The Primary Gal

Book Choices: A Classroom Reading Challenge Your Students Will Enjoy

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Book Choices: A Classroom Reading Challenge Your Students Will Enjoy

At our school, our upper elementary students HATED to read.  Accelerated Reader was a BIG deal.  And I don’t mean it’s a big deal in a positive way, but rather everyone felt the pressure to make it happen.  All students were expected to read books within their Zone of Proximal Development, answer questions with 90% accuracy or more, and earn an obnoxious number of AR points per school year.  It was stressful, both for the students and the teachers in our building. As a fifth grade teacher, I had two problems.  My class average HAD to be 5.8 by the…

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Together We Are Better {Room Improvements}

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Together We Are Better {Room Improvements}

Is it seriously time for the JULY #2getherwearebetter linky?  Although I love writing these posts, they creep up on me too quickly!  This month is all about classroom improvements!  If I had the money, I think I could easily redo my classroom each and every year.  Buuuut, since I don’t have that kind of cash, I’m keeping the same theme and the changes minimal this year.  In a bit of an excited state, I did leak this picture to Instagram earlier this week.  Sorry, I just couldn’t wait all week! 🙂 Last year, I began doing Guided Math in my…

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Teaching with Intention! {Chapter Two}

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Teaching with Intention! {Chapter Two}

I’m going to start off by warning you that this is a longer post but it is one of the most CRITICAL parts of the book.  I know right, this is only chapter two and we’re getting deep here!  Before reading on, take a second to jot down a few of your beliefs in education.  I’ll wait… 🙂 * ** *** **** ***** ****** ******* ******* ****** ***** **** *** ** * In this chapter, Debbie discusses her beliefs in education.  What I love about this chapter is that it required me to first think about my own beliefs.  And, do…

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Self-Stick Dry Erase Tutorial!

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Self-Stick Dry Erase Tutorial!

Does anyone else have a weird hatred for chalk boards?  I’m weird.  I know it and will freely admit it.  That being said, there are a few textures that I just can’t stand—rubber bands, balloons, and chalk dust to name a few!  My kids even notice that anytime I write in chalk, I immediately run to the hand sanitizer to rid of the awful feeling. Most of my chalkboard is covered by my Promethean Board but I do have a small area where I can write notes to the class, work out impromptu problems, and display the date.  Although I…

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Picture of the Day! #classroomstaple

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Picture of the Day! #classroomstaple

Each morning, I begin my day with Hello Literacy’s Picture of the Day.  It is seriously #classroomstaple.  It is a necessity for any classroom and kids of all ages can benefit from its daily use. Each morning, I display an image on my Promethean Board for my students to discuss.  At the beginning of the year, we take this process very slowly and do a few mini lessons on various vocabulary. We first begin by making observations.  I have a student of the day who is allowed to sit on the ottoman.  They kick off the observation fun.  In our…

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