Teaching Trails

Wrap up your year with confidence! Before heading into summer mode, check out these 5 smart end-of-year tips for teachers—like organizing your digital files, repairing books, and prepping your first-day plans. A little effort now makes for a smoother back-to-school start!

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My favourite writing activity for the end of October is creating persuasive and descriptive haunted house ads—written for prospective monsters! If you're looking for a writing activity your students will absolutely love, this is it! Lesson Plan: Descriptive Haunted House Introduction: I start by reading local house ads online with the class to get students familiar with how listings are written. We discuss who might be interested in these houses and what features stood out. Front-loading Vocabulary: After introducing the writing activity, I build a brain map with spooky vocabulary students can use in their haunted house descriptions. Words like “spooky,” “bloody,” “creaky,” “draught,” “cauldron,” “vampire blood,” and more. I’ll even doodle little icons (like bats or headstones) to support my EAL students. Writing: Here’s the assignment. Students are encouraged to keep these key points in mind: Audience: Who are you attracting? Witches? Monsters? Vampires? Why would this house appeal to them? Key Features: List 3-4 spooky selling points—creaky floorboards? Broken windows? Perfect! Catchy Title: Use alliteration if possible to make it pop! Students typically get 2–3 class periods to draft their 5-ish sentence ad. Once the rough drafts are done, they create their polished final copies. Haunted house artwork paired with student advertisements. In art class, we create haunted house silhouettes using black oil pastels and watercolor backgrounds to complement the writing pieces. When finished, students mount their ads and artwork on black or orange construction paper to make them stand out. Final display with writing and art combined. The creativity really shines in these ads! Students thoughtfully consider their “buyers” and craft some hilarious and spooky listings. These are the kinds of writing lessons where students can’t wait to participate! More Halloween Activities? Keep the Halloween spirit alive with my Solve the Room math activity! Students must identify place values (up to 100,000) to solve fun Halloween riddles. Once completed, they can colour their map and escape the Haunted Ghoul School! Students love solving silly riddles and escaping zombies from their haunted school—all while reinforcing place value skills! Grab the Halloween Ghoul School Activity There you have it—Halloween writing in the morning, and spooky place value math in the afternoon! Enjoy! Maryana

What's the Difference – and Why It Matters for Your Classroom As elementary teachers, our mission is to equip young minds with essential tools for successful literacy development. Two critical components in this journey are phonemic awareness and phonics. While these words might sound similar, they are quite different. Here’s how: Phonemic Awareness: The Power of Sound Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. It’s all about understanding the sound structure of language without connecting it to written symbols. Activities that enhance phonemic awareness include rhyming, segmenting words into sounds, blending sounds to form words, and manipulating sounds within words. Why is Phonemic Awareness Important? Reading Readiness: Phonemic awareness is a precursor to reading. Children who understand phonemes are better equipped to decode words. Spelling Proficiency: Awareness of phonemes aids in spelling accuracy. Oral Language Skills: It fosters effective communication and vocabulary development. Phonics: Bridging Sounds to Symbols Phonics involves connecting sounds to written symbols. It teaches the relationship between letters and sounds, helping students decode words by sounding them out. Phonics instruction includes letter-sound correspondences, blending sounds to read words, and segmenting words to spell them. Why is Phonics Important? Decoding Skills: Phonics empowers students to read and comprehend unfamiliar words. Spelling Mastery: Understanding phonics rules enhances spelling accuracy. Reading Fluency: Phonics contributes to reading fluency, allowing students to read with speed, accuracy, and expression. The Symbiotic Relationship: Why Both Matter While phonemic awareness and phonics serve distinct purposes, they are interconnected. Phonemic awareness sets the stage by helping children recognize and manipulate sounds, while phonics builds upon this by connecting sounds to written symbols. Classroom Strategies: Incorporate Playful Activities: Use rhyming games, word segmentation, and blending exercises to develop phonemic awareness. Interactive Phonics Instruction: Integrate systematic phonics lessons that emphasize letter-sound relationships and practical reading/spelling exercises. Differentiated Instruction: Tailor your teaching to meet diverse student needs, recognizing varying levels of phonemic awareness and phonics skills.

What is Guided Writing? Similar to guided reading groups, guided writing allows teachers to focus on a specific writing goal that a small group of students is struggling with. Teachers work with a handful of students on a writing strategy to help enhance their skills—whether that’s punctuation, grammar instruction, or incorporating adjectives to liven up their writing. There are many goals you can target in guided writing groups. Sitting with a small group of students helps target writing strategy practice. Why Do Guided Writing? Guided writing groups allow you to give focused attention and practice on a specific writing goal with students who are struggling in that area. For example, if you notice many students are struggling with expanding their sentences to include more descriptive language, you can pull them aside to work on this targeted skill. How Do You Do a Guided Writing Session? Just like a guided reading session, guided writing follows a structured format: Select a targeted, specific writing goal. The smaller the goal, the quicker and easier it is for students to achieve with targeted practice. (Use my handy Writing Strategies List if you're not sure where to start). Select 3-5 students who need support with this specific goal and would benefit from focused practice. Start with a real-life example of your writing goal. For instance, showcase a photocopied sample that uses quotation marks correctly, and have students highlight and mark it up. Practice using whiteboards or pencil and paper. Keep tasks short and focused—5 to 7 minutes is perfect for these sessions. Repeat the sessions over multiple days until you notice mastery of the writing goal among the group. Need Help? Download My FREE Writing Strategies Page I’ve compiled a list of typical writing struggles for students in grades 3–6. Download a copy to help you choose strategies and prompts I use in my own classroom. Cheers, Maryana @ 3 Peaks Classroom

