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Kindergarten Moments Count: Morning Message
The morning message is an activity I use to introduce and reinforce several different skills in my kindergarten classroom. It is also a process that evolves as the year progresses....
Before and After Pictures: Documenting Progress
“Aww….,” groaned Nina’s third graders. She had just given the signal to end literature circle discussions. I completely understand why the third graders were so reluctant to stop. I had...
Odd Habits
Here at Choice Literacy, we’ve got habits on our mind. Ever since we read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg at a writing retreat, we’ve been thinking about how...
Personal Listening Devices in Workshops
Is there a miraculous way to foster more student focus and concentration? Personal listening devices might be not be a miracle in my classroom, but they have certainly changed the...
The Information Board: Celebrating Nonfiction Every Day
An anchor display in our room is our Information Board, a place to highlight nonfiction resources and our learning. This display has two purposes: Half of the display shares nonfiction...
Systems Thinking and Educational Change
Making decisions can be challenging, and making good decisions that are systemic can be even trickier! Over the past several years I have worked to better understand Systems Thinking as...
Picture It: Celebrate!
There are many times throughout the year when it is important to take a moment to celebrate all the wonderful things happening in our school community. As a principal, I...
Third-Grade Demonstration Lesson: Multisyllabic Words
In this small-group demonstration lesson, Tammy Mulligan helps third graders decipher multisyllabic words. The video includes a prebrief and debrief with the classroom teacher.
Guess Who’s Coming? Planning an Author Visit
I was following a trail of students to the cafeteria. A smile formed when I noticed heads turning to glance at a countdown calendar. Excitement had been building day by...
Teacher Evaluation: A New Role for Coaches
To make dreams apparent to others and to align people with them requires not just more explanations or clarification, but the creation of meaning. Warren Bennis Like many districts...
Pushing the Pause Button for Reflection: Literacy Chats
Days at school are busy and filled with nonstop commitment to our students. Rarely are teachers given the opportunity to pause and reflect on learning and teaching. Equally challenging is...
Rubrics and Muggles: Common Frameworks and Instructional Coaching
My son is obsessed with Harry Potter. It started with an introduction by his older cousins to the first movie and has snowballed from there. He has taken to putting...
Habits That Maximize Time
This is the key to time management—to see the value of every moment. Menachem Mendel Schneerson How often are we reminded of the value of ONE minute? When I’m...
A Booklist for Memorial Day
This year, Memorial Day will be celebrated on Monday, May 26. Many local communities have parades and lay wreaths at monuments to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Volunteers...
Nonfiction Book Blitz
The end of school is nearing, and my sixth graders are thinking of new opportunities awaiting them in a new school next year. Baseball and softball take priority on crisp...
Final Literacy Contracts: Student-Generated Themes
It is hard to believe we have reached the end of the school year and this series. We hope you have gotten a lot of ideas on how to use...
Capturing the Elementary Years with Photo Essays
In our district, sixth grade is the end of a significant time period as student prepare to move to middle school. Recalling major events spanning from kindergarten through sixth grade...
A Case of the Perennial Annuals
There is a flower Within my heart, Daisy, Daisy! Planted one day By a glancing dart, Planted by Daisy Bell! From "Daisy Bell" ("A Bicycle Built for Two") written by...
The Habit of Budding
Treeflower. Embryonic shoots protect a covering of modified leaves. Scales tightly enclose their nakedness, crinkled, overlapped. Axillary, alternate, opposite, whorled— they bulge in unexpected places. Adventitious. An outgrowth...
Ending Reading Workshop by Planning for September
Reading workshop is the heart and soul of our classroom community of readers. We know how important it is to set up our systems and structures right away so we...
Love the One(s) You’re With
Not long ago, I had the privilege of attending an awesome conference with a whole host of inquisitive, reflective, and energized English language arts educators. During our “down” time (we’re...
