When trying to differentiate instruction for our students, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Here are 6 Easy Ways to Differentiate Instruction

Ok my friends, this is a HUGE printable and may be my favorite of the lot. You get THREE sentences for EACH of the Montessori phonograms. Yeah, THREE… EACH. This took forever to put together and I love it. I hope you will too! The sentences do include a few basic sight words like “the”, […]

Vocabulary instruction is so critical in today’s classroom! A vast vocabulary will help students to become better readers and writers. Vocabulary is also essential to their performance on standardized tests. Helping kids to develop their vocabulary is time that is well spent in a busy classroom. I have developed a routine to teach new vocabulary

Save your sanity with these 14 adhd homework tips. These tips are time-tested with my two ADHD boys, now 10 and 12. We've had loads of struggles over the years and I've found some things that really work. These homework tips help scaffold your kids so they learn to help themselves and need you less and less as they get older.

Teaching theme is not an easy task! Not only do students need to have a strong comprehension of the story's elements (like plot, setting, and characters), but they also have to be able to make inferences to find the author's message, since most themes are not overtly stated by the author. So, what are some of my favorite activities for helping kids understand theme? I'll list a number of them here. 1. Make an Anchor Chart Anchor charts are a great way to make learning visual and to have a record that kids can refer to when they need a bit of extra support. Theme may be defined in a number of ways. To me, the theme is the author's message or what he/she wants the reader to take away/learn from the story. It is a BIG idea, with a real-world or universal concern and can be applied to anyone. Besides talking about what a theme is, you'll also want to go over what it isn't. For example, some kids confuse the main idea of the story with its theme. To help students understand the difference, it's helpful to use stories that everyone in the class knows, like previous read alouds or classic stories like The Three Little Pigs. You can take each story and discuss the main idea (what the story was mostly about - specific to the story) vs. the theme (the lesson the author wants the reader to know - not specific to the story), to contrast the two ideas. The second area of confusion for some kids is that the theme is not specific to the characters in the story. In the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, for example. The theme would not be that...A little mouse named Chrysanthemum learned to accept the uniqueness of her name. The theme would be larger than the book and would be something like...It's important to accept oneself. Also, you'll want to explain to your students that often times, a book has multiple themes and there are several answers which work equally well to describe a book's theme. Since theme is very subjective, I tell students that I will accept any answer, as long as they have the text evidence to prove it. For example, in the book, Wonder, by R.J. Palacio, one might argue that the theme is about friendship, another might say family, or even courage, or kindness. Any one of these themes would be right, and counted as such, since they each fit the story and could be supported by text evidence. 2. Use Pixar Shorts to Practice Theme Besides the sheer enjoyment which comes from watching these mini-films, your students can learn a lot about reading concepts from these. They're great for ELL students or for struggling readers, and for all readers really since the text complexity piece is removed. You can find these clips on YouTube, but you'll want to make sure to preview them first, so you're more familiar with the plot and are able to focus on theme questions. Here are some of my favorite Pixar Shorts for teaching theme: Piper Partly Cloudy Lava Boundin' 3. Use Mentor Texts Mentor texts are one of my go-to teaching tools as picture books are able to portray examples of just about any reading concept you need to teach. One thing I like to do when using mentor texts for theme, is to vary the types of questions I ask. Rather than always saying What is the theme?, I might ask... What is the deeper meaning of this story? After reading this book, what do you think matters to this author? Which idea from the story do you think might stay with you? What did the author want people to learn from this story?... Once kids answer, you might say, Ah...so that's the theme! Some of my current mentor text favorites for theme include the following: Ish by Peter H. Reynolds I Wish I Were a Butterfly by James Howe Journey by Aaron Becker (a wordless book) Beautiful Oops by Barry Saltzberg The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal Pete and Pickles by Berkeley Breathed If you're looking for more titles, I have a FREE Mentor Text List for Literature which includes a page on theme which you can download from my TpT store. 