Student Accountability during Small Groups
Keeping students accountable for work when you’re working with a different small group can be hard. Try these five strategies to keep them engaged.
Small Group Classroom Management Strategies
At the end of our first quarter last year, I had to review my small group set up. At this point, my system had been in place 8-10 weeks. Even with some crazy interruptions, this is a good time to evaluate any classroom management system. You’ve probably given enough time to
Five Must-Have Tools for Small Group Reading
Five must have tools for small group reading instruction in upper elementary.
Using Choice Board for Fiction Novel Studies
Why are choice boards such a big deal? I’ve shared before about how providing students with options helps with classroom management. It not only gives the students a sense of control, but it also provides major buy-in for completing each activity. Knowing they don’t need to do everything can also
Writing Historical Fiction Narratives
It’s all about the setting when teaching how to write historical fiction narratives. Generally I like to teach this type of unit after exploring the elements of historical fiction (read about that activity here) and completing a novel study (more here). During the novel study, we start to truly see
Comparing Digital vs. Print Writing for Upper Elementary
I’ve always been into tech while teaching. Usually I’m part of the tech committee or volunteering to learn new tech to share with faculty. I used Google Classroom and apps before the pandemic, pretty regularly. Switching to ALL digital everything was still a challenge. We were virtual for almost a
Incorporating Student Choice in Upper Elementary
A huge part of my relationship building is offering student choice. Kids often feel like their voices aren’t heard, and there are many parts of their day where they can’t make choices. By empowering my students in smaller ways, they’re able to have a voice, and they don’t fight me
Analyze setting using historical fiction
The beginning of teaching setting is just having students figure out the time and place of a story. By upper elementary grades (especially 4th and 5th), we’re ready for the deep dive into analyzing the role of the setting and how it affects the story. Historical fiction is the best
Integrate reading and writing in upper elementary
Combining subjects is a great way to gain more instruction time and help students to have a deeper understanding about a topic. It’s also going beyond just written response paragraphs to text based questions. If you have a limited time for teaching each subject, this integrated approach to reading &
The one about planning minilessons
When I moved to my current school three years ago, I completely switched school systems. Through orientation and examining their curriculum, I quickly learned they had an obsession with minilessons. While I’m resistant to change, I did learn a lot about planning minilessons and they can be really effective when
The first FIVE days of lesson plans for the beginning of the year.