Teaching test prep strategies and mindset should be a key part of upper elementary teachers’ “repertoire” if they teach a testing grade.  That being said, we need to keep our test prep in perspective. Although the tests DO have purposes (no, folks, they aren’t ALL bad), many schools and districts go a little over the top. The Emotional Side of Test Prep for Students Prepare Students Mentally: Educate students about the purpose of standardized tests to help reduce anxiety. Remind them that these tests only measure a small part of being a student. Many students also don’t understand that ..read more

If you have been a follower of mine for a while, you know that teaching historical fiction is one of my favorites!  Exposing students to different genres is a passion of mine, but historical fiction has a special place in my heart, mostly because I am a bit of a history lover.  I love the chance to help my students make better sense of the world and the past. Today I thought I’d present you with a few reasons why teaching historical fiction should be on your list of things to do with YOUR elementary students as well!  Here goes! Six Amazing Reasons for Teaching Historical Ficti ..read more

Well, it’s back to school time for me, and a big part of my classroom preparations involved “tidying up” my classroom library.  I always have lots of good questions about how I organize my somewhat ridiculous collection of books. I thought I’d share a little bit about how I get my library ready so that my students can really dig into their reading from that first week of school! Getting your classroom library ready! If you are a teacher, you can help to make your classroom library more effective by: Keeping it well-stocked. Make sure that your classroom library has a variety of ..read more

We know that “assessment” is a buzz word that we can’t get away from…we talk about standardized testing.  About rubrics.  About standards-based assessment tasks.  About–YOU fill in the blank.  One of the often under-used assessment strategies is SELF-assessment. This can be something as simple as a “thumbs up” if a student understands but can be far more involved and useful.  Interested in some of the brain research on this?  Check out this GREAT article by Jo Boaler!  Today I want to talk about some of the issues related to self-assessment–and to give you s ..read more

I highly doubt there are many teachers out there who debate the value of independent reading for elementary students.  The NCTE has created a statement on independent reading that states the following: Independent reading leads to an increased volume of reading. The more one reads, the better one reads. The more one reads, the more knowledge of words and language one acquires. (See where this is going?) The more one reads, the more fluent one becomes as a reader. The more one reads, the easier it becomes to sustain the mental effort necessary to comprehend complex texts. And the more one ..read more

Teaching Growth Mindset in the First Weeks of School The first weeks of school are a critical time for setting the tone for the rest of the year. This is the time when students are forming their impressions of their teachers, their classmates, and their school. It is also the time when they are starting to develop their mindsets about learning. Just to clarify, a growth mindset is the belief that intelligence and abilities can be developed through hard work and effort. A fixed mindset, on the other hand, is the belief that intelligence and abilities are fixed and cannot be changed. With young ..read more

Routines are an essential part of effective mathematics classrooms because they give structure to time and interactions.  Students crave structure, and giving students clarity in terms of participation expectations and measures of success is one of the most powerful things we can do as teachers. Instructional routines are specific, repeatable activities or tasks that support both the teacher and students in the classroom. They give all students the opportunity to engage more fully in learning opportunities while building crucial mathematical thinking habits. (Kelemanik, Lucenta, & C ..read more

One of my favorite units to teach is my historical fiction unit.  I love it for SO many reasons! Historical fiction is a new genre for many elementary students, so they get super excited! There are SO many great comprehension strategies to teach as you read. Fortunately, there are TONS of amazing books to share with students–from picture books to chapter books. I love being able to weave informational reading (building background) into narrative reading. Historical fiction is AMAZING for teaching about character and setting. I thought I’d share how I kick off my historical fiction unit ..read more

Lots of teachers have shared that they have been working on angle concepts, so I thought I’d share one of my favorite teaching angles lessons with you.  I use math sorts often in my room, and I just love how much “bang” I get for my buck!  At this point, my students have gotten pretty good at the sorts routine, but I thought I’d share a few tricks with you.  Again–there is NO right way, but here is how I did THIS particular angle sort. Getting started teaching angles I started by splitting my class into groups of 3.  I like using trios for lots of reasons. One, because the ..read more

I know this may come as a shock to you–but we teachers are swamped.  I’m confident that 99% of us truly want to do a great job, but there is JUST. SO. MUCH.  One of my missions is to help teachers provide quality instruction that is engaging and effective.  One area where I think many schools struggle is finding meaningful comprehension activities that push student thinking, discourse, and writing. This is why I work to dig into the novels and picture books that I read to find ways to make the texts not only ENGAGING for students, but super powerful as instructional tools.  ..read more