I always like to start off a new school year reading a fun picture book to each class.  I think it’s important to set the tone, and show them the power of a good story.  As a result, I’m always on the lookout for great books to read for the beginning of the year.  I…

Over a year ago, I decided to revise my Literacy Lesson Plans and try to find a way to avoid having problems with broken links.  Sadly it took a lot longer than I expected (life events and jobs kept getting in the way) but I’m happy to announce that the Updated Kinder Lesson Plans are finally…

Sometimes, unexpected, events lend themselves to a perfect teaching opportunity.  This is the story of how I was able to teach real-life research to my students with two, tiny rescued kittens! Nine weeks ago, someone abandoned two teeny tiny kittens in the parking lot of my school. They were crawling as best they could, lost and…

I was doing some early “spring cleaning” over winter break, and came across an old pocket chart that I used when I was teaching in the classroom.  A flood of ideas came to me while I was on break on how I could use the pocket chart in the library with some of the lessons…

Teaching third, fourth, and fifth grade students about genres is something I have always done, but this year I decided to incorporate it with setting reading goals for the new year.   I have to tell you…this lesson on setting reading genre goals has quickly become one of my favorite lessons to do with kids!  I’m…