The StarrMatica Blog

Leveled Texts

Posted by Emily Starr on February 26, 2020 Reading Resources, Science Resources Comments Off

Feb 262020

In my second year of teaching fourth grade, my science curriculum had a unit on plants. In an effort to integrate my English Language Arts and Science instruction, I wanted my students to read an informational text about plants during our small group guided reading time (In our district, guided reading was a time when students with similar reading abilities met in small groups to read and discuss a leveled book and receive more individualized reading instruction.) So, I headed down to our guided reading library intent on finding a leveled text about plants for each of my guided reading → read more

Get to Know the StarrMatica Team: Sarah Wassner Flynn

Posted by Emily Starr on February 26, 2020 Behind the Scenes of StarrMatica Comments Off

Feb 262020

Get to Know the StarrMatica Team: Sarah Wassner Flynn

Hi! I’m Sarah and I am a writer for StarrMatica. Writing for kids is a passion of mine I developed at my first job out of college with National Geographic KIDS magazine. Prior to that point, I had visions of working for a fashion magazine. But I soon realized writing for a younger audience and sharing stories about the world with them is really fulfilling. I soon forgot my fashion dreams. After National Geographic, I did a stint at a couple of magazines in NYC, including CosmoGirl!, a spin-off of the (much more) grown up Cosmopolitan magazine. Transitioning from writing → read more

Phenomenon for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) – 4-PS3-1

Posted by Emily Starr on February 12, 2020 Phenomenon Ideas Comments Off

Feb 122020

Phenomenon for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) - 4-PS3-1

4-PS3-1 Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object. If you are teaching the Next Generation Science Standards and are looking for phenomena ideas, you’ve come to the right place! I like to think about phenomena as lesson starters. They are photos or videos showing an observable event in the universe and are used to get kids thinking, asking questions, and discussing their prior knowledge. For more information about using phenomena, there is a handy printable guide and video here: https://www.nextgenscience.org/resources/phenomena And now, on to our penguin phenomenon! Did you → read more

Get to Know the StarrMatica Team: Shannon Mc Elroy

Posted by Emily Starr on January 24, 2020 Behind the Scenes of StarrMatica Comments Off

Jan 242020

Get to Know the StarrMatica Team: Shannon Mc Elroy

Since StarrMatica is a teacher-owned company, we would like to introduce one of our team members whose commitment to educational texts helps to make us who we are today. Shannon McElroy is one of our writers who creates comprehension supports and Common Core aligned questions for StarrMatica Texts: Science Your Way and for StarrMatica Texts: Social Studies Your Way. Shannon has a history of writing stories, informational texts, assessment items and learning support materials for kindergarten through college-level students. She loves it all. Creating content for a wide age range keeps her engaged year after year, as well as toggling between Language Arts → read more

StarrMatica Texts: Science Your Way

Posted by Emily Starr on January 15, 2020 Behind the Scenes of StarrMatica, Science Resources Comments Off

Jan 152020

My favorite movie of all time is “The Wizard of Oz.” As a little girl, I used to dress up like Dorothy and watch a VHS tape of the movie my parents recorded when it aired on television. If you’ve seen the movie, you know that near the end, Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal the Great and Powerful Oz is simply one man with a lot of ingenuity. Since StarrMatica is a teacher-owned company nowhere near the size of a large publishing house, you might suspect a wizard behind the curtain scenario. So, I am writing this post → read more

Did You Know? Fun Facts for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) – 3-PS2-3

Posted by Emily Starr on January 8, 2020 Phenomenon Ideas Comments Off

Jan 082020

Did You Know? Fun Facts for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) - 3-PS2-3

3-PS2-3 Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other. As we create informational texts for each of the Next Generation Science Standards, there are tons of amazing, interesting, and just plain weird facts we are learning. I thought it would be fun to share some of them with you, so this is the first in a series of posts that tell interesting science facts! Magnets are also used to protect the health of animals and keep our food safe. Cows that are bred for their meat → read more

Why is Informational Text Reading Comprehension Important?

Posted by Emily Starr on December 23, 2019 Behind the Scenes of StarrMatica, Content Recommendations, Reading Resources, Uncategorized Comments Off

Dec 232019

Why is Informational Text Reading Comprehension Important?

It sounds like a silly question if you are a teacher. We know students need to understand what they read, but maybe you haven’t stopped to really think about the question in awhile. It may seem counterintuitive, but just because your students read fluently doesn’t mean they understand what they read. This is a dangerous pitfall, because if we hear a student reading fluently, we often assume they are a good reader. Assessing reading comprehension is further complicated when students who are able to comprehend fiction passages, may not be comprehend informational texts. Literary passages simply do not require the → read more

Meet Emily Starr

Posted by Emily Starr on November 26, 2019 Behind the Scenes of StarrMatica Comments Off

Nov 262019

There is never enough time! As a fourth-grade teacher, I felt the time squeeze every day in my classroom; not enough time to prepare meaningful lessons, not enough time to teach and not enough time to address individual student needs. Five years into teaching, I was at the point of thinking, “Enough is enough!” If you are a teacher, I’m sure you’ve had this feeling at some point. My particular tipping point came one day in 2004. I was handed a projector and asked to use it in my classroom. My excitement to use technology quickly turned to dismay as → read more

Maps Digital Content

Posted by StarrMatica on January 17, 2018 Content Recommendations, Social Studies Resources Comments Off

Jan 172018

Here are five pieces of digital content a teacher might choose from StarrMatica’s library to use social studies manipulatives to foster concept development. Map Maker Interactive Create a customized map! Zoom in to a chosen area of the United States. Then select the features you would like to see represented by checking and unchecking boxes. It includes a point tool, line tool, ruler, and icon set. Landscapes Map Skills Click on each of the four map skills (compass skills, grid references, symbols and keys, scale) to learn about them and practice what you have learned. Adventure Island Learn how → read more

Earthquakes Digital Content

Posted by StarrMatica on December 12, 2017 Content Recommendations, Science Resources Comments Off

Dec 122017

Here are four pieces of digital content a teacher might choose from StarrMatica’s library to use science manipulatives to foster concept development through visual models. Earthquake Animations Learn the basics about earthquakes with these animations. Earthquakes and Plates Drag the slider back and forth to explore the relationship between earthquakes and Earth’s plates. Earthquake Experiment Discover how different building materials can minimize earthquake damage. 1906 San Francisco Earthquake View photos and footage of the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

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