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At the heart of every word problem lies the foundation of a growth mindset. When it comes to building your students' self-confidence when solving word problems, there's no better approach than the 3 Reads Protocol! In this evidence-based strategy, students read a word problem three times, each with a specific focus. First read: Focuses students' attention to the context and vocabulary of the word problem Second read: Students name what is countable or measured. Third read: Students analyze the

Making Meaning (Third Edition), 4th Grade, Unit 7: Nonfiction Text StructureUse these accompanying slides and resources for Unit 7 in the Making Meaning curriculum! This resource can help guide you through each day and the various components within each lesson. They also offer great visual supports when discussing read alouds, asking questions, setting timers for IDR and reading conferences, and stating learning objectives. Once purchased, a copy will add to your Google Drive where you can then

This resource is specifically designed to match the Native American book series on Epic and a link to the collection of books is included. If you do not have an Epic Books account you can create one for FREE! The goal is to give students an opportunity to learn about and research ONE Native American tribe of their interest. Take this project to the next level by having students present and share their knowledge about the Native American tribe they studied! All 25 books in the collection are w

The question-answer relationship (QAR) strategy is a powerful reading comprehension tool that teaches students how to recognize different types of questions and where to look for the answers. This strategy helps readers understand that some answers can be found directly in the text while others require inferential thinking. The QAR strategy is evidence-based and is an accredited tool widely endorsed by reading experts across the nation. Using QAR gives readers the opportunity to extend their th

Making Meaning (Third Edition), 4th Grade, Unit 6: Making InferencesUse these accompanying slides and resources for Unit 6 in the Making Meaning curriculum! This resource can help guide you through each day and the various components within each lesson. They also offer great visual supports when discussing read alouds, asking questions, setting timers for IDR and reading conferences, and stating learning objectives. Once purchased, a copy will add to your Google Drive where you can then display

When writing in the nonfiction genre, students are tasked with an approach that differs from the skills the have utilized in creative writing. One of the most distinguishing pieces of the expository writing process is the steps students must follow when gathering and researching information about their topic. While these procedures are notable to the process, it can be extremely intimidating to students--especially if a student is a struggling reader or writer. So, how do we keep the content r

Making Meaning (Third Edition), 4th Grade, Unit 5: Making InferencesUse these accompanying slides and resources for Unit 5 in the Making Meaning curriculum! This resource can help guide you through each day and the various components within each lesson. They also offer great visual supports when discussing read alouds, asking questions, setting timers for IDR and reading conferences, and stating learning objectives. Once purchased, a copy will add to your Google Drive where you can then display

Nerdy Birdy Tweets by Aaron Reyonlds is a fantastic story to teach the relationship between character conflict and theme. When readers understand and recognize story elements, they are more likely to identify the theme of the story--the most important piece! A character's conflict is the most significant part in a story's plot because it develops into an important life lesson. Readers can often overlook how a character changes or grows based off the their conflict. It is crucial that we teach

The challenges students face in geometry do not come from procedural or math misconceptions. Rather, students struggle in this realm of math because of the overwhelming vocabulary that they are expected to learn and memorize. The use of academic vocabulary is at it's all time high when students embark on geometrical related tasks. From acute triangles to terms like justify and attribute, students are front loaded with vocabulary words that directly impact their understanding and overall perform

Opinion writing is one of my favorite units! Giving our students the tools they need to voice their beliefs is one of the most productive skills they will apply in their real world. As you are probably already aware, a solid opinion is most powerful when it is supported and backed by reasons. This is the challenge that many students face when comforted with opinion writing tasks. These digital writing prompts are the perfect introductory tool that guide students into the practice of stating thei

Personal narrative writing can be hard for many students. Writing about our own lives and reflecting on our memories is much harder than writing about facts or opinions. Using a guided writing approach, this resource will support your day to day lessons as your model and scaffold students through the many components seen in a personal narrative writing piece. These digital graphic organizers and examples provide students with explicit instruction on what to include in each slide and which part

Making Meaning (Third Edition), 4th Grade, Unit 3: QuestioningUse these accompanying slides and resources for Unit 3 in the Making Meaning curriculum! This resource can help guide you through each day and the various components within each lesson. They also offer great visual supports when discussing read alouds, asking questions, setting timers for IDR and reading conferences, and stating learning objectives. Once purchased, a copy will add to your Google Drive where you can then display for y

Finding factors of a number can be very challenging for students--especially if fact fluency is still developing. Showing the various ways a number can be represented with arrays is such a beneficial strategy! As students build equal groups in columns and rows, they are able to physically see how composite numbers have more than 2 factors. While many teachers prefer the "rainbow" method when finding factors, I have had more success with the "T-Chart" method since it is most commonly used when

ARRAYS ARE SWEET AND SO ARE YOU! Using arrays to represent and understand multiplication can help learners add problem solving strategies to their math tool box! These digital task cards allow students to represent multiplication with arrays as they visualize the numbers into rows and columns. Students will work through 20 task cards as they use their knowledge of arrays to find the product of various multiplication sentences. They will also have the opportunity to build their own arrays with

Making Meaning (Third Edition), 4th Grade, Unit 2: Text FeaturesUse these accompanying slides and resources for Unit 2 in the Making Meaning curriculum! This resource can help guide you through each day and the various components within each lesson. They also offer great visual supports when discussing read alouds, asking questions, setting timers for IDR and reading conferences, and stating learning objectives. Once purchased, a copy will add to your Google Drive where you can then display for

This substitute binder resource is the perfect way to stay organized when your are out of the classroom! With 50 template options, you can pick and choose which sheets you would like to include in your binder. Each page is a COMPLETELY editable on Google Slides and can be safely stored in your Drive. If your school prefers to have a hard copy, simply download your slides as a PDF and print! Check out the preview for a closer look! What's Included?-Welcome Letter -Table of Contents -Class List/Ro

The first two weeks of school are essential to establish your routines....yet, our schedules are always far from the usual! Crazy how that works, right? I always find my class having these weird 10 minute time frames in between back to school assemblies or counselor lessons. Rather than telling my students to fill this time with computers, I'd rather use it to my advantage and hold fun get to know you games and activities. This resource does just that! It includes various "ice breakers" or get

NEW LOOK, SAME GREAT CONTENTMaking Meaning (Third Edition), 4th Grade, Unit 1: The Reading CommunityUse these accompanying slides and resources for Unit 1 in the Making Meaning curriculum! This resource can help guide you through each day and the various components within each lesson. They also offer great visual supports when discussing read alouds, asking questions, reviewing procedures, and stating learning objectives. You can add your own expectations and procedures on the editable slides

Use these colorful slides as visual supports when teaching classroom routines and procedures! Display them at the start of each routine or procedure for the first couple weeks to promote positive classroom management. Students can even refer to these slides throughout the year as self-reminders by simply posting the slides to your Google Classroom or printing out the slides as posters! These editable templates are a must have classroom management tool! Once purchased, a copy will download to yo

Vocabulary is the bridge to comprehension and embedding instructional practices that our students can relate to is critical! Graphic organizers are hands down the most evidence based way to teach vocabulary. However, these "old school" paper-pencil methods can sometimes skew away from student engagement. The question is not whether teachers should continue using vocabulary notebooks and graphic organizers. Instead, we should consider how to integrate vocabulary practices that reflect our Gen Z