When math mini-lessons turn into mega-lessons and your small-groups seem dull, photograph-based stories are the perfect way to 'hook' learners and connect your learning to the real-world! Today I'm ...
Blog
Connect 4 as a Math Center
Teaching 1st grade, I feel like I am always looking for simple centers that are easy to differentiate. Using a Guided Math model for instruction, we use A LOT of centers every school year. I love ...
Getting Started on Donors Choose
Scholastic found that in 2014, the average teacher spent $750 a year on his or her classroom during the previous school year. I read this number and laughed. While I am blessed with a pocket of ...
Managing Time in the Classroom
Do you ever feel like there is never enough time in a school day? That you are always behind schedule? <all teachers everywhere raise their hands> Sure choosing to extend an activity or bask in ...
Online Math Manipulatives
From cuisenaire rods to base-ten pieces, manipulatives are a CRITICAL part of our primary classrooms. They offer students a real, hands-on way to explore a mathematical concept and build their own ...
1st Grade Data & Graphing
Out of all the math content taught in 1st grade, data and graphing is some of the most hands-on and fun. While I love place value and making 10 to add (and they play SUCH a huge role in later grades), ...
Paragraph Writing in 1st and 2nd Grade
Just a few months ago we welcomed our first-grade friends and they were able to write a few words and if we were lucky, a complete sentence. Since August we have worked oh-so-hard to develop ...
Contraction Surgery
Friday was one of those fun, engaging, awesome days of learning. It was play-based, rigorous, and had my operating room of 1st grader doctors begging for more. Today I wanted to share with you more ...
Safely Using Videos in the Classroom
So, you've found the perfect Science Kids video to launch your writing unit or a just-right song to review that phonics skill, you hit play on the video and allofasudden you see Hedi Klum's body in a ...
Compare and Contrast Song
We love music in 1st grade. We sing in every transition, in all of our spare moments, and in our efforts to master tough skills. Music is perfect for focusing, energizing, and setting the pace within ...
20 Positive Behavior Rewards that Aren’t Food
Teaching a PBIS school, we focus on positivity and creating structures where student choices are celebrated. We love focusing on the gains students (and staff) and I am always impressed that 90% of ...
A Simple Sight Word Game
Sight words play such an important part in building a foundation for reading...especially with my struggling first graders. Today I wanted to share with you a quick and simple game we use to practice ...
