Elementary Matters

Ten Favorite Picture Books I Love to Read to My Students

Sally — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:11:00 GMT

Around Valentine's Day I think about the people I love, and I also think about things I love. When I think about things I love, I think about reading to children, which is, without a doubt, my favorite thing about teaching. My next installment of 10 is...(read more)

Ten Ways to Motivate Students

Sally — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:54:00 GMT

This is the third installment of my 10 sets of ten. Today is all about motivating students. These are ten ways I motivate students: 1. Pride! Luckily, there are some students who take pride in themselves and just plain want to do well. They want to make...(read more)

Ten Brain Based Learning Strategies

Sally — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:02:00 GMT

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I'm absolutely fascinated by the brain, and am particularly fascinated by the research that's been done to prove the best learning strategies. There's some great stuff out there! I read about...(read more)

Ten Blogs That Inspire Me Daily

Sally — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:49:00 GMT

This is not only my 100th post, but it's somehow landed on my 6 month "Blogiversary", and just a couple of days before Day 100! I thought to celebrate, I'd think of 100 things to share with my wonderful readers. Just like I teach my students, I'll choose...(read more)

Fabulous Ideas!

Sally — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:47:00 GMT

Last week I ran a giveaway, and the only thing readers had to do to enter was put a comment with an idea of something they'd like to read about in my blog. I got some great ideas from readers' comments! More brain based ideas Technology Dr. Seuss Mother's...(read more)

Winter Activities

Sally — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:54:00 GMT

Well, it looks like the groundhog has seen his shadow and we have another 6 weeks of winter. As busy as February is, I've put together a bunch of winter activities to celebrate winter. It looks like we can't escape it now! Colorful Snowmen If I Lived...(read more)

Super Bowl, and a Freebie!

Sally — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:08:00 GMT

Those of us in New England are getting pretty pumped about the upcoming Super Bowl! We've been talking it up the last few days. Tomorrow is Patriots Day in our school. We all get to wear Patriots clothes. Since the kids are so excited, I'll be bringing...(read more)

And the Winner is....

Sally — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:36:00 GMT

I had a great response to my celebration giveaway! Thanks so much to all of those who entered. The winner is..... Jana from Thinking Out Loud! Thanks so much to everyone who entered. I have tons of ideas for blog posting, thanks to you! Read More......(read more)

Day 100 is Soon!

Sally — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:13:00 GMT

Day 100 is only a week away in my school district. Some of you have already celebrated, and some will be celebrating in the next week or so. We do a number of things to celebrate the 100th day of school, most of them have something to do with internalizing...(read more)

Busy February!

Sally — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:54:00 GMT

Wow, February is almost here, and it's a might busy month! We do have vacation week to look forward to, (Yippee!) But there's a lot of activity between now and then! We have Groundhog Day and The Super Bowl coming up this week! (Those of us from New England...(read more)

Time for a Celebration!

Sally — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:13:00 GMT

I'm proud to say I've reached a couple of milestones this week. On Wednesday, I reached 25,000 views on my blog! Thursday, I reached 1,000 Twitter followers! Well, of course this calls for a celebration giveaway! All you have to do is leave a comment...(read more)

Developing Open Response Answers

Sally — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:00:00 GMT

I spend a lot of time working to develop answers on Open Response questions. This is tough for many kids, and I think it's important that they pick up a few techniques so they don't go into the tests blindly. Our reading program (Reading Street) offers...(read more)

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Sally — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:05:00 GMT

Those of us in New England are hoping the New England Patriots beat the Baltimore Ravens today so our local team can head for the Super Bowl in two weeks. This is the time of year where, even if you're not really a football fan, you just can't help but...(read more)

Winter in New Hampshire

Sally — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:51:00 GMT

Can you tell I took this picture through the window? It's Winter in New Hampshire. It snowed last night. I admit, I was hoping for a delayed opening. ( A lovely little treat we get here in the north... an extra 2 hours to dig out, and we don't have to...(read more)

A Day in My Shoes

Sally — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:47:00 GMT

Katie from The Adventures of a 6th grade Teacher is having a Day in My Shoes Linky Party! Well, a day in my shoes... this isn't an easy task! My alarm goes off at 6 am, but I do hit that snooze a couple of times before I finally get my behind out of bed....(read more)