Content Category: Choice Literacy
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Best Practices in Spelling Instruction
My fascination with spelling is personal and professional. My oldest two kids with similar DNA and educational experiences are very different spellers. My son needs to look at a word...
Synthesis in Reading and the Reading Notebook
Beth Lawson helps one of her 3rd grade students write in response to a complex text he is reading, talking through how the writing might help him synthesize the plot...
Helping Young Readers Become Independent
Primary grade children must develop the strategies they will need to learn how words work, to read for understanding, and to make sense of different text structures and genres. Finding...
Preparing Students for Summer Reading (ROUND-UP)
As the end of the school year draws near, many teachers are thinking about ways to support summer reading. We know that reading over the summer is important for all...
Status of the Class and Monitoring Behavior
In this early year video from Beth Lawson's second-grade classroom, Beth uses a writing status-of-the-class time to help students monitor their behavior, using peers as role models.
The Sponge Summary Lesson Part 2
This is a companion video series to Heather Rader's article "A Sponge is a Summary." In this sequence of videos, Heather teaches a fourth-grade class, using the analogy of a...
Teaching and Assessing Persuasive Writing Skills
Some time ago I led a writing class with fifth-grade teachers. Our purpose was to write our own essays, using state classroom-based assessment criteria to analyze them. I chose the...
Perspective as a Component of Text Complexity: A Common Core Booklist
Text complexity has been a big topic of conversation since the Common Core Standards were released. Reading complex texts is an expectation for readers across grade levels. In Appendix A...
Conferring: Stretching Words
In this conference with a second grader, Beth Lawson uses a visual aid and a hand motion to help a young English language learner understand the concept of stretching words...
The Sponge Summary Lesson Part 3
This is a companion video series to Heather Rader's article "A Sponge is a Summary." In this sequence of videos, Heather teaches a fourth-grade class, using the analogy of a...
Guided Reading in Perspective
Recently I presented my work at a regional conference. A teacher came rushing to the front of the room as I packed my computer after the session. "Do you have...
Common Core Standards: Spreading the Word
As a district-level literacy coach in California, I've been given the task of helping move our system toward implementation of the Common Core Standards. We are a large urban district...
Scaring Up Better Narratives Part I
Just before Halloween, Aimee Buckner leads a lesson on brainstorming topics in writer's notebooks using the mentor text Some Things Are Scary. In this first installment of a three-part series,...
Book Matchmaker: Teaching Theme in the Intermediate Grades
Cathy teaches fourth grade and is looking for books to teach theme. Many of us find it challenging to find books for teaching this complex idea to children. I've...
The Sponge Summary Lesson Part 4
This is a companion video series to Heather Rader's article "A Sponge is a Summary." In this sequence of videos, Heather teaches a 4th grade class, using the analogy of...
Using Video to Build the Home-School Connection
Kelli Demonte reaches high as she teaches in a diverse, urban setting. She is a third-grade teacher looping with students since second grade. Last year she won a grant that...
Stopping and Jotting
Let's face it -- we teachers are control freaks. It's in our blood, and what in many ways makes us great at what we do. Yet sometimes that need to...
Mentor Texts for Nonfiction Writing
Beth Lawson and I met for the first time in mid-August at her school. She was organizing her classroom for teaching, and we talked about some of the changes she...
Scaring Up Better Narratives Part 2
Just in time for Halloween, Aimee Buckner leads a lesson on brainstorming topics in writer's notebooks using the mentor text Some Things Are Scary. In this second installment of a...
Listen In: Spelling Aids in the Writing Workshop
Madison showed tremendous growth during her year as a second grader. By the spring, others were able to read and understand Maddie's messages, which was a powerful incentive to write....
Can I Quote You on That?: Capturing Classroom Conversation
Sometimes inspiration for my teaching life comes from seemingly disparate experiences in my personal life. I spent a recent Saturday afternoon surrounded by a gaggle of giddy women who had...
