On Wednesday, January 20, 2021 Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President of the U.S. Inauguration Day, which only happens once every four years, is a special opportunity to teach students about history in real time. And this Inauguration Day Resource makes it easy to teach students about this special day. If you studied the ... Continue Reading
Starting Writing Fresh in the New Year
There’s a common expression that “September is the other January.” The return to a structured schedule is a natural time to set new goals and settle into new routines. This happens at the start of every school year. But in the classroom, the opposite is also true. January is the other September. In September you set goals and establish classroom ... Continue Reading
Improving the Quality of Student Work in Centers
I love centers. And so did my students. We did math and reading centers almost every day. Centers can be an incredibly valuable time in your classroom---or it can just be a time filler. If students are not producing quality independent work, then it is not a good use of time. Here are a few tips for improving the quality of student work in ... Continue Reading
60 Free Writing Prompts (and when to use them in your classroom)
Right now, some of my long-time followers are thinking that I have lost my mind. "Writing prompts? But, Jamie, you hate writing prompts!" It's true. I have spent several years teaching about the reasons that I don't use prompts in my writing workshop. I will keep spreading the word, but I also recognize that there is a time and a place for a ... Continue Reading
5 Ways to Spend Less Time at School (and still be an amazing teacher)
I resisted becoming a teacher. I had friends and family members who were teachers and I saw how much time they spent working at school and working at home. That scared me because I wanted to be a mom. I was worried about how to be an effective teacher and mother. When I finally gave in to my desire to be a teacher, I went in determined to be ... Continue Reading
Resources Every 3rd Grade Teacher Needs
I adored teaching third grade! I love that the students are independent, but they still think that I am cool. Teaching multiplication is exciting and it's fun to help students discover their true love for reading. But, when I started teaching third grade, I lacked good resources. I found myself searching Pinterest and TpT every weekend or spending ... Continue Reading
Teaching Students to Edit Their Own Writing
I hear from teachers every day who are flustered because their students do not edit their writing. "They tell me they don't have any mistakes to correct, even though they didn't capitalize the first word of each sentence and they forgot most of the punctuation. Don't get me started on their spelling!" Sound familiar? Teaching young writers to edit ... Continue Reading
A Thanksgiving Activity Your Students Will Love
Students will love this Thanksgiving activity where they will be using their math and problem-solving skills to plan a holiday dinner. They might get so engrossed in the fun that they don't even realize that they are doing math! This resource is perfect for in-person and virtual classrooms in grades 2-5. Let me give you a peak into this new ... Continue Reading
Teaching Grammar: A Free Mini-Course
Teaching grammar can be so overwhelming. There are countless rules and then a list or rule breakers for every rule. The language standards are extensive and can take a significant amount of time to teach. But who has extra time? No teacher that I know has a long block of time for teaching grammar. What if I told you that grammar can effectively be ... Continue Reading
5 Things You Don’t Have to Do When Teaching Writing
Teachers are almost used to being told that they need to do more - especially in 2020. Learn new technology. Become an effective online teacher. Teach in-person and virtually at the same time. Research new curriculum. The list goes on and on. I want to switch things up. I want to give you a list of things you DON'T have to do! I have been ... Continue Reading
