I recently asked teachers on my Facebook page what their biggest classroom challenge was. At least half of the teachers responded that their biggest challenge was dealing with talkative students. I want to share my tips and strategies for dealing with a talkative class. Let me start by saying, there is NOT a simple and

Dear Teacher, I was a little nervous about writing this letter. I don't want to offend anyone. I don't want to make people feel bad. I don't want mean hate mail. I'm writing this because I love teachers and I have a huge heart for serving the teaching community. I hope you know that everything

As we continue to teach from home and practice safe distancing, many of us are looking for ways to keep students excited about learning. It’s become vital to expand their horizons past local school yards and playgrounds. Virtual tours from around the country contribute to not only adding some fun alternatives to their day (and

Congratulations fifth grade teacher! Fifth graders are very independent and curious. They have such fun personalities starting to emerge and are beginning to act like miniature adults. I love their sense of humor! Now that you know you will be teaching fifth grade, you are probably starting to wonder what resources you might want to

Can I be really honest with you? Don't judge me, but I really hated teaching reading, writing and grammar during my first few years of teaching. I dreaded my ELA block every day. I found it boring to teach! I LOVE to read and write, but I felt like my lessons were causing my

Thanks for popping in to read the third part of my ELA blog series! If you missed either of the first two posts, you can use the links below to get caught up. Part One: Whole Group Reading Lessons Part Two: Reading Centers Today I am sharing all about my vocabulary instruction! Vocabulary instruction is

"UGH! Do I have to write?!" I bet you have heard this before! We all have some students who don't like writing and spend all of their time complaining, napping, and staring at the clock. I lovingly refer to these students as "reluctant writers." Most reluctant writers don't feel confident in their ability to write,

I created a quickie lesson based on a pin I found on Pinterest. This is a great lesson for students who #1. tattle and #2. misunderstand y...

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

Many teachers are now using platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet to reach their students. While many teachers use this platform to teach or review standards with their students, many are also using it for socialization during these times and there are lots of great distance learning activities you can use to engage your

Thanks for popping in to read the third part of my ELA blog series! If you missed either of the first two posts, you can use the links below to get caught up. Part One: Whole Group Reading Lessons Part Two: Reading Centers Today I am sharing all about my vocabulary instruction! Vocabulary instruction is

Thanks for popping in to read the third part of my ELA blog series! If you missed either of the first two posts, you can use the links below to get caught up. Part One: Whole Group Reading Lessons Part Two: Reading Centers Today I am sharing all about my vocabulary instruction! Vocabulary instruction is

Congratulations fourth grade teacher! Fourth graders can be very independent and curious. The topics they are tackling in math are interesting and you are going to LOVE class read alouds. There are so many awesome fourth grade books! Now that you know you will be teaching fourth grade, you are probably starting to wonder what

Teachers all over the world are scrambling to learn new technology and strategies for teaching virtually. It's not easy, and so we wanted to help! Our team has created several FREE resources for Google Classroom! Not using Google Classroom? No worries! Most of these resources can be downloaded as a PowerPoint and used in Schoology,

One of my favorite parts about teaching the Masterclass each year is hearing from alumni about how the course has transformed their writing instruction. So far, we have had over 7000 teachers take the course, and the stories our teacher friends share make me laugh, cry, and want to stand up and dance. This week

Thanks for popping in to read the third part of my ELA blog series! If you missed either of the first two posts, you can use the links below to get caught up. Part One: Whole Group Reading Lessons Part Two: Reading Centers Today I am sharing all about my vocabulary instruction! Vocabulary instruction is

Are you struggling to find time to teach meaningful vocabulary lessons? I was! So I did lots of reading and research about vocabulary. I made it a professional goal to improve the quality of my vocabulary instruction. I tried a lot of different things. I gave my students a dictionary and had them look up the

Did you look at all of my free math resources? I sure hope so! Today, I am crazy excited to share some free ELA resources that I have made for you. Enjoy! Free Vocabulary Games Are you having fun with your vocabulary words? How about playing some games in a center or as a whole

There is no doubt about it -- we live in a different world than we did just six months ago. Covid-19 has brought lots of fear and uncertainty to the world of education. What will school look like next year? Will we wear masks? Will we have students in the classroom or will we still

In this week’s episode we have an amazing guest, Ashley Marquez from Teach, Create, Motivate.

