Sight words are one of the easiest things to practice at home because they simply require some memorization and little skill is required to teach them. The hard part about teaching sight words is trying to make them FUN and engaging because sometimes flashcards are just plain boring. To help with that, I wanted to […]

I have been creating and using phonics poetry for K-2 classrooms for almost a decade now! I just find that fun, rhythmic phonics poems are a great way to practice so many different skills. For one, we practice decoding many different phonics patterns by reading words with those patterns within a text. We practice fluency […]

The read aloud. It’s a teacher’s dream. The students all sitting quietly, listening, learning, enjoying the book! That’s what we all hope for right?!   Now don’t get me wrong, these moments exist and they should be cherished! But sometimes, I wanted to make sure I was making the most of my precious read aloud […]

I am always on the hunt for fun, new games and activities to practice sight words. This ode to the game, Battleship, is such a great way to keep students engaged while learning or reviewing sight words. The goal of the game is to the be first to find the other player’s buried treasure! Students […]

I love teaching students to make inferences in first grade. They feel like detectives as the search for what the author hasn’t said in the text. I thought I would take some time to share with you some of my favorite activities for teaching students how to infer. Using Photographs: When we begin making inferences, […]

Teaching students to activate their schema in kindergarten, first, and second grade can seem abstract at first. Once I let students know they actually use their schema all the time, they become more comfortable explaining their thoughts! Both as a first grade teacher and a K-2 literacy teacher, I emphasized schema at the beginning of […]

Practicing sight words in the primary grades is vitally important when learning how to read. To help students review and learn new sight words, I am always on the lookout for new, fun games! This game, “Sight Word SPLASH!” is one we played a lot last year in my kindergarten and first grade small groups […]

February is a short month with a LOT to fit in and it seems to me that Black History month gets the short end of the stick since this month quickly passes by. Over the past few years, I have really tried to put some serious effort into diversifying my classroom (and home) library. Today, […]