Blog - Primary Planet

How to Add Details to Writing Mini-Lessons

How to add details to writing is one of the things that I work on teaching my students ALL YEAR LONG! Read on to get more details (see what I did there…)? How to add details to writing Lesson 1: Sensory Details Objectives: I can add details to my writing. I can add sensory details to my writing. First of all, students need to understand what detail is. A detail is something that you add to your writing to make it easier for your reader to understand, or to make your writing more interesting for your writer. Discuss different types

Image of a group of students giving a thumbs up. Text: Classroom Management Strategies. Fun and Cheap Classroom Rewards and Incentives.

7 Classroom Management Strategies: Fun and Cheap Rewards and Incentives

Classroom Management can be hard. Rewards and incentives can motivate students to behave positively and help create a positive classroom environment. While I was still in the classroom, it seems that my classroom management changed all the time. What worked with one student today, doesn’t work tomorrow. Each class was different and unique. That being said, the teacher can not do it all. Sometimes it will take parental involvement and administration involvement. Sometimes it will even take the help of another teacher. Here are some fun and cheap classroom rewards and incentives to help keep your students on track. None

Cover Image of hands folding a piece of paper into a mini-book. Text: How to Make Fun and Easy Mini-books for Your Classroom Writing Center.

How to Make Mini-Books for Your Classroom Writing Center! Fun and Easy!

How to make mini-books is a question I get quite often! What is it about a mini-book that makes it so appealing? Students see one and want to fill it with pictures and writing! So a win-win situation: You get your students to write more, and your students get a mini-book! So, read on to find some fun ways to make mini-books with or without a mini-book template! How to Fold One-Page Mini-Books There are several different ways you can fold 1 piece of paper into a mini-book that doesn’t require any staples! You can use blank copier paper or

Image of a copy box with a sign saying "Writing Center" taped to the side. Text: How to Set Up and Awesome Classroom Writing Center!

How to Set up an Awesome Classroom Writing Center. Simple and Fun!

When I was a little one, I loved anything to do with paper. Cutting, gluing, folding. My poor mom always had tons of paper creations. Somehow they always magically disappeared, unless they could be hung on the refrigerator, then they generally became part of the fridge museum. There are probably a few still there now! That being said, my favorite (and the students’ favorite) part of my classroom was always the classroom writing center! It doesn’t have to be anything big or elaborate! Here are some simple classroom writing center setups that are simple and effective, and will be a

Image of Water Slides with title: Tips for Preventing "Summer Slide". Preventing summer learning loss.

How to Prevent Summer Learning Loss: 5+ Tips for Beating Summer Slide

Summer is the best, isn’t it? Except for the dreaded “Summer Slide” or Summer Learning Loss. Read on for some tips to prevent summer learning loss! (This post does contain Amazon Affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I receive a small commission at no cost to you! Thanks so much!) Prevent Summer Learning Loss Tip 1: Read! Encourage your child (or students) to read over the summer! Many libraries host summer reading programs where children can earn prizes for summer reading! Our local library also has an amazing app that lets you check out and read books digitally.

Why Teach Prewriting to Elementary Students? 5 Prewriting Strategies to Improve Student Writing

I love teaching writing! One thing that I don’t love about teaching writing is when my students would say “But, I don’t know what to write about!” and then they would spend their independent writing time…. well… not writing. One thing that I have taught my students that really helped with eliminating the dreaded phrase was Pre-Writing! Prewriting is an essential part of the writing process, and teaching it to elementary students can have a significant impact on their writing skills. I would like to share with you 5 prewriting strategies to improve student writing. Prewriting Strategies #1: Talk About

Text: Mini-Books in your classroom writing center. Image of cute little girl looking surprised at her own writing.

Kids LOVE Making Mini-Books! Why You Should Add Them to Your Classroom Writing Center

Do you have a classroom writing center? It was the only “permanent” center that I had in my classroom. It really was the most popular spot in my classroom! I spent time each month finding new and interesting ways to keep it fresh. My students LOVED writing and they LOVED the writing center. By providing fun writing materials my students could let their creativity run wild! Mini-Books are the perfect addition to your classroom writing center! Mini-Books are Fun! Blank Mini books are a great way to engage students in creative writing and storytelling. When you have a mini-book you

Learning through Play: 5 Easy Play Ideas for Your Classroom

Learning through play is important in EVERY classroom, but with so much to cover it can be really difficult to find time to play during a school day! Here are 5 Easy Play Ideas that you can use to get more playtime into your day! This post contains Amazon Affiliate Links. If you purchase anything through these links I will recieve a small commission at no cost to you. Learning Through Play: Morning Tubs/Afternoon Tubs Start your day off with some play! Ease your students into their school day by letting them play! Morning Tubs can be done in a

Text: Playful Poetry Lesson Plan - Free-Verse Image of a girl and teacher writing together.

