Mastering Phonemic Awareness: The Key to Reading Success
Are you looking for the key to unlock reading success for your child? Look no further than mastering phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate individual sounds (or phonemes) in spoken words. It is a crucial skill for early readers as it forms the foundation for decoding and spelling words.
Teaching the Alphabet- 5 Things You Need to Know!
When I began teaching many years ago, I realized I was feeling unprepared to teach reading. I decided to pursue my master’s degree in reading for this very reason. I had some pretty amazing professors who were ahead of their time. They were already teaching the science of reading, in my opinion. Especially when we […]
Using Sentence Scrambles to Teach Sentence Structure and Writing!
Sentence scrambles or scrambled sentences are a fun and engaging activity for young students. There are many benefits to using them to teach both sentence structure and sentence writing. Sentence scrambles are a low-prep activity
Creative Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas with a Purpose
Sometimes it is so hard to be creative when decorating our classrooms. Coming up with new ideas after teaching for a long time can be challenging. This year I decided to make my Back to School bulletin boards with a purpose. I wanted to use creative bulletin boards that taught a lesson. I also wanted […]
5 Tips For A Successful Back to School Night With Elementary Parents
This year was my 34th Back to School Night as a teacher! I tried many things over the years to make Back To School Night or Meet The Teacher Night successful. I want to share with you my five favorite Back To School Night activities and ideas that worked well in all different elementary school grades
Mentor Texts For “How-To Writing” for Kindergarten and First Grade
It is important to teach children with explicit instruction and practice, especially when working with new writers. When I plan a mini-lesson with a mentor text, I read it beforehand and add sticky notes with notes on what to point out to the students. My students think it is hilarious when I think out loud to model the how-to writing.
How Can Teachers Help Elementary Students Become Effective Writers?
How can we as teachers help students become effective writers? I must confess that as a classroom teacher, I often find it difficult to fit in writing time or writing workshop. That was until I agreed to teach a college course, Writing Across The Curriculum.
Teaching Important Skills Through Play-Based Learning and Dramatic Play
When I left the elementary classroom to become the director of a daycare and preschool, I was in a different world! One of my first responsibilities was to adopt a new curriculum for the entire daycare. As we adopted the Creative Curriculum, I was introduced to play-based learning and dramatic play.
What Is Project-Based Learning In The Elementary Classroom?
Project based learning is a method of teaching that teaches a concept while students acquire new information and knowledge as they are engaged in inquiry-based lessons. Project-based learning answers a driving question and is thought-provoking, uses higher-order critical thinking, and is open-ended. Students work in groups to answer an open-ended question, this is often called inquiry-based learning. PBL promotes critical thinking, communication, and creativity. It is a long-term student-centered project including feedback, reflection, and revision.
What Are The Benefits of Word Sorts ?
When I taught second grade, word sorts were my favorite way of giving my students a hands on, multi-sensory way to practice letter recognition, spelling patterns and word families. Now, I am teaching Kindergarten and I am using them again. In moving schools, I lost my “big book of word sorts” , so now I […]