Let's get started on Unit 8! Here, friends, is your home for all of my resources, tips, tricks, project ideas, and freebies on Benchmark Advance Unit 8, our Earth Science unit. My shop is filled with grade-specific Benchmark resources and many other fun resources. Be sure to check out my Close Reading Companions for Unit 8! Five Days of Benchmark Freebies!Sign up to have a Benchmark ... Read More about Unit 8 of Benchmark Advance
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Turn Your Students Into Expert Researchers
Do you have a solid method for how to teach your students skills to conduct research projects? There are few things more important than having good research skills, especially these days! We have a world of information literally at our fingertips. We can Google just about anything. Heck, we don’t even need our fingers—just ask Alexa to look it up for you! There are of course positives ... Read More about Turn Your Students Into Expert Researchers
4 Easy Ways to Simplify Your Close Reading Lessons
Close reading lessons have essentially replaced the ways we used to teach reading. When this teaching strategy first came on the scene, teachers started using it everywhere: language arts of course, but also in social studies, science, and even math lessons. As is often the case with teachers, some of us went a bit overboard. After a few years of using close readings with my students, ... Read More about 4 Easy Ways to Simplify Your Close Reading Lessons
How I Differentiate Guided Math Lessons
Whenever I begin a new unit in math, I give my students a simple pre-assessment that has three tiered math problems. The problems are meant to give me data on my students' understanding of the concepts before we jump in and start the unit. This way, I know what to spend more time on with each student during our guided math groups. Related: An Easy Way to Level Students for Math Groups The ... Read More about How I Differentiate Guided Math Lessons
What a Typical Day of Math Centers Looks Like
I prefer to teach math in small groups. I begin each math lesson with everyone on the carpet as I introduce the concept. Shortly after, students rotate through three math centers in 15-minute blocks of time: Guided math with the teacherIndependent math practice Math games The order of rotation is super important. I have my students leveled and sorted into math groups (Related: An ... Read More about What a Typical Day of Math Centers Looks Like
