This year I have switched roles and am doing a lot of substitute/relief teaching. Because of this, I spent some time over the weekend putting together a kit to carry with me of back up games, activities, and books to have on hand in case plans are not left. In doing so, I came across […]
I am gearing up to start my second year teaching in Australia, and phonics is the discussion du jour. We used the Soundwaves program to teach letter sounds and spelling in the past (for me only one year, but others used it for several), and we have decided to look for something new. Of course, […]
Children often learn to write before they learn to read because they can read their own writing. They are making the symbols on the page and attributing meaning to them, so they can read them. They slowly learn to make their symbols follow conventional rules, and we can begin to read their writing as well. […]
I bought this book, Looking Down by Steve Jenkins, years ago when I was student teaching. It was part of our “map” studies, and was great for that. I just pulled it out at the end of the year this year when we were working on our classroom maps, and I discovered new potential! This is […]
We had some discussion in my school recently about anchor charts, and whether they should be teacher created or student created. I confess, I shy away from completely student created charts. I think it is hard for young children to come up with one picture or symbol, and then consistently remember what it means. If we […]
I am so excited to share some great news! First, Teachers Pay Teachers is having a huge sale on May 7 and May 8, 2013 in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week. Many sellers are throwing sales, myself included. My entire store will be 20% off, and if you use the TPT promotion code, TAD13, you […]
We just kicked off our last reading unit of the year – nonfiction/informational text. Of course, we have been reading and exploring informational text all year in a variety of ways. However, this unit is our in depth focus, and I LOVE IT!! Well, my kids love it, and that makes us all love it. […]
Retelling is one of those things I did not used to enjoy spending much time on. However, this year I began using my Sulzby texts (books we have read together MANY times) and my mentor texts to teach retelling, and it has been amazing! One of the things I disliked about teaching retelling was trying […]
By this time in kindergarten, my readers have come so far! While they are, of course, each on their own journey as readers, I am seeing them choose and read books independently, talk about books with partners, ask deep and interesting questions, and solve difficult words in books! This is all wonderfully exciting, as I […]
I hope you don’t mind, but I am going to share one of my projects that doesn’t relate to my teaching life, but rather to my mothering life. Teachers are often parents too, and I want to share a project that I just finished that I am immensely proud of. Last year my beautiful daughter […]
