faulker099

Hello Everyone! Teaching reading is hard work, and can be a bit overwhelming. There are so many curriculum products out there to help guide you in helping your students to become successful readers.  Many of those products are  research based and claim to support methods and philosophies.  Some kids learn to read so easily, but more often than not, kids need specific teacher directed strategies to help them. How do you wade through it all and find what is best for your students?  I have been teaching for many,  many years, and seem to try something different every year! I do follow our district plan, but usually find I need to supplement with various other plans.  This year I think I have found the answer to the “wading.” In 2015, Jennifer Serravallo came out with “The Reading  Strategies Book.” Jennifer has done all the work in researching updated best practices  for teaching reading  of students from kindergarten through about 8 th grade. T...

Hello Everyone, Just a very quick post today, but before I share, I want to thank you for all the e-mail messages about the hurricane crises here in Texas. So many of our friends have lost their schools and homes.  Please keep giving!  Along that same line, please keep our Florida family and friends in your thoughts in the next few days as well! Having grown up in the West Palm Beach area, we are watching this next hurricane very carefully! Hold on!  Stay safe and be smart all!!! We love you!  And ...We can't forget about the wildfires! This is all just so devastating. We have to lean on each other for support, care, and encouragement. Praying for everyone affected!  Having all this going on makes it hard to focus on much else, but I was able to put together a little Rekenrek unit. By now you have probably heard of this hands on tool for kids to use to see patterns in numbers, help with composing and decomposing, and so much more. I started using them with my ki...

Hello Everyone, Well, this past week has certainly been a mix of both emotional joy, and at the same time emotional devastation. We enjoyed a beautiful week of heartstring activities in class, while dealing with the tightening of the strings of so many friends, fellow teachers, and schools in the Houston area because of Hurricane Harvey. At the time of this post there are over 40,000 fellow Texans in shelters, with damaged or demolished homes. At times, all we wanted to do was go down and help, rescue, and provide. Our school has, of course, started a donation drive, our district is collecting school supplies, and there are many opportunities to donate financially. Right now, is a great opportunity to teach kids about sharing what we have with those who have lost everything, to be  examples in this hard time. I know they will feel the tugging on their own little heartstrings.   Want a printable of this mini poster? CLICK HERE!! Besides the impact of Harvey on our hearts and mi...