This blog post explores innovative and engaging lesson plans for any novel unit... ranging from task cards to book instagram pages to a novel podcast project. Student choice is key here, and students can find something they would like to complete in order to convey their reading, comprehension, and
Filler Activities for ELA (blog post) What can you do with five extra minutes in secondary ELA? Here are a few ideas to engage students until the bell.
Are your students disinterested and tired of the traditional ways of learning characterization? Have you been searching for a really fun, student-centered, interactive way to eliminate their boredom? Well, look no further! I present to you a wonderful student-collaboration activity that will get your students involved and excited for a character analysis for any novel, […]
The first day of school doesn't have to be boring! This blog post explains what to do for the best first day of school!
Oh, the first day of school! It's such a fun, but chaotic day. Most of my first days are a little bit of a blur. This is why I have to write very detailed lesson plans or I'll forget everything from that day. I always try to have the same activities for that first day
Paragraph writing is a big challenge for many students. This post includes a step-by-step method to help your students write great paragraphs in no time.
Get organized with a daily and weekly ELA plan so that you feel confident and prepared. Planning the structure of a class period varies by unit. Start here!
Okay teacher friend. It’s finally here. And I’m so excited! I’ve had this resource collecting dust on my computer for years now. I’ve been using this strategy in my classroom for the last few years, but haven’t had the energy or time (teacher life + mom life is exhausting, am I right?) to put it all together so that it’s ready to go for busy teachers like you! Well, it’s finally finished and I finally get to unveil it to you! Did you know I have a FREE downloadable reading response menu board that you can print now and use in your
In this engaging activity, students make inferences and draw conclusions by analyzing a variety of text message conversations. Students are required to cite evidence for each answer. Digital & Printable Options: This product now includes a Google Slides option as well as a printable PDF. 2023 Update: In response to feedback, this resource now includes a guide for how to read the text messages, a variety of questions, and a larger format! Students love the text message layout! This is a great way for older students to practice making inferences and citing evidence in a format they relate to! Save money with the bundle! You will also like the following products: Middle School Bell Ringers Reading Comprehension Passages & Questions Bundle Informational Text Standards-Based Reading Comprehension Passages Bundle Differentiated Reading Comprehension Passages Bundle Make sure to follow me to be notified when I post new products!
Did you think teaching students to write would be a snap? I mean, you are a college-educated, certified individual. How hard could it possibly be? Well, it’s a challenge, especially when just starting out. In my classroom,
I can’t say I’m a big fan of icebreakers myself, at least the get-to-know-you type. Students may be grouped in a different way from the previous year, and there are always new students to the schoo…
A goal-setting sheet is perfect for any kid from second grade to high school. This sheet will help any child who needs help setting goals. A digital download so you can have it right away!
Teachers often have questions about what a literacy block should actually look like. How do you structure your time? When do you pull reading groups? How and when do you teach grammar? The list of questions is lengthy, and with good reason. No one really ever told us what to do! Probably because there is […]
Learn why one-pagers are one of my go-to activities for breaking down complex topics and texts. Understand what they are, why you and your students will love them, and how to implement them in your ELA classroom. I even have the advice to help you tackle the biggest obstacle you’ll encounter with this activity.
