Independent, small group and guided word work activities are an essential part of learning to…
Kindergarten literacy activities are an essential component of building student mastery. They also develop ownership…
I love incorporating phonics and sight word practice with chunky monkey. This phonics strategy is…
On the road to building decoding and fluency mastery, students need to incorporate a variety…
I’ve added NGSS First Grade Life Science to our NGSS repertoire. The three first grade…
Teacher planners with evenly spaced boxes are simply not helpful. Personalizing your teacher planner is…
Providing parents with continual updates and communication is important. I use an editable monthly newsletter…
Make a habit of communicating with your parents on a routine basis. Every Friday I…
Teaching writing is a stress inducer for a lot of teachers. Engaging Writing is here to help! During my…
Open House is right around the corner. That means our classroom is being transformed into…
I have a little St. Patrick’s Day Freebie to share with you. One of my…
Taking a day off as a teacher means writing sub plans. We all know how…
The lens of our space systems is such a fun way to explain the patterns…
With winter around the bend, my classroom is becoming a winter wonderland! We will start…
There is no busy like back-to-school busy! There’s no crazy like it either!! Right? I…
Monday was our first day back with the kiddos. It’s been an exhausting but fun…
Teaching little humans to read is often the most rewarding and challenging part of the…
Nameplate Pros and Cons I’ve had mixed feelings about desk nameplates for a while. CON:…
I’m linking up with Jen over at Teacher by the Beach again for Monday Motivation…
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I am ALL about keeping…
I’m linking up with Jen over at Teacher By the Beach for her Monday Motivation…
I received a few emails about the clipboards shown in my Daily Schema Review post.…
Do you ever need to fill a few minutes in class? Want those minutes filled…
Peeps! I’m so excited about my new classroom essentials resource, Vanilla Sherbet classroom decor! After…
I’m sharing a few of my favorite March activities with you today. I cannot believe…
Valentines Day cuteness and creativity in the form of Lulu the Love Bird narrative writing is joining…
Each Valentines Day I give my kiddos a homework pass along with a cute Valentine…
We have a full month celebrating American Symbols and Presidents. There’s going to be a…
Wow, did January ever fly by!! I cannot believe we will already be celebrating Groundhog…
Throughout the month of December, my class studies Holiday Customs Around the World. But as…
Most teachers say that one of their greatest obstacles in their daily work life is…
I’ve been getting things ready I have been implementing a few changes again this year.…
Grading student writing can be a cumbersome process. Often the tools provided to teachers to…
Do your kids ever do this? Time and time again I find that my little…
Sometimes all we need is a little inspiration to spark a whole lot of creativity.…
I cannot believe it’s time for our annual reflections linky party! I honestly cannot believe…
Are your kids sight word heroes? Practicing those high-frequency words can be daunting, but necessary.…
Our first trimester of school has come to an end. That always signals the beginning…
Carson Dellosa recently sent me a couple of products to try out in my classroom.…
I love engaging my students in all aspects of reading, writing and phonics with fall literacy…
I think classroom environment is important. It’s important that all that your students’ environment is…
I’ve known and worked with a couple of the teachers that man our Kindergarten team…
I STRONGLY believe that teachers have more important things to do than worry about organizing…
Save your sanity with some simple tweaks and changes that will simplify your classroom and…
Behavior management systems are a touchy subject. It makes sense that they are. We all…
It’s difficult for me to narrow down my favorite thing to teach in 1st grade.…
I go back this coming Wednesday. I can’t even believe it. Where did the time…
It’s definitely an exciting and hectic time. Over the years there are a few things…
I like “I Have – Who Has” games. In fact I have a free one…
Some things that define me: Organization freak. Obsessed with keeping things simple. Clutter despiser. Lover…
We are a Title 1 school with a high English Language Learner population. We strive…
It’s time for WISH LIST WEDNESDAY! This week I am highlighting my morning work for K-2, Morning…
Have you heard of the incredible classroom rug and management tool – SITSPOTS?! I am…
I have some free odd and even posters for you today! One of my fabulous…
With common core in full force, we don’t do as much with money or coins…
I use a LOT of business card magnets. I love them. SERIOUSLY. They are the…
And just like that, summer is nearly upon us! Time absolutely flies when you are…
Our classroom has been transformed into an ocean wonderland over the past few weeks. The…
The end of the year is near peeps! We just had our Open House last…
School year curriculum mapping and planning for school year success is an essential part of…
Are you ready to begin year curriculum mapping and planning for next school year? Let’s…
My team’s year curriculum mapping and planning for next year is done! It feels fabulous…
A lot of what we do in the primary grades is repetitive. This is often…
Spring is around the corner. It was over 80 degrees here in SoCal today in…
Some of the concepts that our kiddos need to learn can be quite abstract. Understanding…
A while back I wrote about one of my favorite daily activities – MORNING WORK…
Every once in a while there are those days when everything you planned kind of…
I hope you are enjoying your break! I’m so sad that an entire week is…
Is your December a whirlwind? I enjoy teaching in December. It’s fun and quick. But…
This week is going to be busy in my classroom. We just have this week…
It’s hard to believe that it is already time for progress reports! This year we…
Engaging and engaging learning practices and higher level thinking should be at the core, the…
