Are you looking for some new classroom management ideas? Picture this: You are starting a brand new year. OR you have returned from a break refreshed and ready to continue the year. You can’t wait to see your students! Then that day comes and goes. You get home, collapse on the floor and let your […]
I like to teach the building blocks of Phonological Awareness which includes rhyming and counting syllables. It’s so important for preschool, kindergarten and first grade teachers to have solid instruction when teaching these skills. It’s also important for kids to stay active and engaged while learning. Teaching phonological awareness skills doesn’t have to take long. […]
Imagine being a brand new puppy in a home for the first day. You don’t know the routines or the language and you are separated from everything familiar. How would you feel? Many kindergarteners have some of these same feelings. They don’t know the routines or classroom schedule yet. The words we use may have […]
It is so much fun to see student writing progress using monthly writing prompts. It’s even more fun to turn the monthly writing prompts into a Scrapbook. Scrapbooks make great student keepsakes! Here is how to make a Scrapbook with your kids that they will never forget. Thematic Monthly Writing Prompts Each month exciting events […]
There are few things that I enjoy more than shopping for Kindergarten must haves. Well…..um……er…..I might like playing the piano more. Oh! And I love soft, fuzzy puppies more! Well I even love eating chocolate ice cream more. Actually, let me rephrase that first sentence. I do NOT like shopping. However, if you take away […]
Ever wanted some fresh new creative ideas of how to use Poetry Journals in your classroom? I remember when I first started teaching how I used to settle for just picking a poem at random, reading it to the class and then having students illustrate the poem inside their Poetry Journal. A common average poetry […]
How often do you find yourself changing your centers? Do you ever feel like your centers aren’t flowing well enough? Do you find that your students struggle with knowing what to do when they use the centers? Are you constantly getting interrupted by your students during centers? I understand. That’s why centers need routines. I […]
Why is the importance of phonological awareness so vital to reading and writing in the primary classroom? Phonological awareness is a group of oral skills that assists in the development of decoding (reading) and encoding (writing). The beginning stages of proficient readers and writers starts with phonological awareness. This includes rhyming, counting and segmenting syllables, […]
In the beginning of the year it is so important to have routines for EVERYTHING! As teachers we often remember to teach our students how to form a line, walk in the halls, turn in papers, etc. However, we often forget how important it is to have a consistent routine for academic learning as well. […]
Drawing Teaching kindergarteners how to write takes creativity and skill. Each year I laugh as I remember the day when I was modeling drawing for my kindergarteners and the kiddos shouted out “Teacher, that’s a great cow!” “Thanks! Thanks!” I replied. “It is a rather good looking cow if I don’t say so myself.” I […]