I love teaching nonfiction to my students. My students LOVE to learn all about animals, space, nature, etc. It is real and attainable to them and they just seem to seek that knowledge on their own. I like to let my students know that with nonfiction they know what they’re in for. If they want […]

Later in the fall and heading towards winter, we begin to really focus on problem and solution and cause and effect in our stories. My first grade students by this point have been introduced to these ideas, but now they will dive in and not only identify each of these in a story, but also […]

Playing math games in my first grade classroom is one of my favorite ways to reach my struggling learners.   Each year a new batch of students arrives and you can see pretty quickly which students excel with little help, which students are chugging right along at grade level, and which need a little more […]

2D and 3D shape lessons that relate to the Common Core Standards can be hard to find! I made some that were always a hit in my first grade classroom to share with you!   My first grade students LOVE pattern blocks. They find them mesmerizing and I find that they calm even the rowdiest […]

I thought I would share a few of my favorite books for teaching text-to-self connections, text-to-text connections and text-to-world connections: When students are able to make connections with a book they find more meaning to the story. They are able to better connect with the characters and the plot and really understand what is happening. […]

As I have been adding lessons to my Math Workshop Curriculum, I wanted to share some of my favorite Place Value Activities for first grade!   In first grade, I like to teach everything HANDS ON. I want my students to build the numbers, feel the numbers, see the numbers. I find that a tricky concept […]

Successfully implementing math workshop in first grade took a long time for me to feel comfortable with and I finally felt like I had a system of math games, activities, and a layout that worked in my classroom!   That being said, I wanted to take some time today to share what my math block […]

These read aloud lessons for kindergarten, first, and second grade are all ready for the teacher to just sit and read! All the questions are already made with stopping points and response sheets! I just wanted to stop by real quick the share a BIG update I made to my read aloud lesson unit! Last […]