Another day of Meet the Teacher week. This week we are sharing about teacher schedules,…
I’m super excited about Wednesday’s “Meet the Teacher Week” topic. Do you see that? It…
Whoa… two blog posts in a row! I’m on a roll. And I’m cheating. Shhh……
Desert 5 ways?! Yes please! Yum! Now this post is going to be a little…
Those first few weeks are EXHAUSTING aren’t they? Each year I get a little better…
Some of you teacher peeps are already heading back to the classroom and enjoying all…
My Bright Idea this month is actually a re-run from a couple of years ago.It’s…
Open House is a few weeks away for us. I know a lot of you…
Happy Teacher Appreciation week peeps! I have a couple of freebies for you to start…
I just finished my latest seasonal reading, word work, writing and craft resource. It’s perfect…
Last week I shared a pic about our kinesthetic math. I said I had a…
I know. I’m a thief. I stole that title. From a dear friend, even. Hopefully,…
I’m sharing one of my FAVORITE things with you today. In my opinion, it’s an…
One.more.week. They are ready. I am ready. We all need spring break, already. Last week…
I’ve had rug envy. I admit it. For years and years I had this type…
I have another easy-peasy BRIGHT IDEA for you today. I had had a love-hate relationship…
This past week we started our plant and life cycle science. The bulletin boards are…
It’s adorable… right? Who knew I even liked robots. Certainly not me! He’s the craft…
I haven’t always done calendar time in my room. When I decided to add that…
I have an easy-peasy BRIGHT IDEA for you today. During those times when you are…
I am kind of in LOVE with takes and tweaks on familiar stories – like fairy…
So do you have a silent class? Do they listen the first time? Are they…
Our social studies theme for January is “Our Place in the World”. It fits in…
Do you love penguins? I LOVE them! They are just so adorable, quirky and different.…
It’s hard to believe it’s already time to ring in a new year!! I have…
December in a primary classroom has its challenges! These free activities fill the days with fun and engagement... and a little sanity, too!
These holiday crafts are fun and easy student gifts for parents. The clipboard sign is perfect teacher gift for students as a holiday gift AND as a classroom decor item. Check out all of the FREEBIES on this post.
I had some inquiries about my Daily Literacy Practice for 1st grade, so I thought…
Ever wonder how to increase student engagement with practice work? Are you fearful that some…
This past week my kiddos worked on opinion writing again. In between our Engaging Writing…
A sweet teacher emailed me and asked me if I ever used journals – and,…
Writing with a Golden Ruler combines an important social studies lesson with writing. It’s always…
I have a perfect for back to school adjective lessons to share with you today.…
Picnic thieving ants have taken over my room! I am excited to share this fun…
Today I am going to share with you some of my first-grade first-day activities that…
Of all the subjects, ELA is my favorite. I have a huge passion for reading…
This first grade phonics review activity is so fun and helps the kids see precisely how much they've learned in phonics throughout the year.
Our ocean unit is my FAVORITE! This classroom flip is so much fun. The ocean habitat is such an engaging topic for the kids. Turning the classroom into an underwater world filled with all of my students hard work is so fun!
I’m here! I’m here! Thanks for all the well wishes, comments and emails. That little…
The Writer's Workshop model and I are not great friends. There are definitely more engaging and effective ways to teach our little ones about writing.
We’ve been working on skip counting in class. We do all kinds of things to…
I’ve been thinking about how overwhelming things were my first few years of teaching. Well,…
I have a bunch of my favorite classroom management ideas to share with you today.…
I have a couple of Valentine’s Day Freebies to share with you today. I hope…
Teaching literacy, despite its many challenges, is so rewarding and fun. All the abundance of…
Comparing the past and present is a perfect theme for the month of November. I LOVE…
Our science focus this month is plant and animal habitats and their environments. In addition…
I have some little FREE classroom forms I’d like to share with you to help…
There are 3 top LOVES/NEEDS/MUSTS I have in teaching. Progress monitoring is a definite must…
There are 3 basic LOVES/NEEDS/MUSTS I have in teaching. They are what I think most define…
Do you snicker and giggle and roll your eyes and say “oh no” in your…
It’s important to let those who lend help to your classroom know that you are…
Our Open House was last night. I really love Open House {and not only because…
It’s like being on a runaway train… isn’t it?Powering at high speed, you can’t get…
We are continuing with our ocean-themed writing lessons. But yesterday we didn’t use an ocean…
I’m up to my eyeballs with weather writing… storms, seasons, clouds. We’ve become experts. We’ve…
I have some things to share about teaching weather science, but . . . Let’s…
I have a little March poem FREEBIE for you today. As I’ve mentioned before, we…
Do you use attention grabbers or class call backs? They are a MUST HAVE in…
A tooth month writing lesson is a great addition to our writing block in February.…
The BEST classroom pencil sharpener? Hmm…. I’m skeptical. Often. Although it serves its purpose, it’s…
I have a FREE 100th Day of School activity for you. Our 100th day of…
I have no idea what it is this year… my kiddos are REALLY struggling with…
I’ve been so good about relaxing, not fretting, not working this break. But then I…
I have some fabulous root beer drinking reindeer things to share with you – but…
I wish I had something witty or interesting to share with you. I’ve been battling…
I absolutely LOVE this adorable book. I picked it up on Amazon: Where’s My Mummy?…
I decided to make my little firsties some word work iPhones. The kids use wipe…
Do some of your kiddos struggle with penmanship? This “Penmanship Sticking Points Poster” has REALLY…
I’m excited share these CVC word work games that I use at the beginning of…
