Content Category: Choice Literacy
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The Art of the Book Talk
Book talks are a big part of our classroom and a critical part of our independent reading program. It is through book talks that I have created a frenzy over...
The Big Fresh October 5, 2013 No Boundaries
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. Aristotle A couple of months ago I was hosting a large family party. My sister Mary and I were in...
The Big Fresh September 28, 2013 Teaching the Genes
At the deepest level, all living things that have ever been looked at have the same DNA code. And many of the same genes. Richard Dawkins My twelve-year-old daughter,...
Creating Your Own Kindergarten Assessment
A dear friend’s kindergarten age son told me about his tearful bumpy bus ride to school. He confided, “I cry each day. The first day was okay, but I really...
Teaching the Genes
My twelve-year-old daughter, Lindsay, recently started using Pandora, a free Internet radio service, billed as “the Music Genome Project”, that allows listeners to customize playlists of songs by artist, song,...
Why Write?
I went through a period of time when I didn’t want to write. For more than five years, I’d established and maintained a daily writing habit. Then I found myself...
Abandoning Books Discussion
Franki Sibberson meets with a group of her fourth-grade students who often abandon books during independent reading. The previous day the group had brainstormed reasons why they abandoned books on...
October Literacy Contracts: Fear and Conflict
October is a wonderful month for teaching and learning, with relatively few interruptions compared to other months on the calendar. By this point in the year, we’ve established routines, relationships...
The Big Fresh September 21, 2013 Say Yes
Positive anything is better than negative nothing. Elbert Hubbard Literacy means different things to different kids. For some, it's a respite from difficult things. It's a chance to flip...
Whole-Class Research Planning
Andrea Smith leads her fourth graders through brainstorming for their owl research project.
“We Gather Together”: On Research and Weddings
There are many similarities between committing to a research project and committing to a spouse. As I worked with a team of seventh-grade teachers at Wawasee Middle School to create...
Limiting and Extending Choice in Student Research Projects
Have you read enough research projects on bears, baseball, and badminton? Over the past several years, I have learned unlimited choice in research projects does not always make students’ writing...
Chris Lehman on Student Research (PODCAST)
Franki Sibberson chats with Chris Lehman (author of Energize Research Reading and Writing) about how the Common Core is changing the ways teachers approach student research in their classrooms. You...
The Big Fresh September 14, 2013 The Spotlight
The question for the child is not "Do I want to be good?" but "Whom do I want to be like?" Bruno Bettelheim Recently I viewed a video clip...
Writing Leads Minilesson
Karen Terlecky uses mentor texts and an analogy to help students analyze leads in this minilesson from her fifth-grade classroom.
Keeping Kids Safe on the Internet
Keeping our kids safe is always foremost on our minds. When children are little, we teach them how to cross the street by looking both ways. We teach them not...
Finding the “Ex” Factor in Explanatory Writing
Explanatory writing isn’t as simple to define as it sounds. Recently there has been an explosion of conversation about explanatory writing and the way it feeds argument writing. Explanatory writing...
Kidwatching and Connections in the Early Days
Sitting down beside Daniel, I notice he has a large collection of picture books surrounding him. He has collected several books from our author stand and is comfortably seated on...
The Big Fresh September 7, 2013 Perfect Pie Crusts
Never doubt that a small, committed group of people with pies can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ...
Emphasizing Empathy: September Literacy Contracts
September holds a lot of promise and excitement for teachers and students, but it can also be a stressful month. We are all trying to get back into the swing...
How to Eat an Elephant One Bit(e) at a Time: Reading Complex Texts
There is a saying: “When eating an elephant take one bite at a time.” Attributed to Creighton Abrams, we have come to use this phrase to help us understand that...
