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The Big Fresh August 5, 2017 Resolutions for a New School Year

We consider how to launch and sustain writers’ notebooks in this week’s Big Fresh.

Using Stories to Launch Writers’ Notebooks

If you're looking for the perfect launch for writers' notebooks this school year, you might want to begin with story.  Tara Barnett and Kate Mills explain how.

Is Writing Essential?

Ruth Ayres shares some of the powerful connections between stories and writing workshops.

Conferring with Spencer: Writing Notebook Topics

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

School-to-Home Journals

Are you considering school-to-home journals in your classroom this year? Jennifer Schwanke describes how these notebooks build community and literacy skills.

The Big Fresh July 29, 2017 Tickle Tickle

We look at playful planning of units of study in this week’s Big Fresh.

Environment Small Group: Habitat

Katherine Sokolowski leads a small group of fifth graders who have chosen similar topics for their projects in an environmental unit.

Humor Writing with Teens

Gretchen Schroeder develops a unit on humor writing that engages and delights her high school students.

Dabbling: Reviving a Focus on Play

Mary Lee Hahn finds a focus on play and "dabbling" renews student writers during a unit on narrative nonfiction.

Planning for a Narrative Writing Unit of Study

Franki Sibberson believes planning a unit of study should be just as much fun as planning a trip to Disney World. She explains her planning process for one of her first units of study, on narrative writing.

Creating a Manifesto

Ruth Ayres explains why writing a manifesto may be the best way to learn what you truly believe about teaching, learning, and literacy.

The Big Fresh July 22, 2017 Magic Wand

We look at what’s essential in this week’s Big Fresh.

My Five Objectives for the Start of the School Year

Gretchen Schroeder winnows many competing demands at the start of the year down to five clear objectives in her high school classroom.

The Big Fresh July 15, 2017 Growth Rings

We look at ways to infuse more joy into your work in this week’s Big Fresh.

Reading Workshop Non-Negotiables

Scott Jones finds working with a student teacher forces him to explain what the “non-negotiables” are in his reading workshop.

Connecting to Text: First-Grade Conference

Bitsy Parks confers with first grader Leo early in the school year, reinforcing the basic principle of making connections to text while reading.

Joy

Katrina Edwards deals with a frustrated writer on the verge of tears in her first-grade classroom. She realizes the element that is missing in her writing workshop is joy.

Celebrating and Nudging: First-Grade Writing Conference

Bitsy Parks takes time to celebrate first grader Colson’s finished writing, even as she nudges him to try a technique shared in the day’s minilesson.

Reconsidering Reading Workshop Routines

Andrea Smith realizes her normal reading routine will not work within the constraints of this year’s schedule. She makes some radical changes to ensure she and her students can have enough time to find the joy in reading and building a literate community.

Sketchnoting as a Response to Reading

Dana Murphy tries sketchnoting during professional development, and soon finds herself sharing the fun technique with students. They hone their skills during read alouds and while annotating texts.

The Big Fresh June 24, 2017 Meeting the Challenge

We look at book-a-day and other fun challenges in this week’s Big Fresh.

Building a Next-Read Stack

Katherine Sokolowski helps fifth grader Abby build her next-read stack of books.

The Benefits of #bookaday

Franki Sibberson finds the investment of five to seven minutes a day for #bookaday with her third graders is truly time well spent.

#bookaday in Middle School

Jillian Heise rises to the challenge of reading a new picture book to her seventh and eighth graders each day all year long.

The Big Fresh June 17, 2017 Flimflam Man

We look at digital literacy in this week’s Big Fresh.

The Big Fresh June 10, 2017 Surf Lesson

We consider goals in this week’s Big Fresh.

Practical Ways to Connect Students and Goals

Kate Mills and Tara Barnett provide some practical tips for connecting students and goals.

Brave Writers

Katrina Edwards has her students think of something brave they did for a writing share session.

Student-Designed Development Cards

Melanie Meehan finds that student-designed development cards are a great way to get students invested in literacy goals.

Video Games and Literacy

Matt Renwick finds there is value in connecting video games and literacy in classrooms, once he and the teachers he works with can get past their leeriness.

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