Content Category: Choice Literacy
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Digital Boards for Formative Assessment
Formative assessment drives instruction. Without it, we would have no idea what to teach to whom we are teaching. However, with grades and standardized tests bombarding our classrooms, I find...
The Big Fresh August 16, 2014 Hot
Do what we can, summer will have its flies. Ralph Waldo Emerson Earlier this summer I was fortunate to participate in a writing institute. What could be better for...
Books for Brain Breaks
The bathroom. I couldn’t believe we were talking about the bathroom during my teacher evaluation last year. I thought I had a great plan for using the bathroom. My kindergarten...
Quick Transitions in Second Grade
This video is less than one minute long, highlighting two different quick kinesthetic moves Sean Moore uses with his second-grade learners to help them refocus and move between instruction segments....
Community Board: Invitations to Independence
Our Community Area is a large space where we gather for meetings, lessons, and read-alouds. It gives students an unobstructed view of the Smartboard for shared texts and e-books; the...
Independence in Writing Workshop
Beth Lawson uses writing workshop chores and simple transition strategies to help her students work independently. After the minilesson, Beth gives peer-editing assignments to students from drafting to proofing, so...
The Big Fresh August 9, 2014 Home
I would really rather feel bad in Maine than feel good anywhere else. E.B. White Last January I visited Keri Archer's kindergarten classroom in the teeth of flu season....
Helping Allison Redesign Her Classroom Nonfiction Library
Visiting other teachers’ classrooms during my 28 years of teaching has provided a privileged way to see how classroom design, especially the classroom library’s design, affects children's learning lives. I...
A Classroom for Elementary English Language Learners
Stella Villalba gives a tour of the classroom library and publishing corner in her grades 1-5 classroom for English language learners.
A Strong Foundation: Books and Media for Launching Literacy Workshops
Beginnings are important, whether it is building a new relationship, building a home, or starting a new school year. Lucy Calkins talks about building invisible structures so that the deeper,...
Effective Organization
I’ve come to believe you can only be as effective as you are organized. I first learned this truth as an artist, when I set up my studio. (Studio is...
Getting to Know You: Brown Bag Objects
Getting to know you, Getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, Getting to hope you like me. “Getting to Know You” from The King and I is...
The Big Fresh August 2, 2014 Night Magic
A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in. Robert Orben We are on vacation. We're spending our days building sand castles, taking epic...
The Case Against Management Systems
Recently I spoke at a local university to a group of student teachers, just as I do every spring. When I asked their supervisor what topics they needed me to...
Curriculum Night? No Sweat
It is curriculum night, and I am sweating. Not the subtle, sheeny glow the beautiful people have after running a 5K, but large raindrop-size plops of sweat rolling down my...
Room Tour: Mandy Robek’s Kindergarten Classroom
Mandy Robek shares her kindergarten classroom design, with an emphasis on literacy and collaboration. Mandy is a teacher in Powell, Ohio, which does not have a full-day kindergarten program. She...
Shoebox Autobiographies
An important part of building a sense of community in any classroom is taking time to get to know each other as individuals. Whether you are teaching kindergartners or adult...
The Big Fresh July 26, 2014 Beautiful Questions
always the more beautiful answer, who asks a more beautiful question . . . e. e. cummings I picked the theme of "renewal" for a series of writing retreats this...
Effective Student Writing Groups
Writing workshop is designed around giving students authentic writing experiences. A crucial part of my writing life is feedback. Recently I’ve noticed that I receive feedback from a variety of...
Revising Writing: Fourth-Grade Conference
Tony Keefer confers with Sydney about revising her piece.
Giving Audio Feedback to Student Writing
As a writing teacher, I have always struggled with giving students timely and meaningful feedback. I’d pore over my students' writing and spend hours, pen in hand, writing comments in...
