Choice Lit Topic: Community Building
It’s one of the big paradoxes of literacy instruction – students best learn how to read and write independently when they have a strong community of support in classrooms. How teachers build those thoughtful, kind, and challenging classroom communities is explained in these resources.
Results
Fresh Starts Through Community Building
If you had been looking for me on the first day of school, you would have found me in our bilingual second-grade classroom wearing only one shoe. The classroom teacher...
Parent Book Clubs
This year, one of our district goals was to improve and increase our communications with families. We accomplished this partly by using Google Classroom and sending updates to families about...
Teaching Fifth Graders to Make Peer Recommendations
Katherine Sokolowski scaffolds Liam and Caden through the process of learning to recommend books to each other.
Getting to Know English Language Learners All Year Long
After a refreshing summer, many teachers come back to school with a notebook full of ideas about how to kick off the school year. Our plans and notebooks include a...
Girls’ Book Share in Fifth Grade
Katherine Sokolowski demonstrates how she helps a group of girls in her fifth-grade classroom learn to help each other select books based on previous experiences and tastes.
Daily Reflection Rubric
“I come to school every day and try to be a good student. I just don’t get why my grades are so bad,” Kaydin complained when he received his first...
Visual Expectations in the Classroom
Turn left here. Now take a slight right. As adults, we listen to commands such as these while navigating new territories. Relying on our GPS, we not only listen to...
Building a Reflective Community
“So what you’re saying is that this chart isn’t about being right or wrong. It’s about figuring things out,” Tom said, eyeing our newest comprehension chart that I had unveiled...
Lunchtime Author Discussion Groups
Sophia stands in front of me, panic-stricken. “I need Sisters and it’s not in the bin!” She is holding Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novel Drama in both hands. Sisters is another...
Fourth-Grade Lunch Fan Club
Gigi McAllister hosts a lunchtime fan club of children who enjoy the work of Kazu Kibuishi, author of the Amulet series. Participation in the group is voluntary.
Sharing and Celebrating Summer Reading
We know that summer reading is essential to help prevent summer slippage, and we support students and their families at the end of the year in making summer reading plans...
#bookaday in Middle School: Nuts and Bolts
The basic concept of #bookaday at any age is to read one book per day, keep a list of titles, and share often. I decided to try #bookaday in my...
Building Community with a Shared Text
While I was teaching a children’s literature course for future educators at a local college, my adult students were assigned to read a middle grade book, Sunny Side Up by...
#bookaday in Middle School
One of the best teaching decisions I have made was having a #bookaday picture book read-aloud goal with my seventh- and eighth-grade classes this past school year. You may be...
Building Community and Family Connections
We’re sure you’d agree that setting up positive relationships with your students and their families at the beginning of the year is a crucial part of having a successful year....
Monday Headlines
A few years into our teaching career, we came across the idea of using time on Monday mornings to have our students tell stories from their weekend. The idea was...
Reading Ambassadors
This year I decided to try something new. I thought there was a need for students to hear their peers talk about reading. I had noticed that students would read...
Building Excitement for Book Awards
I get excited about the American Library Association announcement of book awards at the end of January. I love to read through blogs and websites to find out which books...
Hosting Reading and Writing Events
“Is it true that we get a copy of the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book next year?” an incoming fourth grader askd on step-up day. He was referring...
Supporting Introverts in Fifth Grade
I was the quiet child in your classroom. I liked to sit in the back, ideally behind a tall classmate, and didn’t speak unless it was required. Because of this,...
Starting the Day with Literacy
The halls have cleared and I’ve said goodbye to my last former student who stopped in for a visit on his way to his class. I walk into my classroom...
