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Sentence Types Mini-Lessons Cover Image: Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative, and Exclamatory Sentences.

Helpful Mini-Lessons for Teaching Sentence Types you Need

Hey there! Thanks for stopping by! Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative, Exclamatory, Oh, MY! Teaching sentence types can be a bit of a challenge, can’t it? Let me help with some sentence types mini-lessons! Teach sentence types one sentence at a time in minutes a day! What are Sentence Types? Today we are talking about teaching sentence types. Why do we need to teach sentence types? They make our writing more interesting, and help us to figure out what kind of punctuation a sentence needs! Read on for some helpful sentence types mini-lessons and a sentence types freebie to use in your

Title Image with 2 children with stickers on their faces: Increase Student Engagment with 5 Fun Sticker Ideas for Your Classroom!

Increase Student Engagement with 5 Fun Sticker Ideas for Your Classroom

Hey there! If you have been around here for a bit, you probably know that I LOVE STICKERS! I used stickers for so many things in my room, so I thought that I would share some ideas with you. My kiddos always LOVED stickers as well! It helped that the “water bottle stickers” trend started a few years ago. In this post, I share some fun ways to help you increase student engagement with some fun sticker ideas! I also have a fun Sticker Story freebie in my free resource library when you sign up for my newsletter! This post

Cure Winter Blues with Festive Winter Activities for Your Classroom! Image of child's hand on a window

Cure Winter Blues with Festive Winter Activities in Your Classroom

Winter activities are coming! I live in an area where winter means snow. It is inevitable, the first snow of the season will happen during school hours. Stop what you are doing and take your students outside for a few minutes (if feasible). They will appreciate it, and it will help with the distraction, and it makes a great brain break. If you can’t take them outside, at least give them a minute or 2 to stare out the window and talk about the snow. It is something that they will remember! They will also remember these fun winter activities

Cootie Catcher Instructions and ways to use cootie catchers in your classroom with an image of cootie catchers

Cootie Catcher Instructions and Fun Ways to Use them in Your Classroom!

Beware! Cootie Catcher Instructions ahead! Making cootie catchers can be addicting. You have been warned! 🙂 Every year I have had a student who is a cootie catcher master. They learned how to make a cootie catcher from someone, now they can make them and they LOVE to show off their paper-folding prowess! I don’t know about your kiddos, but as soon as they see this paper-folding magic, they can’t get enough! What is a Cootie Catcher? A Cootie Catcher (or fortune teller) is an origami marvel that students can’t get enough of! All students need is a square piece

How Can Reading Logs for Reading Comprehension be More Fun? Cover with image of adorable smiling little girl reading.

How Can Reading Logs for Better Reading Comprehension be More Fun?

As a former teacher, I see value in Reading Logs for Reading Comprehension. But, I must confess. When my boys were in school I really disliked their reading logs. It’s funny though, my boys LOVED their reading logs. They even kept them after they got them back. Why you may ask? Both of my boys are huge readers, and they loved having a record of the books that they had read. They loved to show me their lists and talk about the books that they have read and are reading. Win-win! I am also a huge reader, and I love

5 Fun Activities for November for Really Happy Students

Fun activities for November! Ah! November! I don’t know about you, but I LOVE November. My students are in the groove (hopefully), the Halloween craziness is over, and everyone is feeling Thankful that Thanksgiving is on it’s way! Here are some activities to make your students happy in the month of November. Yup, there are some freebies as well! Read on… Fun Activities for November #1: Turkey in Disguise I cannot take credit for this one, but this is my Favorite November Activity: Disguise a Turkey! The gist is that you give your students a “naked turkey” and they decorate

Cover image showing sticker stories and Title 5 Creative Writing Activities that your Primary Students will adore!

5 Creative Writing Activities your Primary Students will Absolutely Adore!

When I first started teaching I was scared to death to teach writing! I read everything that I could get my hands on about teaching writing and learned a lot. One of the hardest things for me to overcome was my student’s reluctance to write! So, I am always looking for writing activities to keep my students engaged and excited to write during our Writing block! I am going to share with you some creative writing activities that your primary students will absolutely adore! You, my friend, will also find some organization tips, storage tips, and freebies! Read on… Writing

How to Successfully Teach Sequencing with Fun Writing Mini-Lessons

Sequencing is the identification of the pieces of a story or event— the beginning, middle, and end. It also refers to the ability to retell the events in a text in the order in which they occurred. Sequencing and retelling are great ways to improve both your students writing and their reading comprehension! Read on for some fun ways to teach sequencing in your classroom! I liked to use the gradual release of responsibility model of instruction in my classroom. Basically, it boils down to “I do… We do… You do…” so in this post, I will be giving you some

5 Delightful Reasons to Hold One-to-One Student Reading Conferences

Reading with students is such an important part of teaching. We have such limited time during the day so we have to do what is super important. So, today I am giving you some reasons to try to fit one-to-one student reading conferences into your day! Building Relationships with Students Getting to Know Your Students as Readers Reading Goal Setting Plan Instruction Individual Student Reading Instruction Reason #1: Building Relationships with Students Most teachers that I know got into teaching because they love kids. We love the “lightbulb moment” when something clicks for our students. We love getting to know

october activities cover with surprised little girllittle girl

7 Fun October Activities You NEED in Your Primary Classroom

October Activities are my favorite activities! Ahhhhhhh! Fall is a lovely season here in Indiana. This is a great time of year for being a teacher as well. The kiddos are finally into the routine (hopefully), your teacher stamina is built up, and things are humming along. Not to mention you can get out all of your cute jeans and sweaters! I have a few October Activities to help your October be even better! And yes, there are freebies as well! So, without further ado… 7 Fun October Activities You NEED in Your Primary Classroom Pumpkin Math October Reading Logs

Cover How can I Easily Use Picture Writing Prompts for Creative Writing?

How can I easily use Picture Prompts for Creative Writing?

Using picture prompts for creative writing has been a huge help in my classroom! Does this happen to you? You spend 10-15 min. on a writing mini-lesson, then send your darling cherubs off to write independently and you hear “I don’t know what to write about!” It used to happen to me ALL the time! Some students always have an idea, others need a little help. A picture is worth 1,000 words, right? Well, it can also help spark 1,000 words in your students! Here are some easy ways that you can use picture prompts for creative writing in your

10 Fun Ways to Use a Printable Spelling Dictionary in your Primary Classroom

By having their own personal spelling dictionary, students can take ownership of their spelling skills and work on improving them one word at a time. Check out these 10 ways a spelling dictionary book can be used in the classroom!

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Helpful Mini-Lessons for Teaching Sentence Types you Need

Increase Student Engagement with 5 Fun Sticker Ideas for Your Classroom

Cure Winter Blues with Festive Winter Activities in Your Classroom

Cootie Catcher Instructions and Fun Ways to Use them in Your Classroom!

How Can Reading Logs for Better Reading Comprehension be More Fun?

5 Fun Activities for November for Really Happy Students

5 Creative Writing Activities your Primary Students will Absolutely Adore!

How to Successfully Teach Sequencing with Fun Writing Mini-Lessons

5 Delightful Reasons to Hold One-to-One Student Reading Conferences

7 Fun October Activities You NEED in Your Primary Classroom

How can I easily use Picture Prompts for Creative Writing?

10 Fun Ways to Use a Printable Spelling Dictionary in your Primary Classroom

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