million different directions from students, other teachers popping in, phone calls from the office. It was difficult to get my students to settle. Not to mention finish the responsibilities I had to get to before we started our day. Here
Building a Caring Classroom Community Building a caring classroom community with my students was one of my most important classroom management techniques. If your students know you care about them and they learn to care for each other, it cuts down on a lot of behavioral problems (or it at least makes them easier to solve). One of the best ways to build and maintain a caring classroom community and
Building Classroom Community through Inclusion It’s back to school time! During the first few weeks, I always spent a lot of time working on ways to build an inclusive classroom community. Building trust among students (and myself) and creating an environment where everyone was accepted and supported was crucial to our year-long success. One of my favorite ways to begin building our community was through read-alouds and class discussions. 6
Teaching Spelling Effectively is All About Resources & Strategy Phonics and spelling instruction… I will honestly say teaching spelling and phonics was one of my least favorite things to do. That was because I was doing it all wrong. I knew it because it was ineffective, and I didn’t know how to teach spelling effectively. I was using the prescribed random spelling lists in my basal reader, which were completely
Advantages to Using ClassTag as Your Parent-Teacher Communication App My kids have been in daycare for several years now, which means I’ve used a lot of different parent-teacher communication apps. I was lucky enough to be contacted recently by a company called ClassTag who asked me to consider partnering with them. After exploring the app, I was excited to support ClassTag and their mission. This app HAS IT ALL! I
Why Teaching with Lexile is Important Using Lexile measures to differentiate and scaffold instruction has a significant impact on your students’ reading. Lexile measures help teachers make informed decisions about text selection to ensure students are both engaged and challenged. Teaching with Lexile measures properly adds a powerful tool that helps students make gains, increase confidence, and meet the demands of Common Core and other state standards. It is important
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