When it comes to St. Patrick’s Day, Jamie O’Rourke is one of my favorite characters! Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato to focus on cause and effect.   CLICK BELOW TO GRAB YOUR FREE LESSON: I thought I would offer a free read aloud lesson for this St. Patrick’s Day favorite. Just click above to […]

Main idea and theme can be some of the most difficult topics to teach my first graders, so I thought I would share some of my favorite picture books I use to teach these skills in my classroom. Favorite main idea and theme read alouds:   Sheila Rae, The Brave by Kevin Henkes This story […]

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 […]

Just dropping by this morning to share this FREE St. Patrick’s Day close reading passage and fun poem for the holiday coming up! Included in this mini-pack is a nonfiction passage about the holiday with a vocabulary sheet and a comprehension sheet for students to answer using text evidence. They questions are set up in […]

These interactive read aloud lessons are the perfect way to teach your students all sorts of comprehension and vocabulary skills during reader’s workshop.     Read aloud has always been one of my favorite parts of teaching. When I was in college, it is what I imagined doing most of my day. Sitting in a […]

Interactive read aloud lessons in my first grade classroom have completely changed my Reader’s Workshop. My students love to read these classics and I now have all the questions and stopping points ready to go! I recently wrote a post HERE about what an interactive read aloud is and how I use them in my […]

I just wanted to stop by and share some free close reading ideas and activities that I just love!   I wrote a blog post way back when that explains how I introduce my first graders to close reading and how happy I become every year when it finally *clicks*! My young students learn to […]