Blog - School and the City

How to Make Pencil Nametags

Thank you SO VERY much for all of your compliments and kind words about my writing board. I love it too - It's one of my favorite parts of my classroom for three reasons: 1. It's pretty so that makes me happy. 2. It's so easy to hang papers. 3. I'm going on year three without changing out the board. Can I get an AMEN?! When I created this board, I hot glued pushpins to the back of ... Read More about How to Make Pencil Nametags

End of Year Gifts

I did it! I survived my fourth year - and I can't believe it's already been that long. It may be a little late, but I loved my gifts for my students and room mom this year, so I thought I'd so you real quick! For my students, I bought the giant bubble wands from Walmart that lots of other teachers buy. It's a great deal! I download a free tag from A Little Red Bird Teaches and ta-da, it was ... Read More about End of Year Gifts

Point of View Song and Resources

I dropped a new beat recently in the form of a point of view song... My sweet students REQUESTED a song to the tune of Stiches. Ahem. I didn't know I was adding DJ and songwriter to my job title, but it's cool. Click here to download a PDF of the point of view song lyrics. Click here for the music I use (on YouTube). Click here for a video of my class singing the ... Read More about Point of View Song and Resources

Punctuation Paragraphs

At the start of the year, I had a lot of students that struggled with putting ending punctuation in the correct spots. They knew that they needed to use periods, but would put periods at the ends of lines or in seemingly random spots. I tried helping them by correcting their own writing, by having them read it outloud to try and find the natural stopping points. However, NO ONE ... Read More about Punctuation Paragraphs

Classroom Book Tasting

I was inspired by Hope, Mary, and many others to finally host a classroom BOOK TASTING! On Friday afternoons, I usually coteach a STEAM lesson with a coworker. However, during Read Across America week earlier this month, we decided to do a book tasting instead of STEAM. I collected a wide variety of books to appeal to students with varied interests. I tried to stay away from series ... Read More about Classroom Book Tasting

Just a Note…

Changes are coming! I'm planning to start grad school this summer. I'm not sure if I'm ready to be a student while I'm a full-time teacher, but I'm up for the challenge! The application process was lengthy and required a few recommendations. I know that my administrators are OH SO BUSY, so I almost felt guilty for asking them to write recommendations for me. A handwritten note ... Read More about Just a Note…