Engaged Partners + Active Readers... The Activities

Sunday, August 23, 2026 No comments

Snag my ANCHOR CHART PACK!
 One Pager TPT Product 


How to be an ACTIVE and ENGAGED partner...

We do SO much group work in my class and I think it is SO important to really focus on this during the first weeks of school. I don't want students simply yelling answers at their partners, I want conversation that leads to thoughtful discussions. In order to get that - you have to teach it! I teach this using games! 

-Sticky Note Game explained via video
-Mystery Drawing Game explained via video
-Mystery Drawing Game TPT Product

How to be an ACTIVE reader...

We also spend a lot of time talking about how being actively engaged in our reading makes us better readers because it deepens our understanding and allows us to acknowledge when we might need to go back and re-read! SO FAR we have talked about THREE ways to be an active reader: 1) talking with a partner, 2) using a graphic organizer, and 3) annotating the text

Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore - For this activity we practice being active readers by conversing with partners and through the use of a graphic organizers.
*Snag the book HERE!

-We begin by reading the book (only by looking at the pictures) and students have discussions about what they think is happening, what that infer, etc. Throughout this we are also really talking about those traits of being a good partner.

-After reading the book (via the pictures) we watch the short film. During this film students complete a "Wacky H" graphic organizer in order to be an active reader (watcher in this case).
*Short film on YouTube
*Freebie Graphic Organizer

Storm Drain Stem Challenge - We use this activity to start talking about annotating. We do very basic annotating since this is our first time! During read one, students "stop and jot" after each paragraph and jot down the GIST of what they read. They also circle unknown words. They talk with partners to find context clues to determine the meanings of those words. For read two - students highlight the most important things in each paragraph. They like to highlight sooooo much, so we start by highlighting ONE important thing for each paragraph. After we finish this, we complete the storm drain stem challenge for FUN!
*Stem challenge idea came from Stem with Mr. E.

Reading can be FUN!


Book Tasting - I have used Joanne Miller's book tasting product for years and I LOVE it so much. I highly recommend it. I also haven't purchased any items for this supplies in years either! I reuse EVERYTHING and throw it into a bucket each year. I do ask parents for a few snacks to make the tasting even more realistic. I use books from my classroom library so students can easily access books they found interesting after the tasting. 
*Items I have from Amazon

Back-to-School Ideas 2026

Wednesday, July 29, 2026 No comments



It's back to school season, which  means the ideas and LINKS are flowing. Here is your one stop spot for ALL THE THINGS I've been talking about over on Instagram. If I missed something, let me know! 

Lego Maze Stem Challenge
(Grab the supplies from Amazon)

Instagram Post with Explanation

Get To Know You Lego Glasses
(Grab the Supplies on Amazon)

Snag Jenga on Amazon

Connections with Connect Four 

(Grab the book here.)
(Watch the short here.)

Back-to-School Breakout

Get to Know Your Teacher Inferencing Bag
*Used chart paper this year instead of the handouts for a FUN twist and we loved it! 

Self Portraits Directed Drawing
*I back the self portraits with black butcher paper before hanging them up and it is such an easy way to make them look finished. 

Legend of Rock Paper Scissors Read Aloud

Mystery Tower Team Building Slide 
Dustin Ecker's Instagram 


Pet Magnets - This is actually SO easy! I grab this magnet paper off of Amazon. Parents email me a pet picture and I upload it to Canva, remove the background, and print. The magnetic paper is thin, so once it comes off the printer I simply cut around the pet! 

"Rock of the Week" Student Honor - The Scoop

Sunday, June 14, 2026 No comments


Each week ONE student is named “Rock of the Week” - this honor is for a student who is strong, dependable - and goes above and beyond. Each week the “Rock of the Week” gets a mini rock, a handwritten note where we specifically list AMAZING things they’ve done - and a sticker. 

Where did you get the cute rock things? The rock sticker and postcard are from Little May Papery on Etsy.  She is an AMAZING artist in Canada and I LOVE her work. The mini rocks are from Amazon. 

Does everyone get to be the rock at some point? NO. This is not a who’s turn is it type award - only students who were truly being excellent got awarded.

What if no one is sticking out one week? If there was a week that no one stuck out as being a rock, the award wasn’t given. We would have a class meeting and discuss how to step it up the next week.

Who chose the ROCK? Ultimately I did as the teacher, but I kept a clip board where students could nominate a classmate. They LOVED doing this. Here is the document students would fill out. I attached it to a clip board. 

What does the note say? (Name) is the next recipient of ROCK of the week because they are strong and dependable just like a ROCK. Whether it's standing firm when things get tough, helping classmates, or showing consistency in his/her work, (name) is an all around ROCK STAR. Then - I list specific examples of that student being a rock.