Hello, friends! I'll be doing a series of several posts this week all about Guided Reading! Today's post is all about how Guided Reading ...

If you LOVE being organized at back to school time then be sure to check out these fun classroom printables. There's also a free set of printable homework

Hi friends! Today I am talking about one of my favorite subjects: WRITING!! Over the years I have taught both Kindergarten and 1st grade and have tried a variety of different writing tricks and too…

When teaching narrative writing in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade, there are so many writing skills to cover. They range from creating a sequence of events (beginning, middle, and end) to more difficult

Our students spend 8 hours a day in our classrooms, and even though I’m not a parent, I can’t imagine not knowing what’s going on. So from Weebly, to Twitter, to newsletters, to Y…

Build number sense by reinforcing the math strategy of making ten. Teach students to make 10 to add and strengthen their mental math skills.

Take a look at number sense workstations for kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and place value workstations for third grade!

This is one of my very favorite worksheets that I've ever made! It allows students to be creative and share with the class, along with openi...

Ready to rock teaching beginning of year writing in first grade? These early days of writing instruction must be targeted and on point. Click to learn more.

This Must Do May Do System is the HACK to your rotating reading centers! Have smooth-running groups and effective independent work time.

Click here to see 100th Day Activities and FREEBIES for Kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade. Some of these could even work for preschool! Also check out the book suggestions!

Do you do writing workshop with your students? My program has evolved over the last 23 years, and now it runs smoothly – although I can’t help but add new ideas each year! Long before I expect students to write stories, we spend a lot of time discussing stories. For example, every time we read […]

Planning and prepping differentiated math centers can be simple when using the Math Workshop framework. Less prep time and greater student growth is a win-win.

When teaching narrative writing in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade, there are so many writing skills to cover. They range from creating a sequence of events (beginning, middle, and end) to more difficult

Are you concerned that your students are not getting the most out of your phonics instruction? It's easy to become frustrated and feel like we're not doing

When it comes to engaging and educational activities for young learners, worksheets are a go-to resource. These versatile tools provide an opportunity to reinforce important concepts while keeping children entertained. Whether you're a parent, teacher, or homeschooler, incorporating worksheets into your Halloween-themed lessons can make learning more enjoyable for kids. With a wide variety of cutting and pasting activities specifically designed for Halloween, these printables are designed to captivate the attention of children and encourage fine motor skills development.

One question that I get asked more often than any other question is, 'What is your daily schedule?' Take a look at my daily schedule in 1st grade.

Seven effective first grade assessment tools to test student knowledge with checklists, journals, observations, conferences, and rubrics.

Are you looking for Anchor Charts that align with the McGraw-Hill Wonders curriculum? My 1st grade Wonders anchor charts are the perfect reference to the weekly focus. How to use: project and trace onto chart paper print and hang up print and have students glue in their reading notebooks Includes: Weekly Anchor Charts for the entire Wonders curriculum PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A GROWING BUNDLE. PLEASE SEE WHAT IS CURRENTLY INCLUDED BEFORE PURCHASING. CURRENTLY INCLUDES: SMART START WEEK 1 - nursery rhymes, characters SMART START WEEK 2 - fairy tales, characters SMART START WEEK 3 - nonfiction, visualization, main topic and details UNIT 1 WEEK 1 - realistic fiction, characters UNIT 1 WEEK 2 - realistic fiction, characters, fantasy UNIT 1 WEEK 3 - fantasy, characters, setting, events UNIT 1 WEEK 4 - nonfiction, main topic and details UNIT 1 WEEK 5 - nonfiction, personal narrative, main topic and details UNIT 1 WEEK 6 - play UNIT 2 WEEK 1- nonfiction, fantasy, main topic and details UNIT 2 WEEK 2- nonfiction, fantasy, setting, character, topic Since these topics overlap through the Wonders curriculum, you can reuse the anchor charts! I like to write the Units and Weeks that the anchor chart will be used, then laminate them. Sign up for FREEBIES HERE Get TpT credit to use on future purchases: Go to your "My Purchases" page and click the "Leave a Review" button to leave feedback. For each review, TpT will give you credits that you can use toward your future purchases! Connect with me on Instagram! Tag me in a picture of you using these resources for a chance to be featured on my page! Cultivating Brilliant Minds Instagram Page Make sure to FOLLOW ME to be alerted when new products are available.

