This year, I am really trying to amp up my vocabulary instruction, and one area I am really focusing on is morphology!  Aside from teaching our students how to use context clues and self-monitoring strategies, I fervently believe that we should explicitly teach prefixes, affixes, and roots.  Once students learn the meaningful words parts, they are better equipped to analyze… View Post

On Monday, I had the opportunity to present for SDE at the Ohio Conference for Second and Third Grade Teachers.  To say that it was a dream come true sounds so cliche, but that was exactly how I feel about it.  If you have followed my blog for a while, you may have been able to gather that I am… View Post

Hi, there!  Today I’m linking up with some friends for a “Bright Ideas Linky Party!”  I’m flashing back to a little idea I posted about in chunks a few years ago. It’s our classroom bank! Since have a school-wide Character Store, the kiddos receive money for good behavior.  I utilize a banker hand out money on payday using this little… View Post

Hey, friends!  I just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve updated my Expanding Vocabularies: Word Work Bundle!  I’ve consolidated ALL of my vocabulary packs (except my Vocabulary Parade) into this document, so it has quite literally expanded.  If you already have this file, you are definitely going to want to download the 193 page update!  Here’s a little preview… View Post

While researching information about passion projects and genius hour this week, I stumbled upon a video called “Caine’s Arcade”.  Apparently I’ve been living under a rock because Caine is a sweet kiddo who turned into an Internet sensation this year after he designed a cardboard arcade in his father’s used car parts store and garnered attention from a remarkable man… View Post