Hi, friends. I do consider you my friends! I know I’ve been far, far less active on this blog, in comparison to when my site was first created in 2003 — way before blogs existed! Since 2003 I’ve been either…
Again? -YEP! This past year we worked through the year using a few tweaks to our {previous} Words Their Way routines and procedures. I think we’ve almost reached….PERFECTION! FRESHLY CLEANED-UP SLIDES: I think I’m a closet-graphic-designer by nature. I just…
A few weeks ago we spent nearly an entire Friday building a cloning machine. The entire process left me with a desire to schedule more of those types of activities. Here’s a quick recap of our process and a few…
I’ve said it before — I just love studying penguins with first graders! I share our unit study ideas here, but in this post, I’d like to share an add-on activity that I’ve done with my class the past three…
One might think I own stock in plastic storage solutions, but I don’t. I just realize that a well organized classroom is beneficial for many reasons. Organization leads to students who understand structure and can carry out routines and expectations…
Establishing a terrarium in our classroom wasn’t a planned event. It happened because one of my kids brought in a cocoon and we needed a place to put it. I thought it might be nice to put it behind glass so…
You may have already read about how personalized learning works during our writing workshop routine. I continue to refine personalized learning routines in my classroom. Up until recently, my students have been working as a class using a class developed writing checklist….
In Stopping the Revolving Door at Your Guided Reading Table – I share a strategy that takes the focus off of you as the sole source of help, empowering your students to identify others in the classroom that can help problem…
I’ve previously written about our Words Their Way routines and shared several resources. This year we made a few changes that I wanted to share. Changes 1-6: Organization and Routine Don’t Cut Inside Envelop Add a Crayon Color Label Add…
We created a class gingerbread story this week. We used our iPads and app smashed our way through the process. Step 1: Students were greeted with a pile of craft materials. They were asked to create gingerbread people. Many students…
