It’s that crazy time of year again between the holidays when you are so desperately looking forward to those two weeks off! Most of you are probably planning on doing some sort of assessments before break or soon after. This episode will provide you with quick and easy ideas for assessing your students as soon as tomorrow.

The best part of these ideas is that they are fun and creative almost to the point that they don’t even realize they are being evaluated. Little do they know you are assessing their understanding, their grammar, and so much more. No matter which topic you are looking to assess or the subject you are teaching, these activities will help you gain information that will let you know what your students need as learners. I hope these tips help you get through test prep and ready to go in the new year!

In this episode I share: -10 ideas for exit tickets to assess student learning -Ways to evaluate your students that requires minimal writing -Activities that can be used in all subject areas -How assessments can be informative for future lessons

Join the Stellar Teacher Reading Membership: https://learn.stellarteacher.com/join

Exit Ticket Sticky Notes: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Exit-Ticket-Templates-For-Any-Subject-Print-and-Digital-4480486

To check out the other resources from this episode, head to the show notes: stellarteacher.com/stc_podcast/creative-ways-to-assess

Mentioned in this episode:

Book Study Registration

Sign up for our summer book study on The Writing Revolution 2.0 here: https://stellarteacher.com/bookstudy

Hello my friends! I know the Monday after Thanksgiving can be difficult, so thank you for joining me whether you’re driving to work or winding down afterwards. I hope you all had an opportunity to rest after a school year that has likely already proven to be challenging, a theme I’ve seen over and over again lately. With just about three more weeks until the next holiday, I’m here to help you keep your students on track and engaged!

I always found that the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas were the most difficult to keep students focused, especially during reading. Not to mention the pressure to have projects or activities to send home during the long break. Luckily I have created multiple resources and compiled ideas that will not only keep students interested at school but you’ll also have the option to continue these activities during their time off, without putting extra work on you.

In this episode I share: -5 Ideas for keeping students engaged during the holiday season -Activities you can start now that last through the new year -How to incorporate different topics and genres into the winter season -Ways to make learning fun with activities you already have in place

Join out the Stellar Teacher Reading Membership: https://learn.stellarteacher.com/join

Grab your FREE Book Talk Anchor Charts: stellarteacher.com/blog/boost-reading-engagement-with-book-talks/

To check out the other resources from this episode, head to the show notes: stellarteacher.com/stc_podcast/winter-break

Mentioned in this episode:

Book Study Registration

Sign up for our summer book study on The Writing Revolution 2.0 here: https://stellarteacher.com/bookstudy

As we approach the holiday season and reflect on what we’re thankful for, one of the first things that comes to my mind is my listeners and the community this podcast has created! You all motivate me to show up each week with your dedication to improving your student’s reading abilities. This week I wanted to talk about a fun topic, which is incorporating movement into your reading block.

The holidays may be an exciting time of the year, but this excitement can often lead to students becoming more distracted and antsy. It’s normal to notice that the behavior management tools that have been working the last few months may not be as effective anymore. In order to keep a positive learning environment, you can incorporate movement activities to improve both attention and collaboration. You may be putting these routines in place to control that holiday excitement, but you’ll be happy you did once test prep comes around!

In this episode I share: -Reasons to incorporate movement into your reading block -The impact movement has on the classroom community -4 movement routines to incorporate into your schedule -Tips to prepare your students for movement activities

Check out the Stellar Teacher Reading Membership: https://learn.stellarteacher.com/join

For more resources, head to the show notes: stellarteacher.com/stc_podcast/incorporating-movement-into-your-literacy-block/

One of my favorite things about hosting this podcast is the conversations I have with my listeners who love literacy as much as I do! I was excited to see that my most popular episode yet was my 47th episode that focused on nonfiction. Whether you really love nonfiction or really need help with it, I decided to tackle one of the most challenging nonfiction reading skills in this episode, which is summarizing.

