Author: Jessica Boschen

Jessica shares her passion for teaching and education on What I Have Learned. Jessica has 16 years of elementary teaching experience and currently homeschools her two middle school boys. She enjoys scaffolding learning for students, focusing on helping our most challenging learners achieve success in all academic areas.

Math

Generalizations in Math

Do you help your students make generalizations in math? Years ago when I taught third grade, we did a lot of work on making generalizations based on the addition or…

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Writing

Letters for Oklahoma

The tragedy in Oklahoma is a sad reminder of our fallen world and our lack of control over some things around us. It’s unreal how instantly our lives can change…

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Writing

Narrative Prewriting Activity: Teaching Students to Write Small Moment Stories

Writing narratives can feel overwhelming for many students. When asked to “write a story,” they often try to tell everything that happened in an entire day, a vacation, or even…

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Writing

Personal Narrative Prewriting – Watermelon vs. Seed Ideas Small Moments

I’m in the process of revamping my writing materials for next year and decided to reteach some of it to my kiddos at the end of this year to “try…

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Instructional Strategies | Math

Curriculum Mapping for Second Grade Math

How do you plan for a full year of teaching in your classroom? What curriculum do you choose? How do you choose what to teach during each month of the…

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Instructional Strategies

How to Use Sentence Frames in ELD

This is not a new idea, but I wanted to show you how engaged my ELD kiddos were the other week. Our objective was to compare and contrast two different…

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Reading | Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension Posters – Strategies and Skills

Reading comprehension posters that focus on 24 reading skills and reading strategies that elementary students use when reading to learn. Some skills and strategies include: compare and contrast, identify main idea, make connections and more. The posters come in multiple formats and are great for helping students learn the language patterns of the comprehension skills. They come with prompts, responses, and graphic organizers.

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Math

Subtraction Go Fish: A Hands-On Way to Build Fact Fluency

Subtraction facts can be tricky for young learners. Some students rush, some count on their fingers, and some freeze the second the numbers go past 10. Sound familiar? Subtraction fact…

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Math

St. Patrick’s Day Math Centers Games & Activities

Are you gearing up for the next holiday? St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and I’ve created several games and activities for my students to do throughout the…

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Reading

Literacy Centers vs Daily 5: Which Works Best for Small Group Instruction?

If you’ve ever tried to run small groups while the rest of your class is supposed to be “working independently,” you already know the truth. It’s never as quiet or…

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Math

Things That Come in Groups (2–10) – Examples for Teaching Multiplication

Things that come in groups is a great way to introduce multiplication to elementary students. Brainstorm objects that come in 2s, 3s, 4s, etc. Then show students how these groups relate to multiplication when there are multiple groups. #multiplication #thingsingroups #equalgroups

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Math

Hands-On Multiplication with Flower Arrays

Teaching multiplication to second graders can feel like you’re planting seeds and hoping something takes root. Some students instantly catch on, while others need a little more time, support, and—let’s…

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