Choice Lit Topic: Minilessons
Keeping it short, relevant, and meaningful is the challenge when it comes to designing lessons. Here is where you’ll find practical advice and dozens of video examples of master teachers in action.
Results
Setting the Stage for Historical Fiction
In this demonstration lesson from a fifth-grade classroom, Aimee Buckner works with students to construct an anchor chart for understanding the genre of historical fiction.
Book Matchmaker: Teaching Theme in the Intermediate Grades
Cathy teaches fourth grade and is looking for books to teach theme. Many of us find it challenging to find books for teaching this complex idea to children. I've...
Previewing Nonfiction
Most of my own nonfiction reading is connected to my life as a teacher. My professional reading of books and magazines about literacy education takes up much of my nonfiction...
Grades K-2 Fluency Lesson
In this video from a K-2 multiage classroom, Joan Moser and Gail Boushey ("The Sisters") present a fluency lesson to the whole class.
On Their Own (Almost): Coaching and Classroom Demonstrations Mid-Year
In this video filmed in mid-January, Jennifer Allen observes new teacher Jessica, and explains how she struggles to redefine her role in the classroom.
Lifting the Quality of Student Reading Letters with Quotes
If you're looking for a way to perk up student reading journals, try a lesson on adding quotes. Katie Doherty demonstrates for her middle school students how quotes can lift...
More Productive Writing Share Sessions in First Grade
In this video from a first-grade classroom, Katie DiCesare demonstrates how she has made writing share time more productive by linking student work to recent lessons.
6th Grade Word Sort
In this six-minute video, Pam Pogson leads an open word sort with her 6th grade students. As you watch the video, you can see how experienced students are with word...
The Sponge Summary Lesson Part 2
This is a companion video series to Heather Rader's article "A Sponge is a Summary." In this sequence of videos, Heather teaches a fourth-grade class, using the analogy of a...
Graphic Organizer for Mystery Writing
Beth Lawson talks with her 4th graders about the elements of a good mystery, and shares a graphic organizer to help them develop realistic characters and themes.
Putting the “Mini” Back in Minilessons
Recently I watched a very engaging lesson. The teacher started the lesson by reading aloud a short story about a trip to the beach. Then she projected some photos on...
A Closer Look at Anchor Charts
Peeking into classrooms at the very beginning of this new school year, I was surprised to see that many teachers already had lots of anchor charts (and completed word walls,...
Linking Morning Message, Poetry, and Word Learning
Second-grade teacher Linda Karamatic has been starting her morning with a message for years. The morning message is just one part of her daily opening that reinforces community. It also...
Digging Deeper with Rereading
In this video from Katie DiCesare's first-grade classroom, Katie uses the strategy of rereading to help students look more closely at words—in this case, words that rhyme.
“The Wrath of Guess Jeans”: Reading, Writing, and Cliques in Middle School
In this first video in a three-part series, Katie Doherty leads her 6th graders through a response activity. The text they are reading was written by a middle school student...
Injecting Writing into . . . Everything: Ellipsis Stories
I took my husband to see Mamma Mia on our umpteenth anniversary. No, he didn't want to go, but I promised him if he wasn't having fun in twenty minutes, we could...
Revising Titles Minilesson
In this minilesson from Franki Sibberson's grades 3 and 4 classroom, Franki takes students through the process of selecting and revising titles. She uses the poem "Confessions of a Reader"...
Seedfolks: Connecting Community and Literature
I had my first anxiety dream about school starting last night. It was the first day of school, and I was late. Not just 5 or 10 minutes late. I...
Injecting Writing into Everything: Cover-up Stories
When you read the word cover-up, what comes to mind? Roswell, New Mexico and U.F.O.s? A political scandal? Misappropriated funds? I'm using the term "cover-up" as literally concealing the illustrations...
Purposeful First Grade Reading Share Sessions
Katie DiCesare prompts her 1st grade students during the reading share time at the end of workshop to make connections between the strategies they use during independent reading time and...
Using Comics in Literacy Workshops
Franki Sibberson works with her 3rd and 4th graders to use comics in the literacy workshop.
