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
The Books We Can’t Live Without in Our Teaching: Resource Round-Up
Literacy experts share their well-loved and well-worn children's and professional books.
Becoming More Purposeful with Writing Share
In this whole-class writing-share session from Katie DiCesare’s first-grade classroom, Katie talks about how she has become more purposeful in connecting student drafts with the minilesson from the start of the writing workshop.
Demonstration Lesson: Inferring Character Traits
In this demonstration lesson from a 5th grade classroom, Clare Landrigan leads students through a reading and discussion of inference and character development.
Linking Math and Writing Through Word Problems
In this six-minute video, Franki Sibberson demonstrates how she helps her 3rd and 4th grade students make connections between writing workshop and math problem solving.
Picking a Partner: Demonstration Lesson and Debrief
In this demonstration lesson from a K-2 classroom, Joan Moser leads students through guided practice in picking a partner.
Picture Reading in First Grade
In this read-aloud lesson from Katie DiCesare's first-grade classroom, Katie demonstrates the importance of picture reading using the wordless picture book The Zoo by Suzy Lee.
From Questions to Drafts
Aimee Buckner shares the mentor text Could You? Would You? with her 4th grade students. Aimee explains how questions are a springboard to interesting writing topics, and models connections she makes to the text.
Writing Comics: Introducing the Activity
In this lesson from a fourth-grade classroom, Sarah Thibault introduces students to a writing activity. Students will be creating their own comic books, after extensive preparation and experience with mentor texts.
Helping Students Set Nonfiction Reading Goals
Franki Sibberson finds nonfiction reading goals elevate the value of nonfiction in her grades 3-4 classroom.
Book Choice and Planning Lesson
Franki Sibberson teaches her students about book choice in this video from her grades 3-4 classroom.
Inferring Read Aloud Part I
Katie Doherty demonstrates how she uses picture books to teach inferring strategies to her sixth graders in this video series. Part I is a presentation of the book to students.
5th Grade Sentence Observation
Karen Terlecky explains the sentence observation routine in her 5th grade classroom, and provides a video example of students in action analyzing sentences.
Old Elm Speaks: Connecting Poetry, Observation, and Reading
In this first installment of a three-part video series, Aimee Buckner shows how observation skills, poetry, and reading instruction come together with the mentor text Old Elm Speaks by Kristin O’Connell George.
Old Elm Speaks Day 2: Connecting Poetry, Observation, and Reading
In this second installment of a three-part video series, Aimee Buckner shows how observation skills, poetry, and reading instruction come together with the mentor text Old Elm Speaks by Kristin O'Connell George.
Main Ideas in Nonfiction
In this whole-class lesson, 5th grade teacher Karen Terlecky and her students consider how main ideas work in nonfiction texts.
Supporting Thoughtful Book Choice
In this video filmed in the spring, Franki Sibberson helps her 3rd and 4th grade students think through what books they might select for independent reading.
Teaching Rereading During Class Read Alouds
Aimee Buckner teaches her fourth graders the power of rereading using the mentor text Goblins in the Castle by Bruce Coville.
Teaching Rereading Strategies Through Read Aloud Day 2
Aimee Buckner uses rereading as a strategy to deepen student understanding during read alouds.
Narrative Nonfiction in Fifth Grade, Part 1
In this lesson from a fifth-grade classroom, Aimee Buckner guides students in a notetaking process to help them understand the qualities of nonfiction narrative writing.
Crafting Characters in Writer’s Workshop
If you are looking for a “peppery” heroine, Mary from The Secret Garden is one for the ages. In this video of a lesson in writer’s workshop, Franki Sibberson shows how shared text can be used to help young writers understand character traits and development.
Rule of 3: Writer’s Craft Whole-Class Lesson
Aimee Buckner teaches her fourth-grade students about the “Rule of 3” in writing.
