4th
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Touchy Topics for Opinion/Argumentative Writing
When students take a stand in writing, they will almost inevitably bring up touchy topics. Heather Rader considers the challenge in part 3 of her opinion/argumentative writing series.
Lists, Facts, and Reports: Conferring with Anna
Franki Sibberson confers with fourth grader Anna to help her connect report writing with her love of animal lists.
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.
Thank You For Arguing
In the second installment of our teaching argument/opinion writing series, Heather Rader uses a continuum dialogue and modeled writing with intermediate students.
Brainstorming Student Blogs
Franki Sibberson works with a group of students who want to create a collaborative blog of interviews. The discussion reveals some of the challenges of blog writing, including consistent posting and developing topics that might endure over time.
Helping Students Develop Independent Previewing Skills
Franki Sibberson's goal is to provide her students with more tools for previewing books independently and making wise selections. In this lesson, she makes full use of technology to set up sites and resources for students to browse at school or home.
Book Talks in 4th Grade
Tony Keefer previews Infinity Ring with his fourth graders, and talks about the value of book talks for building a reading community.
Fun in January: A Mock Caldecott Unit
Katherine Sokolowski discovers a seven-day Mock Caldecott unit is a fun way to build a reading community by predicting the winners, and Skyping with another class to share results.
I Love a Good Argument
As Heather Rader works with teachers and teams on opinion/argumentative writing, she’s considering the anatomy of an argument and engaging ways to teach it.
Teaching the Rule of Three to Writers
Aimee Buckner finds that teaching the rule of three to young writers adds variety to student texts.
Writers Inspiring Writers
Melissa Styger invites colleagues and family members into the classroom to share their writing process with students.
Previewing a Read Aloud
Franki Sibberson previews a read aloud with her grades 3 and 4 students.
Peer Conferring: The “Try It On” Phase
Amanda Adrian continues her series on how teachers can scaffold and model peer conferring. In this installment, Amanda uses the fishbowl technique with students.
Poetry Friday in the Computer Lab
Mary Lee Hahn provides a wealth of web resources and practical suggestions for using technology for poetry instruction.
Common Core Booklist: Writing Personal Narratives
Personal narratives are an important part of the Common Core in 4th grade. Franki Sibberson shares a booklist of some of her favorite mentor texts for teaching narratives in the intermediate grades.
Tracking Thinking While Reading
Melissa Styger confers with a fourth-grade student using a template to help students track thinking and comprehension.
Peer Conferring: The Modeling Phase
Amanda Adrian provides a framework, sample model lesson, and peer conferring guide for students to use as they learn how to respond to their classmates.
Conferring for Conventions (Conventions Series Part 5)
Heather Rader gives examples of convention conferences in this final installment of the conventions series.
Aligning the Common Core and Conventions Instruction (Conventions Series Part 4)
Heather Rader works with a team of intermediate teachers as they connect their plans for conventions instruction and the Common Core.
Ten Classic Ideas That Still Work
Teachers are always on the hunt for something new, even as we cherish what works well year after year. Franki Sibberson lists the activities that have stood the test of time in her classroom.
Between Inquiry and Instruction (Conventions Series Part 3)
Heather Rader works with a team of intermediate teachers as they pore over student work together and analyze which conventions should be taught.
What Anchor Charts Are Essential?
Katherine Sokolowski considers what anchor charts are essential in her fifth-grade classroom, and where they work best for posting.
Conferring, Rereading, and Comprehension
Aimee Buckner confers with Brendan, who is rereading Hoot and needs some strategies for holding his thinking.
Writing Workshop: Preparing for Publication
Beth Lawson helps her fourth-grade students work through a checklist of items to prepare for publishing early in the fall.
Chronology in Nonfiction (Common Core Booklist)
Franki Sibberson's latest Common Core booklist includes texts to help students master chronology in nonfiction.
The Blank Page and Better Teaching
Aimee Buckner learns some important lessons about how images and words work together for student writers when she moves between second- and fifth-grade classrooms.
Appealing Book Displays for Boys
Are your book displays enticing to the boys in your classroom? Tony Keefer has suggestions for making classroom libraries more appealing.
Enhancing Read Aloud and Eliminating Notebook Clutter
Melissa Styger has some simple suggestions for streamlining and improving student-written responses to read alouds.
Field Experience: Writers’ Notebooks
Writers’ Notebooks are an important tool for writers. Ruth Ayres designed a field experience to showcase how elementary teachers use notebooks with young writers.
Field Experience: Social-Emotional Learning in Workshop
Compassion and understanding are as important to workshop instruction as strategies and routines. Ruth Ayres compiled a field experience to highlight the way understanding the social-emotional needs of students (and ourselves) allows for safe learning environments.
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