ELA Time! Have fun with Past Tense Irregular Verbs and other Parts of Speech!

ELA Time! Have fun with Past Tense Irregular Verbs and other Parts of Speech!

The chrome cart is sitting in the back of your room and ….. collecting dust. It’s time to teach past tense irregular verbs.  What to do? Start by using your devices in your ELA or Literacy block to teach some literacy skills such as parts of speech! We use technology throughout the day, because if students are engaged in learning their critical skills and having fun, it is much easier for your to pull small groups and work with students who need you. Students are less likely to “go sideways” and be off task if they are doing something that they love…. And they LOVE using technology. read more

Valentine’s Day is About GIVING

Valentine’s Day is About GIVING

As I reflect on Valentine’s Day, I always think of chocolate, flowers, Hallmark cards, and Cupids.

This year, I decided to expand my thinking about Valentine’s Day. Are there other things we can add to Valentine’s Day to make the holiday more meaningful? Can we show more gratitude for all of the blessings that we have in life? Can we help those who may be hurting, or going through a tough time ? Can we expand this idea to involve our students so they can learn to help others in their community?  Help them gain some understanding that giving of themselves can be rewarding and make them feel good inside? Here are some ideas I’ve discovered after doing some research: read more

Reflexive Pronouns…. in Second Grade? Oh My!

Reflexive Pronouns…. in Second Grade? Oh My!

No very long ago, we were teaching pronouns in third grade. Now, we are teaching reflexive pronouns in second grade. YIKES! It is a difficult concept to teach reflexive pronouns if your students don’t yet have a grasp of regular pronouns. I had to “brush up” on the term reflexive pronoun, so if you’re like me, here’s a little “cheat sheet” for you outlining the most common reflexive pronouns: read more

Form and Use Frequently Occurring Irregular Plural Nouns- Google Style!

Form and Use Frequently Occurring Irregular Plural Nouns- Google Style!

Years ago, as I ventured into teaching 2nd grade after years of being an upper grade teacher, I was on a quest to learn more about the second grade Common Core State Standards. As I waded through the Common Core Literacy Standards, such as CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.1.B, I was already familiar with plural nouns. The problem was I GRAPPLED with the best way to teach this concept while making it fun! Yes, I could fall back on worksheets or task cards, but my second graders had an unquenched thirst for using technology in our classroom. This was the impetous for the creation of our GOOGLE ELA resources. read more

Small Groups- “Word Work” (Part 3)

Congratulations! You’ve finally got your small group framework nailed down (see blog post Part 1) and now it’s time to focus on the rotation of “Word Work”. This the time when a group is working on things such as grammar, vocabulary, spelling, mechanics, or conventions while you are pulling your small group and working with them. read more