Success criteria are a visual way to show and tell your students the steps they will take to be successful in meeting their learning targets. They can help your students take ownership over their learning as they can: use it as a reference when they are working independently if they get stuck come up with the success criteria themselves track… Read More

It is important to explicitly tell the students WHAT they will be learning, HOW they will be successful in mastering that skill and WHY it is an important skill to learn. These three things combined not only help ensure success in each student’s learning, they help students to take ownership over their learning. Below, I will share some tips on… Read More

One of my favorite things about word sorts is that you can do SOOOOO many different things with them!! Let’s explore all of the cool things you can do to help students with reading fluency, comprehension, writing and more! For Fluency Fast “Pencil” Once the sort is complete, use the utensil of your choice (pencil, pen, pointer, finger) to point… Read More

Recently, Teachers Pay Teachers reached out to me to inquire about what I thought about the makerspace movement and specifically the maker mindset. They posed wonderful questions and I thought my responses were worth sharing with you! (I don’t remember the exact wording on the questions they asked, but here’s the gist.) What is the maker mindset? I would describe… Read More

Word study is a key component of learning to read. We want students to be aware of the patterns in words, so that they can become more fluent readers. This is where word sorts come into play. Word sorts help students recognize the spelling patterns in words, all while manipulating the words to incorporate hands-on learning. If you are considering… Read More

We teach the ins and outs of character education all the time. We teach multiple character traits on a daily, weekly or monthly basis all throughout the year. But when do we let our students know that we are watching for them to exhibit those traits? When do we let our students know that they actually have exhibited the trait… Read More