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A fourth grader once explained her lemonade stand to me like this. She sold eleven cups at fifty cents, so she made…

My first year, I ran a beautiful first week. We did a name game, a bingo icebreaker, an All About Me page…

I gave out interest inventories for four years before I used one. They were good inventories. Favorite color, favorite book, what you…

The first year I taught severe weather, my class could name every storm on the poster. Thunderstorm, tornado, hurricane, blizzard. They could…

The first time I taught this book, my class loved it. They laughed at Winn-Dixie smiling with all his teeth. They gasped at…

My first Meet the Teacher Night, I said the same eleven sentences twenty-two times. Arrival is at 7:45. Lunch is at 11:20.…

The first introduction letter I ever sent home was, essentially, a résumé. Where I went to school. How many years I had…

I taught The Lemonade War for the first time with a packet. Twenty-eight pages, stapled, handed out on day one, due the…

Community helpers is one of the best nonfiction reading units you will teach all year. The topic is already informational, the kids…

The first time I taught ecosystems, I planned six weeks of it. Six weeks. I had biome posters, a diorama project, a…

It happens every September. You pull out a problem you know they mastered in April, you watch twelve hands go up with…

If you’ve ever introduced food chains to your class and watched the confusion wash over their faces the moment you said “tertiary…