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Fairy Tales for Middle Grade Readers (BOOKLIST)
Fantasy is becoming quite a popular genre with middle grade and middle school readers. Even though I am not a huge reader of fantasy, I am a fan of fairy...
Models, Coaches, Shepherds, or Rock Stars? Our Reading Roles in the First Few Weeks of School
I was inspired by Katie DiCesare's article, "Supporting Readers During Workshops: The First Few Weeks." Katie discusses young readers and the varied levels of confidence and experiences primary students initially bring to...
A Tornado of Books
Each year, for the last ten years or so, a "tornado of books" has hit my room sometime in the first two weeks of school. It is pure craziness; books...
Why and Watch Me: Making the Abstract Concrete for Readers
Recently Tammy visited New Mexico and had the opportunity to hike the Petroglyph National Monument. It was amazing to see that even thousands of years ago literacy was alive and...
Books to Get Us Ready for Summer Vacation
When spring finally arrives, I am always excited to find books that make the transition to summer seem so much quicker for my students and me. This year, I have...
Aligning Curriculum with Struggling Readers in Mind
Years ago in a workshop, Shelley Harwayne asked us to think about how many books our struggling readers were reading on any given day. When you think about struggling readers,...
On Not Fretting
This morning, I was fretting. Cleaning my desk, I misplaced writing I was going to share with colleagues after school. The day ahead already began to seem scattered and rushed,...
Talking with Parents about Text Difficulty
Parents want what is best for their children, but often lack understanding of the importance of matching texts to readers. Teachers come to us seeking advice about how to help...
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Recommending Yourself
The significance of a man is not in what he attains but in what he longs to attain. —Kahlil Gibran When I taught fifth grade, I used writing workshop time...
Going from the Known to the Unknown: Vacation Reflections on Fluency
From the minute we got on the plane and the flight attendants played the safety video with Spanish subtitles it all started coming back to me -- the two years...
Back to the Classroom
The evening before the last literacy coaching network meeting of the year, I opened my email and found a message from Lydia. She said that she was thinking about skipping...
Knitting, Independence, and Small Group Routines for Intermediate Readers
A few years ago, my teenage daughter mentioned that she would like to learn to knit. I told her that I could teach her and that we should start with...
Build Fluency with Books That Are Fun for Kids to Read Aloud Over and Over and Over Again
Fluency has been such a hot topic lately. Our students are tested and timed on passages to check their reading progress. There is so much to fluency, but it has...
Selecting Texts for Strategy Teaching with English Language Learners in Mind
Over the past several months we have spent time thinking and teaching with a group of educators whose students are predominantly English language learners (ELLs). During our visits to their...
Literacy Coach Confidential: My Colleague Talks Too Much!
I lead professional development workshops and study groups at my school, and we have a new faculty member who is such a talker -- she's pleasant and bright, but so...
Reflections on Our Year of Read Alouds (BOOKLIST)
Read aloud is a key time in reading workshop with my grades 3 and 4 students. We all sit in a circle on the floor, coming together as a community...
Lessons from My Summer Vacation
The first few days of my very first summer vacation had progressed fairly uneventfully, when I found myself having a minor panic attack while gripping a vacuum cleaner. The spark...
How Can School and Classroom Libraries Support Struggling Readers?
In her article Room for Beliefs, Debbie Miller says, "Step outside your classroom door and look back in, as if for the first time. What do you see? Do you want...
What Reading is Like: Sports Analogies to Use with Parents
Parent conferences are just around the corner in many schools, and families are eager to learn about their child's growth and needs as readers. We often use sports analogies to...
A Reason to Learn
This fall my son Ben ran on the cross country team. As I walked in the door after work recently, Ben shared that he had come in 9th place overall....
Conversation Turns: Recordkeeping and Analysis Tool
One of the best ways I've found to deal with colleagues or students who talk too much during group discussions is to give them a task. I've found keeping a...
