Engage Your Students with Fun and Educational Activities: How to Catch a Leprechaun Book Companion

Are you looking for an exciting and educational way to engage your students during reading time? Look no further than my book companion for the read-aloud book “How to Catch a Leprechaun.” This fun and engaging activity pack is designed to help children develop important skills while enjoying a beloved tale of trickery and adventure.Continue reading “Engage Your Students with Fun and Educational Activities: How to Catch a Leprechaun Book Companion”

Benefits of Reading Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs During Your Weather Unit

Integrating literature into content areas is a powerful way to engage students in learning. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett is an excellent example of a book that can be used in the classroom to supplement a weather unit in science. Reading this book aloud to elementary students can have numerous benefitsContinue reading “Benefits of Reading Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs During Your Weather Unit”

Structure of a Story: Plot

Elementary students need to understand the structure of a story. Knowing the elements of a story will help with comprehension during reading and when writing one, not to mention it’s one of the Common Core: RL.2.7. Characters, setting, point of view and plot are the basic elements of a story. Let’s focus on the plot. TheContinue reading “Structure of a Story: Plot”

Strategies to Build Background Knowledge

Background knowledge is often something we teachers overlook by jumping into the lesson, but it is crucial in helping students understand and retain new knowledge. For instance, a memory came up on my Facebook page recently where I posted a conversation between my youngest son and me: The joy of homeschooling is seeing those lightbulbContinue reading “Strategies to Build Background Knowledge”

Teaching Thematic Units Across the Curriculum

A thematic unit has a central theme that crosses all subjects. A thematic unit example is apples. An apple thematic unit for reading could be taught by choosing books like Johnny Appleseed by Stephen Kellogg, One Green Apple by Eve Bunting, or The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree (Gail Gibbons). In History, students could learn whereContinue reading “Teaching Thematic Units Across the Curriculum”

Teaching Point of View According to Common Core State Standards

Teaching the Core Standards can be difficult to navigate. In this article, I chose a particular 2nd grade reading standard to give examples on ways to address it in the classroom. CCRA.R.6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. How does one teach this standard in second grade?Continue reading “Teaching Point of View According to Common Core State Standards”

READ-ALOUDS A POWERFUL TOOL

As teachers, we remind the parents of our elementary students to read to their children. We tell them how important it is and that it is also an enjoyable time to spend together. We need to heed our advice and utilize that strategy in our classrooms. Besides being pleasant, modeling reading through teacher read-alouds benefitsContinue reading “READ-ALOUDS A POWERFUL TOOL”