Ms. Natasha Theodora

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Flexible Seating Without Spending a Cent!

Flexible Seating Without Spending a Cent!
*While cleaning out my blog’s draft folder I found this gem from last year. Flexible seating doesn’t have to be fancy and it doesn’t have to be expensive! Get Real! Imagine that you are on your way to a professional development session. You walk in, see your teacher bestie and go to sit down. As soon as you reach her table she shakes her head and says, “we have to sit in assigned seats.” As you turn to find out where to sit you have a sinking feeling and want to be there even less than before. You find the table only… View Post

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Literacy Instruction

Components of a Balanced Literacy Framework

Components of a Balanced Literacy Framework
There are many different components in a balanced literacy framework. Balanced literacy can seem like a complicated jigsaw puzzle where the pieces don’t always seem to fit together. After teaching in this framework for several years, I can assure you that the pieces all fit together and teaching using this method is extremely beneficial for students and teachers too! If you haven’t already read it, I would read an overview to balanced literacy prior to reading this post. Maintaining the Balance While there are many components to the framework each component will fall under a general category. These categories are… View Post

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Best Teaching Practice

Weekly Wisdom

Weekly Wisdom
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Literacy Instruction

Balanced Literacy Framework

Balanced Literacy Framework
There are many different components of the balanced literacy framework. It can be frustrating and confusing to try to take all of these on. I have taught within a balanced literacy framework for 7 years now after being trained in Literacy Collaborative. So, let’s break it down! This is just one in a series of many blog posts discussing balanced literacy. By the end of this post, you should have gained a very big picture view of the balanced literacy framework. Please ask all of the important questions you have in the comments. This way I can model responsive teaching… View Post

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Literacy Instruction

Changing Our Thinking: Prompting Kids with “You Know This!”

Changing Our Thinking: Prompting Kids with “You Know This!”
There are many practices from long ago that we need to rethink as teachers. This series looks to bring up those practices and offer alternate ideas that are more relevant in today’s classroom. Today we’re discussing using the prompt, “you know this” when a child gets stuck. Why Do We Prompt? We give kids several prompts in a day. I would say most of the prompts I give students throughout the day are not academic prompts. Most of my prompts are for shoelaces that are untied, pencils that are on the floor, or behaviors that need to be changed. When… View Post

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