Content Category: Choice Literacy
Results
Final Literacy Contracts: Student-Generated Themes
It is hard to believe we have reached the end of the school year and this series. We hope you have gotten a lot of ideas on how to use...
Capturing the Elementary Years with Photo Essays
In our district, sixth grade is the end of a significant time period as student prepare to move to middle school. Recalling major events spanning from kindergarten through sixth grade...
Endings Minilesson with Second Graders
Cathy Laker uses her own writing as a mentor text with her second-grade students to demonstrate options for endings.
The Habit of Budding
Treeflower. Embryonic shoots protect a covering of modified leaves. Scales tightly enclose their nakedness, crinkled, overlapped. Axillary, alternate, opposite, whorled— they bulge in unexpected places. Adventitious. An outgrowth...
Home and School, Fiction and Nonfiction: Eighth-Grade Conference
Katie Baydo Reed confers with an eighth-grade student, giving advice about which books are appropriate for home reading, and moving between fiction and nonfiction texts.
The Big Fresh May 10, 2014 Benny
The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom. Henry Ward Beecher When I was 16 years old my passion was playing my clarinet in the high school band, and my...
Ending Reading Workshop by Planning for September
Reading workshop is the heart and soul of our classroom community of readers. We know how important it is to set up our systems and structures right away so we...
Love the One(s) You’re With
Not long ago, I had the privilege of attending an awesome conference with a whole host of inquisitive, reflective, and energized English language arts educators. During our “down” time (we’re...
Nonfiction Graffiti Walls
I love nonfiction. I love learning about new things and broadening my horizons. But when I was a sixth grader, I was singing a different tune. I all but ignored...
Student Work Ethic: Overcoming Spring Fever
A few weeks ago I had to be out of the classroom for one day. I left my substitute—a retired art teacher who is amazing—lesson plans that involved collecting a...
Conveying Messages with Cover Art
Ruth Ayres confers with fourth grader Braden about the value of cover art in conveying ideas from his story about a road trip.
Reader Response Anchor Charts
“There’s a bunch of kids stuck there together.” October 9 This sentence, followed by a date, was a typical entry recorded by my students in their reader response journals. This...
The Data Wall Debacle
One of the things that we seem to like to do in education is take a good idea and misuse it. If picture walks work well in helping to prepare...
The Big Fresh May 3, 2014 Piled Up
When you climb to the top of the obstacle that is blocking your view, you are able to look at your situation from a different perspective. Lucy MacDonald I...
Understanding the Summer Slide: Sharing Data with Parents and Students
Without school support, many of our students stop reading. It is as if we are taking two steps forward during the school year and one step backward during the summer....
Supporting Struggling Readers: David’s Story
My 10-year-old began last Saturday morning with the words, “I wish today was Sunday so that we would be one day closer to summer break.” At my house, my kids...
Reading Interviews: Part 3
Ruth Shagoury interviews sixth graders in Katie Doherty's class about their interests and progress as readers throughout the year. In this installment, students answer these questions: How does your reading...
Writing Interviews: Part 3
Ruth Shagoury interviews sixth graders in Katie Doherty's class about their interests and progress as writers throughout the year. In this installment, students answer these questions: How have you changed...
Mental Images: Connecting Reading and Sketching
Sean Moore confers with second grader Teague, encouraging him to sketch as he reads.
Getting Ready for Summer Reading: A Lesson Cycle
I used to spend a lesson or two getting students ready for summer reading. We’d have a visit from the local librarian about their summer reading program, and we’d have...
Reading Interviews: Part 2
Ruth Shagoury interviews sixth graders in Katie Doherty's class about their interests and progress as readers throughout the year. Questions in this installment include these: What do you need to...
