I can’t believe November starts in just a few days! And after that it’s only three more weeks until Thanksgiving break! We’re almost there folks. To help you hang on until we get there, I’ve compiled a list of my top ten turkey day freebies from around the web that are easy to prep, keep students engaged, and still present […]
Top Ten Turkey Day Freebies
Reading Intervention: A Day in the Life
I just started my second year as a reading interventionist and am loving it! I hope I will get to continue in this position for years to come, but time will tell. Anyway, when people ask what my job is and I say reading interventionist, most people ask, “What is that? What do you do?” Usually, I’ll say, “I teach […]
Setting the Tone: Music in the Classroom
Music is such an awesome classroom management tool! I know a lot of teachers who already do this, but I wanted to share how I use music in the classroom. When I was a classroom teacher, I created a Spotify playlist that I played every morning as my students were arriving. In case you don’t know, there is a free […]
7 Materials to Strengthen Fine Motor Skills
Recently, I wrote a post about the decline of the quality of handwriting in students today. You can read that one here. In it, I mention that students need strong fine motor skills to be able to hold and write with a pencil correctly. I want to elaborate on that today. Children start developing fine motor skills from a very […]
What Teachers Teach That Curriculums Don’t
I had no idea what my topic for this week was until today. I was thinking about yesterday when a fourth grade student asked me to help him tie his shoe. I said, “You don’t know how to tie to your shoe?” I was a bit incredulous. He replied, “No one ever showed me how.” I told him, “How about […]
What Happened to Handwriting?
Is it just me or has there been a decline in the quality of students’ handwriting? Over the past few years I have noticed student handwriting getting worse and worse. I, also, notice that handwriting is not being taught explicitly in most classrooms. Why is that? Here are my thoughts on that. 1. The curriculums that teachers are being forced […]
A Round-Up of FREE Fall-Themed Activities
Last week I shared a list of notable nonfiction books for the fall season. With that in mind, I’d like to share a round-up of free fall-themed activities that could be used with those books. It’s always nice to have ideas saved in the same place. And even better when they’re free! Apples 1. Apple Investigation Worksheet from Preschool Play […]
10 Notable Nonfiction Books to Share With Students This Fall
I can’t believe it is September already! Fall is almost upon us. Usually this is the time of year when apples, pumpkins, and fall become themes in the classroom. You might do apple taste testing to see which color apple is preferred. You might do a pumpkin investigation where students record their observations. Or you may do activities with fall […]
Super Simple Ways to Celebrate Student Birthdays
I enjoy celebrating student birthdays in my classroom! Even as an interventionist, I still do. It is not required by my school, but I feel it is very meaningful to the student to be recognized on their special day. When I was a classroom teacher, one of the things I did was to have the birthday student get to be […]
10 Must-Have Student Supplies
Last week I wrote about must-have teacher supplies, so this week I feel the need to write about must-have student supplies. Students at my school come back this week! In only a few short days students will, again, be walking down the halls, chattering in the cafeteria, and back in our classrooms. As much as I wish we were supplied […]