I love reading! Each year, it is my goal to pass my love of reading on to my students. I stock my classroom library with tons of books and have reached a collection of over 1,000. I am extremely proud of my library and love to see my students checkout books and discover the journey of reading!  However, after years of teaching, I noticed that some really good books never leave the shelf. I realize there are classics that I love that may no longer interest students, but those are a small portion of the books I'm referring to. I have hundreds of books that students aren't even consideri ..read more

As you know, teamwork is vital to success, both in and out of the classroom. If you do a lot of cooperative groupings in your classroom, (and I hope you do),  it is important to plan lessons focused on teamwork throughout the school year. This will encourage students to work successfully as a group and teach them to communicate and cooperate with one another to be successful in their assigned tasks. For some students, this comes naturally. Others are very independent and it is for these students that these lessons are most important. This activity is called Jigsaw Puzzle. I've seen it ..read more

It's no secret that I love fun and engaging back to school activities. I've never been known as the quiet teacher because I love a noisy room - not one that is out of control loud and chaotic, but one where lively discussion is taking place alongside hands-on learning. However, no matter how fun my lessons might be, there is always a meaning behind what we are doing, something to be learned from the experience.  Enter the Toothpaste Activity. This activity has been floating around for all of my teaching years (that's 13 going on 14 for those that are wondering) I couldn't begin to tell ..read more

Icebreakers are a great way to help students to get to know each other during the first days of the school year. One of my favorite icebreakers is called Two Truths and a Lie. I first did this activity at a back to school staff meeting several years ago. I knew immediately that I wanted to use it in my classroom. If you've never played Two Truths and a Lie, it's about as simple as it gets. You write down three statements about yourself, but one of them isn't actually true. You then share your three statements with a partner or group and they determine which one is a lie. It's a fun and enga ..read more

Last year, I purchased I Didn't Do My Homework Because... (not an affiliate link) because the illustrations appealed to me and it looked like a fun book to share with my students during the first week of school. I like to have fun, short books to introduce important rules and procedures to my students. This book was a great introduction to our discussion about homework, which is actually pretty minimal in my class, but exists, nonetheless. I brought my students to the carpet and previewed the cover, asking them what their honest thoughts were on homework. We discussed the types of ..read more

Me at the end of every year: "I'm going to keep my decor the same next year. It will be nice to not change everything for once." Me in July: "Ooooh! This design is so cute! I must change everything!" This year, it's watercolors that are making their way into my classroom. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you already know that I've been working on watercolor book labels ALL WEEK. I'm so thankful for social media because my followers helped me to choose a font, a watercolor clip art style, and an overall label style. To show my appreciation for all of this assistance, I've decided ..read more

Books, books, and more books! That pretty much sums up my life in and out of the classroom. I love to read and each year, it's my goal to help my students to gain a love of reading. After 13 years of teaching and a lot of shopping at Scholastic, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon, I have a MASSIVE classroom library. I add new books at the beginning of each year, as well as new books throughout the year. My classroom library currently contains over 1,000 books, and that number will keep on growing. For 12 years, I used a basic sign-in/sign-out sheet to hold students responsible for checking books ..read more

After 13 years of teaching, it's pretty difficult to come up with fresh ideas for an end of the year gift. I've done some really cute gifts that are certainly worth repeating, but I really love it when I can find a way to connect my gift to that specific year. I had a wonderful group of students this year. I feel like I say that every year, but I really loved every moment of teaching these kiddos. They were awesome in every way and they worked so hard to come so far. Anyway, one of the things that makes for a happy  classroom is the sound of laughter and the ability to be silly without ..read more

Have you found teaching the 50 states and/or geography to be a bore? Well, I've got a solution for you! Last year, I introduced my students to Mystery Skype and found it to be a fun and engaging way to increase their geographic knowledge and map skills. It encourages critical thinking skills, communication, and deductive reasoning. In fact, when asked about their top 3 favorite memories of fifth grade, Mystery Skype made the list of more than half of my students! What is Mystery Skype?So, what exactly is Mystery Skype? If you've ever played 20 questions or were a fan of Where in the World i ..read more

Eeeeeeeek!!! I'm just a few days away from my first day so this is going to be a very quick post. I wanted to share a group work rules freebie. I glue them on card stock (the cute striped paper is from Michael's) and set them up on each table during group assignments. It never hurts to have a visual reminder of the rules! Click on the image below to grab it ..read more