Reading aloud 100+ books a year to my students might sound daunting but think about this... Do you ever wonder how to build a love of reading or help students who are rarely read to catch up on background knowledge and vocabulary? How do we close the reading gap a bit? 

Well, this read aloud strategy can help even the playing field and help all your students make greater gains in literacy. The best part is, once you've chosen the books, it's simple and doable to implement.

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Teaching reading is never as easy as its sounds. Every student comes to your classroom with a different experience with books and reading.

And...helping students become lovers of books, committed, skillful readers is even trickier. However, with the right modeling, instruction, and immersion in great books, we're able to create the conditions for a joyful experience with reading. That experience, when repeated often enough, opens...

Do you struggle with ways to keep your students writing over the summer? Summer writing activities can easily become anything but simple.

In fact, they often deviate into quotas, worksheets, and tedious skill and drill simply because we don’t know what else to do which just makes students hate writing. And who wants that?!

Well…there’s a better way to both help your students practice REAL writing and [get this] be intrigued enough to write over the summer. Listen in to find out more!

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Writing doesn't have to be structured or too prescribed in order for students to benefit from their practice over the summer. 

I'm just happy if students choose to practice writing over the summer. Writing is one of the least practiced skills during the summer months. But it doesn't have to be. From tall tales to developing their voice, there are lots of intriguing ways for...

Summer reading is such a touchy topic. It’s hard to get buy-in for all parties [parents and students] and consistency in a busy summer.

If you know me, you know I’m a quota and timer hater when it comes to reading. Anything that can create resentment or cause students to find reading to be a chore or dislike reading is a No-Go in my book.

Today, I have ideas to help you and your students not only read this summer but love it too.

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As teachers, we often struggle with what to do about getting our students to actually read during the summer.

Sending home work packets, requiring reading logs, and most other traditional methods simply don't work. The only way to ensure your students will read over the summer is if our students have acquired a love of reading during the school year. I hope your students have made the leap from knowing how to read to being committed readers. But if they...

We’ve all had those moments, days, weeks, or even years when we’ve thought about quitting teaching. Perhaps you’re thinking about quitting teaching right now.

Well, as you know you are not alone! Teachers are leaving our profession in droves, but many teachers are also loving being a teacher and are satisfied with their jobs. Others are entering or returning to teaching as well. We just don’t hear about them as loudly as we do those who are upset.

I want you to consider this…Do you cry [or feel like crying] as you head into your classroom or as you leave school for the day? Are you burnt out and feeling like you just can’t do one more day? Are you giving yourself a daily pep talk or taking that loooong walk to and from the parking lot each day? Maybe you’re sick of all the junk that comes with teaching these days that you can’t control.

Today, let’s chat about how to decide if it’s time to quit teaching. I’m...

In this episode, I have end of the year activities for you using poetry. I know you already teach poetry. In fact, you probably did a bunch last month for National Poetry Month. So, your students are primed and ready for testing out and enjoying Poems for two Voices. Yup. You heard that right and it’s not as scary or complicated as it sounds.

Today, I have the skinny on engaging your students in a fun end-of-year activity – reading and writing poems for two voices. 

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Writing poems for 2 voices is a fun activity for students that you can use to do some concept and content reviews as well.  #teacherwin

I'm sure you're wondering...what exactly are poems for two voices? Let me explain. Poems for two voices are poems written for two readers to read together. some of the parts are read at the same time and some of the parts are read taking turns. They're fun, engaging, and fascinating all...

Getting to the end of the school year is hard enough, but navigating the last weeks with grace and organization can be tricky too. Structure and organization are the backbones of your school year and the last days are no different.

So today, let's talk how to survive and thrive with end of the year planning to get you set for a smooth path to the finish line.

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Before you let yourself get overwhelmed with all the "to-dos" for the end of the year, let's put a plan together. 

Then, you can enjoy the last days of school with your students and still get all the things done, on time. Sound like a dream? Maybe it does, but it's a doable dream. I know because I've done it, and I'm here today to share my process with YOU. Let's dive into today's episode to get you organized and ready to run the end of the school year race with grace, joy, and organization. What a concept!

Listen in to the full episode...

Do you love teaching poetry to your students? Being a poetry lover sure helps in this endeavor.

Or maybe, just maybe, you're not a "poetry person". I get it. We didn't all learn to love poetry and how to teach poetry is a skill that doesn't always come naturally. But, there's so much you can teach about reading when you are teaching students poetry. It's worth the effort to hone your skills. I promise!

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Before you dive into learning about poetry with your students, there are some essential pieces that your students should have been introduced to. I call them "pre-poetry prep".

Many of these items you have probably already taught, but a little refresher is always good. So, give a little time to teaching or reviewing alliteration, inferencing, figurative language, rhyming, and syllabication. 

Next, get ready to read a lot of poetry. Give your students lots of experience and exposure to all kinds of...

Are you frustrated with your small group reading instruction?

Or maybe you don’t do small group reading instruction. Don’t worry…no judgment here if you don’t. Teaching small groups can be a tricky [and sometimes overwhelming] thing to navigate much less figure out how to fit it into an already packed literacy block.

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Whether you haven’t done small groups or if you’re frustrated with your small group time, it’s never too late in the year to start or refine a small group time.

So where do you begin?

Well, the first 2 steps might seem basic, but they are important foundations for success.

First, structure your literacy block with a large enough block of time for independent work/group time. If your literacy block is not actually a block of time but is fragmented in your day, try to set up your schedule to capture a couple of larger chunks of time for literacy so that...

Teaching genre in primary grades is more important than you think. Do you have students that read the same book over and over again?

It can be worrisome since students may start to think reading is boring. And once something becomes boring, good luck convincing them otherwise.

Today is all about teaching genre. Young children love books. They love books, "reading" and being read to. Once they start the hard work of actually reading though, finding interesting books is an added challenge. This can be where students get so discouraged that they lose their love of reading. We can't have that!

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Genre is more than just fiction versus nonfiction.

We teach students authors and illustrators to help them narrow down books they might like--if they like one book by an author, they may like other books by the author, too. Maybe you even compare authors to each other. How are two alike? How are they different?...

Finding the main idea of a text is tricky for students at all levels in elementary school.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t introduce main idea in nonfiction text. While we don’t expect our primary grade students to master this concept, an introduction and practice in a whole group format is doable and appropriate.

Today is all about strategies for identifying the main idea with primary grade students.

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First off, your students need to know what a main idea is. I'm willing to bet many of your students don't know. 

Explaining what the main idea is during a read-aloud and examining the difference between that and the topic of the nonfiction text you are reading is a good place to start. You will have to practice and try this out quite a bit before students can do this with a graphic organizer in partners or on their own. Give yourself and your class time to become familiar with finding the...