By Rachel Lynette
Minds in Bloom is happy to present Brittany Washburn, a teacher-author and Science Specialist for grades 2-5 with her post on using Padlet. Enjoy! Integrating technology in the elementary classroom has become expected, but it certainly doesn’t have to be difficult. In my 4th grade science classes we recently used the technology tool “Padlet” to create posters about an assigned Earth material. This
Paraphrasing and summarizing are both super challenging skills to master, and what makes them even more confusing is that students often get these two skills mixed up! That is why I created the PARA and SUM acronyms: PARAphrase It! Put the text in your own words. Avoid copying the text. Rearrange similar text. Ask yourself if you included all the important points. SUMmarize It! Shorter
Of course, we all want our students to become readers – we want them to read way beyond the classroom, not just when they have to but also because they want to. In many ways, that is becoming more and more difficult. While the emphasis the Common Core puts on informational text will likely benefit our kids in many ways, in many classrooms it is at
Minds in Bloom is happy to introduce Sharon Fabian, from Classroom in the Middle, with her post on making inferences. Making inferences may be a difficult skill, but it is a fun one to teach – especially when you see those little wheels start to turn! Here are a few ideas for getting started. Using Close-up Photos For a different way of introducing inferences, try
Minds in Bloom is happy to present another stellar post from Shelley Rolston on Writing across the Curriculum. Enjoy! I heard it a lot from students when I taught the upper elementary grades: “I’d like science if I didn’t have to write about it.” Or, “This is not math, it’s writing!” Have you ever heard this? In the younger grades they don’t often express
