MINDS IN BLOOM BLOG

What's your favorite comprehension question? You've never thought about it, have you?! Get your students thinking with this great comprehension question!

My Favorite Comprehension Question

Welcome back to Minds In Bloom! Today’s guest blogger is Carrie of My Book Boost, and she’s sharing her favorite comprehension question to ask her class. Read on to find out what it is and why it’s her favorite! What’s my favorite comprehension question to ask kids after reading? Let me give you a hint. It requires kids to use more than their brains to

What to know about Socratic Seminars

5 Steps to a Successful Socratic Seminar

Minds in Bloom is pleased to welcome Erin from Creative Teacher’s Classroom to the blog today! Erin is sharing an excellent post that outlines five steps to running a successful Socratic seminar in your classroom.     As a gifted intervention specialist, I began experimenting with Socratic seminars as a way to get my students deeper into the novel we were reading. However, I never

Teaching students to use text evidence while answering reading comprehension questions is no easy feat. Our guest blogger shares five steps to teaching this important comprehension skill in this post. You can also download a free resource to help you start teaching how to use text evidence in your own classroom!

Text Evidence for Beginners

Hey all! My name is Kadeen, and I am so excited to be sharing this topic with you. As a teacher of several years, I never thought “text evidence” would become one of my main instructional focus topics until I started tutoring 5th grade. I especially did not see the importance until I realized that many of my students were not passing their weekly reading

How to Teach Poems and Poetry all Year

Got Poetry? How to Teach Poems All Year

Hi! I’m Marypat from Just Add Students. I’m thrilled to be a guest blogger on Minds in Bloom today. Thank you, Rachel, for giving me a forum to write about my favorite topic: poetry!   Most of us teach poetry in April. We pull out fun lessons with figurative language, haiku, couplets, and limericks. And why not? After all, it is National Poetry Month. But

Strategies for teaching students that do not speak english

Modified Guided Reading for ELLs

Kristen is our guest blogger today, joining us from A Walk in the Chalk. She’s sharing her strategies for reaching ELLs in the classroom by incorporating modified guided reading strategies. Guided reading is an important component of a balanced literacy program. It is when individualized reading instruction is provided to a small group of students. The group size is typically between four to six students, and each

In case you need them, this post details 10 reasons why you need to teach Wonder by R.J. Palacio to your students. Not only will you fall in love with this novel, but your students will also become enthralled with it. It's an instructionally rich novel and provides opportunities for teaching not only literary devices but also themes like friendship and kindness. Read all 10 reasons here!

Ten Reasons to Teach Wonder by RJ Palacio to Your Students

Wonder by R.J. Palacio is an amazing book on so many levels. If you have not read it, do it now. Like right now. Go to Amazon, download it to your reader, sit in the sun, or in the bathtub, or in front of a cozy fire, or wherever you like to read, and enjoy one of the best pieces of kid-lit, ever. NOTE: As Amazon Associates,

Although they often tend to be taught separately, for some reason, phonics and phonemic awareness actually go hand-in-hand. Our guest blogger shares a list of fun activity ideas for teaching phonics and phonemic awareness in primary classrooms, so click through to read more.

Fun Phonics and Phonemic Awareness Ideas

Please welcome Miss W, a teacher-author from Australia. She’s sharing with us several tried-and-true methods for teaching phonics and phonemic awareness to kiddos in fun ways. Read on to find out what they are! Phonics and phonemic awareness are crucial language features. Children’s letter and sound knowledge assists students to decode words when reading, to sound out words when writing, to form words when speaking,

Text Time is the perfect reading skills practice that you've been looking for! It includes 60 reading passages, which really translates to 120 passages because there are two levels for each. Click through to read more about what's included in this awesome reading skills review resource!

Reading Skills Review the Easy Way!

So, a few months ago I was thinking about making an ELA skills review product – something with several different skills on one page – but when I asked my Facebook followers what they thought about the idea, a bunch of them basically said, “Well, that’s a swell idea, but what we really need is reading skills practice.” I am all about making what teachers

Students with special needs don't always get the instruction they need that suits all of their learning needs in the general education classroom. Our guest blogger shares 10 ways to use multi-sensory learning strategies to get students fully engaged in phonics. Click through to read her post!