As a teacher, I am always on the hunt for the perfect tools at the cheapest prices for my ELA classroom. Taking care of our students and keeping our learning
Each Monday we collaborate with our building's new and Dual Language staff members for a professional development session based on what they highlight as their needs and/or desires for learning! This week we focused on Daily 5 ideas as all of our staff are currently working hard to get their stations and guided reading up and running! The teachers who attending the session came up with a variety of wonderful ideas and activities that could potentially be used throughout the year in these work stations. I thought some of you may enjoy taking a gander at what they came up with as well! Just a little background... we utilized a strategy many of you may be familiar with called "Round Robin" to gather ideas during our meeting. The staff were given the anchor charts with only the titles and asked to add any activity ideas they were doing, would like to do, etc. based on the title on their paper. We gave each group 1 minute to brainstorm and write their ideas, and then they were asked to pass the poster to the next group. We continued to do this until all posters had made it to all groups. This is a great strategy that you could use with your students as well to assess their background knowledge and/or learning of concepts. You could even do it at the beginning of the year to see what activities they already know and enjoy doing during Daily 5 if they are familiar with it from the year past! This may give you some insight as to what they may want to do in your classroom as well! Alright now onto the posters...keep in mind these were quickly written by our staff and we discussed them a bit after as well, so not everything may make perfect sense! But feel free to ask questions in the comments if you have any and I would be happy to try my best to answer! After our meeting, I also took some time to type up all of their ideas onto one page for them to hold on to and refer to throughout the year. You are welcome to a copy if you'd like- just click on the image below :)! (Graphics: Scrappin Doodles, Priscilla Concepcion)
Analyzing writing curriculums, planning writing workshop and teaching writing lessons can be overwhelming. You might think, how am I going to fit everything in and produce successful writers? Where do I start? What skills do they need? This post will share the 7 BASIC WRITING LESSONS that every teacher should teach! With this basic knowledge, students will be able to perform other writing assignments more effectively. The following skills are not only effective in upper elementary, they are often needed at the middle school level for review or the primary level for differentiation. So yes, every teacher should teach them! If you start with these 7 fundamental skills, it will set the expectations for your writing lessons and assignments throughout the year! Frequently Asked Questions What are the basic skills and what order should I teach them? Sentence Structure 1. Complete Sentences Lesson for complete sentences 2. Fragments Lesson for fragments 3. Run-ons Lesson for run-ons Paragraph Writing 4. Topic Sentences Lesson for topic sentences 5. Relevant Details Lesson for relevant details 6. Transition Words Lesson for transition words 7. Closing Sentences Lesson for closing sentences How much time should I dedicate to teaching these fundamental skills? I recommend one day for each skill. If you spend a whole writing block for each skill, students will benefit from the practice. How do I teach each skill? First: Start with an anchor chart explaining the skill. (See each lesson link above for effective anchor charts.) Second: Provide examples. Students can share examples too! Next: Students should take notes. I love using Interactive Writing Notebooks to take notes. Research supports the use of interactive notebooks through studies on multiple intelligences, the brain and note taking. Here are a few videos to Set Up Interactive Writing Notebooks. Click photo for the Upper Elementary Version. A Primary Version is also available. Then: Identify the skill. Provide practice sheets and task cards for students to practice identifying the skill in sentences and paragraphs. Last: Apply the skill. Students should have the opportunity to write their own sentence or paragraph to apply the particular skill. What if I can't fit the lesson in one writing block? If you can't extend the days to complete them, there are other ways to get the whole lesson in. You can put practice sheets or task cards in a center, or you can have students apply the skill for homework or morning work the next day. What if my students, some of my students, or absent students can't do interactive notebooks? Make a small anchor chart to put in their notebooks with the same information! If you don't have a printable poster, take a picture of the anchor chart you used in class and print them off! I hope you found this post helpful and your students become successful writers this year! Connect With Me! TPT Store Facebook Pinterest My Blog
☘ Full video previews are available for the first 24 hours after a resource kit is uploaded. Follow my store to know when a new resource is available! ✎ Give your students an educational, yet much needed brain break! They can color and doodle in the first doodle page, then fill in the blanks on the second page, and then color and doodle some more! If you like this doodle resource, please come back to the product page and give it an A ⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and positive feedback. You can see the doodle pages before you download them in the preview! ❤️ Thank you :) Want to test your students' comprehension of the literary terms? Check out the Literary Terms Self Grading GOOGLE QUIZ! and the Literary Terms Digital Task Cards! Related Products ⭐ ELA Poetry "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (Daffodils) Video & Activities ⭐ ELA Poetry "The Arrow and the Song" by Video & Activities ⭐ ELA: Poetry "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll Video & Activities ⭐ English ELA Writing I Bet You Can! Basic essay form/structure VIDEO KIT ⭐ English Language Arts ELL ESL Video & Activities Bundle ⭐ Poetry ELA Robert Frost BUNDLE The Road Not Taken & Stopping by Woods ⭐ Poetry Video & Activities BUNDLE - Jabberwocky, Daffodils, Road Not Taken +More ⭐ FULL YEAR VIDEO Writing Prompts Discussion Prompts + Worksheets Thanks to Illumismart for some of the clipart used in making this resource!
