This year, we are doing something different and that is virtual parent teacher conferences. I am going to share with you five tips that I have to make these go smoothly. Student Created Welcome I have my students create a sheet digitally that I pull up for when the parents first get on zoom. They write a letter to their family, answer questions about themselves, and take a selfie. This is a great discussion starter and a way to ease into the conferences! Grab it for free ... Read More about Virtual Parent Teacher Conferences

I wanted to share with you some tips and tricks to make grading easier for you, so you aren't taking any grading home anymore. Grade While They Work While students are doing their assessments I will walk around and grade them. If I am not taking it for a grade, I will immediately stop and teach them if it is wrong. I will help them correct it. If I am taking it for a grade, I will circle it on their paper and then I will teach them how to correct it right away. I want to make sure that I ... Read More about Grading Tips and Tricks

Are you in need of a new way to manage your classroom? For many years, I did the typical classroom management. There was positive points and negative points, somehow. They could use their positive to earn rewards and the negative would turn to a consequence, but this year I am changing it up. This year I am focusing on the class ALL TOGETHER instead of each individual. As a class, we will be working on becoming apart of a group and working together. And so far it has been AMAZING! Team ... Read More about A New Way of Classroom Management

October is such a fun time in the classroom. Today, I am going to share a round-up of all my favorite ideas for teaching in October.  = Bat Week One of my favorite weeks is BAT WEEK! The kids LOVE it so much and I can make it so rigorous for them. We do a bat cave challenge that is beyond rigorous and so engaging. We research, write, do stem, and so much more. Read all about Bat Week here!   Visualizing with I Need My Monster I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book! It is so cute. ... Read More about Favorite October Activities for 3rd and 4th Graders

Are you assessing students each time you teach a new reading skill? This assessment in valuable in deciding what and how to teach your students. Each and every time I get done teaching a reading standard or skill I then give my students a QUICK summative assessment of the skill or standard. I am talking one page, two pages tops. Then, I use that assessment to guide my instruction going forward. What is a summative assessment? A summative assessment is an assessment that you are giving ... Read More about How to Use Summative Assessments to Guide Reading Instruction