Spring is in the air, which means it’s an ideal time to dive into a spring poetry unit. I’ve used the poem of the week format in my K-2 classrooms and now in my homeschool. Poetry is an ideal format for teaching a boatload of skills and standards without the burden of a ton of […]
Make Vowel Work Meaningful with Directed Drawings
Are your students struggling with vowel sounds? As an artist and teacher, I believe one of the best practices for teaching vowel sounds is through directed drawings. Vowels can be very tricky for young readers, so giving children a visual anchor with directed drawings can help make vowels stick! Rather than just looking at an […]
Free Penguin Writing Activity: Penguin Facts
Need a fun and interactive writing activity for your penguin unit? Take your penguin research into a rookery of fun with this freebie! Did you know that there are 17 species of penguins? We learned this and many more interesting facts about penguins. My son is still a new writer, so he dictated his sentences […]
Free Winter Literacy Center: Winter Making Words
Need a winter literacy center that is differentiated, simple to prep (just copy!), and engaging? This free winter making words activity has students slowly build up to the mystery word “freezing” and really is a perfectly differentiated literacy activity! The words built in this winter literacy center cover a variety of sight words, high frequency […]
Differentiated Pocket Chart Literacy Center Ideas
As teachers, we need a variety of literacy centers to review skills and introduce new concepts. I find that pocket chart centers work well, because the students are standing rather than sitting! The more movement we have in our classrooms, the happier the kids are. Joyful learning equates with mastery! Here are some must-have pocket […]
