April is National Poetry Month, and what better time is there to teach and explore poetry with your students?!?! I love to spend the month of April having students read, write, and share poetry in our classroom. At the beginning of my poetry units each year, I find that my students are often intimidated by poetry, especially when it comes to writing it. Over the years I have tried to find the perfect activities to ease them into writing their own poems. One of my favorite activities is taking my students on a Haiku Hike!! Several years ago I found this book, Haiku Hike from Scholastic. The story and poems in this book were written by a class of 4th grade students. The idea behind the book is that the students in this class went on a nature walk, and instead of taking pictures of the different things they saw, they used the form of haiku to capture different moments and scenes in nature. I loved this idea so much that I decided to implement it in my own classroom. Here’s ho......

Containing student excitement (and, truthfully, my own) during the last few days of the school year can be difficult. We (the students and teachers) have worked hard all year, and now with summer vacation on the horizon, staying focused is a challenge. My battery is truthfully on low this time of year, and student excitement is understandably at an all time high. Even with the pressure to continue instruction, I know my students deserve a little fun at the end of the year with activities that will provide cherished memories of this school year.  Here are a few easy prep suggestions for some fun activities to make your end of the school year one to remember. 1. Hold an old fashioned classroom spelling bee. Why not take a day to review spelling words from the year by holding a fun classroom spelling bee. In many classrooms spelling bees may seem a little old-fashioned, but your students will have fun participating in one. Give prizes or brag tags to winners. Try a fun t......