Stellar Teacher Podcast: A Podcast for Upper Elementary Teachers

I loved teaching genre when I was in the classroom, and now I love talking about it. I view teaching genre as the cornerstone of a literacy block. Genre is something that you can talk about in both reading and writing, so anytime you talk about genre, it can have an impact on all areas of your literacy block. Genre categorizes books and texts by specific attributes. When students understand genre, it gives them a roadmap to help them navigate the texts they read. By learning genre, students gain tools and clues to comprehend different types of texts.Teaching genre boosts academic performance, student engagement, and community building. It's a great topic to introduce at the start of the year. In this episode, I share three fun activities to introduce genre to your students.Join us in the Stellar Literacy Collective Membership: stellarteacher.com/join!Sign up for my FREE private podcast, the Confident Writer Systems Series, here!Sign up for my FREE Revision Made Easy email series here!Follow me on Instagram @thestellarteachercompany. To check out all of the resources from this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.stellarteacher.com/episode212.

Today, we're focusing on social and emotional learning (SEL) with Abby from Mrs. Mo's Modifications. Abby, a behavior specialist and former special education teacher, is passionate about helping teachers incorporate social and emotional learning into their classrooms. In our conversation, she explains what SEL is and its importance, emphasizing the need to explicitly teach and practice these skills with students.As the new school year approaches, I challenge you to embed social and emotional learning practices in your classroom. Consider incorporating welcoming activities to build rapport, engaging lessons that encourage participation, and teaching topics such as friendship, goal setting, dealing with failure, and coping skills. Model these practices and give students time to practice them.Teaching social and emotional learning is crucial for whole child development. When we are teaching academics, we are teaching human beings. We need to make sure that we're addressing the whole child and giving them support in all areas, not just our content specialist area. Tune in to learn how to make SEL a reality in your classroom this year.Join us in the Stellar Literacy Collective Membership: stellarteacher.com/join!Sign up for my FREE private podcast, the Confident Writer Systems Series, here!Sign up for my FREE Revision Made Easy email series here!Follow me on Instagram @thestellarteachercompany. To check out all of the resources from this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.stellarteacher.com/episode213.

As a new school year approaches and you prepare your literacy lessons and schedule, I want to share some advice on teaching word study. In this episode, I'll discuss 5 things to do and 5 things to avoid in word study instruction.Expanding students' vocabularies is crucial in upper elementary, so incorporate a daily word study activity. This should be a shared goal across all subjects, not just ELA. Make your lessons fun and engaging for all students, and always connect word study instruction to students' reading and writing.Teaching word study can be intimidating, but you don't need to be an expert to start. You can do it! Reuse routines and activities throughout the year with new words. Keep instruction bite-sized, and teach word study concepts as generalizations, not rigid rules. The goal is not mastery but helping students apply what they learn to their reading and writing.Join us in the Stellar Literacy Collective Membership: stellarteacher.com/join!Sign up for my FREE private podcast, the Confident Writer Systems Series, here!Sign up for my FREE Revision Made Easy email series here!Follow me on Instagram @thestellarteachercompany. To check out all of the resources from this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.stellarteacher.com/episode212.

I’ve shared on the podcast before that it’s impossible to teach every single unknown word to your students. So, with that in mind, what can you do as a literacy teacher to help your students learn and understand the meaning of new words? You need to provide them with the tools to figure out word meanings, and one way to do that is through teaching morphology. In today’s episode, I’m explaining what morphology is and how you can teach it. Grab my free How to Read Big Words Strategy poster here!Sign up for my FREE private podcast, the Confident Writer Systems Series, here!Join The Stellar Literacy Collective here!Check out my Free Literacy Workshop, The Time Crunch Cure: Create a Literacy Block That Fits it All In and Achieves MoreTo check out all of the resources from this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.stellarteacher.com/episode211

As elementary teachers plan their small groups, they think about the lessons they’ll be teaching, activities for students to engage in, and the number of students in each group. And while those are important components of a successful small group, there’s one major aspect teachers don’t often think about: the rest of their class! This is such a challenge for teachers that the number one question I get asked pertaining to small groups is What do I do with the rest of my class so I can pull small groups? So, in today’s episode, I’m sharing five ways to plan your small group time that also engages the rest of your class. Sign up for my FREE private podcast, the Confident Writer Systems Series, here!Join The Stellar Literacy Collective here!Check out my Free Literacy Workshop, The Time Crunch Cure: Create a Literacy Block That Fits it All In and Achieves MoreTo check out all of the resources from this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.stellarteacher.com/episode210

