Content Category: Choice Literacy
Results
Fifth-Grade Group: Understanding Characters
Dana Murphy meets with a group of fifth graders to explore character development in their reading.
Building Primary Writing Skills Through Character Study
There is no greater power on this earth than story. Brandon Sanderson We often ask students to write true stories, to look inside their lives and dig up small...
March 13, 2020 Learn to Care
Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community. Anthony J. D’Angelo It’s transition time in kindergarten....
March 6, 2020 At Least No One Died
A bus ride is like being in another world. ...
First-Grade Guided Group: Reading Practice and Recap
Melissa Atwood leads a first-grade guided reading group. This is the second video in a two-part series.
Remembering the Big Picture in Reading Assessments
At bedtime, when reading to my three- and four-year-old daughters, it’s sometimes all I can do just to get through the books. Never mind reading with expression or reacting to...
Making Learning Stick: Learning Progressions and Student-Created Exemplars
As teachers, we have electrifying moments. Those moments when a student shares an interpretation and actually “grows her thinking” right in front of our eyes. We think, My teaching is...
February 28, 2020 Strengths Focused
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. Mother Teresa As I sat to the side of the classroom watching a community of second...
Can a High-Stakes Assessment Create Readers?
If I were to ask any educator which instructional practices create joyful readers, you might expect to hear any of the following: a rich classroom library, access to just-right books,...
Teaching Constructed Response Before Exams
I arrived in the fourth-grade classroom. The students were seated and waiting with anticipation; it was not every day that the principal taught a lesson. “Good morning,” I said. “I’m...
February 21, 2020 A Place for Writing
Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits. Twyla Tharp In Write What Matters, Tom Romano explains how he helps students think about...
Minilesson: Revising Writing
Dana Murphy leads a minilesson in fifth grade on revising narrative writing.
Don’t Force Vulnerability
Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen. Brené Brown I found myself among a group of moms who were complaining about their kids’ homework assignments. I...
Creating a Safe Space in Middle School
I have never felt more uncomfortable as a professional than I did this past summer in a session led by Chad Everett at the Lead Learners Summer Institute. That session...
First Graded Guided Group: Chunking Words
Melissa Atwood leads a first-grade guided reading group. The focus at the start of the lesson is on chunking words. This is the first video in a two-part series.
February 14, 2020 The Poem in Your Heart
The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long. Horace When...
Poetry and Pastiche
Infusing poetry throughout the school year rather than restricting it to just one unit is one of our goals. There are many benefits to having more poetry in classrooms. One...
Kindergarten and Middle School Poetry Partnership
When I taught fourth grade in a kindergarten through fourth-grade building, it was nothing to create an activity that involved lower grades. I strongly believed then as I do now...
February 7, 2020 Grammar’s Flexibility
The greater part of the world's troubles are due to questions of grammar. Michel de Montaigne My nephew said to his mom, “Me and Brennan are going to play...
Quick and Easy Word Study Groups in First Grade
When I listened to Ellin Keene present at a workshop years ago, I was particularly interested in her information about how word study fits into a reading workshop model. She...
Fifth-Grade Vocabulary Group
Dana Murphy meets with a group of fifth graders to work on strategies for understanding unknown words.
