5th
Latest Content
Say Cheese: Sharing Photos to Increase Family and Student Engagement
Most teachers have, at some point, taken a picture of their class or a particular student and shared that photo with a family, but what if teachers became more intentional about taking and sending pictures? Tiffany Abbott Fuller gives practical ideas for using photos to increase family engagement.
The Influence of the Classroom Library
Heather Fisher writes a bold article addressing the many questions educators are facing about their values and beliefs when it comes to our classroom libraries in this time of a heavy emphasis on phonics instruction and decodable books.
Rhyme and Reflect: Fostering Fluency Through Poetry
Joanne Emery recommends using poetry to help children practice their oral expression. She offers many poetry books and strategies for fluency practice.
What Is ORF Anyway?
Dana Murphy reminds us that teaching students to read faster is often a surface-level answer to a much deeper question. Reading is a complex process; if you’re wondering what to do about oral reading fluency scores, then Dana offers powerful encouragement.
Helping Kids Lead Every Day: Differentiate with Precision
Tammy Mulligan shares three ways to precisely differentiate small-group instruction. This is the third installment of a three-part series.
One Size Does Not Fit All: Flexibility in Tool Creation
Sometimes, we ask students to conform to tools that we’ve already created or have found success with when working with former groups of students. However, one size does not fit all. Melissa Quimby shows us how we can be inspired by moments of productive struggle and consider how to help a tool fit our students rather than the other way around.
How to Intensify an Intervention
What happens when students’ reading data takes a downward trend? Dana Murphy encourages us to be confident and intensify a reading intervention with three practical moves.
Helping Kids Lead Every Day: How to Deepen Small-Group Discussions
Tammy Mulligan shares the step-by-step process she uses with her fourth-grade students so that their small groups are fully managed by students and her teaching is focused on their needs as readers. This is the second installment of a three-part series.
Vertical Conversations to Create Coherence
Jodie Bailey shows how representations and models help students understand complex math concepts. By participating in vertical conversations, teachers can strengthen our own understandings of skill progressions and help students develop essential connections and deeper understandings.
Building Thinking Classrooms in Literacy
Inspired by Peter Liljedahl’s Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, David Pittman applies instructional practices to get students thinking for themselves as readers and writers, and to be drivers, not consumers or mimickers of someone else’s way of doing things.
Booklist: Books that Cultivate Kindness
It’s easy for students to forget to show kindness, especially in the gray days of winter. Joanne Emery shares a powerful picture book called Two Sandals, Four Feet by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed and illustrated by Doug Chayka. She includes a list of additional titles to inspire kindness in your classroom all year long. If you love discovering new books, you’ll appreciate this list!
Welcome, Everyone!
When Gigi McAllister says the library is a place for everyone, she means everyone! As a child Gigi did not like reading, so she is passionate about creating a space where everyone feels like they belong in the library.
Giving Kids Time and Space to Show Their Brilliance
Mallory Messenger suggests three instructional moves to provide time and space for students to show their brilliance. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to position students to learn.
Whole-School Animal Research
Gigi McAllister shares an annual school-wide research project she leads in the library. You’ll be inspired by the way a focus on research can bring joy and belonging to all students in all grades.
Quick Take: Everyone Owns the Learning
Tammy Mulligan wants the kids to own the learning in the classroom. Here is one way she helps reinforce the message that everyone has something to offer the learning community.
Quick Take: A Classroom of Belonging
Tammy Mulligan shares the first steps to help students develop a sense of belonging in the classroom.
Feedback Writers Will Use
Vivian Chen offers insights into the conditions needed to help writers value feedback. She discusses written and verbal feedback, as well as AI-generated feedback.
Uplifting Independent Reading in the Living Room
Gwen Blumberg offers ways to make the library a welcoming space for readers to settle in with their choice of books. Classroom teachers can consider creating a living room, too.
Writing About Reading: A Search for Authenticity
In this powerful essay, Leigh Anne Eck challenged herself to read a complex text and discover the authenticity of writing about reading. She transferred her experience to create meaningful opportunities for her students as they write about their own independent reading.
Quick and Easy Reading Responses
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills offer three ways for students to write a quick and meaningful response inspired by their independent reading.
Sketchnoting in the Library
Gigi McAllister shares how she helped her students get started with sketchnoting during read aloud time. Perhaps like Gigi you aren’t a natural at this format, but you’ll be inspired by the value and ease of introducing this powerful note-taking technique.
QuickTake: Using Picture Books to Start Conversations
Gigi McAllister reminds us of the special way picture books can open the doors of conversation.
Delving Deeper Through Inquiry-Based Learning
Jodie Bailey suggests using books, pictures, or examples to begin or increase inquiry-based learning in your classroom. Using an example of learning more about pi from her classroom, Jodie offers ways to help students deepen their learning in any content area.
Girls’ Sports Books
Leigh Anne Eck noticed a gap in her library when it came to books with athletic female protagonists. After discovering many titles to add to her own library, Leigh Anne compiled this booklist so we can all fill this gap in our classroom libraries.
Leading with Empathy in the Classroom
Melissa Quimby offers profound advice for what to do when we notice inattention, excessive questioning, frozen learners, or disruptive behaviors. She recommends letting empathy lead our next steps.
How to Promote Civil Discourse in Your Classroom
Matt Renwick shows how to build the capacity of all students to engage in civil discourse.
Navigating the Election Season Booklist
Mandy Robek shares a booklist inspired to give students background about U.S. presidential elections.
Patterns of Prompting
We spend our days prompting whole groups, small groups, and individual learners. We’ve all been in situations where we may not have known what to say. Melissa Quimby offers advice on how to be educators who use language brimming with curiosity and encouragement.
Indoor Walks
Gigi McAlister discovered that using indoor walks is a way to help students engage in their learning and strengthen their learning community through conversations.
Reclaiming Space: Weeding to Grow a Healthy Library
Books, like gardens, need to be tended to regularly for the whole library to thrive. Gigi McAllister gives tips for anyone in the weeding process for their school or classroom library.
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