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After Winter Break Plan

After Winter Break Plan As I write this I am both excited and anxious to go back to school. I've enjoyed winter break in a way I never have before. I attempted to have a sabbatical as Angela Watson discussed on episode 244 of her podcast Truth for Teacher. My sabbatical meant I did nothing related to school for 7 days of my break. It was wonderful. I did struggle to keep my mind off school but I tried to let go of any guilt I felt and by the end I embraced rest and felt refreshed.  I am anxious to go back to school because teaching is exhausting. I love it but it is exhausting. The shear amount of decisions we have to make on a daily basis is mind-boggling. But alas it is time to head back and I had way too much fun coming up with my plans for the first few days. I want us to ease back into school. My students have also been on a break and rebuilding our classroom community and relationships with one another is paramount as well as creating and setting expectations.  I thought...
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The Olympics Test Review

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Oh the state test... We all have opinions about them but nonetheless our students take these assessments and it is our job to make sure they are prepared. I decided that we would spend the week before the test reviewing vocabulary and the types of questions they would see on the assessment. But to be honest, that sounds boring so I spent Spring Break wracking my brain for a way to make this review fun. I wanted something that was low prep but would yield high results from my students and make them want to come to school. And that my friends is when I came up with the 2021 Purple Team Olympics. In short, students would work together to read a passage or 2 everyday and answer some questions. Following, they would compete in an olympic sport and win medals. This was a perfect activity because it took half of our class each day and we continued our normal independent reading time and read aloud during class as well, a must for me.  Day 1:  Students chose their teammates, picked a ...
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The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind Lesson-FREEBIE

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I love sharing picture books with my students. Picture books are short and powerful. We can practice so many skills within their pages and they engage students of all ages. One of my all time favorite picture books is  The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind.  The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind tells the story of William Kamkwamba who was 14 year old living in drought stricken Malawi in sub-saharan Africa. When the drought struck Malawi William's family was hit hard. They didn't have food or money to send William to school. William started visiting the library and got the idea to create a windmill to generate electricity and bring water to the region. William spends his days searching for material to build his windmill. The story of his determination, perseverance, and imagination is one that should be shared with all students.  Not only is this an amazing story but you can practice so many standards within the pages of this book. I used this book to review vocabulary, main idea, plo...
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How to Build a Classroom Library as a New Teacher

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I vividly remember sitting in my 3rd grade teacher's classroom surrounded by books and becoming a reader. I would sit in a spinning red office chair and read for hours. I remember finishing The Night on the Titanic Magic Treehouse book in one day and feeling like I was a reader. It was that exact moment that I knew I would become a reading teacher and my classroom would be overflowing with books. That dream continued as I sat through my language arts method course in college and learned that when students read more they become better readers (Allington). I then read Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp's book Game Changer and learned that when students have books at their fingertips they read even more. My third grade self was right. My classroom needed to be filled with books.  When I entered my first ever classroom over the summer of 2018 I realized there weren't any books and I spent my summer begging, researching, and shopping in order to have a classroom library ...
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2021 Vision Board-FREEBIE

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Every year when December 31st comes around I sit down and reflect upon my goals for the year. I love seeing how far I've come and realizing that sometimes the goals I set 365 days ago no longer apply. After reflecting, I set new goals for the year. I make sure that my goals are realistic and align with my values. Then I do my favorite thing. I create a digital vision board. I grab images that represent my goals and help me truly visualize my life once I accomplish these goals. Finally, I print out the vision board and place it somewhere where I will look at it everyday.  After completing my vision board for 2021 I thought, why don't I have my students create their own goals and vision boards? I didn't really have a good answer so I created  the Digital Goal Setting and Vision Board Activity! It walks students through creating their own goals and then finding images to go with their goals. I can't wait to use this with my students when we head back to school on Monday! I...
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The Top 10 Books in my 5th grade Classroom (August 2020-December 2020)

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Reading. Oh, it is such a magical experience. It transports us to different worlds, allows us into someone else's world, and grows our world experience. Rudine Sims Bishop wrote about this in 1990 when she said books act as mirror, windows, and sliding glass doors.  Reading is the foundation of my classroom. Every day my students spend time reading books that they choose from our classroom library. Allowing students to choose what they read and providing time for students to read allows them to fall in love with reading and become lifelong readers. Below are the most popular books in my 5th grade classroom for the first half of the year (August 2020-December 2020).  1. Falling Towers by Jewell Parker Rhodes Falling Towers became one of the most popular books after the anniversary of 9/11. I think it shows that our students have questions and want to understand what happened on September 11th, 2001. Falling Towers is a great book for students who want to learn more about this ...
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Welcome to The Savidge Teacher!

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Hello! My name is Emily Savidge and I am a passionate educator who is continuously reading, listening, and learning in order to improve my pedagogies and craft in order to become the best teacher for my students. I believe strongly that students need to be given time and choice to read and write in order to become better readers and writers. I believe in using authentic texts to teach standards and engage students. I hope this blog becomes a place where I can share my ideas with other teachers, connect with like-minded educators, and further grow in my pedagogy.  I hope you're along for the ride! - Emily 
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