4. Use Posters with Themes to Chart Book Themes I like to choose 8 - 10 common themes and place posters of them in the classroom. These are included in my Theme unit but you could easily make them yourself if you'd like. After we finish a class novel, a read aloud, or a mentor text as part of a mini-lesson, I like to have the kids discuss the theme of the book. Once we decide on the theme, I place a miniaturized copy of the book's cover (about 3 x 3 inches or so) under the correct theme poster. You can also make the posters more interactive by allowing kids to write titles of books they have recently read on sticky notes, under the posters as well. 5. Use Songs to Practice Finding the Theme I love to add music to the classroom whenever possible. Not only does it add instant motivation for some kids, but it is also just good for them in so many ways. There are lots of songs you can use to teach theme, from current pop songs to oldies, rap songs, and country songs. While all of these work well, I especially enjoy using Disney songs. Disney songs are easily recognized for some kids, have catchy, fun tunes, and have lyrics that need no censoring (yay!). You can easily find the lyrics online to project on a smartboard or document projector, and the song clips may be found on YouTube, Here are some of my favorite Disney songs which work well for theme: Hakuna Matata from Lion King Just Keep Swimming from Finding Dory Reflection from Mulan Let it Go from Frozen Something There from Beauty and the Beast A Whole New World from Aladdin 6. Introduce Short Texts Using Task Cards Using task cards for theme gives your students a great deal of practice in a short period of time, which makes them a perfect way to begin to practice finding the theme using text. I love the fact that students can read multiple task card stories and practice finding the theme 20 - 30 times, in the time it might take to read a story and find the theme once. You can do task cards as a center activity, to play Scoot, or as a whole class scavenger hunt. One thing I like to do for the scavenger hunt is to make sure everyone has a partner and to pair stronger readers with struggling readers. 7. Add Some Writing After students have worked on theme for a week or two, I like to have students create their own short stories which show a strong theme, without directly stating it. This changes each student's role from a theme finder, to a theme creator and gives students insight into how authors create a situation that allows a theme to unfold. When I introduce this project, we refer back to the task cards we just completed, as an example of story length and rich content. In a matter of 2 - 3 paragraphs, students learn that they can include enough information to let our readers know our message. After students are finished creating these short stories, it's fun to share them in some way, to give more theme practice. Sometimes I have students meet in small groups to share out, with group members guessing the theme. Other years, I leave a stack on my desk and grab several if we have a few minutes. Either the students or I read the short story out loud, and the class discusses the theme. 8. Move to Passages, Short Stories, and Novels. Once we have scaffolded a great foundation for the understanding of theme, there comes a point where kids have to move on to text which is more challenging. I like to use page-long passages which I have created, before using short stories, and ultimately novels. If you're looking for some ready made materials to help you teach theme, here's a packet I love to use which works well for 4th and 5th Graders. Click here to read more about the Theme unit. Want some more teaching ideas and activities to teach theme? Click here to read Teaching Themes in Literature. If you like this post, make sure to share it with a teacher friend! Thanks so much for stopping by! For more ideas and strategies focused on upper elementary, be sure to sign up for The Teacher Next Door's free email newsletter! Bonus, you'll also gain access to my FREE Resource Library which contains exclusive upper elementary freebies that you won't find anywhere else! I'd love to connect with you! The Teacher Next Door's Website Pinterest Facebook Instagram TpT Store

Our first Reader's Theaters have been a huge success. We have performed "My Colorful Shoes" and "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive" based on stories about Pete the Cat and The Pigeon. The addition of our class microphone really took our performances to a whole new level this week. Once again Theater Thursday has become a class favorite. It is also a teacher favorite because Mrs. Mecum and I love, love, love these performances...especially the surprise break dancing and character voices! Teachers - Check out my Reader's Theater Units in my TpT store. We practice reading the scripts together on the Smartboard, then with a reading buddy and again at home with our families. These Reader's Theater are a great way to practice reading and retelling stories. Your students will fall in love with Reader's Theater.

Ignite a love for learning using stories, teaching subjects in a gentle way. Embrace learning with a literature-based homeschool curriculum!

