Fluency Strips for English Learners
Many teachers have English learners in their classrooms. I have a particular group of second-grade English learners who are struggling with reading fluency. They can read the words but are…
Effective instructional strategies shape how students learn, engage, and grow. Strong instruction goes beyond delivering content—it includes thoughtful lesson planning, purposeful engagement, formative assessment, collaboration, and support for diverse learners. The right strategies help students think deeply, participate actively, and make meaningful connections to new learning.
Many teachers have English learners in their classrooms. I have a particular group of second-grade English learners who are struggling with reading fluency. They can read the words but are…
Planning a full year of math instruction takes time, but having a solid 2nd grade math curriculum map makes the process much more manageable. I use a curriculum map to…
When students struggle to explain what they’ve read, the gap is usually not about understanding. They understood the text. What’s hard is organizing their thinking and putting it into academic…
Do your students struggle to express their thinking in math? Mine do! Developing students’ language skills by focusing on mathematical vocabulary and using sentence frames in math helps students learn the language…
If you’re picturing QR codes as one more tech thing to manage, stick with me for a minute. Using QR codes in the classroom is less about flashy gadgets and…
Some students, including English learners or impoverished children, come to school not having the academic language at their fingertips to express their thinking. They have great things going on in…
Do you have students in your classroom with IEPs? Students with IEPs often have unique challenges in the general classroom setting and those challenges can be very diverse, from academic…
When a boy named Caine spent his summer building a cardboard arcade in his dad’s auto parts shop, someone filmed a short documentary about it. If you haven’t seen it,…
Sponge activities are short learning activities designed to fill those 5 to 10 extra minutes in the school day, such as the wait before lunch, the last few minutes after…
Do you have a problem finding time to focus on Science in the early elementary grades? I find it challenging to find the time for science and as a result,…
When students struggle to talk about science content, the problem often isn’t the concept — it’s the language. Sentence frames for science give students a structure for practicing academic language…
Anchor charts are an excellent teaching resource when used well. Throughout the years, I’ve figured out a few things that have made anchor chart creation just a little bit easier,…
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