Best Practices for Early Finishers Early finishers can challenge even the best and most experienced teachers. Many of us have had the experience of barely getting the work passed out to everyone before the first Fast Finisher is waving her completed assignment in the air. Really? You’re done already? In addition
Homework Help is a Checklist Away Homework causes stress in homes across the country. Probably the world, really. I wrote some tips for avoiding the homework battle recently, and one of tips I suggested was to use a homework checklist. I looked around and couldn’t find any that I loved,
Why a reading challenge? Reading challenges are so much fun! I love participating in them because they so often introduce me to new books I would not otherwise have read. I’ve gathered a list of some reading challenges you may like to try out in your classrooms or families
Ending The Homework Battle What do you do when your child won’t do schoolwork without an epic battle every.single.day? What happens if you throw gifted in the mix, just for fun? Motivation is a tricky thing, and every child is different, but here are 11 ideas for how to get kids
I’m sharing a set of free printable Christmas bookmarks I made with all of you because if you’re like me, you’re giving some books as gifts this holiday season. These are the bookmarks I give away in my own Little Free Library. I’m sharing some book recommendations, too! About the
The Boys in the Boat have a lot to teach gifted kids My book club recently read The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, and I absolutely loved it. It’s that magical kind of non-fiction that enfold you in the story and doesn’t let go until far after you reluctantly
The key to excellent lesson plans is deceptively simple. It is a single question every teacher must ask when planning. The question is this: What will happen in the life of the learner as a result of this lesson? The role of objectives. Do you see that this is bigger
You should label kids as gifted if the label fits. This is a shockingly controversial statement, and I think it is because of three reasons: Bias against giftedness. The ambiguity of identification. Misunderstanding of or bias against the idea of “labels.” I don’t find these reasons compelling, and I will
Finding good books for middle school readers can be tricky (and if those readers are gifted, it’s doubly so). A parent recently asked me for suggestions, so I’ve curated this list. The list has two things: titles of books I recommend, and also places to find lists of good books
I love meeting people in real life who I know from this site at speaking events or conferences, yet I know that I will never have the opportunity to meet most of you in “real life.” I also have people I follow online who I feel are my “friends,” even
Ending the school year right is critical to enjoying your summer and getting next year off to a good start. Thinking about my own years of teaching, I know that the idea of “Well begun is half done” really means that beginning the next year starts much earlier than we
Reading Buddies can improve reading fluency, decrease anxiety in reluctant or stressed readers, and add a bit of cuddly fun to reading, making it even more pleasurable than it usually is! A Reading Buddy can be another student, or, as I’m going to talk about here, a stuffed animal or
