Hey upper elementary teachers! Is conflict between students constantly getting in the way of your teaching time and students’ learning? We’ve all been there and back again, but what if you could help students develop better skills for resolving those common conflicts that come up in the classroom and at the preadolescent age? I recommend teaching students about the 5 ways to resolve conflicts. Through this lesson, we learn about accomodating others, avoiding the issue, compromising, collaborating and problem solving, and competitive solutions to conflict. Considering the pros and cons of each ..read more

Teaching students conflict resolution skills and providing them with time to practice these steps in various scenarios is an excellent way to support their social-emotional learning and growth. It's important for upper elementary students to learn effective conflict resolution skills and to understand the value and power of handling conflicts constructively. By making time to teach and practice conflict resolution skills, we can help students develop into confident, empathetic, and well-adjusted individuals. These conflict resolution activities and lesson ideas include strategies to help stude ..read more

Preparing to teach students about suffixes and prefixes? This post will help by providing you with the pertinent information you need before diving into student instruction! get clear, student-friendly definitions and examples of commonly used prefixes and suffixes learn the types of suffixes and why it is important for students to know the difference gain insight about the significance of specifically focusing on the suffix -ION with students learn the common spelling mistakes or confusions students most often encounter when adding suffixes to root words walk away with easy-prep res ..read more

Preparing to teach students about suffixes and prefixes? This post will help by providing you with the pertinent information you need before diving into student instruction! get clear, student-friendly definitions and examples of commonly used prefixes and suffixes learn the types of suffixes and why it is important for students to know the difference gain insight about the significance of specifically focusing on the suffix -ION with students learn the common spelling mistakes or confusions students most often encounter when adding suffixes to root words walk away with easy-prep res ..read more

What if you could get your students to approach each week’s spelling word list with eagerness and anticipation, ready to dive into the word study focus and strengthen their spelling skills? Introducing a new Words Their Way aligned word list activity Unlock the List. This innovative resource can transform mundane word lists and word sorts into engaging puzzles for students to solve, designed to ignite their curiosity and enhance their spelling skills! With Unlock the List, students will encounter their weekly spelling word list in a whole new format and level of challenge. I've added a twist ..read more

Are you planning to take a deep dive into the world of challenging consonants with your students? Look no further! This blog post is designed to serve as your comprehensive guide on hard and soft consonants, the various spellings of /k/, and silent consonants. Whether you need a refresher on definitions and examples, want to understand when students are ready to tackle these concepts, need to know common spelling and decoding errors to expect, or seek creative and engaging teaching ideas for exploring consonants, this post has got you covered! Prepare to make the journey of teaching tricky con ..read more

As upper elementary teachers, we play a crucial role in helping our students develop strong reading and language skills. A part of that job entails giving our students the tools they need to to fluently read and write multisyllabic words, not just ones they are currently studying on their word lists, but new and unfamiliar ones they will encounter as their reading and language skills continue to improve.  One of those tools is understanding the role syllable types, syllable junctures, and accent in syllables play in forming words. While teaching students to identify accented and unaccente ..read more

Teaching complex word study concepts to students is no easy task. But fear not, for this blog post will serve as your reliable guide for teaching long vowel patterns, r-controlled vowel patterns, ambiguous vowel patterns, and diphthongs in accented or stressed syllables. Within this post, you will find clear definitions and examples of the various vowel patterns found in accented syllables that you can use with your students. Additionally, you'll gain insight on when students are typically ready to learn about these patterns, as well as "ready to implement" activities for practicing long vowel ..read more

Will you be teaching students how to segment syllables and about syllable juncture patterns soon? Let this blog post be your handy go-to as you brush up on what a syllable juncture is, when students are developmentally ready to learn about segmenting syllables, common spelling and decoding mistakes to expect from students, and ideas to make teaching students about syllable juncture patterns fun and effective! What is a syllable juncture? Syllable juncture refers to the point at which two syllables meet within a word. The pattern or combination of vowels and consonants at the juncture point ca ..read more

Preparing to teach students about inflected endings? In this post you will find information about five types of inflections including lots of examples of each type, the rules for adding inflected endings to base words, what common spelling mistakes to expect from students, and ideas for how to teach students about inflectional endings in fun and engaging ways. What are inflected endings?  Inflected endings are suffixes that are added to the end of a root word, changing or clarifying its meaning. Inflected endings can be added to nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs to help indicate tense ..read more