As we conclude our Science of Reading Summer Series, I want to share some tips for planning your literacy block for next year. We know fitting everything into a literacy block can be challenging, so here are some key components to include: word study, reading comprehension, whole group lessons, writing, small group lessons, independent practice, and transitions.The good news is that these components don't have to be done in isolation. I encourage you to be creative and find ways to teach multiple concepts at once. Integrating different elements can make your literacy block more engaging and efficient, allowing you to cover more ground without overwhelming your students.Remember that while it's important to establish routines and structure in your literacy block, you want to also maintain flexibility to adjust as needed throughout the year. This adaptability ensures we can meet our students' needs and help them become successful readers and writers.Join us in the Stellar Literacy Collective Membership: stellarteacher.com/join!Sign up for my FREE private podcast, the Confident Writer Systems Series, here!Sign up for my FREE Revision Made Easy email series here!Follow me on Instagram @thestellarteachercompany. To check out all of the resources from this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.stellarteacher.com/episode207.

Being an upper elementary teacher means that we put a bigger focus on getting students to write a five-paragraph essay by the end of the year. And as we’ve talked about recently on the podcast, students need to have a foundation of good sentence writing first. Once students have that solid foundation, they then learn how to write strong paragraphs. So, in today’s episode, I’m sharing five tips that will help students write better paragraphs in upper elementary. Grab our Sentence Writing Routine Free Sample here!Sign up for my FREE private podcast, the Confident Writer Systems Series, here!Join The Stellar Literacy Collective here!Check out my Free Literacy Workshop, The Time Crunch Cure: Create a Literacy Block That Fits it All In and Achieves MoreTo check out all of the resources from this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.stellarteacher.com/episode208

The Simple View of Reading highlights that reading comprehension requires proficiency in both decoding and language comprehension. If a student struggles with decoding, effective comprehension instruction won't help them understand the text because decoding is a crucial part of reading. In this episode, I share a straightforward process to help your students read and decode multisyllabic words.To decode multisyllabic words, students should circle any prefixes, put a box around any suffixes, look at the remaining part of the word, underline the vowels, and break the word into syllables. Then, they should say the word parts slowly, and then say the word, and see if it sounds like any words they already know. As a bonus step, they can read the word again more quickly and then read it in a sentence.To help students master decoding multisyllabic words, it's crucial to practice this routine until it becomes automatic. When students can read big words effortlessly, they can focus their mental energy on comprehension. In this episode, I share strategies to make this routine more second nature for your students.How to Read Big Words Strategy Poster: stellarteacher.com/bigwords.Join us in the Stellar Literacy Collective Membership: stellarteacher.com/join!Sign up for my FREE private podcast, the Confident Writer Systems Series, here!Sign up for my FREE Revision Made Easy email series here!Follow me on Instagram @thestellarteachercompany. To check out all of the resources from this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.stellarteacher.com/episode207.

A common misconception upper elementary teachers often make with sentence writing is that students don’t need to practice or develop this skill. Since teachers are so focused on the end result of a five-paragraph essay, sentence writing is often ignored or not prioritized. However, that’s not benefiting students and their academic success at all. Instead, this foundational skill needs to be incorporated daily into their literacy block. In today’s episode, I’m sharing 3 ways to improve student sentence writing and why it directly impacts academic success. Grab my Sentence Writing Routine Sample here! Sign up for my FREE private podcast, the Confident Writer Systems Series, here!Get on the waitlist to join The Stellar Literacy Collective here!Check out my Free Literacy Workshop, The Time Crunch Cure: Create a Literacy Block That Fits it All In and Achieves MoreTo check out all of the resources from this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.stellarteacher.com/episode206.

In this episode, we shift our focus from instructional strategies to an often overlooked yet crucial aspect of literacy instruction: the classroom environment, specifically the classroom library. While effective teaching practices are essential, how we organize our learning spaces can significantly impact our students' reading experiences and development. As the new school year approaches, I want to share ideas for organizing your classroom library in ways that align with the science of reading.I used to organize my library by reading levels, but now I understand that this limits students' reading choices and does not support their growth or love for reading. Instead of doing this in your classroom this year, try organizing it by genre, or topic/theme, or author/series, or a mix of these. These approaches not only help foster a love for reading but also align with how books are organized in real-world settings.No single organizational method fits all classrooms. However, avoiding reading levels and using a mix of genre, topic, and author organization can create a more engaging and effective classroom library. Tune in to learn the benefits and limitations of each method.Join us in the Stellar Literacy Collective Membership: stellarteacher.com/join!Sign up for my FREE private podcast, the Confident Writer Systems Series, here!Sign up for my FREE Revision Made Easy email series here!Follow me on Instagram @thestellarteachercompany. To check out all of the resources from this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.stellarteacher.com/episode205