Cats vs. dogs is the ultimate opinion reading and writing project! Students choose a side and read both fiction and nonfiction books to learn more about their decision. In the end, students choose a winner and write their opinion paragraph to determine which is the best pet! I love integrating reading and writing and last […]

After teaching writing to my first graders for 5 years, I have a sad secret to share with you: I totally underestimated my young students.     Bleck. That pains me to say, but it is true. My first year in a classroom I thought writer’s workshop was going to be an absolute trainwreck in […]

Do you teach realistic fiction writing in first grade? Confession: Writing realistic fiction is a genre I hadn’t taught before two years ago. However, once we hit the ground running with it, I knew it was going to stay for the long run.   My first graders LOVE coming up with their own character and […]

How to writing is one of my favorite writing units to teach. My students just get it and they enjoy writing many, many pieces!   Maybe it’s because my students think they know how to do everyyyytthiinngggg. 😉 If your students are like mine, let them run with the idea that they know it ALL and have […]

Writing reviews, subtraction strategies, & more! Well, this momma is full swing back into teaching mode! My first graders and I are getting used to one another again and trying to continue our learning without skipping a beat. It is an interesting transition to come back after maternity leave. My classroom was in someone else’s […]

This past week we launched our writer’s workshop lessons!   I use my writer’s workshop units throughout the year, but before we dive into small moments we talk about what Writer’s Workshop looks like in our first grade classroom.   This poster is hanging in our classroom and we go through each of these bullet points throughout […]

If you have been following my blog for awhile, you may know that teaching writing is my FAVORITE subject to teach in 1st grade. I have a feeling I would love it in kinder or 2nd grade as well. My students’ writing gets longer, more detailed, more persuasive, more informative, more interesting to the reader. […]

It is that time of year people… the sun is shining, schools in the south and west have only a few short weeks left and we have a couple more weeks after that! It is THE END OF THE YEAR! I get giddy around this time. I can feel the summer right around the corner, […]

With tomorrow being March, I was so so hopeful that the winter season was coming to a close and warmer weather was on the way….. then I woke up and heard that there is another storm coming this weekend… WOMP, WOMP! Oh well. Just saying March makes me feel a little more cheery 🙂 I […]