Content Category: Choice Literacy
Results
In Defense of Dictation
Our preschool classroom is not quiet at journal time. To the untrained observer, it may even look a little chaotic. For the children, this is a predictable and expected part...
What Data Will You Be Collecting?
Like many of you I love the beginning of the school year. By the end of July I twitch, pace, and lose sleep. I want to dive back into school...
Rethinking the Assessment Binder
In early December, I asked my 26-year-old daughter to come into school and help me file papers into student folders. After a few hours at the back table, she looked...
The Big Fresh August 3, 2013 What We Teach
We teach people how to treat us. Phil McGraw There is a man running a local coffee shop who gives me the impression he doesn't like his business very...
“My Ideal Bookshelf”: Books that Educate Us
I’ve been feeling restless lately about my reading assessment in my classroom—particularly in the realm of reader reflection—and I wanted to try something new. In recent years I’ve asked my...
Routines to Build Independence Early in the School Year
During the first month of college my freshman year, my mom sent me this poem by Erma Bombeck. I can remember finding it inside of a letter she had written...
Daily Routines: Finding Time for What Matters
When groups of children enter the classroom each morning, year after year, my ultimate goal is to make sure their days are filled with happiness, laughter, and lots of learning...
Transition Tool: “Come On Over”
Katie DiCesare brings her first-grade students to the meeting area with unison singing of "Come On Over."
The Big Fresh July 27, 2013 Growth and Choice
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. ...
First Read Alouds (ROUND-UP)
There's something truly special about gathering new students together, no matter their age, for the first read aloud of the school year. No wonder teachers put so much time and...
The Big Fresh July 20, 2013 A Reader and Her Books
Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time. E.P. Whipple I have always adored books. Actual books. The kind with pages, and hard covers, and snapshots of happy...
New Teachers: The Power of Inexperience
Recently, some teachers in my school were discussing books our elementary students have loved over the years. Someone brought up Harry Potter. “Oh I remember that,” said a first-year teacher....
First Grade Read Aloud: Sergio Saves the Game
Katie DiCesare reads Sergio Saves the Game to her first graders as part of their fictional character study unit.
Fireflies and Background Knowledge
Recently, I was eating lunch with a group of friends and two of them shared how excited they were because the previous night they had seen their first fireflies ever....
Planning a Read Aloud Sequence to Launch the School Year
I truly believe the first few weeks of school can make or break the community of learners you hope to develop. Teachers feel so much pressure to jump right in...
Whole Group Writing Share
Franki Sibberson leads a whole-class writing share session with her fourth graders, with students focusing on their process and collaboration rather than drafts.
The Big Fresh July 13, 2013 One and Dones
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. Nelson Mandela I always struggled to connect...
Using Instagram to Sell Summer Reading Options
During this past school year Instagram, a picture sharing social media platform, became very popular with my fourth-grade students. About half of my class had Instagram on their phones or...
A Summer Reading Camp for Middle School Students
Summer. The word conjures up images of pools, freedom, baseball, and more. For me, it also is a time to read. Many years ago I began teaching a reading camp...
Are You Excited About Next Year?
“Are you excited about teaching next year?” “Uh . . . not yet,” I answered. After all, we were not even a week into summer. We chatted about how nice...
Teacher Resume
In a TED talk, Rita Pierson, a 40 year classroom veteran, spoke to the importance of building relationships with students. She described a colleague who once stated that she was...
