Looking for esl task cards to use with your english language learners? Try these picture cards that are perfect for quick and effective language practice!
Reading Response activities will likely form a major part of your reading programme, whether you are running guided reading groups, a daily 5 system,
Do you hate to teach poetry? Do you want your students to learn and enjoy poetry? Try these simple ways to learn how to teach poetry...
For years, I have witnessed, over and over again, the value of using pictures to teach reading skills in my classroom. I always use them to introduce reading skills like inference, story elements, ca
If you're tired of teaching parts of speech lessons only to have kids forget all about it the next day, try these easy ideas and activities!
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
Close reading is an essential skill for middle school and high school English Language Arts. Students need to be able to decipher complex texts, and this strategy will help students take their literary analysis to a deeper level during reading workshop. It will also help facilitate writing worksho
Today’s Wednesday, and that means it’s one day closer to being break for me. And for the rest of you, only three more days ’til the weekend! Today’s post offers you another …
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.
Enjoy this FREE Roll-a-Story Writing Activity from MsJordanReads to kick-start your back-to-school writing fun! Students will love creating story starters using the mix-and-match story elements from the chart! (All you nice is a dice!) Download this free resource and for a fun, back-to-school activity! :) Happy Teaching!
Kids put their reading comprehension skills to work as they write out the main idea and come up with their own concluding sentence for this paragraph.
Ready to create learning stations? They require a purposeful and strategic design in order for the experience to be meaningful. Start here!
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
Classroom Freebies Too is more freebies for more teachers!
Introducing students to challenging words through Word of the Week can help increase their confidence in reading, writing, & speaking.
In today's post, I'll explain the differences between shared reading and a readaloud!
Give your child practice with his sentence building skills with this printable worksheet that's all about capital letters.
One of my favorite lessons to teach in my short story unit is the Hero’s Journey. I enjoy teaching the hero's journey because I love seeing my students’ aha! moments - the moment when they get it, and they start making the connections between the content I am teaching and their favorite books and movies. Their faces light up, and faint chatter about Harry Potter, various Disney movies, and other stories slowly fills the room.
Here is a collection of eight class discussion techniques to structure classroom discussion and ensure all students' equal participation.
Synonyms and Antonyms Anchor Chart! This blog post contains the material to create this anchor chart, plus a FREE interactive notebook entry for synonyms and antonyms!
Most great stories are exaggerated to make them seem even more exciting or crazy. Help your child understand hyperbole with this fill-in-the-blank activity.
This post explains how teachers can use an academic version of the highly engaging Spoons game to review concepts. Free games included!
Choosing a theme for your classroom can be both exciting and challenging. What best represents your personality? What would the students choose? Some teachers choose not to have a theme and may use a color scheme instead. Summer vacation is a perfect time to plan and organize for the upcoming school year. There are so many resources to use online to help you create a classroom that is both inviting and conducive to learning. Listed below are some of my favorite themes with creative sayings to display classroom materials and highlight students. Dog Theme - Students and teachers love dogs! What a wonderful way for students to make personal connections with their classroom. Even for students who are not dog owners, these cute and adorable animals brighten up any classroom. "Barking About ______" is a title that can be used in a variety of ways. Highlight a subject area or activity on a bulletin board. Just add student work and this board will be something to bark about. "Top Dog" can be used to describe a student of the week or month. You can create a bulletin board highlighting students for their accomplishments. "Dog-Gone Good ______" is another title with endless possibilities. You can add words such as students, work, behavior, readers, writers, scientists, etc. This title will fit perfectly on a bulletin board in your dog themed classroom "Paws"itively __________" is a wonderful play on words for a dog theme. You can add so many different words to highlight students, subject areas, and classroom activities. "You've been Spotted ________" can be used for so many different bulletin boards. Ideas include: reading, writing, working, behaving, and following class rules. Click below for a free dog theme poster: If interested in more dog theme decor, click below: Dog Theme Classroom Decor Hollywood Theme - I have used this theme in my classroom for several years. You can actually check out pictures of my Hollywood classroom on my blog. I love the idea of the students becoming stars of their classroom. If you like to coordinate your room with certain colors, then red, white, and black will really stand out in your Hollywood themed classroom. Some ideas that you can use on bulletin boards to spotlight students, activities, and lessons include: "Spotlight on ___________" can be used for almost any idea. Students love to see their work spotlighted and this helps build their self esteem. "Now Featuring/Playing __________" is similar to "Spotlight on _________." You can highlight students, specific lessons and/or activities. "Wall of Fame" can be used to motivate students. If students complete an assigned goal then their name can be added to the Wall of Fame. Students become more motivated when they realize that their hard work will be acknowledged. "Starring ___________" is another idea with endless possibilities. You can add your class name, grade level, or a description such as super students. "A Star is Born" can be used to spotlight a student of the week. Students can bring in baby pictures of themselves to add to this bulletin board. "Meet the Cast and Crew of ___________" is a perfect way to add your teacher name. This board should be displayed at the beginning of the year. "Look Who's Popping in ___________" can also be used at the beginning of the year to introduce the new students of your class. I used it in my classroom for Accelerated Reader. The students "popped" as they earned points. "Hollyword" is a wonderful title for your word wall. I used a wipe off board to display my words and hung the sign above the board. "Stage Crew" can be used as the title of your helpers bulletin board. I labeled the helpers with all Hollywood themed names. Click below for free Hollywood themed homework passes: If interested in more Hollywood