My personal journals had always been something of a mix of scrapbooking, diary entries, flaps of papers with short stories, pasted in notes, etc. The rise of Bullet Journaling speaks to my love of creativity, planning, and writing. In fact, my favorite subject to teach is Writing. When you google bullet journals, though, you’ll see layouts that make you cringe under Pinterest Pressure. Smashbooks, on the other hand, are meant to be messy. They went through a quick flash of popularity some years back; here’s theK&Company introduction to the smashbookif you want to see a video of the idea. The description at the front of my K&Company smash book says:
“It’s OK. Just smash it in. There’s always room, just like the junk drawer.
Nothing’s right. Nothing’s wrong. It’s all YOURS. We say glue in the gladness.
Google Slides are great for Collaborative Work! Think about collaborative story writing, number sense routine discussions, jigsaw reading, and more! See my periodic table project for one such idea.
I love having kids reflect in journals on paper and take notes in notebooks; however, I've enjoyed using Google Slides as digital reader's notebooks. Read here to get a set of slides you can adapt and use for free.
Currently, my 2019-20 classroom of 27 spans K-9th grade reading levels. In this post, I share my plan for different levels of readers, structures that guide my planning, and the importance of flexibility in meeting student needs.
1. Snow Day Community Builder Bingo I was recently at a professional development day for teacher leaders where we participated in a bingo card as a community builder. Many of the squares were more specific to adults, so I adjusted it a tiny bit and made one for my class. Here it is! 2.... Continue Reading →
Novels in Verse are quick reads that are gold mines filled with figurative language, empathy, diversity, and author style. Help your students love this genre with these recommendations.
These poetry smashbooks give me SUCH insight into every kid. It's amazing the things that they write about and let me see. They share so much if they're just told that they can.
