Max Brand describes how word observations can work as powerful minilessons in elementary classrooms.
Max Brand has suggestions for simplifying word study.
Heather Rader has strategies for using sentence combining in literacy workshops.
Heather Rader begins a new series on sentence combining, an alternative to traditional drill and kill grammar instruction.
Ruth Ayres confers with third grader Jade about the importance of the “collecting” phase for writers.
The Olympics are just around the corner, and Sarah Klim has suggestions for read alouds in a new booklist.
Franki Sibberson chats with Jennifer Serravallo about formative assessment in this podcast. Jennifer is the author of The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook, Grades 3-6: Four Steps for Turning Assessment Data into Goal-Directed Instruction.
Max Brand has developed templates for grades K-2 and 3-5 to use for formative spelling assessments.
Ruth Ayres has advice for moving forward, staying positive, and focusing on what’s important.
Franki Sibberson concludes her series on redesigning nonfiction sections of classroom libraries in the age of the Common Core.
Franki Sibberson explains how she features nonfiction series books in her classroom library.
Franki Sibberson realizes she needs to highlight nonfiction authors in new ways in her classroom library.
Jeff Anderson continues his Explanatory Grammar Series with a feature on the power of right-branching sentences.
Max Brand developed Spelling Cycles as an alternative to weekly spelling tests. He explains how they work with an example from a third-grade class.
Franki Sibberson writes about how her thinking about nonfiction is changing her classroom library in this first installment of a four-part series.
Ruth Ayres explains how deciding the purpose of conferring in advance can lead to more powerful conferences.
Franki Sibberson writes about how she chooses books for theme instruction and shares two lessons.
Beth Lawson helps her fourth graders sort through what makes peer collaboration work during writing buddy time.
Shari Frost celebrates a tomboy who finally finds a female character she wants to emulate with a booklist highlighting courageous girls.
Jeff Anderson explores the difference between informational and explanatory writing, and what that might mean for teaching craft moves to students.
Beth Lawson finds that a nonfiction research book club is just the grouping structure needed for a group of struggling readers in her fourth-grade classroom.
Julie Johnson provides helpful tips and a letter for parents to help keep students safe on the Internet.
Franki Sibberson finds Pinterest is a useful tool for professional development.
Julie Johnson reflects on how technology is changing her own reading community, and builds on this knowledge to connect readers and writers in her classroom with others through the Internet.
Franki Sibberson’s dilemma? How to file every evaluation so it is organized and accessible (since she never knows when someone might ask for it), while still finding a way to keep the assessments she needs every day at her fingertips.
Ann Marie Corgill provides some guiding questions to help teachers figure out priorities in their schedules for daily routines.
Franki Sibberson’s fourth graders use the whole-class writing share time to discuss writing series they are working on (including blog interviews and book reviews), with an eye toward collaborating with classmates.
Beth Lawson began her own gratitude journal as a troubled teen, and finds the daily routine of Grateful Journals is a powerful tool for reflection and building community in the intermediate grades.
Jennifer Schwanke describes the work of a music teacher who integrates literacy learning into her curriculum.
Franki Sibberson demonstrates how much ground can be covered in a three-minute conference with a student. She helps fourth grader Pierce think through the audience for his writing, how to add visuals to blog posts, and enlists him to teach others new skills as he acquires them.
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