Can you believe that teachers in my district start back to school next week?! Crazy! If you are also headed back to school soon, you are going to want to start thinking about fun back to school activities! If you just started your summer break, pin this post and get back in the pool!Save Fred:My

I LOVED teaching third grade math! If I could have found a way to teach nothing but third grade math- I would have been in heaven. I did not like math as a child. I just couldn't understand WHY! I was THAT kid asking, "When will I use this?" "Why does that work?" My math

Hello! I'm Kelli from the Tenacious Teacher and I'm thrilled to be sharing on Not So Wimpy Teacher's blog about my experience rolling out flexible seating!I took the plunge (it was more like a graceful belly flop) last year and blogged about some things I realized both here and here. However, today I'm sharing some

Congratulations! You should be very proud of your accomplishments and your new job. I probably don't need to tell you that teaching is not an easy job. Showing up every day for your students will, at times, be exhausting and overwhelming. There will be times where you feel like you are buried in to do

Does anyone else feel like teaching grammar and language is tedious and repetitive? Every year we teach the same skills, and every year we reteach those same skills. Then, we get frustrated when we read student writing. They didn't capitalize! Why won't they use proper punctuation? How hard is it to learn their plurals and

During my first couple of years as a teacher, I always had a class read aloud sitting on my desk. It would take months to actually finish it because I so rarely had time to just sit and read to my third graders. Too many standards and assessments. Too many interruptions and mandates. I am

Can you believe that teachers in my district start back to school next week?! Crazy! If you are also headed back to school soon, you are going to want to start thinking about fun back to school activities! If you just started your summer break, pin this post and get back in the pool!Save Fred:My

Do you set aside a time for explicit vocabulary instruction to your whole class? Are you differentiating your vocabulary instruction for those struggling learners? Spending 10-15 minutes daily on vocabulary instruction is a meaningful way to help build students' comprehension skills. I suggest focusing on tier two words. These are words that students may not

You’ve probably heard it a million times. Relationships are at the core of successful teaching. You can’t expect students to care about learning until they know you care about them. So it's important to build a strong connection with students. When students feel connected to their teacher and to one another they perform better socially

Math workshop is my favorite way to teach math. But you might be wondering how to organize your math centers schedules. Here are some tips

Teaching writing can be challenging. Writing is very subjective. There really isn't one right way to write. That's why we don't all like to read the same books. And it makes writing instruction a tad difficult. On top of that, teachers struggle to squeeze writing into their already full classroom schedule. The struggle is real.

As a classroom teacher, one of our jobs is to build a team between us, our students, the parents or caregivers, and administration. Without a doubt, the environment of a classroom will be more challenging and our job becomes tougher if the team is broken somewhere along the way. Building a relationship with your classroom

I wrote this post for the iTeach Third blog! Make sure you are following!Let's be honest, pencils are a constant battle in the classroom! I decided early on that students would not be permitted to sharpen pencils in my classroom. I did this for several reasons: I find the sound to be a HUGE distraction

I am a book worm! Nothing is better than having an abundance of fiction and nonfiction books to share with your students. However, when my shelves are stocked, it's hard to keep track of what books I have, have read, which books are popular, and which ones the students have checked out. Luckily, technology has

I am super pumped about this math centers blog post series! Check it out: Part One: Why You Need to Have Math Centers Math Center Activities Math Center Schedule Starting Math Centers at the Beginning of the Year. Math centers and guided math groups are the heart and soul of my math instruction. I can’t imagine teaching

Hello teacher friends! Do you struggle to find time to teach meaningful writing lessons? Do you find it difficult to meet individual student writing needs? Do you wish you could be a #kickbutt writing teacher? I have you covered! You can think of me as your "writing fairy godmother." #iwantglassslippers I am offering you a

Math is my very favorite subject to teach! I love that it lends itself so nicely to hands-on activities and games. There are so many ways that you can take a dry math curriculum and make it fun! These ideas are perfect for the classroom teacher or a homeschooler! 1. Integrate Technology I know that

Not many teachers light up when they hear the word grammar. Maybe you recall your own days of diagramming sentences under the watchful eye of your high school English teacher. Or you feel slightly anxious as you worry about past participles, dangling prepositions, and plural possessives. Most students don’t exactly get excited by nouns, verbs,

Test taking season is here. I know that testing is not fun. Test prep does not have to be stressful for you and your students. Check out these simple tips for preparing for math testing.Use math centers to teach skills all yearComing up with engaging math lessons for both new concepts