School and the City

Bulletin boards: Do you love them or hate them? For me, it's a bit of both! As an instructional coach, I try to find fun but simple ways to add a little more literacy to students’ lives. I’ve created a few literacy-related bulletin boards in common spaces around the school.  The problem with hallway bulletin boards is that they get worn (or destroyed) quickly. Busy hallways bring lots of eyes to see engaging content, but also lots of curious little hands (and pencils, and erasers, and scissors… you know). The fact is that regular butcher paper just doesn’t cut it when it comes to bulletin boards in busy hallways. It’s frustrating to see your hard work torn, ripped, or faded after just a few weeks when you are hoping it will last all year! Enter: Fadeless Paper ! It’s the best for creating eye-catching - but durable - bulletin boards. It is so high quality that it won’t fade after a month or so of sunlight exposure like typical butcher paper will. It’s also so t...

New year, new interactive bulletin board!  I’m sooo excited about this one - My students are going to love it, and yours will too!  Choose quality materials.  For this board, I decided to use Fadeless Paper in White Shiplap. For the border, I used black and metallic gold Bordette. (Find all the materials here .) Fadeless Paper is the way to go! It is high-quality, fade-resistant paper. It won’t fade after a month or so of sunlight exposure like typical butcher paper will. It’s also so thick and strong that it doesn’t rip nearly as easily, either, which was super important to keep in mind when it came to this particular project! I’m confident that this bulletin board, lovingly decorated with Pacon’s Fadeless paper and Bordette, will hold strong alllll year, so I know my time and energy creating it is all worth it!  Build the board.  Fadeless paper is quick and easy to hang. I like to roll it out on the floor to match ...

As an instructional coach, I try to find fun but simple ways to add a little more literacy to students’ lives. I’ve created a few literacy-related bulletin boards in common spaces around the school. This new board is one of my favorites… Let me tell you all about it!  I had an idea for a new board concept, but like any good idea, I needed a strong foundation.  I learned the hard way last year that regular butcher paper just doesn’t cut it when it comes to bulletin boards in busy hallways. These bulletin boards are exposed to direct sunlight and hundreds of hands every single day. By the end of the year, they were barely hanging on.  This time around, I knew better. What could I use instead to create a beautiful bulletin board that would look just as beautiful by the time May rolls around? Enter: Fadeless Paper !  Fadeless paper is high-quality, fade-resistant paper. It won’t fade after a month or so of sunlight exposure like typical butcher p...

This year, I'm working as a reading coach and interventionist. I love teaching phonics all day long and getting to work with different grade levels. Throughout the years, I've developed favorite phonics supplies, of course. I've also changed my practice a lot due to recent professional learning. If I had to pick my top must-have supplies for teaching phonics, these would be them. You can find all of these on Amazon for easy shopping! Sound Boxes and Chips Chips, or some sort of manipulative, are a must for orthographic mapping. I've used cubes, mini erasers, game pieces... Bingo chips are my favorite because of their size and how easily they slide. I make my own sound boxes, but I love this set that I found on Amazon. It's affordable and serves as a great scaffold for your young students. Letters, Letters, Letters! This seems obvious, but yes, you need a LOT of letters to give students the opportunity to have hands-on experiences man...

Animal research projects are the way to go when it comes to teaching informational writing. Kids LOVE animals and have so much fun learning and writing about them. But teaching writing is hard. I feel ya. My team felt is was especially hard to teach informational writing including the need for conducting research. That's A LOT for a 3rd grader, y'all! After some trial and error, I've developed templates to use with my students to walk them through the informational writing process. Research We start with a recording sheet to help students track and organize information as they research. I model this for students first. I show them how to read an article and record the information in appropropriate sections. I like to use bullet points because it helps eliminate students copying sentences word for word. This takes a lot of modeling and a lot of practice! It definitely takes a few days, at least, for students to successfully complete thei...

This topic is making me sweat just thinking about it: Parent communication! * shiver * I'm entering my 9th year of teaching, but communicating with parents still gives me anxiety. I've dealt with some amazing parents along with the worst of the worst. Here are 5 things to keep in mind when communicating with your students' guardians. Make Positive Contact This is my favorite (and possibly the most effective) of all the parent communication tips. Make a point to communicate with individual parents as soon as the school year starts. Find an easy way to start building relationships with parents, which will set you up for success in the future should you have to have tough conversations. (And you will!) I personally use these notepads , which make it super easy and quick for me to compliment a student. There are lots of free printable options on TPT, too. One of my principals made it a requirement for all teachers to make positive contac...

Topic of the week: Advice for lesson planning and pacing . I'm going to be completely honest - I don't think I knew what a pacing guide was my first year teaching. I definitely did not make my own or even use district guides effectively until at least year 4 or 5. I just followed what my coworkers were doing (and they knew what they were doing, thank goodness!) But, the more you know… Resources probably already exist. Last week we covered content knowledge, and I encouraged you to at least locate your state's standards. In many cases, your state - or your district - might have a pacing guide that you are expected to follow. A pacing guide is essentially your roadmap for the year. It tells you what to teach and when to teach it. That way your year is paced appropriately without rushing or running out of time. Before you spend your precious time planning out your year, check your state, district, and school websites and talk with your grade leve...