Blog - Primary Planet

Morning Message for K-2: A Classroom Routine and Procedure That Does More Than You Think

Hey there Teacher Friend! Morning Message for K-2 is one classroom routine and procedure I would tell every primary teacher to start tomorrow. Not because it’s flashy. Not because it takes a lot of prep — it doesn’t, I promise. But because after 23 years in primary classrooms, I watched this simple little routine do more work than almost anything else I put on that board. It sets the tone. It gives early arrivals something purposeful to do. And it teaches real skills without feeling like a lesson. Let’s talk about how to make it work. I use my morning

Writing Fractured Fairy Tales: Mini-Lessons, Mentor Texts, and Classroom Fun!

Writing Fractured Fairy Tales: Mini-Lessons, Mentor Texts & Classroom Fun

Okay, friends. If there is one writing unit that gets kids genuinely excited to put pencil to paper, it is writing fractured fairy tales. Not just any fairy tales—fractured fairy tales. The kind where the Big Bad Wolf is suddenly the good guy, Cinderella refuses to go to the ball, or the Three Bears file a complaint with the local police. Kids go absolutely wild for this stuff. And honestly? So do I. After 23 years in a primary classroom, I can tell you that fairy tale writing hits differently than other units. It is one of those magical combinations

Image of Partner Pairing Cards/Memory Game. Text: Teaching Vocabulary with Homophones and Homonyms.

Teaching Vocabulary with Homophones and Homonyms Just Got a Whole Lot More Fun

Hey there! If you were like me, teaching vocabulary is one of those things that never really left my lesson plans. When it comes to homophones and homonyms specifically, the challenge isn’t getting students to understand the concept—it’s getting that understanding to actually show up in their reading and writing. Kids can tell you that homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. Then they go write a story and type “there going to the park” anyway. Getting word knowledge to stick takes more than a lesson. It takes repeated, meaningful practice. The Real Problem

Reading Logs That Actually Work: An In-Class Reading Tracker That Does the Heavy Lifting

Hey there, Teacher Friends! Today we are talking about dun, dun, dun…Reading Logs! Traditional reading logs track one thing: time. Time is fine, but time doesn’t tell you if your students understood what they read, made a connection, or could retell the story. What if your in-class reading tracker did the comprehension work at the same time? That’s the idea behind this resource—and once you try it, the old version is going to feel like it’s missing something. The Problem with Traditional Reading Logs (You Know This One) You send one of these bad boys home. Some students return it

Star Student: A Simple Classroom Helper System for K-2 (No Job Chart Needed!)

Hey there, Teacher Friend! If you’ve ever spent 10 minutes at the start of the day shuffling job cards on your classroom job chart, reminding kids who has what job, or listening to someone sob because they didn’t get “door holder”, this post is for you. What if you could ditch the classroom job chart completely and hand everything to one kid? Okie dokie, friends. Let me introduce you to Star Student—the simplest classroom helper system you’ll ever try. Why I Ditched My Classroom Job Chart Job charts are cute. They really are. But after 23 years in primary classrooms,

Classroom Writing Routine for K-2: Fun Writer’s Workshop Ideas for Teaching Writing in the Primary Grades

Okay, teacher friends. Let’s talk about writing time, your Writer’s Workshop, your writing block, whatever you call it, it is the time when you are teaching your students how to write. You know that moment when you say “Get out your writing notebooks” and half your class looks at you like you just announced a dentist appointment? Yeah. That’s real. Teaching writing in the primary grades can feel hard—for teachers AND for kiddos. But here’s what I’ve found: when you have a solid classroom writing routine, everything gets easier. Your students know what to expect. You know what comes next.