How to Write a Poem: Fun Free-Verse Poetry Lesson Plan for Kids

Poetry Lesson Plan Free-Verse Freebie Poetry Lesson Plans are fun! Okay, so I am no Shakespeare or Amanda Gorman, but I love writing poetry and teaching students to write poetry too! Read on to see how I teach Free-Verse Poetry Writing! This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase anything through these links I will receive a small commission from Amazon at no cost to you! Thank you! Free-Verse Mini Lesson Plan I always favored the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model if you have read any of my other writing mini-lesson posts. In a nutshell: I do (teacher

Text: Playful Writing Mini-Lessons - List Writing. Image shows a child making and alphabet list

Playful Mini-Lessons: Make a List Writing Prompts for Students

List Writing Prompts were always a hit in my classroom! Who doesn’t love a good list? Most students have some experience with list making, either they have seen a list, helped write a list, or have written their own list (Christmas anyone?). Lists are fun to write, especially when the topic is a little silly! This post does contain some affiliate links for Amazon. If you purchase anything through these links, I will get a small commission from Amazon at no cost to you! Thanks so much! Mini-Lesson for List Writing Prompts I like using the Gradual Release of Responsibility

Image of a happy coffee cup with text: Fun Ways to Teach Student to Edit their Writing with CUPS!

Fun Way to Teach Students to Edit their Writing with CUPS

Hey there! Thanks for stopping by! Teaching students to edit writing can be a bit of a challenge. But, if we want our students to produce writing that others can read, teaching students to edit writing is essential! Let me help you with some fun ways to help your students to edit their own writing! Edit Writing with C.U.P.S. Teaching your students to edit their writing is an ongoing process. We use C.U.P.S. to teach editing. We introduce CUPS pretty early in the year and use this acronym all year long to help our students to edit their writing. We

Cover image: Helpful Everyday Word Work Ideas and Spelling Activities for Primary Students

Helpful Everyday Word Work Ideas for Primary Students

Hey there! Thanks so much for stopping by! I am a certified word nerd! I love words and working with words. Word work is an important part of our students learning to read and write! Here are some helpful everyday word work ideas and spelling activities to help your students! Word Work Idea: Word Sorts I love doing word sorts with my students! A word sort is a group of words that your students sort into groups using some sort of criteria. There are so many ways that you can do word sorts. My favorite is to start with an

Cover image of a child reading a book with the text: Improve Reading Comprehension Skills with Reading Responses.

How To Improve Reading Comprehension Skills with Quality Reading Responses

Hey there! Thanks so much for stopping by! So, how do you feel when you hear the words Reading Response or Respond to Reading? I’ll give you a minute… What is a Reading Response? A reading response is something you do after you read a text. It can be as simple as drawing a picture of a favorite part to a rhetorical analysis of the text. We all have some “response to reading”. I know as an adult, I LOVE to talk about the books I’ve read. I keep a list of the books I have read and what I

Free Resource Library

Reading

Writing

Classroom Management

Math

Digital

STEM

Other

How to Add Details to Writing Mini-Lessons

7 Classroom Management Strategies: Fun and Cheap Rewards and Incentives

How to Make Mini-Books for Your Classroom Writing Center! Fun and Easy!

How to Set up an Awesome Classroom Writing Center. Simple and Fun!

How to Prevent Summer Learning Loss: 5+ Tips for Beating Summer Slide

Why Teach Prewriting to Elementary Students? 5 Prewriting Strategies to Improve Student Writing

Kids LOVE Making Mini-Books! Why You Should Add Them to Your Classroom Writing Center

Learning through Play: 5 Easy Play Ideas for Your Classroom

How to Write a Poem: Fun Free-Verse Poetry Lesson Plan for Kids

Fun Way to Teach Students to Edit their Writing with CUPS

Helpful Everyday Word Work Ideas for Primary Students

How To Improve Reading Comprehension Skills with Quality Reading Responses

Look who's Teaching Happy!

Join the Freebie Planet!