10 Super Easy Ways to Get Students Fully Engaged in Phonics

Hi! I am Nikki Heiman from the Teachers Pay Teachers store Creative Inclusion. I am so excited for the opportunity to be a contributor for Rachel Lynnette. I have admired her work since long before becoming a TpT seller. In fact, my mom is also a teacher, and she has used Rachel’s work for a long time. So, imagine my excitement when I met her in

Need technology tools to support reading and writing in your classroom? Our guest blogger shares her list of the best technology tools to do this. Check out the list and see if you're missing out on some great technology integration!

Best Technology Tools to Support Reading and Writing

My name is Lisa Robles, and I am so thankful to guest blog for Rachel Lynette. I had the good fortune of attending her sessions at the Teachers Pay Teachers conference in Vegas, and she was awesome!   First, I’m going to get on my soapbox for a second.  Technology should never be a babysitter.  It should be a tool for creation!  Especially with the

Read alouds are an effective and engaging way to practice reading skills with your students. Although students aren't reading themselves, they are practicing skills such as comprehension, recall, listening, and more! Here are tips for implementing read alouds in your classroom.

Read Alouds in Your Classroom

Hi, I’m Cait from Cait’s Cool School. I’m exciting to be guest-posting on Minds in Bloom today! I’m discussing read alouds in your classroom and how you can make the most of them!   I don’t know about you, but I love having someone read aloud to me. I will never forget when I was a senior in high school, and my AP English teacher read aloud

Boys can knit. Wait, what? The surprising history of knitting is that it started with men and was once a prized skill. While knitting is often associated with females today, boys can try knitting in school during read aloud time so that they have something to do with their hands. This is a great activity for kinesthetic learners!

Hobbies for Kinesthetic Learners: What Do I Do With My Hands During Read Aloud Time?

Hobbies for kinesthetic learners: Archery Target shooting Knife sharpening Tomahawk throwing Knitting Wait. What? Boys don’t knit!   I bet when you think of knitting, you think of a little old granny in her rocking chair. But do you know who dominates the history of the art of knitting?   Men. Macho men, in fact.   Knitting is a perfect quiet activity during read aloud time. Your boys, however, may need some

Do you need more rigorous spelling practice in your instruction? Our guest blogger shares her three best apps for spelling practice in this post. She explains how each app works and what she likes about it.

3 Best Apps for Spelling Practice

Hi!  My name is Amy, and I’m from 180 Days of Reading.  I am a Reading Specialist and former kindergarten teacher with a first grader at home. Some days I feel like I eat, sleep, and breathe spelling patterns.  I hit a wall at home with my first grader and spelling homework this year.  I was tired of the “write your words three times each”

unique ways to engage students in the classroom

How to Engage Students by Pairing Fiction and Nonfiction Texts

Hello, my name is Jill Richardson. I am honored to have the opportunity to share with you today!   Do you need another way to build excitement and enjoyment of learning for your students?  Try pairing fiction and nonfiction texts.  Most of my career has been in teaching reading in the primary grades.  This year I am teaching English as a Second Language and loving it!  Pairing fiction and nonfiction texts

how to boost my students communication skills

Learning to Retell, Relate & Reflect Using Verbal & Written Responses

Our guest blogger today is Mrs. Naufal, and she’s been kind enough to share her insight with us about three important communication skills: learning to retell, learning to relate, and learning to reflect! “Retell, relate, and reflect” are oral and written responses that showcase various levels of communication and thinking ability.  Each step requires more experience than the previous step.  When students retell, they are able to discuss

Do your students read at home? Our guest blogger is a tutor with a love for reading, and she's compiled a list of tips for encouraging reading at home. You can share these tips with your students' parents, too!

Tips for Encouraging Reading at Home

I am so excited and thankful for this opportunity to guest post here on Minds in Bloom! I’m Rachel from Rachel K Tutoring, and today I want to share about my desire for kids to read at home and to provide a free printable to go with it!   I was always a book nerd growing up. I loved the library, the smell of books,

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