As I have learned more about the science of reading and how to teach my students to read, decodable readers have become a powerful tool in my classroom. I want students to be using the skills that I am teaching them in order to read. That’s why I love these decodable readers so much – …
As educators learn more about the Science of Reading and implement a Structured Literacy program, we must develop new ways to keep students engaged and learning during a literacy lesson. You can find even more ideas in my Kindergarten Morning Meeting Ideas post! During the school year, I try out a variety of lessons that …
Teaching students how to read has many components that they need to master. One of those strands is knowing the alphabetic code (including phonics). Some students will quickly pick up on letters and sounds, but others will need more direct, small-group instruction. Using a multisensory learning approach can help target key skills. Since I learned …
Reading professional development books is one of my favourite ways to learn and grow as an educator. They allow me to pause and reflect on my practice as needed. I saw the book Literacy Instruction for English Learners (affiliate link) and knew I wanted to do a teacher book club series on it! This book …
Explicitly teaching problem-solving skills to your students will have multiple benefits: easier classroom management, improved social-emotional learning, better self-regulation skills, and so much more. Finding the time and the resources to do it, though, can be tricky. My problem-solving task cards are here to help! (I have used some affiliate links in this post) Problem-Solving …
International Dot Day takes place on September 15th of each year. The day is a celebration of creativity, courage, and collaboration. I love giving my students different opportunities to be creative and work together on that day. This post contains affiliate links. Read The Book Of course, you need to start your day off by reading …
Being away from the classroom is inevitable. Whether you are sick, have an appointment, get to attend professional development, or something else comes up – there will be a day when you are not able to be in the classroom. That’s when you need to have a supply teacher handbook on-hand to make the day …
Planning meaningful and engaging centers and provocations for your kindergarten classroom can be time-consuming. This is why I wanted to create kindergarten idea lists! I can look back on what I did throughout the school year, so I’m not constantly having to come up with new ideas. I thought this might be useful for other …
I love planning and teaching an effective and engaging morning meeting. Getting students excited for a day of learning and starting our mornings together is invigorating. I follow the same format for all my morning meetings but change up the literacy skill that I am reinforcing that day. It changes throughout the year depending on …
When I started working in an Ontario Kindergarten classroom, I quickly became overwhelmed with the Ontario Kindergarten Program document. It is huge! I started reading it, but there was so much information, and I didn’t know where to start or how to implement what I was reading in the classroom. Flash forward to 9 years …
