Check out the Teacher Approved Club! ➔

Category: 3rd Grade

Halloween Fun: Carving Out Time to Learn

We have a fun new bundle of Halloween activities for your little spooks! It’s important to us that when we make something seasonal that it’s both fun AND meaningful and we’ve worked hard to achieve that with these activities. They’re also differentiated so should be appropriate for grades 1-4! The

Read More »

A Teacher’s Guide to Fluency

For a long time, fluency was the forgotten component of reading instruction.  I know it never came up in my college courses!  But in the last 10 years or so, the view has shifted.  Fluency has come to be recognized as a vital skill in developing proficient readers. For the

Read More »

Getting the Most Out of Fluency Homework

Timed, repeated readings with feedback are one of the best ways to improve students’ reading fluency. Read more about repeated readings here! How you manage repeated readings depends on what works best in your class. Some teachers have parent helpers or aides work with the students. Some teachers do timed

Read More »

Beginning Fluency: Leveled Passages

When it comes to fluency practice, students need something to read.  But what?  Really, any text that students can read independently works for practice: rereading familiar books Reader’s Theater scripts student newspapers (Scholastic News, Weekly Reader, etc.) joke books short poems But if you’re looking for more targeted practice, leveled

Read More »

Brain Breaks Bundle

Our year of Brain Breaks is finished! Wondering if you should try Brain Breaks with your students? Read why your students really need Brain Breaks! The bundle is by far the best price for all of these Brain Breaks (540!!). Included in the bundle: Halloween Brain Breaks Thanksgiving Brain Breaks

Read More »

Brain Breaks Activities for The Classroom

Do your students struggle to focus in the classroom during the school day? If this is the case, they could benefit from regular movement breaks or brain breaks activities! I do this all the time. I’ve got that thing I should be focusing on (like writing this blog post!), but I’ve

Read More »

St. Patrick’s Day Brain Breaks

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but we are having the mildest winter where we live. It feels like spring already! But if you’re stuck inside with cold weather and snow, maybe these will help ease the pain. It’s so important for kids to get

Read More »

Valentine’s Day Brain Breaks (Freebie!)

Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate in the classroom. There’s just something so sweet about the students writing little notes to each other. We loved making these Valentine’s Day themed brain breaks, and we hear your students are loving them too! These NO PREP brain breaks

Read More »

Brain Breaks for Winter (Freebie!)

Is there anything worse than indoor recess? Sometimes that announcement feels like a prison sentence. We all need a break! The kids need to run around! But with cold temps and snowy weather, it’s bound to happen a lot over the next few months for those of us in winter

Read More »

Top 5 Nutcracker Themed Reads

I have loved the story of the Nutcracker ever since I was a little girl and Grammy gave me a copy of the book when she came to visit. So let’s start our list there with the story of the Nutcracker. #1 The Story of the Nutcracker Ballet by Deborah Hautzig

Read More »

Top 5 Christmas Folktale Reads

#1 The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie DePaola  WWW I cry every time I read this.  Seriously.  This book has a special spirit and the kids feel it too.  When I read the last few pages, all the wiggles are stilled and everyone is paying attention.  This is a

Read More »