Today, I’m excited to share my new favorite Thanksgiving read-aloud, Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet, along with some ELA activities you can incorporate into your kindergarten, first grade, and second grade classrooms. (PS. I definitely think you could use them with your third graders, too!) I’ve talked a lot recently about the library of read-aloud activity sets that […]

February is a fun month in the classroom! There are plenty of thematic activities for February to incorporate into your curriculum, including Black History to recognize and celebrate, Ground Hog Day, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, Dental Health and the Winter Olympics this year! And, you’re supposed to cover it all in the shortest month of […]

As a first grade teacher, assembling literacy centers wasn’t always the highlight of my weekly preparations. In fact, it seemed downright cumbersome at times to find or create something that would hold the attention of my kiddos for ten to fifteen minutes and was engaging and could be completed independently so that I could work with guided reading […]

How exciting is it that we’re just a month away from the Winter Games?! For some reason, I have strong memories associated with the Winter Olympics. My earliest memory of the  is from 1994 when I was in fifth grade and they were played in Lillehammer! I had a subscription to Sports Illustrated for Kids […]

Do you find yourself wondering what you’ll gift your kiddos this holiday season? While I LOVE gifting students books, I think there is so much value in giving them something personalized and meaningful. However, I also want it to be affordable because hello there’s twenty-five-ish of them. So, what are good holiday gifts for students? Enter: […]

If you’re anything like me, you LOVE some good literacy center activities. You love seeing your kiddos engaged, exploring new skills, and excited about their learning. You’re also probably like me in that you’re a big fan of centers that are easy to introduce, skill-oriented yet basic enough for kindergarten and first grade students to […]

I’ve just released my latest teacher tool that is ideal for accompanying your kindergarten or first grade ELA curriculum. It’s basic in principle, simple to prep, and will help support the ELA activities you’re doing in your classroom. Each resource will contain 50 sets of flashcards that you can use to for a variety of purposes […]

If you’ve visited before, you know I feel pretty strongly about incorporating crafts into the elementary classroom.  They have SO many benefits! Here are some of my favorite math crafts that are perfect for using with kindergarten and first grade students. They’re great for back to school or any time of year you want to […]

It’s the week that report cards are due and, as you look over the report card skills and standards, you’re suddenly thinking: Did I assess that? Did my students master that skill? I think he mastered it, but I don’t remember? I think he struggles, but I don’t have evidence? Did I teach this?!?!?! Well, […]

Joy is my One Little Word for the year, and I’ve recently begun reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. She talks about expressing gratitude every day to our amazing Maker, even over the smallest things to help find the joy in life that is so readily available to us if we’d only seek it. Some of […]