We all have to do at least one conference with parents throughout the school year! I am going to share with you exactly how I run my conferences and tips to make them easier! Plus...there are tons of freebies! Sign-Ups and Reminders If you have control over your sign-ups, then I highly suggest you spread your conference times out. Give yourself breathers when you can. At my school, we have two nights of conferences. I will schedule as many as I can in the mornings if parents need them. ... Read More about Parent Teacher Conference Tips and Freebies

I love teaching themed weeks! The students are so engaged, which makes for a perfect time to hit them with HARD curriculum. In October I always focus a whole week on bats! It is so much fun while being academically rigorous, and engaging! Today, I am going to share with you what I do each day! Then, at the end, you can get a FREEBIE to print my plans for yourself! ;) Monday We start off the week reading "Bats" by Gail Gibbons! This is a great book that really introduces the topic in a ... Read More about Bat Week in Upper Elementary

As a reading teacher, you should have one goal in the classroom... MAKE KIDS LOVE TO READ! (If they love to read, those tests will pass themselves!) I use these simple ways to make sure that each student in my classroom finds a book or a series they LOVE before leaving my room. I want kids begging to read their stories and continue to push themselves with reading. If you implement these strategies in your classroom it will truly help kids LOVE to read! Friendly Reads Want to ... Read More about 5 Tips to Help Students LOVE to Read

Creating a year-long plan for when and where you will teach your standards is crucial. I took out all the hard work for you! I developed the order in which I teach reading and language throughout the third-grade year. In this plan, you will find the reading standards, language standards, writing standards, and themes for the week, plus resource links! How do you decide which order to teach? When I look at my whole year I follow this order: I add review weeks. I schedule ... Read More about A FREE 3rd Grade Pacing Guide for ELA!

Students need to learn and understand all the reading skills in your elementary classroom in order to comprehend what they are reading and pass those lovely tests! :) Whenever I am teaching a brand new skill (i.e. theme) to my students I break it down in a staggered approach. Each day I am teaching it in a new modality and with a new group of students. I also am going to make sure that each day I do a small group strategy group for the students who are not quite catching on yet! Below I am ... Read More about How to Teach a NEW Reading Skill