One of my all time favorite Thanksgiving activities to do with my students is a sequence writing lesson entitled, 'Recipe for Cooking the Perfect Turkey'. I begin the lesson...
Keeping reading activities fun, yet meaningful, can be a daunting task. I usually look to the holiday of the current month (provided there is one) for inspiration. Today I'm...
Bring some holiday fun into the classroom with a simple Thanksgiving-inspired reading exercise! Below is a Thankgiving book and a 5W's & 1H reading graphic organizer I use...
I use letters in every class in a variety of ways. High school and middle school students can write letters to their teachers, introducing themselves. Upper elementary...
I love using previous student work to improve student writing. Sentence combining is the strategy of joining short sentences into longer, more complex sentences. The value of...
Last month I shared simple ideas to make grammar instruction meaningful and enjoyable. My number one tip in the blog post was keeping grammar exercises relevant. Relevancy...
For many of us one of the greatest challenges the Common Core State Standards poses is the amount of nonfiction texts we need to now use with our students. I know most of my...
Students love to discuss what is better. I enjoy listening to their conversations during football season. Where I live, the Denver Broncos are faster, stronger, and quicker...
When an English Language Arts standard focuses on developing and strengthening writing skills, students can also focus on grammar usage. One way to edit and revise writing is...
As a literacy specialist, I believe one of the most important things I can do for my students is to teach them a myriad of strategies to interpret texts independently. I want...
While many may already be playing Bingo to review vocabulary with their students, it has taken me until this year to actually to create my own Bingo board. I was too lazy to...