Elevator Classroom

This early reader, The Raccoon On The Moon, focuses on the always changing /oo/ sound. It also includes a brief writing and drawing exercise at the end so students can reimagine part of the story themselves. If you want to change any of the content, open the .docx file and change your page margins to 0.5". The PDF file is ready to print.

Have students work on their /qu/ and /wh/ decoding with this story and activity. After finishing the story, students will also demonstrate comprehension by finishing the story with a drawing and explanation for where they think the king is and why he's there. If you want to edit the story, open the .docx file in Google Docs and change your page margins to 0.5".

These 3 riddles use personification, new vocabulary, similes, metaphors, and alliteration. They're also fun (I think). These poems really help to nail down what personification is. Perfect for small group literacy discussions for students between 4th and 8th grade. If you want to edit any of the material, open the .docx file and adjust the page margins to 0.5".

How can we make letters and reading more beautiful for students? By reading and writing stories about the letters themselves. This story is about the magic e that changes short vowels into long vowels (CVCe). It's also a story about having a hard time fitting in and finding out what it is that makes you special. Hear my reading of it here: https://youtu.be/bxbhrioHokk?t=155After reading or presenting the story, consider having students write or draw their own story about anthropomorphized lette

If your students understand how to solve logic problems and have access to the internet, this is a great exercise to give them foundational research skills and sharpen their inductive and deductive reasoning skills. This is a potentially challenging worksheet geared toward driven students.

This collection of 4 mad lib comprehension stories provides enrichment for students as they determine what needs to go in the blanks to make the stories coherent and logical. This is an activity especially geared toward context comprehension and demonstrating for students the importance of close reading.

Fraction to percentage fluency is tricky. Using tape diagrams and clearly laid out equations creates a clear visual from which students can decipher these interrelated concepts. There are two worksheets with attached answer keys. Both worksheets use sale prices as the avenue for understanding. One uses tape diagrams to illustrate the relationship between fractions and percentages; the other uses a series of equations. If you want to edit the material, open the .docx file in Google Docs and adjus

Are any of your students struggling with paragraph structure? Try doing this reverse engineering activity where they move around the different sentences to create a coherent paragraph. This is a small stepping stone activity for students who can't seem to make the first step in paragraph writing, which can easily go into middle school. I recommend having students (or you) cut out each sentence, and then place them in the appropriate and logical order. Included in the download is one paragraph

This story is about appreciating your own home, even when comparing it to a nice place. The language focuses specifically on the long /e/ sound that /ee/ and /ea/ can both make. The story does not include any /ea/ words that have the short /e/ sound. Included in the story are four discussion questions, and a drawing activity at the end. If you want to edit any of the material, open the .pptx file. The PDF file is included as well, but be careful when printing anything out in color (you might wa

This story, The Baby Bunny, focuses on words that end in -y. After reading it, students will demonstrate their understanding of the story while also giving them an opportunity to exercise creativity. I see this kind of finish-the-story activity being specifically designed to be completed independently, but this certainly needs to be decided on a student-by-student basis. If you want to edit any of the content to better fit your needs, open the .docx file and change the page margins to 0.5".

This sight word poem and story uses many sight words, and helps students understand why we treat sight words differently than other words. After reading this story, I recommend doing a sight word activity such as the fill-in-the-blank worksheet I've included in this download. I've also included a regular document which simply has the poem written out without any pictures. You could have students circle all of the sight words in the poem as the activity following the reading. Supplement this acti

Have students read this tiny pamphlet that includes many words ending in -y (and repeatedly reading the sight word one), then have them write the same sentence stem ("One way to stay healthy is...") twice - one with a real contribution, and the other with a silly one. The theme is how we can stay healthy. Have students share their real or silly tips at the end. Add your own pages if you'd like by opening and editing the .pptx file in Google Docs. I know you don't care much about your students,

Students learn question sight words and how to use them using these two activities. The caption aspect of the writing makes the activity more enjoyable for many students. To precede this sight word writing activity, you might want to present this free-to-download sight word poem/story: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Poem-and-Story-When-A-Cat-Stays-Still-5175500To edit the documents, open the .pptx file for the caption activity, or the .docx file for the fill-in-the-blank

There are 3 levels of difficulty you can choose from for your students. Once your students understand the base 60 time system, they can start this activity as early as 3rd grade. Students will choose their favorite birthday activities and fill the entire 24 hours of their birthday with the activities. As they track the activities' duration, they also track what time it is. Make sure they're aware of when to change from AM to PM. If you want to edit any of the documents, use the .docx files by

This story/poem is about how silly stereotyping can be. A child called "redhead" explains how she not only technically doesn't have a red head or red hair, she also demonstrates how empty that superficial assessment is on top of its falseness. Included at the end are discussion questions that avoid defining terms like racism and stereotyping for the students, as the terms themselves sometimes undermine the importance of what they represent. A student reading at Level H-ish and up could read th

This early reader offers students a chance to demonstrate comprehension and creativity at the same time by taking the last 4 panels of the story and finishing it the way they'd like the story to end. If you want to edit the document, open the .docx file and change the page margins to 0.5". The PDF file is ready to print.

In this math center activity, students add together the number of sides from different shapes to equal a defined sum. For example, if the sum goal were 12 sides, you could use 3 squares to reach 12 sides (3 x 4 sides). By using shapes in this way, students not only become familiar with the shape names, but also work on a variety of implicit numeracy skills such as the concept of multiples. With modeling, first graders, and potentially some kindergartners could benefit from this activity though i

This is a new kind of writing exercise that forces students to formulate their own writing prompt through their understanding of a short story. By making the writing prompt a prequel, the story offers 3-5 possible prompts based on the story details. This requires an additional layer of contextual comprehension before they write, and still gives them a choice in their writing. It's also an excellent activity to potentially help teachers in determining whether a student has a context comprehension

For a video demonstrating the understanding of this activity, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxBtFVCCd0kThis collection of 4 dialogue algebra worksheets provides a challenge for students by leaving blank dialogue spaces in the middle of the story. Students work to determine which character is speaking in the story and what they could be saying that makes the story coherent and logical. This is an activity especially geared toward context comprehension and demonstrates the necessity for

Having younger students understand how a virus works will ideally be helpful in making them more conscientious and self-aware at school, at home, and with their friends. This poem read aloud is designed to help students make sense of the current COVID-19 context as it relates to them returning to the classroom. The story includes information about vaccines, which you can delete if you're concerned about parents or principals getting you in trouble. The story really focuses on keeping everything