Andrea Knight

Teacher · Learner · Author

Freebie: I’m a Little Penguin

Penguin Poem If you're planning lessons on polar animals, animal habitats ... or just think penguins are cute ... and need additional resources to integrate literacy work, you can grab this nonfiction poem at the link above.  It's sung to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot and provides factual information about penguins, giving the children a spot to draw what they know based on the … [Read more...]

What Is Labor Day? Nonfiction Books for Kids

What is Labor Day? Most kids don't know. Depending on where they live, they might think it's the last day the community pool is open for "the season." Some families will have the day off. Some will go to the beach one more time. And some might be doing their last bit of shopping before school starts. But Labor Day has an important back story many children haven't heard. For our youngest readers … [Read more...]

Biographies for Children Come to Life on Netflix

I've been collecting titles from the Who Was biography series for years. The text is too complex for most of the primary children I work with, but every now and then I find a student with a deep interest in a connected topic who has the ability to read and comprehend the material independently, so they haven't been wasted.  Mostly I use them to research information and then adapt … [Read more...]

The Anatomy of an Anchor Chart

I get asked about anchor charts all the time. It seems to be a thing a lot of teachers dread making because they think they aren't good at it. But anchor charts are an important part of any classroom. They contain key information about the concept you want children to learn. They represent the learning going on in the classroom and they foster independence, so they need to be posted … [Read more...]

Segmenting & Blending Sounds

These are a few simple ways I try to help my visual and tactile learners practice segmenting the sounds in words.This is especially helpful if their auditory discrimination skills are still developing. This way, they can connect hearing the sounds with something they can also see and feel.   The tool we like best is the one that uses pony beads on a pipe … [Read more...]