Your Students Aren’t Ready for the Reading State Test
I’m going to be a little negative to start this episode and say your students probably aren’t ready for the reading state test. Just hear me out. What is the purpose of the state test?…
Helping Kids Read Independently so They Don’t Interrupt Literacy Small Groups
***To listen to the audio version of this blog post, scroll to the end of the post. Don’t want to do a lot of prep for things you want kids to do during reading small…
Exploring Reading Genres so Kids Will Fall in Love with Books
Part of falling in love with books is finding the kinds of books you'd like to read. I personally go through genre phases, and I'm currently on a romantic comedy kick. But I also like…
3 End of the School Year Activities That Will Keep Kids Engaged
It can be difficult to keep kids engaged at the end of the school year. Most of the required skills have been taught for the year. So now what? Here are some ideas for keeping…
5 Classroom Management Strategies for the End of the Year
It's the end of the school year and the kids are all talking really loudly at one time and you're practically at your wit's end. All the classroom management strategies you have implemented since the…
5 Ways to Disconnect From Work After School and On the Weekends
It can be hard to separate school from home for many teachers. But it's so important that we take care of ourselves and attend to our personal lives. So in this post I'm sharing 5…
7 Tips for Planning So You Can Leave School On Time
You want to leave school for the day but there's still so much to do like planning your lessons. Here's a secret... there will always be so much to do. But that doesn't mean you…
7 Grading Tips That Will Give You Back Your Time
Don’t grade everything. It’s ok to give kids things to work on that we don’t grade. The point of grading is to assess how kids are doing. Although that could also be argued because sometimes…
Hate Teaching? How to Enjoy it Once Again
Do you hate teaching? Maybe you've been in this career for a while or maybe it's one of your first years. If you do, it's okay to feel that way. I can bet that every…
The Benefits of Teaching Vocabulary Daily
You’ve got a ton on your teaching plate and hardly any time for a lunch break. Now here I am telling you that you should be teaching vocabulary daily. Ok. Yeah right. I hear you!…