Flexible Learning Labs with Flexible Seating

Flexible Learning Labs with Flexible Seating

Just arrived home from CUE Conference 2018 in beautiful Palm Springs, California! The CUE Conference is the largest and oldest education technology conference in California. We were celebrating its 40th year, with over 6,000 people in attendance. read more

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

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

Teaching Collective Nouns (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.1.A) Without Tears!

Teaching Collective Nouns (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.1.A) Without Tears!

Are you new to second grade? Do you look at your Common Core standards and wonder how in the world you are going to teach them, and have students REALLY learn them? I’ve been there! When I accepted a teaching job to teach second grade after having taught fifth and sixth grades for years, I had to quickly become acquainted with these standards. How can you make teaching “Collective Nouns” fun? read more