Here are 7 Bible Verse Memory Games that are fun, creative, and unique! Plus these Memory verse activiteis work with any Bible verse.

I did it! I created my own Musical Jenga game. I got the inspiration from the Sing A New Song blog, who in turn got the idea from someone on the Faber Piano Adventures forums. (To view a list of other favorite games with musical spins, click here.) I found an off-brand version of the Jenga game… Continue reading Musical Jenga!

First Grade Language Arts Full Year Work Book 36 Weeks of Language Arts skills build work pages to go along with our First Grade curriculum. Please if you find errors, message me. It has been crazy…

A spelling or word work practice sheet on which students write their words in a spiral shape.

Each year I have my first graders write prayers towards the end of the year in their journals. Five of the prayers are picked to read ...

Turn addition and subtraction practice into a fun math activity for K-2nd graders with Math Mysteries. Print free math mystery worksheets!

Mother Teresa is such an amazing modern Saint to teach kids about, and her popularity is hard to top! Catholics and non Catholics alike celebrate this amazing woman and acknowledge her many accomplishments and good

Focus on fluency in your upper elementary classroom with these fun and engaging partner play scripts and seven fluency posters! Many free resources are included in this blog post!

One of my top goals this year is to convince my kids that they are writers. Writing is not just something your teacher makes you do. It is a way to express yourself. I feel like one of the best ways to get through to my kids is to give them authentic purposes for their writing. As we neared the end of writing personal narratives, we decided to have a Publishing Party. We invited the principal, the class across the hall, and few other guests! The kids were pumped and worked extra hard to polish up their final pieces. On the day of the party, I typed up a list of our favorite authors (In Cara Carroll fonts of course). After I cut out the names, I glued them to a big piece of butcher paper. The paper would serve two purposes. One- I could hang it behind the kids as kind of a backdrop. Two (and much more importantly) the kids would see THEIR names by some of the greatest authors out there. They grinned from ear to ear. They got my message loud and clear (they also tried really hard to get their names right by their personal favorites). One by one the kids read their personal narratives to their audience. After we read we celebrated a little more with a little snack, but don't worry- we were back to the grind the next day. I can't WAIT to celebrate our informative writing next time! This week I took a little break from our reading series to do a Patricia Polacco author study. If you follow me on FB or Instagram, you know I am borderline obsessed with Polacco. NO ONE tells a story better than she does. Yesterday we read Thundercake and so of course we had to make some! I had already decided that I was going to have the kids write a summary of Thundercake since we are working SO hard on that skill, but as I was making a mad dash through the grocery story to find everything I needed- an idea struck me! Isn't that how it always works! I decided that I would much prefer to have my students make personal connections to the book and write about their own fears. We decided instead of making "Thunder"cake, we were making "Fear"cake. So first we brainstormed our fears. I *may* have had to hide a snicker over seagulls. After we brainstormed our fears, I had them do a little bit of prewriting. I have found that when my kids fill out an extensive graphic organizer before they write a final draft, that their final draft is almost the "summarized" version. So I decided I was going to give the kids one pink post-it and three blue post-its. The pink post-it was for their fear and the blue post-its were for the three ingredients that they would add to their fear cake to help them get rid of their fears. We talked about "cooking lingo" and I was blown away by the voice they added to their writing. This little cutie said her cake needed a "dash of bravery, a sprinkle of protection, and a cup of happiness" I was THRILLED with their pieces because they were able to give a one to two sentence summary of Thundercake, a personal connection, and a bit of creative writing when making up their cake recipes! Perfection! And of COURSE I let them bake! Smiles, friends- tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!

Structured literacy is evidence-based instruction requires clear, direct teaching, sequential lessons, continuous assessment, and multimodal techniques to engage various parts of the reading brain.…