Library

Nonfiction Books for Compassion, Inspiration, and Heart

Mandy Robek set out on a quest to discover new nonfiction books with characters who offer inspiration, compassion, and heart. Here are eight new titles you won’t want to miss.

Books That Sustain the Linguistic Lives of Multilingual Learners

We need more bilingual books! Stella Villalba explains why these books are essential and provides a booklist to help sustain the linguistic lives of multilingual learners.

Middle-Grade Mental Health Booklist

Leigh Anne Eck shares an important booklist for middle-grade readers on mental health topics and with characters navigating mental health struggles.

Talking Through Characters

Melanie Meehan shares activities that help students talk about their characters before writing about them in a realistic fiction unit.

Moving from Whole-Class Texts to Independent Reading: Characterization

Gretchen Schroeder offers a starting point to help her high school students prepare to write an in-depth character analysis essay.

The Shades of Sadness: Character Feelings and Traits

Melissa Quimby is disappointed with the way her students expressed depth of character traits and feelings. By building on their strengths, Melissa creates a tool for students to use and adapt as they learn to be more specific and intentional about describing characters.

Choice Literacy Writing Guidelines

Are you interested in writing for Choice Literacy? Here are our guidelines.

Personal Touches Early in the Year – Classroom Design Photo Essay Series

Make it personal with these lovely design suggestions from "The Sisters" for bringing students' homes into your classroom.

I Think, I Wonder, I Understand: Making Sense of the Work of Literacy Coaches

Jan Miller Burkins works with colleagues to develop the “I Think I Wonder I Understand” reflective tool for literacy coaches.

Unlocking Student Thinking: The Power of Problem Posing in Story Problem Contexts

Choice Numeracy | Problem posing is a strategy that involves students creating mathematical problems to solve or reworking given problems to change them in some way. Mallory Messenger shows how this strategy allows students to explore and test their current thinking. Download the Problem Posing with Problem Stems Recording Sheet to get started in your classroom.

Book Matchmaker: 3rd Graders Reading Below Grade Level

In this installment of Book Matchmaker, Franki Sibberson shares her favorite books for 3rd graders who are not at grade level, but don’t want to read texts that will embarrass them in front of their peers.

Picture Books for Naming Emotions

Mandy Robek continues her series on picture books for understanding emotional turmoil in students. In this installment, she shares a list of books that can help children name emotions.

Lifting the Quality of Peer Response

Tony Keefer discovers that his fourth-grade students need focused instruction and support to strengthen their peer conferring skills. Tony shares tips and two video examples from his classroom.

Writing Partner Feedback in Fifth Grade

Fifth-grade writers in Franki Sibberson’s classroom encourage each other and suggest revisions to their opinion-writing drafts in partner teams.

Activities Linking Books and Visual Learners for Early in the Year

What are the best books for the visual learners in your classroom? Carol Wilcox draws on her experience as a mom to two boys who do not love her “world of words” in coming up with suggestions.

Writer’s Workshop: Planning for “Dips”

We love seeing growth, but how can we plan for plateaus or even dips with young writers? Aimee Buckner finds it's all about commitment.

Connecting with Students at Home

Julie Johnson learns some important lessons about connecting with students remotely, and few of them are about technology.

Finding Topics in Writer’s Notebooks Minilesson

Sean Moore shares the importance of using a writer’s notebook to discover topics in this minilesson with his second-grade students from early in the year.

Collecting Ideas in the Writer’s Notebook

Ruth Ayres confers with third grader Jade about the importance of the “collecting” phase for writers.

Conferring with Spencer: Writing Notebook Topics

Katherine Sokolowski helps fifth grader Spencer brainstorm topics for his writing notebook.

Forming Groups Using a Planner

Dana Murphy explains how her small-group planner is an essential tool for organizing groups in her fourth-grade classroom.

The 4 Fs of Assessment

Justin Stygles describes the four crucial components of effective assessment.

Discussion and Summary As a Prelude to Fiction Writing

Haiku Writing

Mandy Robek shares the power of publishing poetry with her young writers.

Helping Kids Lead Every Day: Changing Who “Owns” Small Groups in the Classroom

Tammy Mulligan knows the most productive and engaging discussions to build reading comprehension are not monopolized by the teacher. She creates a structure to support students to engage in deeper work with each other in small groups. This is the first part of a three-part series.

Teaching Rereading During Class Read Alouds

Aimee Buckner teaches her 4th graders the power of rereading using the mentor text Goblins in the Castle by Bruce Coville.

First-Grade Writing Conference: Celebrations to Suggestions

Katrina Edwards begins her conference with first grader Allen by celebrating all he is doing well in his writing. She highlights his language and details in writing, before moving on to new strategies to try.

Revising Titles Minilesson

In this minilesson from Franki Sibberson’s grades 3 and 4 classroom, Franki takes students through the process of selecting and revising titles. She uses the poem “Confessions of a Reader” by Carol Wilcox as a mentor text.

A Minilesson on Minilessons

Franki Sibberson leads a minilesson in her fifth-grade classroom to help students design their own lessons. Students also assess what goes into a high-quality minilesson.

Integrating Vocabulary and Retelling Strategies into Read-Aloud

Stella Villalba scaffolds the language development of her first- and second-grade English language learners during read-aloud by highlighting vocabulary and providing a tool to assist with a partner retelling activity.