5th
Latest Content
Gratitude Week
Gigi McAllister shares the tradition of Gratitude Week. It gives students an authentic writing experience that has a ripple effect of spreading joy and gratitude throughout the school. It also shows them the significant impact that their words can have on others.
Going Deeper with Math Curricular Materials
Mallory Messenger guides us in taking what our district-adopted math curriculum resources provide and planning small changes by using problem stems and student problem posing to increase the rigor and make mathematical experiences accessible for all students.
Setting Middle School Readers Up for Success
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share ways to set up middle school readers for a successful independent reading life. Download two reading reflections to help students pause and consider where they are and where they want to go as readers.
Using Fiction Writing to Change Attitudes About Writing
Katherine Sokolowski encourages teachers to take time for students to individualize the writing process and enjoy fiction writing by engaging in National Novel Writing Month. Download the story bible as a place for students to plan their stories.
Managing Independent Projects (SHORTS)
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills continue their series on independent projects with nuts and bolts advice on management.
Writing as an Act of Resistance and a Source of Strength
In this beautiful personal essay, Stella Villalba reminds us that writing is a source of strength, and developing a community of writers is essential in post-pandemic classrooms.
Launching a Classroom Library
Melissa Styger slows down the launch of the classroom library to ensure it is a valuable resource all year.
Field Experience: Supporting Independent Reading, Choice and Stamina
Helping students learn to choose books and develop stamina are important to developing independent readers. Ruth Ayres designed a field experience with opportunities to see minilessons, small group instruction, team meetings and a share session that support independence in readers.
Using 9/11 Research to Build Community and Writing Process
Katherine Sokolowski gives space for students to research and share their learning about 9/11 in order to build a community of writers, as well as nourish the research and writing process.
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.
Talking Through Characters
Melanie Meehan shares activities that help students talk about their characters before writing about them in a realistic fiction unit.
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.
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.
Connecting with Students at Home
Julie Johnson learns some important lessons about connecting with students remotely, and few of them are about technology.
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.
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.
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.
Overcoming: Helping Students Process Covid Feelings
Julie Cox reminds us that for many students, the loneliness and fear of COVID years clings like smoke, and they don’t always have the language to talk about it. While we have worked hard at helping students reclaim content knowledge, we must also help them express and process feelings they might not know how to recognize.
Quick Take: Special Library Shelves
Christy Rush-Levine shares a few special shelves in her classroom library.
Instructional Routines That Promote Agency for Multilingual Learners
Cultivating agency is a matter of building small, intentional moves that ask students to be part of the learning process. Stella Villalba offers three ways educators can support the growth of multilingual learners in all learning spaces.
Using Skype in the Classroom
Katherine Sokolowski has suggestions for Skype use in classrooms, covering everything from student etiquette to special events.
Organizing Materials to Support Literacy Learning (Classroom Design Series Part 3)
Ann Marie Corgill shares how she organizes materials for literacy learning in the third installment of her design series.
Intentional Consolidation and Closure
Mallory Messenger emphasizes the importance of providing time for students to share their learning and offers different formats for a share session. Mallory guides us in making decisions so that share time consolidates and uplifts the learning.
Browse Content By
Type
Category
- Assessment Tools
- Big Fresh Archives
- Booklists
- Choice Numeracy
- Classroom Design
- Common Core
- Community Building
- Conferring
- Content Literacy
- Digital Literacy
- English Language Learners
- Equity
- Family Relations
- Free Samples
- Guiding Groups
- Leadership
- Literacy Coaches
- Mentor Texts
- Minilessons
- New Teacher Mentors
- Podcasts
- Poetry
- Quote Collections
- Reading Strategies
- Self Care
- Struggling and Striving Learners
- Talking and Listening
- Teacher Study Groups
- Teaching Reading
- Teaching Writing
- Word Study and Vocabulary
Author
- Melissa Quimby
- Nawal Qarooni
- Gwen Blumberg
- Julie Cox
- The Lead Learners
- Hannah Tills
- Josie Stewart
- Ruth Metcalfe
- Mallory Messenger
- Becca Burk
- Jodie Bailey
- Vivian Chen
- Mary Brower
- Stephanie Affinito
- Ruth Ayres
- Leigh Anne Eck
- Heather Fisher
- Shari Frost
- Julie Johnson
- Suzy Kaback
- Gigi McAllister
- Shirl McPhillips
- Melanie Meehan
- Cathy Mere
- Debbie Miller
- Tara Barnett and Kate Mills
- Tammy Mulligan
- Dana Murphy
- Bitsy Parks
- David Pittman
- Brenda Power
- Heather Rader
- Matt Renwick
- Mandy Robek
- Christy Rush-Levine
- Gretchen Schroeder
- Jen Schwanke
- Brian Sepe
- Katherine Sokolowski
- Stella Villalba
- Jennifer Vincent
Grade Level
Choice Literacy Membership
Articles
Get full access to all Choice Literacy article content
Videos
Get full access to all Choice Literacy video content
Courses
Access Choice Literacy course curriculum and training
