I have a confession. I’ve been a bad teacher. You know all those memes and teacher letters that confess all of the work teachers do all summer long? The ones that try to enlighten those who don’t know about all the professional development and preparation for next year? Ya, well, I haven’t done a D@#$ thing. Unless you consider laying by the pool work. I
If you’re anything like me then Mother’s Day rolls around and bites you in the butt every- stinking- time! I get myself all sorts of stressed out trying to find the perfect gift that won’t cost my paycheck and will leave those mamas smiling. As usual, I over analyze everything and when I should be celebrating Mother’s Day myself I’m left anxiously wondering what the
My regrouping centers were in major need of a makeover. This was one of my very first TpT products and is also one of my best sellers. I have to admit that lately every time I sold one of these I cringed thinking how badly it needed an update. I also added two new centers that I love! I still have a handful of kids
We are always asking students to summarize what they read. Summarizing takes practice- & a lot of it. It also involves consciously using other reading skills like identifying the main idea, inferring, determining importance and identifying story elements. There’s so much going on in this process of summarizing that seems so simple to us as adults. I have looked at the method of “somebody wanted,
Our school threw our 2nd annual Harvest Festival on Friday! This new tradition is my favorite. I love seeing the kids after school ad having so much fun. The first boom we read this year was from the Bailey School Kids series, Vampires Don’t Wear Polkadots. I always start the year by reading books from all different series to get them hooked. Now that we’ve
I absolutely refuse cannot believe that it is time for conferences. As I was planning away last week I took a look at the calendar and my jaw about dropped to the freakin’ floor. During this time last year I was on maternity leave. I returned after conferences, convenient I know ;). When I returned I felt like it took me a really long time
A few months ago I had this idea to teach and learn about cultures and countries around the world. I was so interested in the history of other countries and when I am passionate about something this reflects in my students too. As I started doing my research and planning out how I wanted this all to go I never imagined how big it would
Rounding is not an easy skill for kids. Here are some of the ways I make this abstract concept a bit more concrete! PROVIDE REAL TO LIFE EXPERIENCES: When teaching kids any math concept it is important to think about when this skill is most often used in life. If we can provide kids with hands on real to life experiences we’re giving meaning
This year is the 75th anniversary of one of the most incredible stories ever told. As a girl I walked around telling strangers my name was Dorothy, as in Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. My sister was born when I was four and I’ve been told many times that as I was riding the elevator up to see her for the first time an
Hello, dear readers! I am coming to you tonight with a quick tip. I think it is purely genius and it has saved me many headaches not to mention- precious time! It was some time last year when it hit me. I was sorting through math centers that had become mixed together. I can’t imagine how because I know kids always zip those little baggies
