This blog post explores innovative and engaging lesson plans for any novel unit... ranging from task cards to book instagram pages to a novel podcast project. Student choice is key here, and students can find something they would like to complete in order to convey their reading, comprehension, and
Hello darlings! Do you teach vocabulary to your students? I think this is one thing we are missing in the upper grades and we are doing a disservice to our students. As they move up levels in reading, the thing that I notice that holds my students back the most is the challenging vocabulary they ... Read More about Adding Vocabulary to your ELA Block
Filler Activities for ELA (blog post) What can you do with five extra minutes in secondary ELA? Here are a few ideas to engage students until the bell.
The debacle of taking grades.... I know some teachers that take a grade on EVERYTHING. Meaning, everything the kids do, they take a grade on and put in the "gradebook." I can't do that. BUT, I do use everything as an informal assessment. I used to have these nice, LOOOOOONG, drawn out plans for small groups. I was really proud of my plans for my small groups. But, then I realized I was missing out on some great teaching opportunities because I HAD to do those plans. lol Well, I decided to try something new and I've "thrown out" those lesson plans and started using our work throughout the day as a "telling" for what I need to do for small groups. I do it for both reading and math - if I see there are a handful of kids that are having trouble with a concept, then I will pull them back. Or if it's after I've already done my small groups, then I will do it for the next day. OR, if I have almost an entire class do it?? Then it'll just be a whole group lesson. Here - I happen to have an example from this week, that I actually took a picture of. Last week, when we were doing Sarah's er, ir, ur pack, I used one of the activities as an informal assessment, which will lead to my vocabulary lesson next week... They were doing the word sort, and I noticed that almost EVERY person did this...... SO, I'm guessing that they don't know the words "lurk" or "smirk" - lol. So, I will be using those two words as one of my vocab words... well, the correct spelling of lurk anyway - ha! Click the pic to down load - and there are "directions" for box for in the download for ya. In case you were wondering where I got the spelling activity - it came from Sarah Kirby Let me tell you, I will own ALL her word work packs eventually! lol In fact, this week we're getting ready to use her /oo/ pack. She has some really great ideas in them! There are certain people/sellers that have year-round activity packs...and I have them ALL Like Kathy Law's Color By Codes Sailing Through First's Super Sentences Yvonne' Math Journal Prompts and Anna's Math Journal Prompts Katie's Busy Teacher Denise's Printables Pack Lisa's Monthly Thematic Graphic Organizer and now Sarah has been added to that list. Also, this week, we've been working really hard on our 3-digit numbers, especially with all the skills in my Numbers Every Day pack - and as we've been doing it, I've been making a few tweaks....I just uploaded a revised version - go snag your updated version if you've bought it! I've actually been updating a lot of packs lately - you've seen the Thunderstorm pack and my Bear Snores On pack that I've recently updated. Next on my list to do some major updating are some of my first packs.... Don't forget - tomorrow is the big TpT Super Bowl Sale! (the extra percentage is only on the 3rd - but my store will still be on sale for the 4th) Make sure when you check out you put in "super" as the code to get the extra 10% off my sale prices! Here are few of my favorite things :)
English Grammar Tests
Teaching similes and metaphors is the first step in moving your students beyond literal meaning and teaching them to mature as writers. Students need to see and hear figurative language many times before they will use it in their own... #ELAlessons #fifthgradesimiles #howtoteachfigurativelanguage
Far too many students are doing projects that look creative but offer almost no opportunity for real learning. Time for the Grecian Urns to go.
Differentiation and scaffolding can help students better understand and learn. Here are teaching ideas and tips to use in class.
We've been learning about the parts of speech in the most fun ways. A parts of speech printable and flip book, writing our own mad libs, and more.
Here’s an archive of our downloadable activities so far- feel free to download and print off any of these to use yourself or with your club / group / scouts troop / evil supervillain society&…
Passion Project Ideas and Free Sampler
Children will practice using context clues as they identify the correct homophone in this grammar and spelling worksheet.