I have been attending a history class through my district for about 3 years. I learn lots of fun, engaging strategies to teach social studies each time I attend. One strategy that I love is called: Book in a Day. This is simple. Choose a book that you want students to read. This would be a book that has important information, but something that you wouldn't be able to spend reading aloud for weeks. (You would need to have multiple copies of the same book for this to work.) I'm using this book with my sub tomorrow. Just assign each group one chapter and have them fill out this form as they go: I love this form for a couple of reasons. First, because I designed and created it from scratch (hehe!) and second, because it helps students increase their vocabulary and work on their reading comprehension skills (summarizing, determining importance and synthesizing). After everyone's done, have each group present to the class so each student gets to hear the important parts of the whole book. Like it? :)

There’s a lot of research out there that supports movement for learning. They are inter-related. Need some proof? According to researcher Terrence Dwyer, exercise supports success in school. His research found that exercise improves classroom behavior and academic performance (Dwyer, Sallis, Blizzard, Lazarus, & Dean, 2001) and that even when an experimental group got four times […]

Help your first grader practice sounding out short vowels with a fun coloring activity.

Here are the BEST phonics youtube channels for learning, reinforcing and practing reading skills we're learning in the classroom!

Tons of free printable 4th grade worksheets, games and educational activites to make learning fun for grade 4 students.

An onomatopoeia can make your writing go out with a bang. Learn different types of sounds onomatopoeia words can describe with our helpful list of examples.

Wondering how to improve reading fluency with young readers? Get eight practical tips!

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39 super fun sentence structure worksheets and activities and sentence building games to get kids excited about language arts!

With nothing more than a flat open space and some lively kids, you can reinforce key concepts of punctuation while having lots of healthy laughs.

Hi all! The big day is Tuesday! That's my first day back with my little sweeties. I'm getting excited and nervous. Yeah, can you believe after all these years of teaching I still get excited and nervous! I'm starting again this year with 30 firsties and I'm sure it will increase. I guess I should be used to it but I don't think I ever will. I thought I'd share with everyone some little tools I print to have on hand when I'm working in guided reading with my kiddos. I print several copies and have a stack of each of these by my reading table so I can quickly grab some for my lessons. Let me start by telling you that I tell my firsties they are 'smart readers under construction'. We talk about what that means and I tell them I am going to help them in every way become a smart reader. I love the word 'smart' more than 'better'. It seems more positive to me. When I think of 'better', I think well maybe I'm not very good to start with and I want my kiddos the think of themselves as good reader and I'm just going to help them be smarter reader. The first is sorting pages. I have 2, 3, 4, and 5 way sort pages. I use these a ton of ways. I might have them list short vowel words, long & short vowels, word families, inflectional endings, root word and ending, suffixes, prefixes, characters and describing words, who & what, hard & soft c or g words, the list can go on and on. Sometimes I give the words, sometimes they find the words in their reading. You can use it with the low, middle and high kids. It's open to whatever you can think of to use it with. It's a fun, quick easy practice or assessment for your kiddos. I don't make them into a booklet because I want the kids to take them home so parents can see what we are doing. The next one is the character sheet. I use this one a lot especially after I've taught describing words. I can generally use this one at the beginning of the year with my high students too. Another one I use is Did You Know. This one is great for non-fiction books. These sheets don't have to be used only in guided reading. Sometimes I'll use them with the whole class like when I read Boxcar Children. We fill out a 4-way sort on the four characters and what we know about them. There are so many possibilities, just use your creativity. If you'd like a FREE download just click HERE. Oh and some super GOOD NEWS- I have a new grandson!! This is Elijah Ray Robison. Born August 15th. He was 10 lbs. 5 ounces. My daughter has BIG boys! I just LOVE all the dark soft hair! Thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone has a terrific week!

classroom tips, teaching ideas & resources for teaching high school math

Practice grade 2 math with FREE printable 2nd grade math worksheets. Turn second grade math worksheets into a FUN Mad minutes game!

