Author: Jessica Boschen

Jessica shares her passion for teaching and education on What I Have Learned. Jessica has 16 years of elementary teaching experience and currently homeschools her two middle school boys. She enjoys scaffolding learning for students, focusing on helping our most challenging learners achieve success in all academic areas.

Writing

Morphology Morning Work: Daily Word-Part Practice

When a student hits a word like “unbreakable” and freezes, the fix usually isn’t sounding it out one more time. It’s seeing that the word is built from parts: un,…

Read More Morphology Morning Work: Daily Word-Part Practice
Physical Science

States of Matter: Solids, Liquids, and Gases for Kids

An ice cube, a glass of water, and the steam off a hot cup are all the same stuff in three different forms. That’s the whole idea behind the states…

Read More States of Matter: Solids, Liquids, and Gases for Kids
Science

Science Phenomena Stations: Teaching NGSS Phenomena

Hold up a cold glass of water on a hot day and ask students why it “sweats,” and you’ve started a science lesson the way NGSS intends: with a phenomenon….

Read More Science Phenomena Stations: Teaching NGSS Phenomena
Writing

Nonfiction Daily Sentence Practice to Support Paragraph Writing

Most nonfiction sentence practice looks the same: a worksheet with a few unrelated sentences to fix, expand, or combine. Students complete the task and flip it over. The sentences don’t connect to…

Read More Nonfiction Daily Sentence Practice to Support Paragraph Writing
Writing

Daily Sentence Practice with Connected Stories for 3rd & 4th Grades

There is a stack of sentences waiting for students every morning in many 3rd- and 4th-grade classrooms. Students fix them, turn them over, and forget them by lunch. Daily sentence practice has…

Read More Daily Sentence Practice with Connected Stories for 3rd & 4th Grades
Early Reading

Emergent Reading Activities for Kindergarten and 1st Grade

In any kindergarten or first grade classroom, you’ll have readers all over the map, some naming letters, some blending their first words, and some not quite sure where a sentence…

Read More Emergent Reading Activities for Kindergarten and 1st Grade
Writing

Expanding Sentences: Activities and Routines (Grades 1-5)

Ask a young writer to describe their weekend, and you’ll often get “It was fun.” Teaching expanding sentences is how you help students turn those bare-bones sentences into detailed, interesting…

Read More Expanding Sentences: Activities and Routines (Grades 1-5)
Life Science

Animal Senses: Super Senses and Sense Organs Explained

A dog can smell a snack from across the house, and a hawk can spot a mouse in a field from high in the sky. Those everyday wonders are a…

Read More Animal Senses: Super Senses and Sense Organs Explained
Physical Science

Types of Energy for Kids: Forms of Energy Explained

Energy is one of those words students hear all the time, but ask them what it actually is, and you’ll get a lot of shrugs. Teaching the types of energy…

Read More Types of Energy for Kids: Forms of Energy Explained
Physical Science

Conservation of Matter: Experiments for 5th Grade

When a candle burns down, or a tablet fizzes in water, students are sure the matter has just disappeared. Teaching the conservation of matter is how you replace that idea…

Read More Conservation of Matter: Experiments for 5th Grade
Science

Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) in Elementary Science

Ask a third grader to explain a science answer, and you’ll often get “because I just know” or a single guess with nothing behind it. Teaching claim, evidence, and reasoning…

Read More Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) in Elementary Science
Math

Place Value Games: Dice and Card Games by Grade Level

The fastest way to turn place value practice from a worksheet into something students actually want to do is with a handful of dice and a deck of cards. Place…

Read More Place Value Games: Dice and Card Games by Grade Level

End of content

End of content