Writing workshop in kindergarten, first, and second grade can be HARD. There’s no denying that. Our young learners want to communicate and tell stories, but they need a lot of guidance getting their ideas on paper. If you are headed into a new year of school and looking for some new tips or guidance, I […]

Number sense activities are ones that allow students to see, feel, and discriminate between different numbers. I love easy games and activities that allow students to practice their number sense over and over. Tower races does just that! This game is great for kindergarten or first grade students. As I mention in the video, students […]

Tennis balls + sight words = a whole lot of fun! Sight word bounce is a fun outdoor game that has students practicing their sight words and a little hand-eye coordination at the same time.   All you need to play this game is some outdoor space, sidewalk chalk, a tennis ball. My kids liked […]

My preschool boys are learning all about the alphabet! They’ve got the uppercase letters under control, but some of those lowercase letters are a bit tricky. To help them practice (and mostly, have some fun), I introduced them to this easy literacy game, Ping Pong Races!   All you need to prep this game are […]

Outdoor chalk games are great for the nice, warmer weather! I know my two preschoolers at home are always obsessed with a little chalk, so I thought I would share 3 three fun games you can take and use at home or in the classroom all summer long.   The three games I’ve included are […]

When we teach students to synthesize, we let them know that they are combining what they already know with new information they learn from the text. As we do this, our thinking changes and grows! It’s important to teach students not to just repeat back what they’re learning. Instead, we want our students to realize […]

Teaching students to visualize while they read helps them to connect and comprehend the stories they hear and read in the classroom. I wanted to share some activities to help students visualize in first and second grade. Our Feelings: I like using this activity to show students that our visualizations are often very personal. Based […]

Bean bag addition is a great outdoor game to play this summer! When the sun is shining and it’s not too hot, I love getting students outdoors to review. This game does just that. All you need to play this game is: – some outdoor space – sidewalk chalk – and bean bags   I grabbed […]