I’ve always loved the first day of school better than the last day of school. Firsts are best because they are beginnings.
―Jenny Han
Inspiring Ideas to Start the School Year
Whether your summer is just starting, in full swing, or wrapping up, it’s likely you are thinking about the next school year. For the first time in almost 20 years, I’m the only one in my home who is heading back to school in a couple of weeks. I’m sure it’s not a coincidence that I also have more brain space to think than I did when we had a house full of kids preparing for the new school year.
This newsletter is for you—no matter your season of life. If things are busy around your home, you’ll love this issue because it highlights some key topics to consider as you start the school year. And if you have the luxury of brain space, you’ll appreciate how each article will help you as a thought partner…not giving a canned approach, but helping to guide your thoughts and inspire your imagination.
Our Leaders Lounge is full of ideas to guide the curriculum adoption process. The articles help simplify the process of determining if core curriculum will align with your beliefs about teaching students.
This week we look at ideas to start the new school year—plus more, as always.
Shine on,
Ruth Ayres
Editor in Chief
Carl Anderson and Matt Glover help us think through whether we should use AI to generate mentor texts to use in our classrooms.
Gretchen Schroeder winnows many competing demands at the start of the year down to five clear objectives in her high school classroom.
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills start with the poem “Where I’m From” to build community through literacy at the start of the year.
Do you wish you had more time to share new books with your students? We know you don’t need fluff or pretty activities. Instead we get to the heart of what you need to thoughtfully share new books in your classroom.
NEW! Our book guides are created and vetted by in-the-field educators. They hold true to the tenets of giving students choice and voice in their reading lives, while empowering a teacher to expand the representation of books shared with students. Click here to see all of our new book guides.
How To, written and illustrated by Julie Morstad, is a collection of invitations to do a variety of things that, when paired with the illustrations, offer a unique perspective on some otherwise ordinary actions.
New members-only content is added each week to the Choice Literacy website. If you’re not yet a member, click here to explore membership options.
In this era of pressure to perform, Vivian Chen suggests slowing down as an act of intentionality, equity, and meeting the needs of all learners.
Heather Fisher revisits a whole-school vocabulary routine that she set in motion. In this update, she shares the ways she adjusted to work together as a team rather than fly solo. This might be just the school-wide vocabulary routine you’ve been craving.
In this video, Bitsy Parks gives direction in beginning a community circle with primary learners.
Choice Numeracy | Jodie Bailey shares practical ways to nourish students’ thinking routines in her math classroom. She is inspired by Peter Liljedahl’s book Building Thinking Classrooms.
New members-only content is added each week to the Choice Literacy website. If you’re not yet a member, click here to explore membership options.
Stella Villalba encourages us to reflect on our core beliefs about teaching. She offers a list of reflection questions to encourage brave and meaningful consideration.
Jennifer Schwanke shares questions for beginning a reflective analysis of your strengths and needs in literacy.
Matt Renwick uses five questions to lead a team through reviewing a literacy curriculum resource. Download the checklist to use during your own review process.
Quote It:
Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world.
—Malala Yousafzai
That’s all for this week!
