I was always intrigued by how students viewed writing.  Most said they hated it (at the beginning of the year) but with practice and a var...

  Why do we put Essential Questions on the board?  Is it to make our school districts happy or is there another purpose? As middle-grade ELA...

There's so much that's new swirling around them at the beginning of the year that students don't always remember what you've...

  Giving kids a chance to explore topics they're interested in - add a bit of research, some fun travel, and a design element or two and...

There are so many good ideas for students to get to know each other on the first days of school, but if you're like I was in 6th grade, ...

  THE BIGGEST ELAR SALE OF THE YEAR IS HERE! And it ends tomorrow at midnight CST. We're talking: $400+ in Each Grade Level Bundle, for ...

  Understanding text structure.  So easy to explain...and sometimes so hard for students to master! Some text structures are easier for stud...

  Dusti Bowling drew on personal experience from family members and friends to write this book and her compassion, understanding, and matter...

I came home from a family vacation yesterday with my bucket filled from spending time with my extended family!  Thinking about them made me ...

How much flexibility do you have if you're teaching summer school?  Is there a particular program you must follow, or can you use what w...

  I shared some fun book recommendations with the teachers on my email list a few weeks ago and then asked them for books they would recomme...

By the time you get to the 5th or 6th grades, reading fluency gets less attention than it does at the primary level.  These game-like activi...

  I know what you're thinking.  It's (almost) the end of the year.  Let me catch my breath, I don't want to think about next yea...

I finished these three books in the last few months and I'd recommend any as a great summertime read!  I'm not usually a fast-paced ...

  You need to keep that structure in place until the last week (day?) of school, am I right?  Here's the good news: there are ways to ke...

  I was struck by how expensive yearbooks were.  I got it - they require a lot of individual printing, but I felt badly for kids who couldn&...

It's getting to be that time of the year when you're trying to keep kids from tuning out, right?  For some of you, the end of the ye...