It is so important to take each student’s reading skills into account while teaching those higher level skills. That’s why I’ve developed strategies that can help build confidence in all students no matter their comprehension abilities. Teaching literacy skills really requires a toolbox of strategies and skills for your students to be able to utilize independently. I’ve been loving the discussions that began following the last nonfiction episode, so let me know which of these nonfiction summarizing strategies were useful to you!

In this episode I share: -Why summarizing nonfiction is so challenging -6 important reminders to teach to your students when writing summaries -3 strategies to make your students more confident -How to use wh-question stems when summarizing

Download your FREE Nonfiction Summary Checklist!

Join the Stellar Teacher Reading Membership: https://learn.stellarteacher.com/join

For more resources, head to the show notes: stellarteacher.com

Mentioned in this episode:

The Writing Revolution 2.0 Summer Book Study

Register for the Stellar Teacher Summer Book Study: https://learn.stellarteacher.com/stc-book-study

EPISODE 51

I am SO excited to share this episode with you all because my friend, Megan Polk, joined me for a guest interview. Megan is the content creator behind The Literacy Dive Podcast and a fellow lover of reading and writing. She is my go-to resource when it comes to writing and I learned so much from her during this episode focused on keeping students engaged.

One of the most popular questions I get asked is how to keep kids excited during writing activities. I can’t say I was surprised to hear that avoiding daily writing activities is not the way to go! Luckily, Megan shares some simple modifications that can be made as soon as tomorrow. No matter if you enjoy teaching writing or not, this episode will encourage you to prioritize writing and ways to make teaching writing fun!

In this episode we discuss: -Tips for making writing exciting -How to use your classroom materials to motivate your students -Strategies that are easy to implement during writing block -Advice for teachers who don’t enjoy teaching writing -Ways to utilize your colleagues to enhance your teaching

Connect with Megan:

-Instagram: @theliteracydive

-Podcast: The Literacy Dive

-Website: theliteracydive.com

Check out Some of Megan's Writing Resources:

-Writing Process Charts and Checklists

-Upper Elementary Writing Office

-Primary Writing Office

-Monthly Writing Prompts & Journal Bundle

SHOW NOTES: stellarteacher.com/episode51

To continue the celebration of my 50th episode airing this week, I have a BONUS episode for you today! This is my all-time favorite episode I've recorded so far, and it's all about inspired action! This one is jam-packed with so much goodness and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a $50 TpT gift card! To enter, simply share your favorite Stellar Teacher Podcast episodes somewhere on Instagram! It can be on your stories or your feed and tag us @stellarteachercompany! The giveaway ends Friday, November 5th.

SHOW NOTES: stellarteacher.com/episode20

Connect with me:

-Join my newsletter

-My TPT store

-Instagram: @thestellarteachercompany

-Facebook: The Stellar Teacher Company

EPISODE 50

How did we get to episode 50 already?! I just want to say thank you so much to my listener’s that have listened to all my episodes, half my episodes, or even if this is your first! To celebrate this milestone I put a lot of thought into today’s topic in order to make it special, and after a lot of brainstorming I kept coming back to the idea of power questioning.

Let’s be honest, if students aren’t interested in the text they aren’t going to participate in a discussion. If we take a step back and reflect on what we’re prompting our students with after they read, you’ll probably notice that all the questions are directly related to the text. “Who is the main character?” and “Where does the story take place?” are not the types of questions I am going to be sharing with you today, but I promise that you will not be disappointed with your student’s responses!

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win one of five $50 TpT gift cards! To enter, simply share your favorite Stellar Teacher Podcast episodes somewhere on Instagram! It can be on your stories or your feed and tag us @stellarteachercompany! The giveaway ends Friday, November 5th.

