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The Teacher Studio

Learning, thinking, creating

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Meaningful Activities for the End of the School Year

As we move toward the end of the school year, sometimes it's hard to keep focused on the important work we do!  I know lots of teachers do end-of-year countdowns and so on...but to be honest, I am a pretty big fan of teaching to the end--but I'm not a fool!  I like to incorporate engaging activities where students might not even realize they are working hard and applying everything they ... Read the Post

Using Math Sorts to Improve Instruction

I've been getting so many questions about how I use my math concept sorts in my class, so I thought I'd make it easy by sharing some of my thoughts with you here. "How do you work these sorts into your planning and curriculum?"   That's easy...I use them in a few main ways. 1.  As a full class warm up BEFORE teaching a skill.  This helps me see what they know and what they ... Read the Post

Responding to Reading Prompts: Gradual Release Model

 I often hear teachers stressing out about how they can get everything they need ready for all their book groups, standards-based grading, and so on.  Sometimes I think we work WAY too hard--and I always work to try to do best quality instruction without driving myself into the ground.  The easiest way I do this is that I have a bank of resources ready to go--and I use the gradual ... Read the Post

Spring Bulletin Board Project: Writing, Culture Building, Creativity

 Every year I try to break us out of our long Wisconsin winters by taking an hour or so of class time to create a spring bulletin board that brightens our spirits!  Today I thought I'd share a little bit about what we do--and why we do it!  I so often hear people say, "We don't have time for cute projects anymore."  I certainly agree that I do LESS than I used to--but I ... Read the Post

Helping Students Fall In Love With Books: A Reading Intervention

One group of students who I think we often ignore is those students who are solid readers, are compliant--but aren't "engaged readers".  We know that students learn to read by READING, so if they aren't reading at home and aren't challenging themselves at school, their progress will be impacted. Getting Students Talking About Books This is exactly what I have been going through with one ... Read the Post

Reading interventions, “Ready Freddy”, and chapter book strategies!

Fourth grade reading is tough.  Many students have "unlocked" the key to reading...they can read most of the words and can track ever-increasing storylines.  As teachers, we can provide countless texts for them, coach them, model for them, and know that they will continue to become more sophisticated as readers. Unfortunately, there are still some students who haven't made this jump. It ... Read the Post

Tips and Ideas for Teaching Narrative Writing

Today is my day to blog over at Upper Elementary Snapshots! Check out my ideas about teaching leads, reviewing other skills, a quick writing revision idea--and more!  Here's a sneak peek at part of it... Stop by if you want to check out what I did with our second narrative writing unit of the year.  This is really one of my favorite writing activities because it is SO accessible to ... Read the Post