Oh friends - this post comes to you with Snow Day #3 in the books and a very-possible Day #4. When your school secretary shares this picture with you, you start longing for your classroom. Especially ...
Blog
Work on Writing Ideas
Since coming to 1st grade, I've adopted a Daily 5 style to our Reading Block. I have shared dozens of posts about how Daily 5 works in our classroom (click here to read more) but I've never shared ...
Compound Words: Construction Style
Friday was one of those fun, hands-on, best-day-ever kind of days. It was play-based, rigorous, and had my crew of 1st grader workers begging for more. Today I wanted to share with you more about ...
5 Tips for an Organized Classroom
Organization and order are two very important things for me in the classroom. I'm definitely not afraid of making messes and letting kids be kids, BUT I do think that our students (of any age) can ...
1st Grade Schedule: A Day in the Life
What does a day look like in my classroom? How do we organize and structure our time together? These are two of the most common questions I receive each week, so today I wanted to share with you a ...
Reflecting our Our Learning: Plus and Delta
From Morning Meeting to Dismissal our school days are packed with important learning and some days it all seems like a race. Taking the time to slow down and reflect on the day is often placed on the ...
Number Talks: How and Why?
Number talks (Kindergarten, 1st Grade & 2nd Grade) offer a bridge between conceptual understanding and mental math. During mini-lessons and Guided Math, I am ALL about manipulatives. Base 10 ...
Differentiating Math Centers with Dice
Differentiation - a word that drives fear into the teacher heart and requires a dramatic eye-roll during a staff meeting. So many times when we hear DI, it seems like this burdensome task is ...
Book Recommendations: Student to Student
Motivating students to become wild readers is always one of my top priorities each school year. From ridiculously engaging read-aloud voices to weekly themed shelves, I am willing to pull out all the ...
Sound: 1st Grade Science
Our school has adopted the Next Generation Science Standards and one of my favorite units in 1st grade is our Sound Unit. NGSS asks that students conduct experiments to explain that vibrations make ...
Making 10 Centers, Mini-Lessons, & Online Tools
10 becomes such an important benchmark for students, especially as we head into addition and subtraction. Becoming fluent in 10 is a fantastic tool for mental math, and when students begin adding ...
Narrative Writing Mentor Texts
Narrative Writing Mentor Texts This year our 1st grade team has transitioned to using Mentor Texts to teach and guide students through our writing genres. It's my first year knee-deep in mentor texts ...