Hi Top Flyers! Today I wanted to share the first reading comprehension strategy in my 6 part series on using reading comprehension strategies in the social studies classroom.  Today is all about making connections.  This is so important for our students and I hope that this content can help you in your classroom.  You can find more information on social studies interactive read alouds and reading comprehension strategies in my previous blog posts.  I will be sharing a FREE activity that you can use to practice with your students. MAKING CONNECTIONS IN SOCIAL STUDIES M ..read more

Hi Top Flyers! I am so excited to talk about plants today.  Teaching students about plants was always one of my favorite topics to teach.  It is so much fun to teach students how to plant a seed and watch it grow.  Today my goal is to share some activities that will help you engage your students in all things plants. This post will be broken into four sections: building knowledge, engaging activities, student practice, and a FREEBIE! Building Knowledge A great way to build knowledge about a topic is through exposure to books and videos. One of my favorite books to read during ..read more

Hi Teacher Friends! Today I wanted to share about using the reading comprehension strategies during social studies. You can find my last post about Social Studies Interactive read alouds HERE!  I will be sharing a reading comprehension strategies page that you can use to plan any social studies read aloud.  It also includes sentence and question stems for each comprehension strategy.  This can be used with the Social Studies Interactive read aloud planning page.  Did I mention it was a FREEbie? Well…it is!  Reading Comprehension Strategies Let’s look at the six readi ..read more

Books that help students to understand real-life issues that they face are so important!  Julia Cook writes awesome books that do just that!!! Her newest book is My Fantabulous Brain that helps students to understand that they do not have to struggle alone.  She encourages students to “take the t out of can’t and the don’t out of I don’t know”. This book is perfect for students and kids who struggle with schoolwork and different activities that are hard for them to do. You can go to myfantabulousbrain.com to get more info on this great book. You can also vist the ..read more

Hi Teacher Friends! Today I wanted to share about Social Studies Interactive Read Alouds and how you can use them during your social studies block. Did someone say Freebie….of course there is a FREEbie just for you!! I will be sharing a planning page that you can use with any social studies read aloud. What are Interactive Read Alouds?  An interactive read aloud is a literacy activity that encourages students to  actively engage in listening and talking about the text throughout the entire  read aloud. What are Social Studies Interactive Read Alouds?  A social s ..read more

Hi Teacher Friends! Today I wanted to share about some of my favorite Spring Read Alouds and of course there is a FREEbie just for you!!  I will also share an extension activity that you can use with each book. I began thinking about my favorite read alouds for Spring and I thought I would share them with you!  These are my favorite Spring read alouds and my students always love them.  1. Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert When I taught Kindergarten, this was always one of my favorite spring books.  It is a great story about a mother and child that plants a rainbow of ..read more

I love using math tasks in the classroom and I think you will too!  This is part 2 in my Math Tasks Blog Series.  If you haven’t seen Part 1…make sure you check it out first!!! In Part 1, we learned all about math tasks and the benefits of using them in your classroom.  In this post, we will focus on the structure of math tasks and I hope you keep reading to end because there is a math tasks student helper freebie just for you!!! So let’s jump right in! What is the structure of a math task? A math task consists of three parts.  They are the launch phase, explore phase, an ..read more

I love using math tasks in the classroom and I think you will too!  Math Tasks may be new to you or you may be an expert, but I wanted to share some of the great benefits of using math tasks in the classroom.  There are so many things I want to share about math tasks, so I am making this a math blog series.  Stay tuned for even more ideas! What are Math Tasks? A math task is a problem(s) that allow students to explore different math concepts or ideas.  They move beyond the basic textbook lesson and encourage students to collaborate and communicate about math ideas. 4 ..read more

So you learned in my first post in this series about Number Talks and how to do them in your classroom.  I recommend reading that post here if you haven’t already.  There is a freebie in it for you! I introduced number talks at my school on last year and they have made a difference in many classrooms. I know they can for you too! I have put together a list of tips that will help you as you continue your number talks journey. In this post, you will learn my top 5 tips for better number talks. 1.  Set a Timer Number Talks should be between 5-15 minutes dependi ..read more

I love reading books aloud to students and seeing how happy stories make them.  This is a great way to build a great classroom culture at the beginning of the school year.  If you want to see some awesome read alouds for back to school then you are in the right place!! 1. The Night Before First Grade by Natasha Wing This is a great book to read to first graders.  It talks about the previous year in kindergarten in the book.  It helps the kids to think about the previous year and a brand new year.  It also discusses it being okay if you are not in the same room w ..read more