School and the City

Ideas and Resources for Your Elementary Classroom

5 Ideas for Your Pollution and Conservation Unit

We recently finished one of my favorite units: pollution and conservation. Over the years I've gathered ideas and resources that I thought you may be able to use to freshen up your own science unit! 1. READ Integrate your new topics into your literacy block. There are SO MANY wonderful options out there - both fiction and nonfiction - that you can use to teach reading skills while also building ... Read More about 5 Ideas for Your Pollution and Conservation Unit

Opinion Writing with Text-Based Evidence

Opinion writing is my favorite! There are SO MANY fun ways to practice forming and supporting opinions. I've done candy wars, Chandra's sweet vs. sour, and other fun topics. However, writing data has shown my grade level that are students are showing weakness in supporting opinions with examples and citing text-evidence. We turned to one of our favorite resources for nonfiction texts - ... Read More about Opinion Writing with Text-Based Evidence

Age-Appropriate Books for Advanced Third Grade Readers

As long as I've been a teacher, I've had parents ask me for book suggestions. I struggle the most with suggesting books for advanced readers. So many popular book series are set in middle school and contain content that I consider inappropriate for my elementary students. My third graders don't need to be reading about girlfriends/boyfriends, over the top violence, any reference to alcohol or ... Read More about Age-Appropriate Books for Advanced Third Grade Readers

Book Review: The Reading Strategies Book

There are so many professional resources out there for teachers to use to grow their practices, but it's so hard to know where to invest your time and money. I plan to honestly review some popular resources, and I'm starting with one of my favorites: The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo.  The book is organized into 13 chapters, each named with a reading goal, beginning with ... Read More about Book Review: The Reading Strategies Book

Author’s Oath: Writing Responsibility

I posted an image on Instagram recently and got a huge response that I wasn't expecting.    We're all having the same problem, right? I'm glad it's not just me!    If your students are anything like mine, they can tell you what makes a great sentence. They can tell you that it starts with a capital letter, ends with some type of punctuation, has correct spelling and neat handwriting... but ... Read More about Author’s Oath: Writing Responsibility

It’s Okay If You Still Have Desks

Hey teacher. You're incredible. Do you have a variety of flexible seating options for students to choose from? You're a great teacher. Do you [still] have desks? You're a great teacher, too. The seating options we provide our students certainly impact students' learning environments, but they do not define you as a teacher. Flexible seating is amazing. Search #flexibleseatingclassroom on ... Read More about It’s Okay If You Still Have Desks