Teaching Observation Skills in Primary Grades (and Why It Matters More Than We Think)

Hey there, Teacher Friend! If I’m being honest, teaching observation skills wasn’t always something I planned for. It just sort of… happened. (Pssssstttt…keep reading, there is a freebie at the end). At some point, I realized my students were rushing. Through science. Through writing. Through reading pictures, charts, and even directions. They looked, sure. But they weren’t really observing. And that’s when it clicked for me that observation skills don’t magically develop on their own. We have to teach them. Slowly. On purpose. And once you start focusing on observation activities in the classroom, you realize how many things suddenly

Why Journal Writing Is One of the Most Powerful Tools in Elementary Classrooms

Hey there, Teacher Friend! I wanted to talk today about something that has gone a little by the wayside since the introduction of computers in everyone’s classroom: Journal Writing! There’s something about a stack of student journals that just feels… hopeful. Maybe it’s because journals don’t ask kids to be perfect. They don’t rush them. They don’t insist on neat conclusions or fancy endings. And in a primary classroom, that kind of space really matters. Keeping a journal at school gives students a place where their thinking can live. A place to write, draw, notice, reflect, and practice being learners.

Encoding and Decoding in Reading: Why Writing Words Absolutely Helps Students Become Better Readers

Hey there, Teacher friend! I came across this quote the other day, and it really got me thinking about encoding and decoding in reading. “Reading is like breathing in, writing is like breathing out.” Pam Allyn Table of Contents 1. Encoding and Decoding in Reading: More Connected Than We Think For a long time, I treated encoding and decoding as two separate lanes. Decoding lived in reading instruction. Encoding showed up during writing time. That felt logical… and also very tidy. But once you really start paying attention to how young readers work through words, that separation starts to feel

A Teacher’s Guide to Teaching Reading Fluency with a Focus on Punctuation

Hey there, Teacher Friend! Teaching reading fluency isn’t only about reading faster—it’s about reading with meaning. One of the easiest ways to support this in primary classrooms is by teaching students to pay attention to punctuation and let it guide their voice as they read. Table of Contents Why “Read the Punctuation” Even Matters I’ll be honest. For a long time, I thought punctuation was… fine. Important, sure. But kind of secondary when it came to teaching reading fluency. Then I started listening more closely to my students read out loud. Not skimming. Not decoding silently. Actually listening. And I

Elementary student observing a critter. Observation Journals for elementary science.

Observation Journals: How to Bring Real Science into Your Classroom (No Prep Required)

Hey there, teacher friend. Do you love the idea of hands-on science, but sometimes the reality feels a little overwhelming? Between the planning, the supplies, and the cleanup, it’s easy to let science slide to the back burner when the week gets busy. But here’s the good news: you don’t need complicated experiments to help your students think like scientists. In fact, some of the best science learning happens when students simply stop, look closely, and record what they notice. That’s where observation journals come in. They’re simple, no-prep, and surprisingly powerful. Whether you use them during your science block,

Image of sequencing activities with transition words. Why Sequencing Matters.

Why Sequencing Matters: Turning Pictures into Powerful Stories

Hey there, teacher friend! Today, I want to talk with you about sequencing, putting things in order, and why you need to teach it to your budding writers (and readers) in your elementary classroom. Why Sequencing Matters in Early Writing When you’re teaching young writers, there’s always that one story that starts with “First we went to the zoo” and ends with “Then we went to bed,” and everything in between is a beautiful blur. Sequencing is one of those foundational skills that helps students make sense of the world around them — and their own writing. It’s how they

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Morning Message for K-2: A Classroom Routine and Procedure That Does More Than You Think

Writing Fractured Fairy Tales: Mini-Lessons, Mentor Texts & Classroom Fun

Teaching Vocabulary with Homophones and Homonyms Just Got a Whole Lot More Fun

Reading Logs That Actually Work: An In-Class Reading Tracker That Does the Heavy Lifting

Star Student: A Simple Classroom Helper System for K-2 (No Job Chart Needed!)

Classroom Writing Routine for K-2: Fun Writer’s Workshop Ideas for Teaching Writing in the Primary Grades

Teaching Observation Skills in Primary Grades (and Why It Matters More Than We Think)

Why Journal Writing Is One of the Most Powerful Tools in Elementary Classrooms

Encoding and Decoding in Reading: Why Writing Words Absolutely Helps Students Become Better Readers

A Teacher’s Guide to Teaching Reading Fluency with a Focus on Punctuation

Observation Journals: How to Bring Real Science into Your Classroom (No Prep Required)

Why Sequencing Matters: Turning Pictures into Powerful Stories

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