Have you ever had a student who can accurately say each sound in a word, but struggles to blend the phonemes together to make a word?! Me too! Every year I seem to have at least one student who needs a little more help blending sounds together to make words. If you’re in the same […] The post 3 Tips for Teaching Students to Blend Sounds appeared first on Susan Jones ..read more

Wondering what writing strategies work best in kindergarten classrooms? In this post, I share three of my favorite writing strategies for kindergarten! These three tips will help your youngest students feel confident writing and sharing their ideas. I also wrote a post about three big ideas to keep in mind when teaching writing in kindergarten, […] The post How to Teach Writing in Kindergarten – Writing Strategies in K appeared first on Susan Jones ..read more

Today I am going to share 5 of my favorite picture books that help us celebrate reading! I am going to share a little summary of each book and tell you why I love them for kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade. Before I dive in, I wanted to let you know you can watch or […] The post 5 Picture Books to Celebrate Reading appeared first on Susan Jones ..read more

In this blog post, I wanted to share the top 10 BEST math tools to use in kindergarten, first, and second grade! Before I dive in, I wanted to remind you that you don’t need any of these to be an effective math teacher, but these manipulatives sure do make life easier when teaching certain skills. You […] The post Top 10 math tools and manipulatives for kindergarten, first, and second grade` appeared first on Susan Jones ..read more

In today’s blog post I wanted to share 4 research-based best practices for teaching writing in K-2 classrooms. I love to use the writing workshop structure where we begin with a focused mini-lesson, move to some modeled examples, then students practice writing on their own while I meet with students. And of course, we always […] The post 4 Best Practices for Teaching Writing (K-2) appeared first on Susan Jones ..read more

Looking to hold positive classroom discussions in kindergarten, first, and second-grade classrooms? In this post, I share 3 easy ways to facilitate meaningful and positive classroom discussions with your youngest learners! Before I dive in, I wanted to let you know you can watch or listen to all this information in video format below: To […] The post How to Foster Positive Classroom Discussions in K-2 appeared first on Susan Jones ..read more

In today’s post, we are talking all about phonemic awareness. We know that phonemic awareness is an essential component of teaching students how to read. There are tons of different phonemic awareness activities you can do with your students, but in today’s post, I want to share 5 things you should keep in mind when […] The post 5 Tips for Teaching Phonemic Awareness appeared first on Susan Jones ..read more

In today’s post, we are talking all about empathy! I am sharing a bunch of my favorite read-alouds for learning about empathy and why I like each one. I will let you know that I actually share all this information in video/audio format if you want to watch that, just click below: To read this […] The post Best Books for Teaching Empathy in Kindergarten, First, and Second Grade appeared first on Susan Jones ..read more

In this blog post, I share some easy tips and activities for teaching teen numbers in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. The numbers 11-20 are a big number sense skill that is usually focused on in school at the end of the kindergarten year and the beginning of first grade. I wanted to share these activities […] The post How to Teach Teen Numbers in Kindergarten and First Grade appeared first on Susan Jones ..read more

If you are a first or second-grade teacher, I am sure you’ve taught consonant blends to your students before! In this post,  I am going to share the steps I take when teaching this phonics skill to my students. Before I dive in, I wanted to let you know that you can watch/listen to all […] The post How to Teach Consonant Blends appeared first on Susan Jones ..read more