This is my sweet baby brother, J.R. He was born when I was twelve years old and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE him! :) When he was only 13 years old he was injured in an accident. The accident left him a quadriplegic. He can't speak and he has no control over his muscles. He communicates with us by moving his eyes. He looks up for yes and he looks down for no. But mostly he just Smiles and he brings joy to us every minute that we are around him. For many years he has been pretty much stuck at ... continue reading...
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How to Start Teaching Writer’s Workshop in Kindergarten & First Grade
Do you struggle with how to get started? Writer's Workshop in kindergarten and first grade classrooms is one of the most powerful components. In Writing Workshop in kindergarten and first grade, students are encoding words that come from their thoughts and feelings, which is a much easier skill than decoding. Successful writers become successful readers! So, how do you get started? The answer is simple. Just jump right in!! I usually start at the beginning of the ... continue reading...
Tacky the Penguin Lesson Plans (plus a free download)
January is such a fun time! Some of my favorite activities center around January themes! Several years ago my friend Deedee Wills and I sat down and discussed some of our favorite January read alouds. Deedee mentioned that she felt as if she was skimming the surface with her read aloud and that she was looking for ways to make her instruction more intentional. She felt like she was bouncing from one idea to another and not going deep enough. Does this sound like you? What we came up ... continue reading...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans | Instant, Yet Powerful Lesson Plans… Just Print and Teach!
Kindergarten lesson plans made easy just print and teach! Free file too! Common Core reading lesson plans and writing plans, plus math lessons too! Here are a few things I know about teachers. They want the absolute BEST for their students. They want to employ "Best Practices" in their classrooms. They. Are. Overwhelmed! Occasionally, they want to go home before 5 pm after school AND they would like to spend their weekends with their families instead of planning. Does ... continue reading...
Frog Frenzy! Learning all about Frogs
Fun frog lesson plans in a nonfiction unit about frogs. Students read and write about frogs, play math and literacy games, and create a craft, too! Frog Lesson Plans This is one of my favorite units! We love learning about frogs through nonfiction reading and expressing what we learn in writing. I like to start any nonfiction unit with charting our schema about frogs and boy do kids know A LOT about frogs! We then begin reading several nonfiction books and even watch some videos ... continue reading...
Pumpkin Patch Palooza and a FREEBIE
Fall is one of my favorite times of year to teach! I love all things Fall: pumpkins, apples, scarecrows, bats, spiders, owls.... Did I mention it is my favorite time of the year to teach? The littles get so excited about learning and isn't that what it's all about? Sometimes teachers get so bogged down with teaching what's in the basal (no basal for me, thank you very much!) that we forget that true learning takes place when the teacher and students are EXCITED about what they are ... continue reading...
Oceans and Pirates and Fun, OH, MY!
Good News...... After next Wednesday I only have two more days of school left! Bad News....First, I have to survive until then. :) SERIOUSLY! What makes the last two weeks of school so tough. The kids start acting all kinds of crazy and us teachers are just plain TIRED!!! I think that this is God's way of helping us send those little ones off without it crippling us with sadness. Think about it.... we've spent 180 days with these little people. They've hugged us 1,000 times, told us they ... continue reading...
Spider Unit Fun!
OOPS! Excuse the apostrophes above. Geesh! I wish I had noticed my mistake before I took the screenshot. :) My spider unit is available on TPT for only $5.00 I will be adding some things to it within the next few days. If you have already purchased it check back next weekend to get the new goodies! The Spider experiments and many more are available in my best selling, Simple Science Volume 1 unit. I will be working on Volume 3 just ... continue reading...
The Snowy Day: Pictures from You! and a FREEBIE
I don't know about you, but I love looking at pictures. Pictures capture moments in time and help us remember life events. I love these pictures of my sweet friends and family. I also love seeing pictures of student work. There is nothing more gratifying than seeing our units being used in classrooms all over the world. Thank you to all of you who have shared your photos with me by tagging me on Instagram. I've shared a few of the most recent ones here. Retelling the Snowy Day ... continue reading...
Leonardo the Terrible Monster Reading Lesson Plans for K-1
Leonardo the Terrible Monster reading comprehension lesson plans with student response activities. Print and teach lessons to engage your students in reading! Leonardo the Terrible Monster This story by Mo Willems is one of my favorite stories to read, especially in October around Halloween. If you are not familiar with this book, it is about a monster named Leonardo. Leonardo is not a scary monster, no matter how hard he tries! He does some research and thinks he finds the perfect little ... continue reading...
Engaging Readers: Getting it ORGANIZED!
Hey There! Happy Hump day! We've had a few questions about how we organize our new Engaging Readers units so I thought I'd do a quick blog post to show you! These are the supplies I used to organize mine. I used a 1" binder sheet protectors Binder pocket (one pocket holds all four books) ziploc baggies Clear packing tape Printables for the spine and fronts of sheet protectors click HERE to get yours. First, I put our cutie patootie cover (thanks to ... continue reading...
Common Core Standards Organization and Wishy Washy!
I've had a lot of questions about how I organize my Common Core Standards and Essential Questions. I display them on posters which are hot glued to ribbon. The standards are attached with velcro so that they are easy to change in and out. (Please excuse the bad picture above. The standards shown are from the 1st grade set. Notice that the clipart images match the standard and that the essential question clipart also matches. This helps the little ones who can't read understand the ... continue reading...
Oceans of Fun!
I got up bright and early this morning and drove 2 hrs. in search of the perfect wedding dress for my daughter Taylor. SUCCESS! But, I'm one tired mamma so this is going to be a super quick post! We just started our ocean unit. Nothing gets boys excited more than sharks! (okay...maybe dinosaurs...but they still LOVE sharks too). We used interactive writing to label the parts of a shark. Comparing sharks and whales. Schema Chart Writing ... continue reading...
The Gruffalo Lesson Plans | Reading Comprehension for K-2
The Gruffalo lesson plans for K-2. Engaging 5-day lesson plans with differentiated reading response, vocabulary, sentence study, and a craft for this fun story! The Gruffalo A clever mouse outsmarts some woodland animals who want to eat him with the story of a Gruffalo. Little does he know, a Gruffalo is real and loves to eat mice. Your students will love this award-winning story! Through our engaging lesson plans students will strengthen their reading comprehension skills and have fun ... continue reading...
Inferring with Primary Students: The Case of the Missing Toy Sack
Inferring with Primary Students: Christmas Inference Detectives Activities for Kindergarten and First-Grade Inferring with Primary Students: Kindergarten and First-Grade Inferring is an important comprehension skill for young readers to have and I love giving them lots of practice with this skill. We infer each week with the story we are reading, but I also like to give them opportunities to infer outside of the text. Inferring is just putting clues together and using that voice inside ... continue reading...