It's hard to narrow down just the right books to use in your classroom, especially during important months like Canadian Black History Month. If I had to choose just five books to teach and highlight the importance of Canadian Black History, these are the five books I could not pass up: 1) Viola Desmond Won't Be Budged First on my list is Viola Desmond Won't Be Budged. This is the true story of the racism and injustice Viola faced in the late 1940s while trying to watch a movie at her local cinema. The book powerfully illustrates how Viola was unjustly treated and imprisoned because she refused to sit in the "Blacks only" section, even though she was willing to pay full price for the floor seats. I use this book to begin our discussions about racism and segregation—issues Black people faced then and continue to face today. As an extension activity, we often read about Rosa Parks and draw parallels between these two inspiring women who persevered in the face of injustice. If you use only one book this Canadian Black History Month, let it be this one. 2) Africville Africville tells the story of a thriving Black Canadian settlement and its tragic fate. The book celebrates the community’s rich culture while highlighting the injustices it endured. The notes at the end detail the discrimination the community faced: Halifax refused to provide essential services like clean water and garbage removal. Meanwhile, the city built undesirable facilities like a prison and garbage dump nearby. This story encourages us to explore our own Canadian history and the injustices Black Canadians have faced. Students can learn more about Africville with my Canadian Black History Month digital resource here. 3) The Patchwork Path The Patchwork Path is a beautifully written story about the Underground Railroad, which helped enslaved people escape to freedom in Canada. This book explains Canada's role in the Underground Railroad and the hardships Black Americans faced along their journey to freedom. It’s an excellent springboard for discussions on Black History Month and provides numerous extension opportunities—from mapping the Underground Railroad to designing symbolic quilts. Awesome story, 10/10 would recommend! 4) My Rows and Piles of Coins This book isn’t about Canadian Black history specifically, but it absolutely belongs in your classroom for Black History Month—and here’s why: Black History Month isn’t just about pioneers of activism; it’s also about supporting Black Canadians today—authors, artists, and more. My Rows and Piles of Coins tells the story of a boy in Tanzania who saves money to buy a bicycle for his mother. The author was born in Tanzania and later relocated to Edmonton, Alberta. Purchasing this book supports a Black Canadian author—and that’s what Black History Month is about too! 5) Our Skin The last book on my list might be the most important for starting discussions about race and racism. You can’t fully teach Canadian Black History Month without Our Skin in your library. This book introduces students to different skin colours, explains how nature gives us these tones, and explores the roots of racism. It even discusses how biases can begin at an early age. You absolutely cannot teach about racism, injustice, and segregation without this book. It’s a must-have for every Canadian classroom. There they are—my top five books for teaching during Canadian Black History Month. Of course, I could list even more, but these are always the first five I reach for when planning this important month.

It’s the beginning of January, and if you haven’t started guided reading groups yet, don’t panic—it’s never too late to begin! In my first year of teaching Grade 3, I was so intimidated by the idea of “doing it wrong” that I didn’t even start guided reading. Instead, I met with students one-on-one throughout the year, too worried that someone would walk in and catch me making a mistake. Looking back, I realize I should have just started. The heart of guided reading is simple: meet students where they’re at and scaffold effective reading strategies to help them grow. We group students in guided reading to make our lives easier as teachers. When we notice that a few students are struggling with decoding, we group them together for targeted practice. They benefit from shared exposure, and we streamline our teaching. Feeling nervous to start? Here are 3 simple tips: Start small: Begin with two students and one book. Sit with them, listen to each read a page, and offer gentle support. Keep it short: Ten-minute sessions are a great starting point to build confidence for both you and your students. Build as you go: Once you're comfortable, start grouping students more intentionally based on their needs. I hope these tips help you feel confident to start guided reading with your students. Remember, the goal is simply to meet students where they are, understand their reading struggles, and give them the tools to grow into more competent readers. Cheers until next time, — Maryana

I'm so glad you're here because I’m bursting with ideas and resources to share with you. I created this little corner of the internet to support teachers with helpful tools and inspiration. What You’ll Find on This Blog Book recommendations Resource suggestions Lesson plan ideas Teaching tips and hacks And all with a Canadian flair 🇨🇦 This was my classroom PRE-Pandemic. I was teaching Grade 3 at the time. It’s my hope this blog helps make your teaching life easier, less chaotic, more prepared, and more fun. While I usually have plenty to say, I love bite-sized, to-the-point info—exactly how I plan to keep this site organized. My Origin Story (Video) 🎥 My Origin Story – filmed back when 3 Peaks Classroom began. This was my first-ever YouTube video (well… unless you count the hundreds I recorded for online teaching!). In it, I share why I started 3 Peaks Classroom and what led me to create this space for educators. Let’s Connect! If you've made it to the bottom, thanks for reading! I hope there weren’t too many grammar or spelling mistakes (we teachers can’t seem to put down that red pen, hey? 😉). — Maryana