PamlaJJ's Learning Library

“Cowboy Up” is a collection of original poems I wrote while teaching a second grade unit on Colorado’s history designed to coincide with Denver’s annual mid-winter Stock Show where present-day cowboys rub shoulders with the ghosts of cowboys past. They are meant to provide information about cowboy culture, past and present, while providing students with a fun, real-world purpose for reading. I also used them to teach students poetry writing skills. I present them in Power Point format to includ

This three page set of worksheets is designed to aid students' comprehension of the story. After reading, students first fill in an event flow chart that fleshes out the story's main events. Next, they are asked to describe the important roles the main characters played in the story. Finally, there are 4 questions to answer that require students to analyze how and why things happened. I have designed this unit for 2cnd through 5th grade students, but home schoolers will appreciate it as well.

As an elementary school teacher responsible for developing my students' writing skills, I got awfully tired of reading the same words over and over in their pieces. Cool, for example, was ubiquitous, an adjective that qualified everything and ultimately meant nothing. Very seemed to modify every verb under the sun. To counter this, my students and I brainstormed as many synonyms for these and other exhausted words as we could. From these sessions came the Power Point presentation I offer

It is important at the beginning of the year to establish rules for your classroom. Many schools create their own set of rules and require every classroom to adhere to them. That was the case in my school as well. Our rules were all based on the word Respect. Students were expected to 1.) Respect Themselves, 2.) Respect Others, 3.) Respect Property, and 4.) Respect the Environment. We brainstormed during the first week of school what kinds of behaviors would demonstrate that we were being respec

This is a self contained internet research project children can use in a computer class, at home, or in their regular classroom. It combines research skills with writing for a purpose. Students are asked to select one of 5 bats and are given links to internet sites that provide pictures of and facts about their bat. Students are provided with a place to write those facts and may or may not, depending upon the teacher's purpose, turn those facts into a report/paragraph. Students are required at t