Content Category: Choice Literacy
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The Big Fresh January 4, 2014 Honor the Time
Goals are dreams with deadlines. Diana Scharf Hunt Last month I visited a school in Massachusetts to film lesson study sessions with first- and third-grade teaching teams. One phrase...
Penguins Are Amazing!: Informational Writing Comes Alive in Kindergarten
Gathered at the carpet one rainy February day, I said to my kindergartners, “We are going to begin researching penguins today. Do you know what it means to do research?’...
Common Core Research Shifts
As expository writing becomes more integrated in Common Core, many changes are occurring in my classroom as I redefine student research. There are four shifts that I am making with...
Whole Class Research Planning in 4th Grade
Andrea Smith's students brainstorm how to proceed with their owl habitat research project.
Act II: Understanding Hamlet Through Close Reading (Shakespeare and the Common Core Series)
I love to start out the study of Hamlet with these instructions for my students: "Number your paper from 1-4. In this order, write down your name, your mother's name,...
Streamlining Research Check-ins
For an obsessive person, I’m oddly disorganized. It’s strange: I am meticulous about list making, obnoxious about planning ahead, and consumed with noting everything on my calendar (I break into...
Keep Going
If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges. —Pat...
Tracking Characters: A Conferring Tip
Aimee Buckner teaches a fourth grader a strategy for using a sticky note to keep track of characters when there are multiple narrators in a novel.
Rereading for Writing: Conferring with Jack
Katie DiCesare confers with Jack, using rereading to help him rethink the title of his book and possibilities for revision.
Act I: Delving into Deep Questions with Macbeth (Shakespeare and the Common Core Series)
The Common Core State Standards describe students who are “college and career ready” as exhibiting the following qualities: demonstrating independence building strong content knowledge responding to the varying demands of...
The Big Fresh December 21, 2013 Learning to Love Nonfiction
Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind. James Russell Lowell Watching my son and his father before bed every night, I have...
A Closer Look at Engagement
Yesterday I sat with a small group of first graders during reader’s workshop discussing characters in a book we were reading. I took a second to glance up and around...
Rethinking Nonfiction Topic-Based Text Sets
When I think about text sets, I consider the ways we collect books as teachers to help build background knowledge and understanding around a topic. With text complexity being highlighted...
Inside and Outside Views: Conferring with Rebecca
Ruth Ayres confers with first grader Rebecca about perspective and illustrations in her writing.
Journeys and Quests: January Literacy Contracts
January is the month of new beginnings, resolutions, and transformations. We love the month of January in the school year because we’ve got long stretches of teaching time. There is...
The Big Fresh December 14, 2013 If the Shoe Fits
Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world. Marilyn Monroe For years, I never understood the love some of my friends have for Zappos, an...
Tell Me More
I’ll tell anyone who listens that the women who care for my own children are brilliant. Every afternoon, when I slip my shoes off, wash my hands, and step carefully...
Rethinking Nonfiction Series Books
Series books have always been an anchor for my readers in grades 3-6. When it comes to fiction, once my students are hooked on a series, they are often set...
Modeling Annotation in 8th Grade
Katie Baydo-Reed models how to annotate text for her eighth graders.
Middle School Design: Reading Gutters
Elementary school classrooms are so different from middle school classrooms -- especially the libraries. Elementary teachers have baskets of books with a variety of labels or categories. The covers face...
The Big Fresh December 7, 2013 Come On, Man
Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone, but primarily by catchwords. ...