Wondering how project-based learning might work in your classroom? This guest post shares five tips for making PBL authentic and engaging for students!

Learn more about French phonics lapbooks: each set focuses on one letter-sound pair with lots of hands-on practice for lapbooks or interactive notebooks!

Teaching Text Structure can be difficult. Here are some tips for making learning text structure simple.

My son has dysgraphia and middle and high school require lots of writing. Here is what I've been doing to teach my teen with dysgraphia writing.

Simply Skilled teaching is a place where TEACHERS will TAKE THEIR WEEKENDS BACK! That is my "WHY"...that is why I created Simply Skilled Teaching!

I have a quick and simple tip for you today. Another teacher gave me this tip a few years ago and I love it! (I wish I remembered who gave me this tip and where they got the idea from so I could give the credit.) Do you ever start to give directions and you ... Read More about A quick classroom management tip

There's a lot of ground to cover when you teach creative narrative writing. Here are 5 creative narrative mini-lessons you should be sure to use!

A crafty friend of mine made my day when she told me she had a Stampin' Up Round Tab punch that she would sell me! Sounds crazy, right? Well...I am quite an organizational nerd and saw a notebook on pinterest (enough said about that) with these cool colored index tabs used in a notebook. It was like love at first sight and upon digging a little into the "pin" as one must do, I found that these awesome tabs were created with a punch (much like a hole puncher). So then my mission became finding one. I checked the Stampin' Up webpage and eBay, but before ordering from either place I put a plea out on facebook. I knew I had many crafty friends and one responded willing to part with her punch...so now that bad boy is MINE and I am so very excited about it. I know it is weird or crazy or even uncool to be this excited over an index tab, but I just can't help it - it is one more way for me to help my students get organized. Here is my teacher interactive notebook for social studies. And to the right of my notebook is pure awesomeness in a small little punch. You can see the shape it makes and then it is folded in half, with a page glued/sandwiched between it, and then labeled. Like magic, we have the coolest index tabs for our notebooks with little cost. I have 27 students in each of my classes and was able to punch enough tabs from ONE sheet of cardstock for the entire class! I think that is just pure genius! This is just a picture of my amazing punch turned upside down. My notebook with a close-up of the index tabs in place and labeled. I am not the best photgrapher, but my phone takes much better pictures than my digital camera. Student notebooks for social studies with their index tabs in place. Many of them wouldn't admit it, because it is so uncool, but they pretty much thought these tabs were pretty much as EPIC as I did!

Comparing and contrasting can be a tricky skill. This is one of my favorite ways to introduce kids to comparing and contrasting.

Does your child struggle with Dysgraphia? There are many ways to help them improve their writing. Tools and strategies to help a child with dysgraphia at home.

Here are some multisyllabic word activities that will help your student practice decoding and breaking up difficult to read and spell words.

Integrating art and content in the ELA classroom. Tips and resources.

In an effort to support my fellow English teachers during this crazy time, I've collected some helpful freebies for you to use during your digital learning. Jus

Learning to spell is not for sissies! There are so many rules and nuances to the whole operation, and it can seem overwhelming for children.

We want our kids to practice handwriting. And while practicing with handwriting pages is a good place to start, we need to make sure we incorporate some creative handwriting practice every once in a while to keep them interested. Today, I’m sharing 7 creative ways to practice handwriting, from learning formation of letters to cursive handwriting ... Read More about 7 Creative Ways to Practice Handwriting

Teaching cause and effect using informational text in the upper grade classroom can be tough. It takes a bit of logical thinking, a touch of common sense, and a whole lot of inferencing...which can be a tall order for kids this age. We can make it easier though, by giving the kids lots of opportunities to practice in a variety of ways. In this post by The Teacher Next Door, you'll learn lots of tips for teaching cause and effect in the classroom.

Get hands-on when you study William Shakespeare's plays with these activities and crafts.

In an effort to support my fellow English teachers during this crazy time, I've collected some helpful freebies for you to use during your digital learning. Jus