Minilessons
Keeping it short, relevant, and meaningful is the challenge when it comes to designing lessons. Here is where you'll find practical advice and dozens of video examples of master teachers in action.
Latest Content
More Productive Writing Share Sessions in First Grade
In this video from a first-grade classroom, Katie DiCesare demonstrates how she has made writing share time more productive by linking student work to recent lessons.
6th Grade Word Sort
In this six-minute video, Pam Pogson leads an open word sort with her 6th grade students.
The Sponge Summary Lesson Part 2
In this sequence of videos, Heather teaches a fourth-grade class, using the analogy of a sponge to explain how summaries work. In this second video, Heather presents the powerful analogy of a sponge for summarizing.
The Sponge Summary Lesson Part 3
In this sequence of videos, Heather teaches a 4th grade class, using the analogy of a sponge to explain how summaries work. In this third video, Heather and students cull down a text into the important points needed for a summary.
The Sponge Summary Lesson Part 4
In this sequence of videos, Heather Rader teaches a 4th grade class, using the analogy of a sponge to explain how summaries work. In this fourth video, Heather and students discuss their summaries in progress
Digging Into Literary Nonfiction
Andrea Smith and her 4th grade students use an article from National Geographic for Kids to chart literary nonfiction elements.
Status of the Class and Monitoring Behavior
In this early year video from Beth Lawson’s second-grade classroom, Beth uses a writing status-of-the-class time to help students monitor their behavior, using peers as role models.
Scaring Up Better Narratives Part I
Just before Halloween, Aimee Buckner leads a lesson on brainstorming topics in writer's notebooks using the mentor text Some Things Are Scary. In this first installment of a three-part series, Aimee reads the book and models her own thinking process and use of a writer's notebook.
Setting the Stage for Historical Fiction
In this demonstration lesson from a fifth-grade classroom, Aimee Buckner works with students to construct an anchor chart for understanding the genre of historical fiction.
Book Matchmaker: Teaching Theme in the Intermediate Grades
Students need strong mentor texts for understanding the concept of theme. Franki Sibberson shares many of her favorites in this Book Matchmaker.
Graphic Organizer for Mystery Writing
Beth Lawson talks with her 4th graders about the elements of a good mystery, and shares a graphic organizer to help them develop realistic characters and themes.
Putting the “Mini” Back in Minilessons
We know that the shorter our minilesson, the more time students will have to read and write, but it's not easy for many of us. Shari Frost has tips to shape up minilessons that have become maxilessons.
A Closer Look at Anchor Charts
Shari Frost has a gift for helping us think about purpose and this article is no exception as she turns her attention to the benefits of intentional anchor charts.
Linking Morning Message, Poetry, and Word Learning
Second-grade teacher Linda Karamatic has been starting her morning with a message for years. The morning message is just one part of her daily opening that reinforces community.
Purposeful First Grade Reading Share Sessions
Katie DiCesare prompts her 1st grade students during the reading share time at the end of workshop to make connections between the strategies they use during independent reading time and the day’s minilessons.
Using Comics in Literacy Workshops
Franki Sibberson works with her 3rd and 4th graders to use comics in the literacy workshop.
Digging Deeper with Rereading
In this video from Katie DiCesare’s first-grade classroom, Katie uses the strategy of rereading to help students look more closely at words—in this case, words that rhyme.
“The Wrath of Guess Jeans”: Reading, Writing, and Cliques in Middle School
In this first video in a three-part series, Katie Doherty leads her 6th graders through a response activity. The text they are reading was written by a middle school student over a decade ago, and its themes of popularity and belonging still ring true for students.
Injecting Writing into . . . Everything: Ellipsis Stories
"DOT DOT DOT" – a phrase made famous in Mama Mia, it's also the spark for some writing instruction linked to read alouds from Heather Rader.
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.
Seedfolks: Connecting Community and Literature
There's so much to do during the first weeks of school, but it's important not to skip the most important thing – building a sense of community with your students.
Injecting Writing into Everything: Cover-up Stories
Cover-up stories involve removing illustrations to heighten awareness of other story elements. Heather Rader explains how the instructional technique works.
Writing Do-Overs: ERPs in the Classroom
ERP. The sound can't help but make you grin. It's Heather Rader's acronym for Explicit Revision for Peers, a series of one-minute kinesthetic writing routines to help students learn how to help each other kindly during writer's workshop.
Is “Just Right” Still Just Right?: Helping Children Select Appropriate Books
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan consider how the incredibly useful and widely accepted “just right” term can sometimes limit how students think about book selection and their identities as readers. This essay includes sample lessons to help expand the ways young readers think about and discuss their reading preferences.
A Sponge is a Summary
Heather Rader shares a concrete analogy that students (and teachers) love for understanding how summaries work.
Punctuation Study with Third Graders
Mandy Robek finds a punctuation unit study with her third graders is a fun alternative to yet another genre study. Her essay includes booklists of children's literature and professional texts.
Why and Watch Me: Making the Abstract Concrete for Readers
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan present some teacher question and reflection prompts for helping struggling readers understand why and how reading is a meaning-making process.
Teaching Themes Through Keywords
Aimee Buckner presents a simple strategy for helping students look for themes as they read a new text.
Assessing Spelling in Writing Workshop Part 3: Embedding Instruction
In the last installment of this three-part series, Katie DiCesare shows how she translates the findings from individual students into instructional plans when she uses a spelling assessment in her 1st grade classroom.
Weekend Headlines: Introduction
In this first of a three-part video series, Katie Doherty and her sixth grade students begin the Weekend Headlines activity. Each Monday, students listen to Katie share some of the headlines from the local newspaper and then share their "headlines" from the weekend.
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