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5 Anchor Literacy Centers and Management Tips
I used to spend HOURS planning new literacy centers each week: making, laminating, cutting, sorting, labeling, differentiating. . . you know the drill! SO. MUCH. WORK! A few years ago, I started using 5 anchor centers almost every week. These literacy centers were perfect year-round because they provided students with choice while being easy to…
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Chinese and LUNAR New Year Activities
Looking for Lunar New Year activities for your classroom? We loved learning about it in our classroom and I’ll share some class favorites in this post. Going to the Chinese New Year parade in New York City had been on my to-do list for years and I finally got the chance to check it off!…
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25+ Classroom Organization Tips For the New Year
Get your classroom organized! This comprehensive list of tips will help you feel organized in the new year, from your lesson-planning to your classroom, and even to your to-do lists!
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How to Use Interactive Read-Alouds in the Classroom
Do you remember your teachers reading to you? I don’t remember much about being a student in first grade, but something I do remember is the feeling I’d get when it was storytime. Mrs. Mayerhofer had a way of engaging us with stories and it seemed magical! Read-alouds are a cornerstone of instruction. We all…
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Planning a Classroom Holiday Party!
I had a holiday paint party. In my classroom. . . With kids and parents . . . And it wasn’t a disaster! In fact, it was the best holiday party I’ve had in my classroom, ever! I mentioned it earlier this year and a few of you had lots of questions and were curious…
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Tips for Parent-Teacher Conferences
It’s almost that time! Getting ready for parent-teacher conferences can be time-consuming or stressful, but it doesn’t have to be! Here are some tips to help your conferences go smoothly. One important thing to keep in mind is to make sure to stay positive and professional at all times. It’s not always easy, but it…
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Guided Reading Tools Every Teacher Should Have
These are must-have tools for guided reading in kindergarten and first grade! I keep drawers with my fun tools to keep kids engaged throughout guided reading lessons. Can you guess what’s in the drawers? Read this post to find out some new, exciting ways to use materials you likely already have in your classroom! #tejedastots…
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Growth Mindset with Rosie’s Glasses
I need to share this book with you because it just has soooo many great lessons, including teaching growth mindset! Don’t you just love a good read-aloud you can use for many skills and strategies? I do! I read this book to my former students a couple of weeks ago. Here is a picture of…
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How to Keep your Guided Reading Lessons Short
One question that comes up often about guided reading is. . . How do I fit all my groups in? The struggle is real! It’s important to take the time you need with your students (part of teaching is loving on them!), but it’s also important to stay on track, so that you’re able to…
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Warming Up For Guided Reading
If you do guided reading, you know how hard it is to find great tools for teaching specific skills and strategies before or during a guided reading lesson. I found it especially hard to find resources that had great examples to model the strategies with. And when I did find tools, they were never in…
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Setting Up and Organizing Your Classroom Library
Does your classroom library need work? Do you avoid working on it because you’re not sure where to start? Organizing and setting up your classroom library can be daunting, but it is such an important part of your classroom that you can’t just put it aside. It doesn’t have to be hard or perfect! Here’s…
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Differentiating Sight Word Instruction in 3 Easy Steps
Are you differentiating your sight word instruction EFFECTIVELY? You have a sight word list to cover for the year. You start with the first few words. Each week, you add new ones. After a couple of weeks, some students start to fall behind. Every week, that gap just gets wider and wider. You can’t slow…