There will be no anchor charts adorning our classroom walls this year. “What?” you ask! Yes, no anchor charts. They’re going digital (more on that in a future post). I wanted to have something on the walls, and didn’t want…
I mailed my students their Remembering First Grade DVDs at the end of June. We start our end of year DVD project in the month of May. If you’ve read about our Personal Narratives DVD project, you’ll notice that there are some…
Our personal narratives unit is one of my favorites. During this unit, students listen to and read books, discuss books, brainstorm possible topics, write several personal narratives, select one personal narrative to develop into a digital story, share their stories, gather feedback…
You realize the benefits of STEM, but wonder when to add it in? Your day is already packed, and you can’t see where STEM fits? What about your Daily 5 time? Why not add another option to the choices that are…
My students are currently working with editing checklists. I find that they are holding themselves more accountable for the learning that’s taken place over the course of the year. Over the years I’ve created a few different editing checklists for…
One of my favorite things to do is to soak up what happens during Partner Reading. When students Read to Someone, magical things happen! they mentor one another as readers they build their schema they build their stamina they collaborate,…
Last May I let my students rearrange our classroom. Really! I’m not kidding. We had a Guest Teacher in the morning and they worked collaboratively in small groups to rearrange construction paper pieces on large chart paper. Next year when…
Students have the option to select Listening to Reading as one of their Daily 5 choices. We have MP3 players for this purpose. Every month I change out the audiobooks. Students can listen to the books independently, or with a partner,…
When students are using Chromebooks or iPad technology during our literacy or math workshop blocks, I’ve learned that it’s important to have a “tech plan” for the day. This past school year I created one for the SMARTboard. I usually…
The topic of flexible seating in classrooms is everywhere I look! From threads on Twitter and Facebook to blog posts featuring pictures and explanations. For some teachers, flexible seating seems to be a new concept. I’ve even heard of…