Creating Anchor Charts with Sticky Note Responses from Young Readers
Over-sized sticky notes are a great learning tool for kindergartners. In this video, Andie Cunningham demonstrates how she uses them with her students.
Word Choice Lesson: A Collaborative Coaching Session with a New Teacher
Jennifer Allen collaborates with a new teacher, Jessica, early in the fall to teach a lesson in Jessica’s 4th grade classroom.
Fonts Lesson: A Revision Strategy for Transitional Writers
Franki Sibberson teaches a minilesson on fonts as a revision strategy for her grades 3 and 4 students.
Revision Tools: Providing Options to Students
From old favorites like highlighters to new resources like kangaroo bags, this whole-class session with Franki Sibberson's grades 3-4 students highlights cool tools that will inspire learners to dive in and test out different revision strategies in writer's workshop.
Whole-Class Vocabulary Lesson, Grades K-2
In this five-minute video, Joan Moser of “The Sisters” teaches a whole-class vocabulary lesson. The focus is on helping students notice interesting words, and make connections between daily read-alouds and word learning.
Spacing Words: A Minilesson with Young Writers
In this two-minute video, Andie Cunningham reinforces the concept of spacing words with her kindergartners using her own writing and a brainstorming web.
Mentor Texts and Teacher Modeling: The Listing Strategy
In this video from her fourth-grade classroom, Aimee Buckner teaches the “listing” strategy, using the book This Is the Tree: A Story of the Baobab as a mentor text. Aimee talks about mentor texts, using her own writing as a model, and the needs of intermediate readers and writers during the lesson and interview.
as a mentor text. Aimee talks about mentor texts, using her own writing as a model, and the needs of intermediate readers and writers during the lesson and interview.
Finding Topics in Writer’s Notebooks Minilesson
Sean Moore shares the importance of using a writer’s notebook to discover topics in this minilesson with his second-grade students from early in the year.
Teaching Rereading During Class Read Alouds
Aimee Buckner teaches her 4th graders the power of rereading using the mentor text Goblins in the Castle by Bruce Coville.
Browse Content By
Type
Category
- Assessment Tools
- Big Fresh Archives
- Booklists
- Choice Numeracy
- Classroom Design
- Common Core
- Community Building
- Conferring
- Content Literacy
- Digital Literacy
- English Language Learners
- Equity
- Family Relations
- Free Samples
- Guiding Groups
- Leadership
- Literacy Coaches
- Mentor Texts
- Minilessons
- New Teacher Mentors
- Podcasts
- Poetry
- Quote Collections
- Reading Strategies
- Self Care
- Struggling and Striving Learners
- Talking and Listening
- Teacher Study Groups
- Teaching Reading
- Teaching Writing
- Word Study and Vocabulary
Author
- Melissa Quimby
- Nawal Qarooni
- Gwen Blumberg
- Julie Cox
- The Lead Learners
- Ruth Metcalfe
- Mallory Messenger
- Becca Burk
- Jodie Bailey
- Vivian Chen
- Mary Brower
- Stephanie Affinito
- Ruth Ayres
- Leigh Anne Eck
- Heather Fisher
- Shari Frost
- Julie Johnson
- Suzy Kaback
- Clare Landrigan
- Gigi McAllister
- Shirl McPhillips
- Melanie Meehan
- Cathy Mere
- Debbie Miller
- Tara Barnett and Kate Mills
- Tammy Mulligan
- Dana Murphy
- Bitsy Parks
- David Pittman
- Brenda Power
- Heather Rader
- Matt Renwick
- Mandy Robek
- Christy Rush-Levine
- Gretchen Schroeder
- Jen Schwanke
- Brian Sepe
- Katherine Sokolowski
- Stella Villalba
- Jennifer Vincent
Grade Level
Choice Literacy Membership
Articles
Get full access to all Choice Literacy article content
Videos
Get full access to all Choice Literacy video content
Courses
Access Choice Literacy course curriculum and training
