Jennifer Modica

5th grade teacher• St. Louis, MO•

[Ms. Jachymiak @MsJachymiak]

I love this!

[Rockwood School Dist @rockwoodschools]

Missouri First Lady Teresa Parson paid a visit to Chesterfield last week to celebrate the school earning Missouri Gold Star and National Blue Ribbon status, presenting proclamations on behalf of Governor Mike Parson! #WeAreRockwood

Learn more: https://t.co/5oqovSDxr4

[Rockwood School Dist @rockwoodschools]

Chesterfield honored former student Kate Johnson at a school assembly last week. Kate was diagnosed with sarcoma, and Chesterfield raised $2,200 in her name, for St. Louis Children's Hospital and her Kate's Krew foundation. #WeAreRockwood

Learn more: https://t.co/5oqovSDxr4

[PBLWorks @PBLWorks]

Sure, teachers have been assigning projects to students for years. But Project Based Learning is something completely different. Learn more here!👇 https://t.co/lMcErY8RRu

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

Book clubs are my favorite. I love to hear my students have authentic conversations about books. I gave Ss freedom to create any chart to show their thinking as they read & they came up with the best ideas:a t-chart comparing book to real life, character chart, etc.

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

‘Silliness and play can be the entry point into learning really tricky new concepts.’ YES! 🙌 Play is such a powerful learning tool. One of my favorite episodes yet.

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

Parent-teacher conference days are long, however, they’re some of the best days of the year. I love getting to chat with the people who know my learners best! Education is a TEAM effort! 📚

[Melissa D @Dean_of_math]

Because in some ways, we’ve replaced teaching with this routine of assigning tasks, grading tasks and handing back tasks. This is what teaching has become. It’s time to change this, and embrace what teaching really is: helping the humans in our care flourish.

[Matt Eastman 🏳️‍🌈 @TheEastTeach]

Something I realized yesterday: teachers need intrinsic motivation as much as kids do. Yeah, treats and shirts and gifts are nice, but hearing (and seeing proof) that my teaching is actually making a difference in my students’ performance is what really motivates me.

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

TPed my desk while my learners were at specials to kick off our journalist unit. When they returned, I acted shocked to see the TP. The fifth grade journalists were so engaged and wrote amazing pieces on the newsworthy event 📰 YES, I told them it was me later 😂

[Emily Paschall @EmilyAPaschall]

There’s something so exciting about brand new teachers’ classrooms and watching them get it ready all summer long. So much wonder. So much self-drive. So much innocence.

The sad part is when we see a new teacher lose that because they don’t feel supported during their first year.

Support your new teachers.
🔺Check on them daily.
🔸Model lessons for them.
🔺Provide them an automatic coaching cycle with the instructional coach on day 1.
🔸Provide specific feedback.
🔺Model the first phone call home.
🔸Pre-plan their first parent conf and do it with them.
🔺Simply ask, “How can I help?” And ask often.

Teachers will be more likely to stay in the profession when they feel supported. Plain and simple.

What did I miss?

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

Tell me about spelling tests. Do you implement them in your classroom? What are the benefits of them? What articles do you recommend where I could learn more. I currently do not use spelling tests in my classroom but see many teachers using them. I would love to learn more!

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

Going to miss this group & I love this end of the year gift my teammate found for us! This classroom definitely turned into a home away from home ❤️

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

Potato Olympics today was a BLAST!! SS designed a fun, creative potato that competed in Olympic Games—aka dancing(how long can a potato spin and then Ss found the average time), shot putting( practicing measurement), and bowling(practicing fractions).

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

Kindness Club at Eureka Elementary and Super Smokers raised money to provide dinner for our local heroes!! The kiddos had a blast serving them today! We had such a great turn out❤️ @MrsKuelker @MrsKealen @EurekaElem @EurekaElemAP

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

First light= Cookie and cream Hershey bc it resembles the snow of the ice cap in the book. Chex Mix = Wild Robot bc all the pieces can make the outline of a robot 🤖 and so on! I told the kiddos some of them required abstract thinking to solve but it was SO FUN!

[Stacey Taylor @LitROCK_taylor]

@Modica4th And please let us know the matches when you’re ready to reveal!

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

Book tasting with a TWIST! Each book has a snack corresponding with it, so the kids are trying to figure out which snack relates to which book while picking their next book club book 📚 #readingrocks

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

@bookblogmomma I love this! Tell me more about it, please.

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

My new favorite podcast!

[Jennifer Modica @Modica4th]

Breakfast and books was a success! The kiddos loved showing off their graphic novels to their families!