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Integrating the Bookroom into Professional Development Sessions
Bookrooms are filled with many learning opportunities, and by browsing the books in focused ways we can build our understanding of text complexity, increase our knowledge of matching books to...
Back to Basics: Routines in Writing Workshops
As a mother of four, I’ve learned to have a few non-negotiables when it comes to our bedtime routine. In a nutshell, the non-negotiables in our house are brushing teeth,...
Systems for Keeping the Bookroom Organized and Manageable
A place for everything and everything in its place. Ben Franklin We know Ben Franklin wasn’t referring to bookrooms when he said these words, but we think his wisdom...
Perfect Frosting and Workshop Routines
The grandkids were coming over for a Sunday meal. The meal would not be complete unless it ended with something chocolate. I wanted to keep the meal simple and child-pleasing...
My New and Improved Writing Toolkit
Over the last couple of years, I have been developing a toolkit that I can take along with me when I am working in classrooms with teachers. One of the...
Read Alouds as “Third Things”
Many things are unpredictable each day in our classroom, but one thing my students can count on is that they will be read to every single day. I read aloud...
Bring Back Read Aloud
Recently, I met with a group of middle school students, hoping to get some input to help me plan a professional-development class for teachers. When I first met them, I...
Strategies for Using Reader’s Notebooks
I love read alouds, modeling ways to write about reading, and having conversations with students about books. I am an avid reader of children’s books and thrive on spreading the...
Creating a Classroom Environment That Supports Community Building and Independence
I absolutely love setting up classrooms and get excited every summer when I get the chance to change parts, rearrange, add, and/or delete. I want to create a classroom environment...
More Than Dr. Seuss Hats: Why Events Matter
I am not usually a fan of reading activities and events. I do not enjoy the days when everyone in the school wears a Dr. Seuss hat, and I do...
The Beginnings of a Middle School Literacy Community
I already missed last year’s students as I led my first-hour class from the gymnasium to my classroom on the first day of school. I was nervous about facing a...
Potato the Crow: Blurring the Lines Between Reality, Fantasy, and Play with Young Learners
One fall day as I strolled through the aisles of the dollar store looking for classroom curriculum, I came across an artificial crow. It was realistic looking, with feathers over...
What Matters Most: Building Relationships
When I began my job as a literacy coach, I had a steep learning curve ahead of me. I was eager to learn, so I bought several books about coaching...
Working Together to Expand the Bookroom
The process by which decisions are made is even more important than the actual decisions. We've never found a source for this quote, but it has helped us countless times...
Organizing Mentor Texts
If you are a coach like me, you have several hundred picture books and other mentor texts you use as coaching tools throughout the school year. Over the years, I've...
Curating a Classroom Library
If you had told me 15 years ago when I began teaching that I would get rid of at least 200 books in my classroom library each year, I would...
Revising Bookrooms to Support Engagement and Instruction
When we think about the school bookroom, the first word that comes to mind is options. Bookrooms can include texts for all aspects of reading and writing workshop so we as...
Classroom Environment: Classroom Libraries
Anyone who knows me can tell you that one of my greatest passions is children's books. I thrive on finding, buying, reading, and sharing children's books. When a colleague or...
Shaking Off the Village
Shaking Off the Village (after Wanderlust) Today, I walk—cloud-gaze, woolgather, meander—because it is slow. I take leave of my senses, do nothing in particular, with nobody, all alone....
Math, Literacy, and RTI
For several years, I’ve been lucky enough to work with the brilliant Amy Simmons, an instructional support teacher and “administrative intern” (a fancy name to describe an assistant principal). Part...
Assessment and Response to Intervention
Lisa is a third grader who has been in intervention for two years. She was placed in intervention based on the results of a universal screener. This screener determined her...
