Hi friends! I'm so excited to share with you my top 5 favorite picture books from this past school year. We read SO many great books as part of #classroombookaday, but I narrowed the list down to my top five most favorites. If you don't know about #classroombookaday, check out Jillian's site. I absolutely LOVED sharing picture books with my fifth graders and I know my new second graders will love this part of our class too. If you want to hear more about how I incorporate #classroombookaday into my 5th grade reading class routine, you can watch my Youtube video from last year ..read more

Hi friends! I asked on Instagram yesterday if y'all wanted me to explain my seasonal bundle of guided read alouds in a blog post or Youtube video, and the poll ended at 50% video/50% blog post! I'll share in this blog post, and then talk about it in a vlog so everyone can enjoy their preferred method :) Before we talk about the bundle, let's first talk about what my Guided Picture Book Read Aloud resources are. I currently have 6 available in my TpT store: H is for Honor- AVAILABLE NOWP is for Pilgrim- AVAILABLE NOWSanta Clauses- AVAILABLE NOWA Picture Book of Martin Luther King, JR.-AVAILABL ..read more

Hi friends! It's officially summer break for me and I cannot begin to describe my level of excitement! I always love to have the summer to recuperate from the previous school year and plan for the next one! I also love to catch up on some professional development books as a way to motivate myself. I thought I would share my top ten favorite professional development books today. Be sure and stick around to the end because there just might be a giveaway!  The Megabook of Fluency by Timothy V. Rasinski and Melissa Cheesman Smith  I discovered The Megabook of Fluency last summer and fell in love ..read more

Did y'all know last Friday (5/17) was National Endangered Species Day? It's not too late to celebrate, and I have the perfect picture book for the occasion: This new book from Chelsea Clinton contains 12 animals from all over the world that are endangered. Some of the species that are endangered really surprised me! The book talks about: -giraffes-gorillas-blue whales-rhinoceroses-giant pandas-whale sharks-polar bears-lions-sea otters-orangutans-tigers-elephants I especially love that each section gives the level of endangerment and the reason.  This one is a great nonfiction picture book t ..read more

Happy Thursday, friends! I'm super excited to share a brand new book with y'all today that is not only gorgeously illustrated, but also contains such a relevant and important message. I'm talking about Brady Smith and Tiffani Thiessan's (yep, Kelly Kapowski!) new book, You're Missing It! This book tells the story of a little boy who goes to the park with his dad. The only problem is the dad is too busy on his phone to pay attention to everything around him. Throughout the book, the little boy sees amazing things and tries to share his discoveries with his dad, but the dad is too busy. This is ..read more

Grab your copy here! My other February resources: February Comp Files for Text Based Evidence Constructed ResponsesFebruary Grammar FilesFebruary Fluency FilesBlack History Month Comp FilesComing Soon: Presidents' Day Comp FilesGroundhog Day Comp File FreebieHenry's Freedom Box Guided Picture Book Read AloudMartin Luther King, Jr. Guided Picture Book Read AloudPresidential Informational Writing Project ..read more

Happy Wednesday, friends! I asked earlier if y'all wanted to see what my syllabus that I give out at the beginning of the school year looks like and y'all did, so here it is! Now, I didn't make an editable template for y'all, because everyone's class is set up differently, so I didn't think it would work for anyone. I'm just posting this so you can get an idea of what mine looks like and what I put in it. We go over this syllabus on the very first day. I have the kids take it home and their parents/guardians have to read it and sign off that they have read it and understand it. I collect those ..read more

Happy Tuesday, y'all! It's time for our weekly Teacher Tidbit Tuesday post and today's topic is planning your classroom for the new school year.  If you've been a long time follower of my blog, you know I'm all about some classroom decorating. I LOVE decorating! I cannot wait until my house is built so I can have a new space to decorate. I love changing the design of my classroom every summer because it's just fun for me. I never have a theme. I just always do bright colors. Every summer I think about changing it up and doing a two color "theme", but then I see all the bright colored things in ..read more

Week #2 of vlogging is complete! Next week I'll be working in my classroom, so I can show y'all the behind the scenes of that whole process, but for this week, there's a lot of reading, shopping, and working! Remember, I'm still overcoming a fear of filming, so just please be patient with my film flaws ..read more

Hi friends! I posted this picture on Instagram this morning and I had a lot of requests for the graphic organizer I used (you can find it here), along with a few questions about the lesson, so I thought I'd just do a blog post. Every year, I feel like I lack in teaching vocabulary. I know it's SO important, but lots of times I feel like we simply memorize definitions and move on and that doesn't help anyone. Teaching vocabulary is so much more than just memorizing definitions. We did a vocabulary lesson Friday that I felt was so much more impactful. We are currently right in the middle of our ..read more