Unpack a sentence to teach grammar and writing lessons! Hey everyone, welcome back. I am Kim Venegas, and I’m here to help you become a better teacher, faster!  Finding a mentor is like a needle in a haystack. Finding the time to read a...

 My Easy and Effective Writing Rubric is now listed as a FREE resource in my TPT store at WhamPhonics.  I’ll talk through the details quickly.  I used one-half sheet for the year.  The type of writing didn’t matter-biogra...

You are halfway through the school year.  Students seem taller and perhaps a bit more mature than when they left only two short weeks ago. Upper grades are likely to focus on testing strategies.  in my state, and maybe everywhere,&...

In today's news-60 percent of Colorado's teachers are considering leaving the profession. Teachers are being hired during their practicum and student teaching.  If teachers or principals have noticed you are knowledgeable and up to the ...

When teachers are trying to problem-solve a situation, we often find a tip or strategy and apply it to all students. I want to encourage you to think it through, think about YOUR class of kiddos.  Will it work with every student?

When I created Whamphonics as an online screener, I too, wondered about the reasoning of English learners learning to sound out nonsense words.  My thoughts were that they needed to make meaning AND learn how to sound out words.  I...

I’ve just finished a week full of observations for my practicum students.  In every observation, what I’ve seen is a burst of confidence in their teaching.  They are no longer nervous when I slip into the room, they are using their...

Hey everyone, welcome back to JumpStart. If you’ve been here before, you know I love watching documentaries, especially medical stories.  Nursing was my number two choice of a career, but I knew the hours would make my family life diffi...

I’m here every Monday (or sometimes Tuesday) to mentor you,  encourage you, and today, to tell you about a nurse's strike happening in several states. Nurses and teachers are the main support systems in the caring professions.  

For younger children, it may be better to share the conference responsibilities rather than put all of the expectations on a 6 or 7-year-old.  They may be very able to share their best work and tell why they chose it, but beyond that…so...

Watching a master teacher show 2nd graders how to separate words into syllables reminded me of the importance of going slow.  She was asking them to tell her the vowels, she marked the vowels, and they went on to divide the words betwee...

Empathy can overwhelm and defeat us as teachers.  Teachers, along with nurses, are right there on the front lines of caring for others.  We drain our own resources trying to meet the emotional needs of our students.  C...

The title today, how does it fit with teaching?  Great question!  One of my online students gave me this definition of warm-blooded animals.  His father taught him this. This student has knowledge that I didn’t ha...

This week I listened to a news report detailing a slower growth rate of children over the last year. You and I know all parts of a child grow more slowly when their body isn’t growing, including their brain.  This is concerning. 

We created Whamphonics during the Covid 19 summer of 2020.  Schools use paper pencil assessments to determine students' phonics gaps.  These are inefficient timewise, and ineffective because most often classroom teachers are not invol...

Let’s begin!  These next 15 weeks are some of your greatest opportunities to o serve your mentor teacher, other teachers in the building, as well as beginning or continuing to interact with students.  Once you begi student teaching...

Perhaps this is week two of the school year. While week one was a whirlwind of activity and getting to know your students, week two is the time to tighten up those procedures and routines that aren’t working well. Resetting can take place as...

Welcome back! Students will be excited to see you. By the end of the day, they'll be dragging and so will you. Pace yourself through this week.  When your district asks for input this year, tell them THURSDAY is a much better starting day ...

To begin with, social-emotional learning isn’t new, it didn’t begin with the pandemic.  Technology of many kinds has changed the ways we communicate with one another in all situations.  Not just phones, not just the internet. While...

Let’s get to it.  Tomorrow is August 1. Buildings are opening for teachers to begin prepping for their new classes.  This time is limited!  Once you get into professional days, the amount of prep time dwindles to almost zero. ...

I’ve been reading Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman. You’ll probably remember the story I’m going to share with you.  Researchers wanted to study the effects of teachers demonstrating high expectations with a group of stude...

Often attributed to Desmond Tutu- There comes a point where we need to stop pulling people out of the river.  We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.  The problems teachers face are occurring upstre...

 I recently read an article on Education Week spotlighting a new book.  I previewed the book and became discouraged by the litany of (likely) complaints within schools.  The article grabbed my attention. How dare researchers i...

Hi everyone, and welcome back to JumpStart.  My name is Kim Venegas, and though I generally steer clear of the political issues that plague us, I do want to tell you the story of Larry. As we approach a presidential election cycl...