Tips for Primary Teachers.
I posted my Curriculum Map on Instagram and had a few people that were interested in the layout. If this is something you feel that you could use as a starting point, please feel free to download it below! A Few Notes: I created my personal curriculum map to correlate with our new reading series adoption (Journeys). This is an editable document. If you like the fonts I used, the last page of this file includes links for downloading them. (They are all free.) :) I created this document in my Pages program (for Mac). f you would like the Pages version, click HERE! If you would like this in Word format, click HERE! The green portions of the map are where I'm listing the resources I plan on using to teach each skill. I'm doing this mainly because I start to forget all of the wonderful things I've downloaded and purchased from other teachers! Although, as I was working on this yesterday, I felt that this was the most overwhelming part! My plan is to leave plenty of space is those boxes and to hand-write some of the resources in as the year progresses and then type them in the file next summer. That way I hopefully have a nice reference for the following year! We'll see how it goes. This is my first time making a curriculum map... :)
Teach author's purpose with PIE (persuade, inform, entertain). No prep printables, task cards, a sorting activity and more! Great for Accelerated Instruction Groups! TEKS 3.10C TEKS 4.10A...
Looking for Wordle classroom ideas? Incorporate Wordle into your classroom with this activities, ideas, and templates.
In today's post, I'll share ideas for teaching inferring through a gradual release of responsibility. Make sure to read all the way through the post, because there are several different freebies you can download and use right away!
Reading comprehension skills and strategies can be tricky to teach in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classrooms. There are a lot of comprehension related standards that teachers need to teach throughout the year. These reading comprehension anchor charts will help you take your reading lessons to the next level and will help you teach comprehension in a clear and concise way. This set of anchor charts includes 25 ready-to-print anchor charts that will help you effectively teach your students the details and rules of 25 key reading comprehension skills- from making inferences to identifying theme to summarizing to finding the main idea. This set of posters will help you teach all of those skills and more. With the help of these posters, your students will finally be able to understand how to apply those comprehension skills to their own reading. These anchor charts will be your teacher bestie during your reading lessons! Teaching comprehension can be a challenge for us teachers. Reading comprehension is incredibly abstract and can be tricky to explain to students. Having an anchor chart that explains a comprehension skill in clear and concise language can help make our lessons flow smoothly. These anchor charts will take the guesswork out of your teaching and serve as the backbone of your comprehension lessons. HERE’S WHAT YOU GET: In this resource, you’ll get 25 Reading Comprehension Anchor Charts formatted in the following ways: Half-page anchor charts - perfect for students journals Full page anchor charts - works great for whole group lessons Digital version - created using Google Slides FIll-in version - available for both the half-page and full-page versions and are great if you want your students to take notes during the lesson LOVED BY BOTH TEACHERS AND STUDENTS: Your students will love having access to these anchor charts during the year. They won’t feel the pressure to remember every little detail or step for each comprehension strategy because they know they can look back in their reading notebooks anytime they need a reminder. You’ll love these anchor charts because they have easy-to-read font and are written with clear and concise language. Your students will understand the reading comprehension strategies and skills you teach with these anchor charts. So many upper elementary teachers love these anchor charts because they aren’t cluttered with excess clipart or fonts that are too “cutesy”. And, you have options. You can choose to print them in half pages for students to glue in their journals… or you can share them with your students in Google Classroom… or you can give students the fill-in version so they can take notes during your lessons. You can pick the version that will work for you and your students. Prep is quick and easy... Just print the anchor chart option you want to use before your lesson and you’re ready to go. ANCHOR CHART TITLES INCLUDE: Asking questions (5W) Analyzing Character Traits Author’s Purpose (INDEEP) Author’s Purpose (PIE) Cause & Effect Character Traits & Feelings Context Clues Facts & Opinions Formulating Questions – Fiction Formulating Questions – Nonfiction Identifying the Theme Inference Main Idea Making Connections (2) Making Predictions Plot Structure Point of View Summary Fiction (2) Summary Nonfiction Theme (2) Thick vs. Thin Questions Visualization TEACHERS LIKE YOU SAID: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "So glad I purchased. Great to use as part of class Interactive Notebook. My students are able to use this resource anytime they need it.” - Alfonso M. