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Laying the Foundation for Genre Writing

Shari Frost helps a teacher dealing with dreadful how-to drafts from her students by sharing quality mentor texts.

A Joyful Mess

Ruth Ayres writes about the messiness of analyzing needs, celebrating achievements, and thinking about what’s next with writers in workshops.

The Big Fresh June 25, 2016 Repurposed

Repurposing materials for literacy instruction is the focus of this week’s Big Fresh.

Old-Fashioned Resources

Jennifer Schwanke cleans out a school storage area, and with advice from teachers discovers new purposes for old items she was about to discard.

Fostering Thinking Through Play

Katie DiCesare repurposes materials for her first graders to play with, and finds that encouraging play early in the year is a great tool for building reflection skills.

Getting to Know Writers: The Writing Process Survey

Dana Murphy continues her series on getting to know writers early in the year. In this installment, she explains how to use a simple six-question survey to help teachers and students explore differences in writing routines and habits.

Book Talk: Trouble

Christy Rush-Levine previews the book Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt.

The Big Fresh June 18, 2016 What We Brew

Writing routines are the focus of this week’s Big Fresh.

Last Chance Workshop

Christy Rush-Levine breaks her routine of responding to student writing, and instead calls on students to guide and support peers. She shares some surprising results.

Conferring with Ben: Brainstorming Writing Topics and Genres

Katherine Sokolowski helps fifth grader Ben brainstorm ideas for writing, and in the process encourages him to try a new genre.

Getting to Know Writers: Introduction

Dana Murphy writes about the litmus tests we give writing teachers to analyze whether or not they are teaching the "right" way, when we might better serve students by focusing on the six truths of writing.

The Big Fresh June 11, 2016 New Tires

Creative possibilities for nonfiction is the focus of this week’s Big Fresh.

Nonfiction Research Group in Fifth Grade

Katherine Sokolowski meets with a group of fifth graders who are all researching the use of nets in fishing and the environmental effects of the process. She works to build connections among classmates as well as research skills.

Digging into Research Questions

Melanie Meehan explains how helping students deepen their questioning strategies leads to more thoughtful research projects.

The Big Fresh June 4, 2016 The Loudest Voices

Audiobooks are the focus of this week’s Big Fresh.

Making the Most of Small Groups with Jennifer Serravallo (PODCAST)

In this podcast, Jennifer Serravallo shares her “then” and “now” reflections about how guiding groups has evolved in her classroom.

Book Talk: When We Broke Up

Christy Rush-Levine piques the interest of her eighth graders in When We Broke Up by Daniel Handler.

Understanding Josh: The Audio Reader

Jennifer Schwanke tells the story of Josh, a special-needs student who is almost impossible to reach, until one committed teacher unlocks the key to what makes him tick as a learner.

Lester Laminack on Bullying (PODCAST)

In this podcast, Franki Sibberson chats with Lester Laminack about bullying. Lester is the author of beloved books for children and teachers including Saturdays and Teacakes and Unwrapping the Read Aloud.

“Reinventing Language Every Time You Write” with Ralph Fletcher (PODCAST)

Ralph Fletcher recognizes that many teachers love language and explains how to bring that love of words to young writers.

Writing Models with Kelly Gallagher (PODCAST)

In this podcast, Kelly Gallagher reminds us of the power of the person right next to writers when they are learning the craft.

Putting the “Gradual” Back into Gradual Release of Responsibility

If it’s not sudden release of responsibility or no release of responsibility, what does gradual look like? Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan bring this model to life.

New and Improved Nonfiction

Jennifer Schwanke remembers the days when mimeographed nonfiction pieces were rare and not welcome additions to elementary classrooms, and reflects on how much has changed.

#articleaday

Justin Stygles uses a daily nonfiction article activity as a way to build interest in nonfiction short texts, especially among reluctant readers in his classroom.

The Big Fresh May 28, 2016 Grin and Bear It

How to teach with Twitter is the focus of this week’s Big Fresh.

Tweets in the High School Classroom

Gretchen Schroeder finds that tweets are a terrific quick assessment tool for analyzing student understanding of everything from nonfiction texts to character development in classic literature.

Tweeting a Favorite Author

Katherine Sokolowski helps one of her fifth-grade students compose a tweet to a favorite author.

The Professional Promise of Podcasts

Suzy Kaback discovers podcasts are invaluable for building her knowledge of social justice. She provides links to many of her favorite online sources to explore.

Writing for Reflection at the End of the Year

Katherine Sokolowski reflects on ways to extend the learning from an end-of-year activity all the way to the fall.

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