In this episode I share: -Why it’s important to ask your students power questions -3 power questions that will have a big impact on students' reading -How power questions can help you assess your students' understanding -Ways to avoid getting “I don’t know” as an answer

SHOW NOTES: stellarteacher.com/episode50

Connect with me:

-Join my newsletter

-My TPT store

-stellarteachercompany.com

-Instagram: @thestellarteachercompany

-Facebook: The Stellar Teacher Company

EPISODE 49

If you have been tuning in each week, you know this is the last episode of the reading comprehension mini series. I have talked about various topics that were requested by my listeners or ones I found challenging when I was in the classroom. To end this month’s series I am excited to talk about my favorite nonfiction topic, which is nonfiction text structure.

It wasn’t until I started teaching fourth grade that I even heard of the term nonfiction text structure. I quickly realized how important it is to teach and how it relates to so many different skills needed for nonfiction texts. I explain this in detail as well as tips for explicitly teaching text structure every chance you get! Now that this mini series is finished, head over to my Instagram or Facebook group to let me know which topic you want to hear about next!

In this episode I share: -3 reasons why text structure is a critical skill -How text structure relates to reading comprehension -5 tips for being more purposeful when teaching nonfiction text structure -Ways to utilize graphic organizers

Resources:

-Check out the Stellar Teacher Reading Membership

-Nonfiction Text Structure Posters and Anchor Charts

-Nonfiction Text Structure Task Cards

-Nonfiction Text Structure Sort

Connect with me:

-Join my newsletter

-My TPT store

-Instagram: @thestellarteachercompany

-Facebook: The Stellar Teacher Company

EPISODE 48

Have you ever gone to Google for insight on how to teach a certain topic? You’re not the only one! Although it is convenient, I started to consider why I wasn’t going straight to the source and asking other colleagues how they tackled those topics that are difficult to teach. I hope this reading comprehension mini-series provides quick, actionable steps you can incorporate immediately!

This week’s reading skill that we will be focusing on is identifying the theme of a story. I’ve come to realize that there are many ways that “theme” can be interpreted. Since everyone has different backgrounds, teaching the abstract concept of theme can be increasingly more difficult especially as you get into higher grades. I hope these strategies I share are helpful and that you’ll join me next week for the last episode of the reading comprehension mini-series!

In this episode I share:

-What I consider as the definition of theme -The difference between topic and theme -4 strategies to teach theme to your students -2 ways to define what a strategy is

Related Resources:

-Join the Stellar Teacher Reading Membership

-Theme Reading Comprehension Task Cards

-Identifying Theme Reading Response Activities

-Identifying Theme - Small Group Plans

-SHOW NOTES: stellarteacher.com/episode48

Connect with me:

-Join my newsletter

-My TPT store

-Instagram: @thestellarteachercompany

-Facebook: The Stellar Teacher Company

EPISODE 47

Today’s episode is the second of this month’s Reading Comprehension Skill Series and will be focused on main idea. More specifically, finding the main idea in nonfiction texts. I remember when I used to teach my students by using an elaborate lesson and telling them they needed to do the same. What I realized was that after all the time I spent, I wasn’t showing my students how to find the main idea themselves.

Instead of showing them what I had done, I realized I should have provided them with the strategies to do it themselves. I’m sure I’m not the only one guilty of this! That’s why I’m walking you through the roadmap to use in order to teach your students strategies to find the main idea. Once you have these tools, your students will be able to find the main idea on their own. As the Reading Comprehension Skill Series continues, please head over to my page and let me know if you’re enjoying these mini-series as much as I am!

In this episode I share:

-The difference between comprehension skills and strategies -Mistakes I made while teaching main idea and what I learned -7 Strategies to teach students how to find the main idea -Why it’s important to teach multiple strategies

Resources mentioned:

-Join the Stellar Teacher Reading Membership

-Main Idea Nonfiction Task Cards

-Main Idea Nonfiction Reading Passages with Comprehension Questions

-Nonfiction Main Idea Differentiated Reading Passages

-Nonfiction Main Idea Reading Response Activities and Worksheets

-SHOW NOTES: stellarteacher.com/episode47

Connect with me:

-Join my newsletter

-My TPT store

-Instagram: @thestellarteachercompany

-Facebook: The Stellar Teacher Company