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "These were great visuals that the students could put in their reading notebooks. The students were able to go back and review them when needed.” - Katrina B. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “This is amazing! I have used this for 2 years in a row. It covers many of our strategies and standards. We put the small copies in their reading notebook to refer back to after I have taught from the large copy and posted it on our reading strategies wall. It has strategies for older grades but it stretches my 3rd graders thinking. They like being able to refer back to it. It's a great resource and it includes different ways you could print it out to use in your classroom.” - Erkia C. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “I love these for giving the essential information in a nice style without overwhelming students or making it too simple. I used these for my middle school reading intervention class and they worked well!” - Kacie M. _______________________________________ ⭐️ BUNDLE & SAVE FOR A DISCOUNT⭐️ Purchase the Reading Comprehension Anchor Chart Bundle to get this set plus Volume 2 for a total of 50 Reading Comprehension Anchor Charts! I THINK YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: → Reading Comprehension Bookmarks → Stop-and-Jot Sticky Notes (Mini Graphic Organizer Templates) → Small-Group Lesson Plans and Reading Passages - Fiction Set ________________________________ Copyright © The Stellar Teacher Co. LLC www.stellarteacher.com Permission to copy for single classroom use only. Please purchase additional licenses if you intend to share this product.
Introducing students to challenging words through Word of the Week can help increase their confidence in reading, writing, & speaking.
COUNTRY RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT TEMPLATE GRAPHIC ORGANIZER STUDY 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th GradeEmbark on a global journey with the COUNTRY RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT TEMPLATE GRAPHIC ORGANIZER. This comprehensive resource is designed for 1st to 4th-grade students, providing an in-depth exploration of differ...
So weve got a bunch of kids, right? They all love different kinds of stories - some are all about adventures, while some cant get enough of those fairy tales.
As teachers begin planning for back to school, I see an abundance of creative classrooms filling my Instagram and Pinterest feeds. I love seeing how other
Some ideas for teaching plot elements to help students recall stories in sequential order, summarize stories, and understand theme.
Students will make inferences about the various scenes included in this reading exercise.
I giggled to myself as I created the title to this blog post! If you are new to my blog, I'll have you know that this is the THIRD time I've written an "ELA in
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• THIS 2 PAGE DOCUMENT IS AN OVERVIEW AND DOES NOT CONTAIN ALL THIRD GRADE STANDARDS. YOU CAN FIND THE VERSION WITH ALL STANDARDS HERE: 3rd Grade Common Core Standards Visual Reference- All Common Core Standards •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• This skill goal sheet is a two page resource that is a fun and very visual way for the kids and parents to see 3rd grade skills. There is one sheet for ELA and one sheet for math. It can be placed in data folders or homework folders as communication of the students learning. This can also be provided to parents as simple to understand resource at conferences, parent teacher conferences or open house to inform parents a basic idea what their child is expected to learn. Included in both color and black and white, with the common core standards listed in each box and a second version with only the images and text. Includes basic third grade skills such as: reading multi- syllable words reading with fluency retelling and comprehending stories multiplying telling time to the minute measuring reading and writing sight words adding and subtracting with fluency measuring volume writing personal narratives writing opinion pieces writing expository text Unfortunately, I was not able to fit all third grade standards because I wanted it to be simple and not overwhelming for parents and students but a great variety so students and parents can see what is expected. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• You may also like: 3rd Grade Common Core Standards Visual Reference- All Common Core Standards- all 3rd grade common core standards I can statements in 6 page kid friendly format 3rd Grade I Can Statements: Each standard is listed on 1 page with an I can statement and a visual representation or an example. Perfect for posting in your classroom while teaching the standards. •3rd Grade Common Core I Can Statements or a bundle of all three of these products together at a discount price 3rd Grade I Can Statements Bundle •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• You may also like the other grade level skill sheets found here: •Pre-Kindergarten Skills •Kindergarten Skills •First Grade Skill Sheet •2nd Grade Goals Sheet •4th Grade Goals Sheet ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Each classroom brings students of multiple learning styles and backgrounds. It is our job to provide opportunities that reach all of the many different learning styles that come to us. For this reason, it is