"Growth Mindset" is a buzz phrase that we are hearing everywhere these days--in the business world and in our schools.  The research that is happening is pretty exciting--and Carol Dweck out of Stanford is doing some amazing things.  If you haven't taken the time to read about her work--or to watch some of her many short videos, I strongly encourage you to do so!  The information being learned about how students learn, about the "affective" side of learning, the role of praise, and many other critical components of our teaching world is growing exponentially.  We can start to take some steps to implement this new research now!   First of all...take a little listen to what Dweck has to say ( I posted some videos below), and see if you don't agree that we, as teachers, can take to nurture a growth mindset in our students.  She talks about mindset...about being careful about how we praise children, and how we need to value effort more than results. Wha...
{Click to Access and Download the FREE eBook and Printables for Upper Elementary Students } Halloween is almost here and we are so excited to share a special eBook with you, created by the teachers from Upper Elementary Snapshots. It's filled with Tricks and Treats for the upper elementary classroom!  In this eBook, you'll find lots of "Tricks" for you (teacher tips you can use now) and "Treats" for your students (free printables for Halloween and Fall) and best of all...the eBook is absolutely FREE! Hop over to our Upper Elementary TpT store and download yours today: Click here Thanks for stopping by and Happy Halloween from all of us at Upper Elementary Snapshots! ...
Teaching text structure can feel like such a complicated task, but it really doesn't have to be.  Here are a few simple tips for making non-fiction text structures simple to understand for your students. 1. Start with the Basics I love to start each of my lessons with an anchor chart.  The anchor chart starts off very simple and we slowly add to it each day.  I always try my best to let my students decide what should be added to the anchor chart as we go.  Students will take more ownership of the information on the anchor chart if they have a hand in creating it.  Here is a digital version of my "finished" anchor chart.  Feel free to download it and use it in your own classroom! Download my Anchor Chart 2. Look for the Signs As you can see from my anchor chart, I teach my students to look for signal words to determine the structure of a text.  Some texts are not always clear, but this can be a very useful tool in most cases. 3. Mentor Texts are...
I have always loved using games in the classroom. I think games are a great way to reinforce the skills we're targeting while keeping our kids engaged. It's really a win-win teaching strategy for so many reasons!  Math is one of my favorite subject areas, as far as incorporating games goes, so I thought I would share some of my favorite games with you that use a deck of cards.  If you don't have many cards, I would really recommend going to the Dollar Store/Dollar Tree and stocking up...and by that, I mean I would get at least one deck per child, so you'll have more than enough to make your games a success. So...here they are. Seven math games using cards that will work well for many grade levels, particularly 3rd - 5th.  Just a note, most of the games can be tweaked by difficulty (for example Multiplication War could be Addition War), so hopefully, you can make them work for your particular group of kids. 1. Multiplication War You'll need ...
As a fifth grade teacher, I was excited and hopped on the bandwagon of the Daily 5 in 2010. I loved the structure, loved the purposeful activities, and loved how it seemed that my students were engaged from the get go. But as the first few weeks of establishing routines, and building stamina came to a close, I noticed that not all of my fifth graders were engaged or using their time wisely with all the choices. I knew right away that changes had to be made. When looking at The Daily 5, I analyzed what choices seemed to be the most troublesome as far as classroom management. "Read to Someone" came right to the forefront of my list. Yes, "I" charts were made, routines were established, and stamina was practiced. But as soon as I started my guided reading groups at the back table, read to someone became an issue. I could see that students were not always fully engaged with their reading partner, and I sometimes had to interrupt my group to remind the student...
At a staff meeting about nine years back, our principal had us look at the previous year's test results, identify one or two areas of weakness, and then write a plan of action for improving that weak strand. Well, my colleagues and I recognized that Author's Purpose was a weak area for our third, fourth,  and  fifth graders that year. We wrote what we thought was a  fabulous  plan to help our students better understand the concept of Author's Purpose... and thus be better equipped to score higher in that area on the annual spring standardized tests. Our plan even included placement of a huge "pie" in the central part of the hallway, where each class wrote the titles of books they had read that fit into each category! As teachers, our confidence  soared  as State Assessment time approached! When assessment time arrived, however, my heart sank. As an ESL teacher, I was providing the accommodations of reading the test questions aloud to limited-English profici...
Hi friends! It's Jodi from The Clutter-Free Classroom and today I am going to share some classroom behavior management ideas that have been successful in my classroom. At this point the new year is underway for everyone and you are all getting to know your new class. You may be finding that the behavior management strategies that have worked well for you in the past are not working as effectively with the cohort in front of you this year. If so you may want to add these three things to your bag of tricks to mix it up a bit. Secret Student I really stress the importance of walking quietly through the halls when we are transitioning to lunch and specials so we do not disturb other classes. To make the process more fun I pick a secret walker { read about it in detail here } before we leave the classroom and announce who it was when we get to our destination...but only if that student demonstrates “role model behavior” the entire way. This worked so well that I implemented t...