The beginning of the school year is a time of excitement and eagerness to meet your new students. It is also a time of stress and anxiety with EVERYTHING that needs to be done before that first day of teaching. You have a classroom to set up, lessons to plan, and copies to make. Well, […]

Journaling with students… Who’s got the time? My love for journals started with the locked journal in the Scholastic Book Club flier. I loved that thing and kept my key hidden in a secret spot. What my seven-year-old self had to keep away under lock and key I can’t imagine, but I felt so special […]

How many hours a week do you spend prepping spelling activities? 🪄 What if you had a resource that would allow you to create 60 spelling activities in 5 minutes or less?! What?!!! 🤯 Are you ready to get some of those hours back?!  Take a look at these fabulous EDITABLE Spelling Activities we have […]

Individual centers are nothing new…whether pre/post-COVID or in the thick of it, I use them with my students. Center learning has always been my jam. I feel like it gives me the best option for meeting their individual needs while in a class of 25 or so kids. Yes, we all do the small group […]

Art is a passion for me and such a huge part of a child’s education. Not only am I a blog author, but I am also an illustrator. What art? Not math or science? Well, you may be surprised to know that art is everywhere! Even in core subjects such as ELA, Math, STEM, and […]

Memories flash back to me standing alongside my peers in Elementary School.  My fingers are crossed behind my back, standing stiff as a board.  Hoping and wishing for an easy word.  I didn’t want to be the first one to sit down if I spelled it wrong.  The exercise is called our “spelling practice” to […]

As educators, sometimes we need to get creative!  In one of my first years teaching First Grade, I found myself standing in front of a large group of disinterested and reluctant writers.  Whenever I said the words “Time for our Journal writing”… I heard audible groans and disgusted faces.  Paper and pencil weren’t working and […]

Sight words. While there is disagreement on what should make up that list and at what level, we know that they are important to helping our emergent readers gain confidence, fluency, and comprehension. When students know the sight words, their cognitive energy is freed to tackle more challenging words. And since many do not follow […]

Teaching grammar doesn’t instill a sense of joy in the hearts of many teachers. Likewise, you don’t hear students often raving about the grammar lesson they had that day. It just seems so dry, so boring, so blah. Not that it isn’t an important skill, but when you don’t love what you’re teaching, it is […]

Let’s be real. Editing can be exhausting. So why do it? We do it to improve our writing craft in a way that takes our writing from “eh” to “oh, yeah”. I always think back to the example with missing commas. There is a huge difference between “Let’s eat kids!” and “Let’s eat, kids!” (Use […]

We spend countless hours creating spelling practice activities for our primary students that are fun and not just writing the word multiple times.  Are you ready to get some of those hours back?!  Take a look at these fabulous Painless Spelling Practice Activities we have created for your students to practice their word lists. 30 Painless […]

Poetry in the classroom can be very fun. There are different activities for everyone. Your students will love it and always shout “YAY!” Poetry helps us teach literacy skills in a new way. Here are some resources and activities for you. 10 Fun Poetry Activities are the cool things to do! I really love using […]