The Savidge Teacher

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...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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