Go 4th and Teach

Hey, Everyone... I am SO excited to get my TPT store up and running after attending some really cool webinars for back to school season. I am starting out with this easy resource to print and use for parts of speech review and independent work. Take a look at it, and give it a download if you like what you see! There is also a new resource link for Roller Ball Greeting Game Rules Posters! This is a great icebreaker game you can use all year long, because it evolves into a "beat your previous time" game! If you have suggestions leave them in the comments so I can continue to refine my skills as a teaching resource creator. I hope everyone's doing great and enjoying the last bit of summer-- I go back on Monday!  Click the images below to go directly to the resources on TPT, and THANK YOU!!! Take Care,  Stefsays p.s. By the way--notice the new blog theme? I'm on a mission! 💪

3 Ways to Make Sure the Students are Loving Your Reading Block! Hey everyone! I am excited to share with you again, this time some of my most successful Reading Block structures and activities to engage kids and get them interacting with text in ways that make an impact. Keep reading if you want to make some easy to implement changes to your reading instruction that pack a punch of growth!  1. Teach in Their World with a Variety of Text Selection and Media Text choices that our students can be excited about are more available to us now than ever before. Be aware of what the most popular books are on reputable websites such scholastic book clubs, or in the kids book aisle at target. Make an effort to borrow those titles from your local library (oh yeah, ask the librarians too--they'll be able to tell you which titles are checked out most often by kids in each age group!) or create a wish list on amazon for people who want to donate things to your class and put those books at t...

I find myself learning a lot this year about how data analysis and informed instruction looks at different grade levels. Especially formative assessment.  As someone who worked almost exclusively with small groups and test preparation groups for 5 years, I was seeing excel spreadsheets in my sleep.  All the number crunching and analyzing growth from one week to the next had my head spinning most of the time, as when you focus so much on numbers and not on students, the task of engaging students in activities that will actually grow them seems impossibly overwhelming.  What I have started to realize over the past 2-3 years is that your formative assessments (those quick checks you do all along the way) help students not only to communicate with you about how they are understanding a concept, but also to feel actively involved and empowered to change their achievement level. Take a look at the scientifically named  :)  "dot-chart" above.   As the da...