If you teach intermediate grades, you know that getting students to think deeply about texts is one of the most important things we do.  Gone are the days of simply retelling who, what, where, when, why, and how--and welcome to the world of analysis, reflection, and written response. It's all good--but it is TOUGH for many students to make the leap from merely retelling to interpretation.  Today I thought I'd share three different things I have done as we have studied the book "The Tiger Rising" by Kate diCamillo.  This is a complex little novel--and it is a text that will be best appreciated when studied closely--it is filled with deep characters, interesting flashbacks, and ethical decisions.  I use this book every year because I get such bang for my buck--but I decided to try a few different things this year, and I thought I'd share! 1.  The Day She Let Us Write in Our Books... "Close Reading" is a big buzz word nowadays--and I think it'......

Flexible seating doesn't have to break your bank account. Sure, we'd all love to get a $5,000 grant to transform our classrooms-- but that probably won't happen. So instead,  I wanted to share some simple and effective ways to introduce flexible seating options into your room without having to buy stock in IKEA. Personally, I LOVE flexible seating.  Although if I'm going to be technical, I prefer the term flexible learning spaces because it needs to be more than just what they're sitting on.  It should include spaces within the room that can facilitate learning, collaboration, and problem-solving. This year the fifth grade team at my school decided to give flexible seating a try.  Each teacher came in with some different ideas that they wanted to try and incorporate; the results have been pretty incredible.   And remember, none of the teachers spent large sums of money either. Instead they repurpose furniture, reclaimed old basement items, a......

If you are used to teaching math in a whole class setting, the thought of implementing guided math groups can be intimidating.  I have been there!!  I have tried many times to use guided math groups, but gave up.  This year, I decided that I was going to use small groups and won’t cave in if it becomes challenging.  There have been many days that I want to throw my hands up and say forget it, but I’m sticking to it. Here is why… I just finished with Parent/Teacher conferences, and I have to admit that this is the first year that I have felt 100% confident in where my students are and where I KNOW my students are.  My ability to confidently conference with parents about their child’s math ability is a result of using guided math groups in my classroom.  After 14 years of teaching, I am confident that using guided math groups is the reason! Here are the top five reasons you should be using guided math groups in the upper elementary classro......

Hi there! This post has a new home. I've moved it to my own blog, where you can read the full post. Read the full post: 6 Strategies to Simplify your Homework Systems Thanks so much for stopping by! Kristin, One Stop Teacher Shop...

Ask your students what it means to be a fluent reader. You’re likely to get a wide variety of answers. Chances are good that your students will provide correct answers… partially correct, anyway. As we teachers know, when it comes down to it, reading fluency involves multiple components. ACCURACY First, there’s accuracy. It is easy to recognize how accuracy is related to reading comprehension. If students are failing to read several words accurately, the meaning of the text will be changed or lost. Knowing your students’ accuracy rate is critical because it will help you provide the correct reading materials for them. You can identify a student’s accuracy rate by finding the percentage of words in a text read correctly. A fellow reading teacher once shared this simple recording sheet with me, and explained how she used it to track her students’ accuracy. As you can see, each recording sheet contains a section with 100 small boxes. Ask a student to read aloud to you.......

This writing strategy has been an effective approach for thousands of teachers.  Read on to find out what truly works for your upper elementary students and download the editable pacing guide to plan writing lessons for the year! "I have used your ideas for several years and find this writing strategy effective in my fourth grade classroom.   It helped motivate my students to grow into amazing writers and made them proud of their work.  Using a scaffolding approach to writing is genius!  Thank you for your ideas!"-  a veteran teacher. Being a writing coach, I come across teachers who question the effectiveness of their writing lessons.  I have no doubt that they are good teachers, they just need a guide to teaching the fundamentals of writing in an ORDER that makes sense.   With that in mind, I would like to share a writing strategy that really works!  You will find a step-by-step approach that has mini lessons in an order designed so ......

There are so many ways to use questioning!   It all depends on your purpose. I wanted to talk about 3 different ways that you can use questioning in your classroom immediately. I am going to give specific examples related to math because I that is what I love, but the listed questioning purposes can be the same for any subject: learning about your students, informing instruction and reviewing important skills. Purpose #1 – Use Questions to Learn About Your Students A Fun Getting to Know You Math Activity Make the connection between numbers and real life while learning more about your students with this Mystery Numbers math activity.   Students first choose several facts about themselves that include numbers. Then they generate and record questions and numbers in the Mystery Number Booklet. Their partner must guess which questions and numbers match. Here are some sample questions and answers that your k......