The Best Anchor Charts for your ELA classroom all together in one place! You will find outlines to utilize in Reading Literature, Reading Informational, Writing and Language. Explained in this blog post is about the purpose of utilizing anchor charts in your daily instruction. Along with tips to organize your charts. Below is a collection […]
The activities below are available for free download, and are to be used in educational and/or private settings. They may not be used elsewhere or for other purposes (such as for profit) unless exp…
A colourful poster to show the difference between their, there and they're with pictures and explanations.Includes a full colour, semi colour and black and white.I also have a poster of the same style for Your and You're available here.Idea adapted from Artline AU.
The activities below are available for free download, and are to be used in educational and/or private settings. They may not be used elsewhere or for other purposes (such as for profit) unless exp…
It wasn’t until my Assistant Director of Schools tweeted a picture I sent out with the caption, “Mrs. Bible using STEM in ELA,” that I realized I was even doing STEM at all. I just thought I was doing a really fun tiny house project! Ha! After that, I was all like: If this is STEM, ... Read More about STEM in English Language Arts Class
Find ideas for teaching middle school with these full year lesson plans for middle school ELA.
Use WIDA Can Do Descriptors to help you understand and support your emerging bilingual students through differentiated lessons.
Read about eleven different ways to meaningfully incorporate art in ELA class. Keep the focus on students' learning, not their artistic abilities.
Let's dive into some new options to teach vocabulary, for those who have the time and energy to pursue them. In this post and podcast, I'm sharing ten ideas for making the study of vocabulary something students might even look forward to.
Are you looking for ELA extension activities? Here are 25 ideas for classroom activities for teaching literature.
If you are sick of reteaching ELA vocabulary in upper elementary and want to help your students become independent learners, then this may be the perfect
With the beginning of the school year right the corner, it is time to start thinking about which lessons will be most valuable for our students. Starting the
Looking for Wordle classroom ideas? Incorporate Wordle into your classroom with this activities, ideas, and templates.
This past school year was a great one. With every school year that passes, I like to take a moment and reflect on activities that were successful in the
If there is one skill that high school students struggle with the most, it is properly citing their quotes in either MLA or APA format. That is why it is one
Ten years ago, podcasts weren’t nearly as popular as they are today. Now, they’re a huge asset to our personal and professional lives—including in the classroom. That’s why today I’m walking you through how to use podcasts in Middle School ELA classrooms. If you’re not a big podcast listener, you might be wondering how on
This blog post was inspired by six hours of professional development that did nothing to help me actually teach. Betsy, from Spark Creativity, shares my frustration (along with many of you, I’m sure) and so we decided to team up to create this post. Our goal is for you to walk away with something you ...
This post contains a list of fun and engaging lesson plans, creative writing, activities, and fun stuff for Valentine's Day in middle school and high school English Language Arts. These options include analyzing poetry and songs to writing love letters to characters to editing epic Valentine's Day
Increase student engagement and reading comprehension with this simple strategy!
With so much content to cover in the middle school ELA and high school classroom, it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. Here is a look at my favorite ELA
With the school year in full swing, teachers everywhere are exhausted. The 2020-2021 school year will be unlike any of the other school years. Whether you are
Shhh! Did you hear that? It was the second bell. They’re COMING. Skipping, tripping, sauntering and marching right down that hallway. Are you ready for your students? Because make no mistake, they are ready for you! In an instant, the classroom goes from empty and silent to bursting with energy. Let’s face it: we teachers ... Read more
Cultivate lifelong reading skills.
If there’s one genre that intimidates students, it is definitely poetry. Poetry, for some reason, can make students shrink with uncertainty, doubt, and fear before you even begin the unit. However, this collaborative poetry analysis poster project is one that you and your students will absolutely LOVE! When I teach poetry in my classroom, I first like to introduce students to it by teaching them how to read and annotate poetry. By breaking this process down for students, it immediately becomes less intimidating.
With so much content to cover in the middle school ELA and high school classroom, it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. Here is a look at my favorite ELA
