When I first started teaching I found numerous writing resources. I had bookshelves full! However, each of those resources failed to give me a daily, step-by-step plan, as to how to teach writing. After my first few years of floundering, I laid out a straight forward plan to share with colleagues and now you!

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The Ultimate Math Championship is a FUN and easy way to help 4th, 5th, & 6th grade students practice math skills.

I have created several matching games that can be played in multiple rounds. Using my pyramid method, students naturally become paired with others working near their skill level. The student or students with the most rounds won is crowned the classroom Ultimate Champion! It is during these math championships that my students really become excited and truly began to grasp and retain the process. 

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Hello fellow teachers! I hope everyone is staying warm with this super chilly blast of rain and snow!

Nothing quite drains teachers like a steady schedule of indoor recesses. It gets old fast. After a whole day trapped inside, our classes are in desperate need of some break time. Here are a few easy activities that make it less painful, and dare I say, even a little fun. Continue reading →

This post was originally written as a guest post on the blog Minds in Bloom.

Hi! It’s Melissa from Peas in a Pod. I am currently in my 11th year of teaching. I’ve taught kinder – 8th, thanks to a few combo classes. Writing is one of my favorite subjects to teach! There are so many ways to make it fun.  Today I’m going to guide you through personalizing super cute DIY journals with pencil holders! Continue reading →

As a parent who has now sat through four years of my son’s back to school nights, I have gained some insight. So, I thought I’d ask around and see what other parents had to say about the back to school nights they’ve attended. This is what I found:

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It’s possible to consciously change your mindset from fixed to one of continual growth. Once you have seen someone embrace a growth mindset, you can see its value. People will begin to take on challenges beyond what they might have otherwise. They push themselves with language like, “What can we learn from our mistake?” and “What are we missing?”

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As teachers we need a quick lunch that will sustain us throughout a long day. You work super hard, and you shouldn’t have to sacrifice taste just because you’re squeezed for time. Check out these easy lunch ideas for teachers! Here are some of my favorite easy, yummy, & reasonably healthy lunches. I hope you find them helpful if you’ve run into a “lunch rut”.

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My planner is the glue that holds my busy life together! I never let the last month arrive without making sure I have a new one. So far I’ve used the very functional, yet very ugly, planner my school site hands out at preservice. (They wouldn’t want us to miss a “super exciting” staff meeting!) Continue reading →

    My son has been dealing with immense fear. Phases of fearfulness are almost a rite of passage in childhood, but as parents it hurts to watch them struggle.

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Overwhelming! It’s the perfect word to sum up my first year of teaching.

It’s not all doom and despair though. It is exhausting, but your first year teaching will also be full of discoveries and excitement! I’m reflecting back and writing this post with the hope that my experience makes the transition a little smoother for other teachers.

Here are the top 7 things I wish I had known going into my first year:

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Looking for some awesome tips to increase your students’ reading fluency? It seems that so many tips and strategies on improving fluency are geared towards early elementary grades, but I’d love to share with you some strategies that work really well in grades four through six.

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1. 1.  Enter the Rafflecopter below to win a $25 Tpt gift card! (There are 4 chances to win.) Sorry, this contest is over. 🙁  …But, you can sign up HERE to be alerted for all of our future giveaways!!
   2. Our giveaway exceeds $500! Best of luck & happy holidays!

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The reading specialist in my district recently let us in on a little known “secret”! Teachers can now apply for special teacher library cards! The card lets you check out double the items, for twice as long, and they won’t accrue overdue fines. All you need to get one of these bad boys is a current teacher’s id badge. Continue reading →

Welcome! I’m joining up with a few of my favorite teacher bloggers for a book study of Jennifer Serravallo’s book, The Reading Strategies Book. Join us as we focus in on a few of our favorite reading strategies.

When our principal walks through our rooms she leaves a little note with a few compliments and a suggestion. The last suggestion she left me was to increase student talk. Knowing that this is an area I need to work on, I’m excited to take a deeper look at a few of the ideas presented in “The Reading Strategies Book”. Deepening comprehension through speaking & listening is part of the 12th goal. Here are 3 “gold nuggets” I especially liked from this chapter: Continue reading →

+++Hi! I’m joining up with a few of my favorite teacher bloggers for a book study of Jennifer Serravallo’s Reading Strategies Book. Join us as we focus in on a few of our favorite reading strategies. Continue reading →

**Sorry, this contest is over.   …But, you can sign up HERE to be alerted for all of our future giveaways!!
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