One of the most important times of my school day is our independent reading time.  It's sacred--and we have even been given the directive from our district office to support that.  All elementary students MUST have 30 minutes of independent reading per day.  That means if they are pulled for interventions or small groups, they cannot be pulled from independent reading. We all know that students learn to read by reading.  End of story. That being said, once in a while, it's fun to shake things up a bit!  Whether you've had a long string of indoor recess days or just need to bring in a little fun, maybe some of these activities will be just what you need! Lights out, flashlights on! One thing that students of ALL ages love is reading with flashlights!  You can ask for donations or watch for sales...but turning out the lights and snuggling down with a flashlight is a ton of fun.  Not enough for everyone?  Combine it with buddy readin......

The end of the school year is challenging and stressful for all of us.  Sometimes we, as teachers, forget that with all we have to do with tearing down our rooms, finishing report cards, updating files, planning field trips, and so on--that students are anxious too. We know anxiety is on the rise.  Some studies saying that 1 in 8 children have some sort of anxiety disorder. ( Here is a pos t with more information if you are interested). Why is the end of the school year such a challenging time?  Here are a few reasons...and I'm sure you can come up with a bunch more. Some students depend on school for their meals.  Whether this is a hot lunch or a breakfast program, some students have less reliable food sourcing over the summer. Students are "networked" at school.  This is where they see their friends and can interact with their peers. Although some students have summer baseball, summer school, play dates, and more--this is NOT true for all of them.......

Let's face it.  Sometimes students look at you while your teaching and you can read their minds. "Why in the world are we doing this?" And in their defense...when they are filling out worksheets or pages of a math workbook, it's easy to lose the "real world" in the math and focus instead on the answers in the boxes. Whenever humanly possible, I try to make math meaningful to my students...whether it be by inserting their names into word problems, using math to solve problems around the class, or showcasing cool "math stuff" I come across in my own life. So this week it was my birthday.  I am NOT a fan of my birthday--although I had fun last year with my students because my age had so many factors....1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 18, 24, and 48.  This year?  Nothing mathematically "cool" so I decided to make them WORK for their cake Mathematicians Ask Questions One thing that I have noticed with my students over the years is that they a......

Let's be honest. You're an expert.  You can browse Pinterest like a pro.  You flip through Instagram and get all sorts of amazing ideas.  There are SO many ideas out there--it's sometimes hard to sort through it all and actually take action. Today's post is geared toward helping you do just that-- TAKE ACTION.   On my blog, I am working to help teachers stop browsing and start DOING with a series of actionable posts geared toward making a real difference with math instruction in your classrooms.  Sometimes I think it's harder to jump in when it feels like there is SO much to do, so I am trying to make the idea of "self professional development" easier by giving some actionable steps throughout the summer.  Improving Math Instruction To get started, I thought I'd share with you a few ways to immediately take action in YOUR classroom to make some changes that directly impact students--and you as a busy, overworked professional.  A......

During our historical fiction unit , we give students the opportunity to do a unique type of narrative writing.  They take a key "scene" from one of the books we have read (either as a read aloud or their book club novel) and rewrite a scene from a different character's point of view.  To really guide and scaffold their work, I wrote my own narrative from our read aloud as they wrote theirs, modeling each step of the process along the way.  I love that by having the storyline more established, students could focus on some of the other details involved in writing quality narratives. Planning our Narratives It was the perfect time for us to review some key narrative writing skills and strategies .  We did mini lessons on planning our draft (I LOVE using sticky notes for students to write "micro" events that flow...so easy to rearrange or remove), on working in sensory details, a review of dialogue strategies and techniques, and how to write a quality lead. ......

Word problems are a key part of rigorous standards everywhere, but teachers and students alike often dread tackling them.  Even textbooks sometimes save them for the bottom few problems on a page or a separate lesson toward the end of a chapter.  The thing is--word problems (at least good ones!) are the "real world" part of math.  One type of word problems,  comparison problems, can be particularly challenging for students.  Let's look at some teaching tips that might make them more accessible! 1.  Critical Reading of Math Problems As teachers, we should always be striving to help our students understand that the skills we are teaching are them are FOREVER...not just to complete a math page or worksheet.  One skill that we really want to make sure our students understand is the need to critically read math problems to figure out what is being asked, what information is given, and to make a plan for solving.  So often we do the thinking for o......