Our downstairs neighbors include a set of second grade twins who love to “play” with my fourteen-month-old son. They frequently run back and forth between our apartments toting toy after toy to show him. While he is too young to play with the vast majority of remote control Barbie cars or BeyBlades they bring up,… Continue reading
POST CATEGORY : Classroom Ideas
“Elementary (Logic), my dear Watson…”
I married into a family of mystery fanatics. Sherlock Holmes. Agatha Christie. Family viewing of Murder She Wrote and Masterpiece Mystery each week. My husband grew up cracking codes and solving cases from Agent Arthur books in the backseat on long car trips. They even do Murder Mystery puzzles on vacation (still). It is no… Continue reading
Voracious Readers: CAFE mini-lesson
I love big words. I love the way they look in print. I love discovering a new one and letting it slip out casually in conversation. I was not certain that first graders shared this appreciation until I began a simple 5 minute mini-lesson to introduce the dual-edged strategy of Voracious Reading a few years… Continue reading
So Ready for Chapter Books
It is every kindergarten teacher’s dream/nightmare–encountering a bright young student who can already decode most any text you put in front of them. It is equal parts amazing to see such a little one devouring text and overwhelming to think how you will support and challenge that child throughout the year. Too often however, these… Continue reading
Orton-Gillingham and Words Their Way
This summer I attended the Orton-Gillingham 30-hour Comprehensive training to kickstart my new role as a reading interventionist. I felt like I needed a more structured method for teaching phonics and word study to our struggling readers and I have truly used the strategies daily in all of my intervention groups and in my second… Continue reading
Nerdiness and New Goals
I am a nerd. A book nerd. A word nerd. A journalism major who corrects her husband’s use of apostrophes constantly. I even know who invented the word nerd. I would be equally content to hold a brand new book unopened, page through an old favorite, or read aloud to a classroom full of… Continue reading