Best Year EVER!

Don't forget to check out all of the great sales on Teachers Pay Teachers on August 1st & 2nd.

Developing a Love of Poetry

We all know that poetry is not a genre our kids typically choose to read and becomes tricky for them when they begin to analyze it. I blame myself for that. Do I expose my kids to enough poetry? Do I let a passion for poetry shine through as I teach it?

I want to improve in this area and help my kids foster a love and understanding for poetry. I am digging to find more diverse texts to share with my kids. Here are a few that I can not wait to share this year.

What are some great mentor texts that you use for poetry?

Happy New Year and a FREEBIE!

Here is a quick little Guided Reading form I thought I would share.

Happy 2016!

TPT Cyber Smile Sale

Don't miss out on the opportunity to buy some of those much needed (and wanted) items on your wishlist on sale from your favorite authors!!!

Happy Shopping!!

Do You Have A Data Room?

We all know how much data drives instruction in education today. I was asked at the beginning of the year to help set up the Data Room. Ours is very simple and a work in progress.

Every grade level has a section. Every child has a laminated magnetic tag. The tag has information about them and their levels on current testing. Then, students are sorted into tiers. Next, teachers take the tags to divide into intervention groups and make plans for them according to need.

We also plan on posting our praises and goals.

I would love to see and hear all of the great ideas you have. Let me hear them!

SHHHHHHHHH....BEWARE Live Monsters!!!

A few weeks ago I walked into one of my classrooms and was greeted by children telling me to watch out there were live monsters in the room. This teacher gave each child a monster. The monster was their writing buddy. Sometimes these monsters brought messages, made messes and kept us all on our toes. One day 3 were even sent to the monster hospital. The kids were so motivated to write! It was precious to hear their whisper conversations with their monsters. The writing was precious and brought great quality. These kids have now taken their monsters home but are still very motivated in writing. What a great idea and joy to see!

Red Ribbon Week Doors

This post is mainly for me to have as reference when I am looking for a good door decoration. So I snapped pictures of some cute doors from our campuses door decorating contest.