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Hello Darlings! With the arrival of January comes the celebration and honoring of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  As I was gathering ideas, activities, and even potential projects, I have to admit…I was a little overwhelmed as to where to begin. How can I encompass everything my third graders need to know about such a pivotal historical figure in American history? How can I show and explain to them the incredible impact he created for the Civil Rights Movement? Yeah…it’s a lot! I know! In an effort to help with your January lesson planning, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite resources that I gathered or created ... Read More about Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hello Darlings! I hope each and every one of you had a lovely holiday season! I enjoyed spoiling my niece and nephew while wearing my favorite (and possibly tacky) Christmas sweater! I also got to spend some time with my college best friends which made the holidays even more special.  Now, with January officially here, I am beginning the mental and emotional shift that we all take toward the end of our much-deserved holiday break… My mind will inevitably start to shift from sleeping in and staying in my pj’s to lesson plans, meetings, and engaging activities I want to complete with my kiddos in January.  “Back to the ... Read More about Preparing for January with Digital Emergency Sub Plans

Hello Darlings! I hope you are enjoying a lovely and restful winter break! I am certainly enjoying the time off with coffee runs, Netflix movies, and preparing for an exciting New Year! Speaking of preparation, I am gathering my favorite January read alouds for my sweet kiddos! While doing this, I wanted to share some of my favorite January read alouds for elementary students with you! I love incorporating all content areas into my read aloud time. These engaging, budget-friendly books that I am going to share integrate science, reading comprehension, reading genres, social emotional learning, and social studies into your ... Read More about My Favorite January Read Alouds

Hello Darlings! One of my absolute favorite Christmas activities to do with my third grade students is my Random Acts of Kindness activities! I think it’s super important to teach our kiddos that the holiday season is about giving and serving others. What better way to do this than with random acts of kindness activities for school? Over the years, my elementary students and I have completed some pretty amazing and easy random acts of kindness! Some ideas for random acts of kindness are: 💖Deliver thank you notes to previous teachers 💖Offer to clean certain sections of the school to help the custodians 💖Donating books ... Read More about Random Acts of Kindness Activities

Hello Darlings! I know December is already insanely busy, but I couldn’t let this month of holiday cheer and chaotic schedules pass by without talking about one of my favorite holiday traditions! Each year in my classroom, my third grade students and I have an official “Secret Winter Book Exchange!” In order to have our fun, low-prep book exchange, we begin by using Scholastic Book magazines to pick out 3-4 books under $6 that each student would like to have. I pass out a book exchange form and each student writes down the titles of the books they have chosen. Then, each student put their list into a container for other ... Read More about Hosting a Secret Winter Book Exchange

Hello Darlings! We all have heard it. We all know it. We all have LIVED it. The weeks between Thanksgiving and Winter Break are NUTS. Not only do we feel the holiday excitement, the overwhelm of a busy schedule, and the struggle to stay focused, but so do our students! It’s tough to keep students active and engaged in learning when they feel all the holiday emotions as well. We also have to remember that some students truly don’t enjoy the holidays because of personal situations or their home environment… That all being said, I try very hard to make the holidays a special time in my elementary classroom. I also ... Read More about December Brain breaks to Increase Engagement in Your Elementary Classroom