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Here is where you’ll find all the latest print features from our contributors. If you’d like to browse specifically by grade level, topic, or contributor, you can use the links in the right sidebar.
Latest Content
Hindsight: What I Wish I’d Known Before My School Burned Down
Melanie Quinn shares lessons from the fire that burned down her school.
Just-Right Poetry and Individualizing Instruction
Shari Frost describes how a sixth-grade teacher provides a range of poetry options to meet the needs of all students.
The “Tys” of Student Research: Safety and Credibility (Primary Research Series Part 2)
Heather Rader shares the second installment in our primary research series.
March Book Madness
Basketball’s March Madness has many possibilities in schools. Tony Keefer tries a similar format with brackets and voting for March Book Madness.
Beyond Text Features in Nonfiction Instruction
Franki Sibberson considers how the demands of the Common Core and the complex mix of online and offline nonfiction texts are changing the skills she teaches students.
Putting the Search Back in Research
Heather Rader launches a new four-part series on teaching research skills in the primary grades. This first installment highlights search techniques for children.
Supporting the Transition to Middle School: An Elementary Teacher’s Perspective
Maria Caplin shares how and why she began to collaborate with Gretchen Taylor, a sixth-grade teacher who would soon be the middle school teacher for some of her students.
What Information Is Good Information? Smooth and Effective Transitions to Middle School
Gretchen Taylor explains her role in observing Maria’s fifth-grade classroom, and then building a relationship with students and their families.
Poetry Minute: Forms and How to Teach Them
Mary Lee Hahn's "Poetry Minute" includes tips and resources for poetry instruction. This month's Poetry Minute focuses on poetry forms and mentor texts to teach them.
Getting Rid of My Teacher’s Desk
Katherine Sokolowski discovers getting rid of her teacher's desk opens her mind to many new possibilities in her fifth-grade classroom.
Transitions Are Like Underwear
If you tell students transitions are like underwear, they sit up and pay attention. Heather Rader uses the analogy to help students analyze and improve the transitions in their writing.
Kindergarten Moments Count: Question of the Day
Keri Archer makes the most of the time her kindergarten students spend transitioning into her classroom with her Question of the Day.
Building a Reading Community with Edmodo
Katherine Sokolowski discovers Edmodo is a wonderful tech tool for helping her fifth graders become more independent and supportive of everyone’s reading choices.
Supporting Introverts in a First-Grade Classroom
Courtney Pawol looks at how being an introvert affects her role in learning communities, and then moves from insight to practical changes to help the introverts in her first-grade classroom.
The Truth About Building a Writing Community in Middle School
Building a sense of community is complicated in middle school classrooms. Katie Baydo-Reed considers her eighth graders, and is surprised at what endures most with these young teens.
Make a Note
Why is Leslie Woodhouse so forgetful? It’s all part of a not-so-devious plot to teach her preschool students the power of creating and leaving notes throughout the classroom.
Sketching Trees in Winter
The seasons are like bulbs, fat and full underground. In their time, they edge up and unfold with meaning. Shirl McPhillips finds inspiration from the darkest days of winter in her latest poetry offering.
Inscribe It! (Home is Where the Books Are Series)
Some of the most treasured notes for many of us are the inscriptions in books that are gifts from others. Meghan Rose shares why inscribed books have lasting value for families.
Weaving Word Study into Writing Workshop in 5th Grade
Maria Caplin describes how she integrates word study with intermediate students in writing workshops.
Vocabulary and iPhones: A Four-Step Process for Independent Student Word Learning
Bryce Bennett develops a four-step process to help high school students use their smartphones to master difficult vocabulary while reading.
Student-Selected Vocabulary in Middle School
Katie Doherty shares many ways to make vocabulary learning fun in middle school, beginning with students working together to select words to study each week.
Curating the Classroom and School Library
As classroom budgets get tighter, teachers rely more and more on school libraries for books. Erin Ocon describes how she has changed the way she matches books and readers in her middle school classroom, depending more on school library resources and helping her middle school students navigate them.
The Power of Read-Aloud Notebooks
Karen Terlecky shares the process of launching and sustaining read-aloud notebooks with fifth graders.
From “Show Me the Lessons” to Sustainable Planning (Part 4 of the Opinion/Argument Writing Series)
This is the final installment in Heather Rader's series on argument and opinion writing in the intermediate grades.
Peer Conferring: The Release Phase
Amanda Adrian concludes her series on peer conferring, analyzing the value of students working on their own after instruction and practice.
Looking for the Open Door
Midyear is a wonderful time for taking conferences to the next level, now that you know your students well and they trust you. Beth Lawson gently challenges a young writer in her fourth-grade classroom to reach his full potential.
My Name Is Not Julie
Ellie Gilbert is deeply moved when her high school student connects to a text in a startling way. It’s one of those magic moments that keeps teachers coming back to classrooms, but is nearly impossible to share with others.
Comic Books and Mini Caped Crusaders for the Youngest Readers (Home is Where the Books Are Series)
Meghan Rose gives a mom’s perspective on comics for young children in this booklist. This is from our new series, Home is Where the Books Are, on literacy in the home from birth to age 5.
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.
A Graphic Novels Unit in 5th Grade
Katherine Sokolowski designs a graphic novels unit for her fifth graders, and is surprised by how much the genre delights them.
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