Latest Content
The Cure for Senioritis? Poetry!

There may be a group of students somewhere less eager to learn than a class of high school seniors during the last weeks of school, but that group would be as tough to find as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. Gretchen Schroeder discovers a surprising cure for senioritis —modern poetry.

Conferring with Pierce

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.

The Big Fresh June 1, 2013 Trade Secrets

Student research is the focus of this week’s Big Fresh.

13 Ways to Raise Students Who Hate Research

Chris Lehman has tongue-in-cheek suggestions for helping students learn to hate the research process.

Launching a Fiction Writing Unit with Fifth Graders

Katherine Sokolowski finds late in the year is the perfect time for launching a fiction writing unit with her fifth graders.

What Can Charlie Do?: The Value of Response Journals in Preschool Classrooms

Kelly Petrin shares the power of response journals with preschoolers.

Summer Reading Round-Up (Part 2)

Here is the second installment of our round-up of summer reading choices by contributors.

The Big Fresh May 25, 2013 Kick It In

We explore summer reading resources in this week’s Big Fresh.

Summer Reading Round-Up (Part 1)

Our contributors share what's in their reading stack this summer.

Independent Reading By the Numbers Is NOT Text Complexity

How do you guide students to select books for independent summer reading? Aimee Buckner challenges teachers who are requiring middle students to pick books based solely on Lexile scores.

Football Field Writing

Katherine Sokolowski adapts an idea from Jim Burke to get her fifth graders outdoors and envisioning their growth over the summer.

Death in Books: Finding Our Way After Loss

Books can help children deal with the toughest challenges in life. In a new booklist, Andie Cunningham shares her top picks for stories about characters grappling with the death of a loved one.

First Grade Conference: Beginnings and Endings in Nonfiction

Katie DiCesare helps first grader Ava craft beginnings and endings for her nonfiction writing.

Teaching Syllable Breaks in Kindergarten

In kindergarten, table groups are a natural and informal way to help groups of students learn new skills through eavesdropping. In this short video from Mandy Robek's kindergarten class, Mandy targets the same skill of defining syllables during individual conferences at the table so that the learning is reinforced for all.

The Big Fresh May 18, 2013 When a Phone Is Not a Phone

We explore small group instruction in this week’s Big Fresh.

Grouping Struggling Students for Word Study: A Case Study

Shari Frost considers the “go-to” instructional strategy for struggling readers, word study, and explores how to make it work well in a case study of a third-grade group.

Nonfiction Reading Group in First Grade

Katie DiCesare brings together a group of her first-grade students who are reading nonfiction, helping them to expand the ways they share what they are learning with classmates.

Assessment to Grouping: Fifth-Grade Group on Character Traits

Karen Terlecky meets with two fifth graders who both share the same need identified on a recent formative assessment, inferring character traits.

Madness, the Spring Slump, and High School Readers

Are your adolescent readers present in body but not necessarily in spirit by springtime? We've featured the "book madness" bracket activity in the past for elementary students. Gretchen Schroeder finds the ranking, competition, and passionate discussion about favorite books is just what her high school students need to get their heads back in the reading game.

The Big Fresh May 11, 2013 Correcting Too Soon

Writing nonfiction is the topic of this week’s Big Fresh.

Using Shared Writing to Build Argument Skills

Shari Frost explains the power of shared writing in intermediate classrooms, especially for struggling learners.

The Big Fresh May 4, 2013 Grandmother Clause

We provide multiple perspectives on comprehension instruction in this week’s Big Fresh.

Rehearsing Informational Writing: Conferring with Jocelyn

Stella Villalba confers with first grader Jocelyn about the information text she is writing about bunnies. Jocelyn is an English language learner, and this conference demonstrates the value of oral rehearsal for young ELL writers.

Our Favorite Online Reading and Writing Tools Round-Up (Part 2)

Choice Literacy contributors share favorite online tools. This is the second installment in a two-part series.

Subheading Literacy: Nothing “Sub” About It

Heather Rader discovers subheadings are a neglected but useful tool for teaching students about key topics in their writing.

Do You Have Any Questions? Conferring with Families

We've all experienced that moment in a parent conference. You finish your spiel, which includes assessment data, charts, and an anecdote or two about the child. And when you're finished, the parent asks, "But how is my child doing?" Melissa Kolb explores the reasons why there can be a mismatch between our sense of useful information in parent conferences and a parent's expectations.

They Can Sing and Define It, But Can They Use It?

Melissa Styger rethinks the way she teaches reading strategies, emphasizing putting them to use over defining them.

Cooking Up Interest in Words with Fifth Graders

Maria Caplin continues her series on sparking vocabulary learning, this time highlighting fun activities.

Exploring Rick Riordan Books in an 8th Grade Conference

In this video from Katie Baydo-Reed’s 8th grade classroom, Katie confers a student about his favorite Rick Riordan books and his plans for future reading.

Our Favorite Online Reading and Writing Tools Round-Up (Part 1)

Choice Literacy contributors share their favorite online reading and writing tools. This is the first installment in a two-part series.

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


Membership Options

Loading...