Learning sight words takes a ton of repetition and practice for some students. I try to incorporate sight words in a variety of ways in my classroom: as our word wall words each week, as a reading center option, as a daily guided reading practice, and fun, independent practice and games throughout the year. These Dolch Sight Words Easter Egg color by word sheets have been a favorite of many teachers! They are simple and
I have always been of the mindset that it’s important to use formal names for things with children. They’re capable of learning them and it can continue to strengthen their vocabulary skills in other ways. In most aspects of my day, I stay true to this philosophy. I use “schema” with my students; I explicitly teach comprehension strategies and expect students to use their formal names. I teach content vocabulary and expect students to use
Fact and opinion is such an important skill to teach students. In the digital area, information is presented continuously to people. Our students need to be able to judge the quality of a text, the validity of the arguments, and make their own decisions based off of it. It takes a lot of work to build those much needed, “adult” skills in students and it starts out in the primary grades at a foundational level.
For years I struggled with how to best record my observations and guided reading notes. I have looked at lots of different ideas online, and have tried several out in my own classroom. But, I always keep coming back to the simplicity of this form. I developed it several years ago when working with the kindergarten teachers in my building. Their lesson plans for guided reading are stored separately, by book, and they needed the
