I hear from teachers often that they are spending over an hour planning each week. Does that sound like you? Well, it just doesn't have to be that way! I am never spending over an hour planning, many times much less! So, let's get down to 10 easy and actionable tips! Tip #1: BATCH This time is ESSENTIAL. If you are not batching your planning, you are doing it wrong. It is that simple. Now, what does that mean? It means you are planning all the same content for a certain period of ... Read More about 10 Tips for Easy Lesson Planning

Reading aloud is one of my favorite parts of teaching, it is also an essential part of the beginning of the year. Today, I am going to share with your my favorite read alouds for back to school and how I teach them. You can click on each book to be sent to the Amazon affiliate link for that book. Back to School Picture Books The Exceptionally, Extraordinarily Ordinary First Day of School by Albert Lorenz This is a super interesting book about a HILARIOUS first day of school. My kids ... Read More about Back to School Read Alouds for 3rd Grade

Each day it is important to implement reading centers in your classroom. Literacy centers can vary based on grade level, classroom needs, etc., but the one thing that is important is that students are working diligently to gain reading skills while staying engaged the entire time. But sometimes it can get overwhelming to think about all of the centers that you need to plan each week. So, today I am going to share with you how to EASILY organize and plan your centers every week in under 20 ... Read More about Organizing and Planning Literacy Centers

Each day it is important to implement reading centers in your classroom. Literacy centers can vary based on grade level, classroom needs, etc., but the one thing that is important is that students are working diligently to gain reading skills while staying engaged the entire time. Today, I wanted to talk about my Google Classroom station. My Simple Literacy Centers Before we get into close reading, I wanted to show you my other centers, so you can get an idea of how they run. In my third ... Read More about Using Google Classroom In Upper Elementary Literacy Centers

It is important to implement reading centers in your classroom every single day. Literacy centers can vary based on grade level, classroom needs, etc., but the one thing that is important is that students are working diligently to gain reading skills while staying engaged the entire time. Today, I wanted to talk about my close reading station. My Simple Literacy Centers Before we get into close reading, I wanted to show you my other centers, so you can get an idea of how they run. In my ... Read More about Close Reading during Literacy Centers