Ah! The time crunch! There’s not enough time! There’s NEVER enough time! Sound familiar? Yep. We all do it when the weeks we have left begin to dwindle at an alarming rate. On one hand, the days are long, but on the other, there’s so much to do and SO little time to do it! So in an effort to help you calm down a little and refocus, I thought I’d give you some ideas of things to work on and how that might look based on how it has worked in my classroom. **PLEASE DO NOT LOSE YOUR MIND AND DECIDE THAT YOU SHOULD SHOVE REVISING AND EDITING PASSAGES AT YOUR KIDS EVERY DAY IN ORDER FOR THEM TO DO WE ..read more

  Last week, I hosted a training for teachers of lower grades (K-2) with a focus on reading and writing integration. While I can’t post the whole training here, I thought I’d talk quickly about a few things that anyone can do to help integrate reading and writing in the classroom. I wanted to go ahead and link a few articles that I found interesting about the integration of reading and writing. https://www.k12reader.com/the-relationship-between-reading-and-writing/ https://writingcooperative.com/why-writing-is-more-important-than-reading-dd561635841c https://images.app.goo.gl/7piKEwvAiV ..read more

Teaching Kids Financial Literacy with the Money Confident Kids Program By Kayla Shook, Texas Teaching Fanatic This post is sponsored by T. Rowe Price. All opinions are my own. Teaching kids about how to save money and spend wisely can be such a tricky subject. How do you get students to understand how their choices affect their everyday lives? How do you go about teaching good financial health? You turn to Money Confident Kids® by T. Rowe Price! Through games, lessons, magazines, and interactive activities, your students can learn all about financial literacy in a FUN and engaging way. Whe ..read more

Hey, y’all! I wanted to take a quick second to tell you about a resource I’ve been trying out. I recently received a copy of Mastery Education Measuring Up. I’ve enjoyed the rigor of the questioning, along with the variety of question formats. Mastery Education presents Measuring Up  Measuring Up helps students in grades 2-8 measure up to the English Language Arts and Mathematics Standards. It offers standards-based instruction to meet student needs, supplement your curriculum,  intervention, and more! Measuring Up’s key benefits  Introduce concepts by connecting what students will learn–> ..read more

Have you ever caught yourself thinking, How in the world am I supposed to conference with ALL my kids regularly? If not, you’re a ROCK STAR! And I certainly tip my hat to you. If you’re like me, however, you’ve had this thought on an every day basis occasionally. You have a room full of kids and never enough time for anything. Well, I’ve found a system that works really well for me, and you might just find that it’s easier than you think. #goals First of all, we have to go back to that writing time issue. Kids MUST have time to write EVERY day…or dang near it. And the more they write across c ..read more

Well, hello again! Welcome back to PD in your PJs! (The BEST kind, right?!) Tonight I wanted to take a quick minute to talk a little about mini lessons. Not MAXI lessons…MINI lessons! Just then, some of you chuckled because you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about. You get teaching and just can’t stop. You planned a killer lesson…or so you thought. Your students start looking at you like you’re speaking Alien. You try to save it by explaining it again and again. You show lots and lots of examples. You do everything you know to do to turn those looks into something recognizable. You don’t know ..read more

Maybe it’s just me…but I’m a *little* glad to have 2017 behind me. Although not a bad year by any means, by the end, I was just ready for a new year. A fresh start. An empty slate. Isn’t that what New Years are all about? Starting over. Being a better version of your current self. Setting goals (hopefully realistic and not something you regret by noon on 1/1). That’s what I’m ready to do. I’m ready to look forward with a positive attitude and not worry about what’s in the past. Sometimes I get stuck focusing on what my kids seem to be lacking in skills or their inexperience and exposure to w ..read more