K-6 Literacy Resources for Teachers & Parents
I love free stuff for teaching and I recently discovered a wonderful website called GetCaughtReading.org where they have lots of FREE posters and wallpapers of celebrities caught reading. What a great way to decorate your classroom. Truly, how awesome is that? Here’s just a small sample of the celebrities who get caught reading: Kate DiCamillo …
Presidents’ Day traditionally honors President George Washington, born February 22, 1732, and President Abraham Lincoln, born on February 12, 1809, but we celebrate their combined birthdays on the third Monday in February. Because Presidents’ Day is a Federal holiday, I suspected there might be some great online teaching resources produced by the federal government, and …
Read moreGet FREE Presidents’ Day Teaching Resources from 5 Government Websites
Groundhog Day is February 2nd and I know just the thing to celebrate…even if Punxsutawney Phil does see his shadow and predicts six more long weeks of winter! Get your February off to a fun start with a Groundhog Day poem written from the perspective of the groundhog! My Groundhog Day In my hibernating slumber, …
The vocabulary word valentine provides a natural opportunity for teaching the -ine word family. As I’ve said before, just one poem can teach a wide variety of language skills. This Valentine’s Day poem certainly targets some phonics with the -ine word family, but there are several other ways to stretch learning into other language arts …
Read moreTeach the -ine Word Family with Just One Valentine’s Day Poem
With the Thanksgiving holiday fast approaching, November is a shorter teaching month, so every literacy mini-lesson really needs to count. Would you believe one short Thanksgiving poem can help you teach all five of the essential components of reading? It’s absolutely true. For example, the Thanksgiving poem, “Mashed Potatoes,” targets the consonant digraphs /ch/and /sh/ …
Read moreTeach the Five Components of Reading (with just one Thanksgiving phonics poem)
THE classic Thanksgiving Poem, “Over the River and Through the Wood,” was published in 1844 by Lydia Maria Child (February 11, 1802—October 20, 1880). The poem celebrates traveling to her grandfather’s house, said to be the Paul Curtis House in Medford, Massachusetts. When the poem was turned into a song by an unknown composer, the …
Read moreAn Abolitionist Wrote This Famous Thanksgiving Poem
Halloween is all about having some spooky fun, so it’s a great time to harness that high interest to teach your English language arts curriculum. These Halloween poems embedded with compound words make it easy to teach them. There are three kinds of compound words: 1. Closed form compound words: Two (or more) individual words …
Halloween poems help teach phonics skills Who wants to teach dry or boring phonics lessons? No one, that’s who. That’s why short Halloween poems written especially for kids help make teaching phonics skills easier, more targeted, and definitely a whole lot more fun. Halloween poems are perfect for teaching mini-lessons in October It would be …
It’s October, so get ready for Halloween It’s officially October and the countdown to Halloween! I’ve always loved the creepy vibe of the autumn season, so I was mighty disappointed when our school opted out of the school-wide Halloween costume parade and classroom parties, in favor of a more PC autumn festival. Fortunately, there are …
Okay, so Piggie Pie! is not technically a “Halloween book,” but the main character is a witch…so it totally works! Summary Gritch the witch wants to make some Piggie Pie, but she doesn’t have any piggies. Problem! So she looks in the phone book to find some piggies and flies off on her broom to …
Read more8 Ways to Use Piggie Pie! as a Halloween Mentor Text