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How I Run Literacy Centers with Journeys
A while back I wrote about how I set up my Literacy Centers. My school has been using Journeys for a few years now, and I'm more familiar with common core this year than I was at the beginning of...
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Fictional Holidays: Square Day's Eve
Happy Square Day's Eve, Readers! Do you celebrate this (or other) fictional holidays with your class? At my school, along with Math in Focus, we use Every Day Counts (or "Calendar Math," as we...
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5 of the Best Fourth Grade Fractions Content Delivery Methods
If you've taught fractions before, you probably know that it's a tricky concept for a lot of elementary students. But it's one of my favorite things to teach! There are so many ways to explore and...
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How to Have a Decimal War Card Game
Right before our February vacation, my fourth graders start decimals. To help them understand the concept of decimals, I always find it's easiest to equate them with money. The Coin-Fraction-Decimal...
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End of the Year Fun: From Current to Future Students
The last day of school is rapidly approaching, woo hoo! In the past I talked about some tried and true activities that I do every year and how they went. However, in this post I want to share acouple...
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Summer Professional Learning Goals for Teachers
Do you have any professional learning goals this summer? I'm participating in a teacher blogger challenge from Hot Lunch Tray. This post is week 1 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for...
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Top 10 Last Day of School Dos and Don'ts
The last day of school is one of the most emotional times of year. Of course you're eager to have several weeks off. But you're going to miss your kids. Not all of them, but at least a couple...
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Timeline of my Teaching Development
What has contributed to the educator you are today? I'm participating in a teacher blogger challenge from Hot Lunch Tray. This post is week 2 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for...
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How Am I a Leader and a Follower as a Teacher?
How am I a teacher-leader and a follower? This post is week 3 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators. I had a hard time with this prompt because I pride myself on NOT being a...
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Are You Reaching Your Introverted Students?
What is your ideal working environment for teaching and learning? This post is week 4 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators.” The first few prompts were a bit challenging for me....
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Lofty Goal Setting for Teachers: Making Writers
Do you believe in small, attainable goals? Or have you embraced the idea of a BHAG? That's Big Hairy Audacious Goal? Well, this post is week 5 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for...
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Getting a New Principal: How to Make the Most of It
Getting a new principal can be scary. What will he or she be like once “the honeymoon is over?” Will your new principal’s educational philosophy differ from yours and more importantly, will they...
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Revisiting My Summer Goals
I've been asked to reflect on the goals I set at the beginning of the summer. This post is week 7 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators. And it appears I re-prioritized (that's...
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Focus and Goal Setting for Shut the Door and Teach
What will I take away from this blogging challenge? This post is week 8 of 8 in the 8 Weeks of Summer Blog Challenge for educators. One thing I loved about this challenge was not having to think of...
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Fraction Number Line Tightrope Activity
It took a while to really "sell" me on the idea of using number lines (and I'm a visual learner)! However, since number lines don't seem to be going away when it comes to curricula and standardized...
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Let's Keep Educating Ourselves about Structural Racism
When I started creating resources, I thought “I’m not racist; I try to include lots of cultures.” I make an effort to buy books for my classroom library that represent a variety of perspectives. I...
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5 Ways to Encourage Participation During Distance Learning
Will you be distance learning for back to school 2020? I've been trying not to worry about it for the past month because it was out of my control and up in the air. But now that our state has...
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Stop Teaching Revising and Editing Like That; Try it Like This!
Do you teach revising and editing by having students mark up or correct grammar mistakes? I mean, that's how I was taught to edit my writing. And yet, no one taught me to tie my shoes or ride a bike...
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How to Teach Comparing and Ordering Numbers
Are your students learning to compare and order numbers? In fourth grade, our objective is to read, write, compare, and order numbers up to 999,999. Here is how you can organize your lesson sequence...
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Returning to in Person Learning: Next Steps
Have you returned to full in person instruction yet? I feel very lucky that here in MA, viral rates have been dropping over the past few months and teachers have had the option to register for vaccines...
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