Theme decor, click below: Hollywood Theme Classroom Decor Jungle Theme - Another favorite theme that I have used in the past. There are so many possibilities with this theme that it makes it easier to decorate a classroom. I am wild about a jungle themed classroom. "Wild About __________" can be used by adding any subject. Student work can be displayed according to the subject that was chosen. "Roaring About _____________" is very similar to "Wild About ___________." You can add any subject or topic. Add student work and the board is complete. "You've Been Spotted _____________" reading, writing, behaving, and working are just some of the ideas that you can use with this board. "Swinging into _____________" just needs the grade level added to it. You have a perfect bulletin board for the beginning of the school year. "Welcome to the Jungle" can be displayed on your door. Perfect addition to your jungle themed classroom. "Rules of the Jungle" can be included with your classroom rules. It is important for students to be able to read the rules and review them often. "Exploring ____________" is another topic that can be used with any subject, topic, or lesson that you are teaching. Click below for free jungle themed hallway passes: If interested in more jungle themed classroom decor, click below: Jungle Themed Classroom Decor Farm Theme - Love this theme for primary classrooms! The main color of this theme is red and the animals bring along many other colors to brighten up a classroom. Some ideas to include in your farm themed classroom: "Mooooving Along in ________________" can be used to highlight a grade level, teacher's class, or subject area. Just place a drawing of a cow and the board is all set. "You've Been Spotted __________" is a great title for spotlighting a specific activity. Ideas include reading, writing, behaving, following directions, and completing homework "Down on the Farm with ____________" just needs the teacher's name added and you can use this at the beginning of the school year to welcome your students. "Round Up for _____________" is perfect for any subject area or topic taught. Add student work and the board is complete. Click below for a farm themed reading certificate: If interested in more farm themed classroom decor, click below: Farm Themed Classroom Decor Pirate Theme - Students love this theme. The colors include mostly red, black, and white. Where do you mostly find pirates? Sailing on the blue ocean under a blue sky. So blue is also another color that can be added to your pirate theme. Listed below are some suggestions to enhance your classroom: "We ARGH..." is a wonderful starter sentence and the possibilities are endless. We ARGH following the class rules. We ARGH prepared for class. We ARGH excited for school. We ARGH ready for ____ grade. We ARGH readers. We ARGH wishing our classmates a happy birthday. Add your own words to this sentence starter and your pirate themed bulletin boards are all set. "____________ is a real treasure!" is another heading you can use on bulletin boards. Add different subjects in the blank and you can use this to display your students work. "You ARGH top crew!" can be used to highlight the student of the week. Display these words on a bulletin board to showcase one particular student or a group of students. "Sailing into...." can be used for the beginning of the year. Just add the grade level or teacher's name and you have a title ready for your back to school bulletin board or classroom door. "Gold ___________" can be used to spotlight students. "Gold Readers" can be used to motivate students with a reading incentive program. "Gold Mathematicians" can be used to display outstanding math work. You can use this sentence starter to highlight students who are displaying academic success, positive behavior, and/or showing acts of kindness. Click below for a pirate themed top crew certificate: If interested in pirate theme classroom decor, click below: Pirate Theme Classroom Decor Hope these ideas help enhance your classroom! In the comments section would love to hear about your classroom themes and any additional ideas that you have.
Follow these five steps to teach a child to read. Helpful for parents, homeschoolers, and teachers that are teaching beginning readers.
Supercharge your morning work with I Heart Literacy! Each page features a fun theme so your students will not only be practicing reading and ELA skills, but will also be learning about a curriculum-based topic. A wide variety of Common Core skills are addressed. Try these five free pages for free! Happy Teaching! Rachel Lynette ... Read More about Morning Work ELA and Reading Freebie!
Objective: Students will be able to create alliterations based on the poem “Bleezer’s Ice Cream” By Jack Prelutsky. Vocabulary: Alliteration Time: Approximately 1 hour and 30 minu…
A blog full of tips, lessons, and ideas to use in the upper elementary classroom.
Your student will summarize a passage from Charles Dicken's classic novel, "Oliver Twist" in this worksheet.
We know how important it is to teach our students to make inferences when they read. It's a tricky concept, and one that needs to be taught again and again. Students often confusing inferring with making predictions and observations, and some are just confused all together! Som
Summary writing is a vital skill, which any English Language Arts student should acquire; learning to summarize will help them learn to analyze what they read, write concisely and paraphrase. This lesson will work well as part of a larger writing unit, or when studying writing. However, it would als...
Creepy crawly spiders! Heights! The dark! These are some common top fears to name a few, and if you're anything like me, heck, you're not to...
In this worksheet, learners will proofread 12 sentences for punctuation, adding the missing commas.
Freebie Friday! Enjoy a FREE non-fiction text structure reference sheet for your classroom! Students can use this resource to identify features of various non-fiction texts while supporting their learning of content.Visit my store to download this freebie, or click on the picture below! (Click on the picture above for a direct link to the freebie!) Interested in collecting more resources for integrating non-fiction text structures? Check out my blog post here! It shares many lesson ideas and additional freebies!
Looking for free grammar games to make teaching fun? This list of games for teaching parts of speech, punctuation, and writing will provide fun all year!
Learn about scaffolds you can add to help your ESL students as they are writing about photographs. Photographs offer great insperation for ELLs to write...
Use the train analogy to teach students about subjects and predicates! This blog post contains an anchor chart and several matching activities.
Wondering how to engage students in meaningful learning? This ultimate list of active learning strategies is a great reference to use while lesson planning.
The Unfair Game is a totally unfair twist on Jeopardy that your students will LOVE to hate! Learn how to play and find sample game boards in this post.
Compare and contrast singular possessives and plural possessives with this anchor chart.
