Ideas and Resources for Purposeful Teaching
My students love fables, and I love using them in my classroom. Fables are great for introducing reading standards, as well as helping my students see how these standards work together to help them better understand literary texts. As I have pointed out in my last post, 4 Tips for Helping Students Grasp Theme & Message, fables are a great…
Read More
Teaching–theme in literature can be quite difficult at the elementary level. As a third grade teacher, I have struggled with this for years before figuring out how to make these concepts more tangible for my students. Here are some important things to consider when planning instruction. It wasn’t until I decided to change my approach, that I realized the graphic…
Read More
Every teacher loves a great back-to-school read aloud. There are so many popular titles to use as springboards for first day experiences, engaging students in making new friends, or getting back into the swing of school routines. But what about a read aloud for introducing reader’s–workshop? I have found the perfect story that will not only set the tone for…
Read More
Understanding shades–of–meaning or nuances can make a huge difference in students’ ability to comprehend literary text. When reading with my students, I often ask them to describe the character’s feelings in the story. I typically get the same one-word responses: good, happy, sad, mad, etc… Of course, I prompt further to help them dig deeper into the text, but it…
Read More
I’ve been humming this tune as I put my classroom back together after a restful (but HOT!) summer. I know it’s a song we hear in December, but I can’t help but love the resources I have found on TeachersPayTeachers. When I search this site, I find myself being inspired by the many incredible gems offered by such creative teacher-authors. …
Read More
StUsingThe As teachers, student data is the center of many of our conversations. But how much time does it get within our conversations with our students, especially regarding student–goals? We rely on data and our observations to guide our instruction and move our students in the right direction, but our efforts can be futile if we don’t have those one-to-one…
Read More
