The Teacher Studio

Not sure if any of you have noticed this, but we seem to be being asked to do more and more every year...teach more "stuff", learn new curriculum, assess more, report more...and much of what we are being asked to do is really good "stuff"--REALLY good!  However, if you are like me, you may also have noticed that they have not added a 25th hour to our day (YET!), so somehow we need to get ... Read the Post

Today as we returned to school trying to grapple with "normal", we continued our attention on "looking closer".  We have been learning different strategies in both math and reading to "look closer" at text, at numbers, at patterns, and more.  I want the students to work HARD at making sense of their world...to not just sit back and let it happen around them. In reading we are focusing ... Read the Post

As we near our winter break from school, I am going to try my best to squeeze in one more of our new math units--this one on basic decimal concepts.  I knew the students had been introduced to decimals last year, but I was certain that it wasn't going to do us any harm by going back to the beginning.  Way back.  Like..."What IS a decimal?" back. (Just a note...that was a VERY good ... Read the Post

So today was one of those "I know I should have this lesson more planned out" sort of days, but I just didn't quite have it together.  I knew my objectives...take the information my kids' research teams had been collecting for the last few days and get it ready to share with each other by tomorrow. I debated about a mini report...about writing an article...a powerpoint...and then decided ... Read the Post

Just 10 minutes? Strangely enough, my best ten minutes today were spent working with one of my students who is STILL not making good book choices...she struggles with comprehension and is constantly abandoning books.  Today we had a private conference in the reading area where we dug in deep to the books...I would pull a book and she would have to decide "no way", "maybe", or "for sure!" ... Read the Post

I finally finished!  My new game series "Trilogy" is finally a reality!  I have been simmering on this one for quite a while, and I proud to say that the first edition is complete!  I would LOVE feedback on it, so if you have time, pop over to my store and check it out.  The idea came to me out of a need...a need for intermediate kids to have fun ways to independently practice ... Read the Post