Writing
Finding Winnie
Who doesn’t love Winnie the Pooh? He has been delighting children for decades, and his sweet nature makes us continue to adore him. However, the story of Pooh doesn’t begin with the A. A. Milne books. This story really begins back during World War I. Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian and soldier in training, sees a…
Read More3 Ways to Encourage Writing at Home
Writing at home is an excellent way to show your children how writing can be fun and practical. Start by thinking about all of the ways writing makes your life easier. Maybe even make a list of the ways! Share these with your children and have them help you with it. Writing doesn’t have to…
Read More"Somebody, Wanted, But, So": A Graphic Organizer
Writing summaries is an important skill students need to master. Summaries help students decide main ideas and separate important from less important details. The problem comes with the latter. Most students have a difficult time deciding what to include and what to leave out. One graphic organizer we like which may be used to aid…
Read MoreWhat Makes a Favorite?
From the tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of children’s picture books, how does someone pick a favorite author or a favorite book? It’s an almost impossible task. Sometimes though it’s fun to reach back in time and find a book that was written 20 plus years ago and had almost been pushed aside, but as it’s…
Read MoreMaking Writing Meaningful
From the desk of Carol C. . . I love to teach writing! From the thrill of seeing students grow as writers to the reading of their work each day, it’s all exciting to me. I’m not a great writer, but I enjoy reading my personal writing to students to show them the struggles and…
Read MoreDrawing to Enhance Understanding
From the desk of Leigh Ann . . . During a recent literacy lesson, I had the opportunity to work with a group of fourth graders who were reading a piece of historical fiction. They were working to construct a character analysis and decided to create some drawings to show their understanding of the text.…
Read MoreExpressive and Reflective Writing
From the desk of Carol C… “We do not learn so much from experience as we do from reflecting on our experience.” ~ John Dewey Have you ever been a candidate for National Boards or know someone who has? If the answer is yes, then you know to become National Board certified you must be…
Read MoreModeling + Content Area = Better Writing
From the desk of Carol C… Writing in the content or subject areas has never been easy for me to teach. Part of my problem, I think, was I didn’t know what to expect from my students. After I figured that out, I struggled with how to teach them to meet my expectations. Here’s how…
Read More6 Tips for Using Mentor Texts
From the desk of Carol C… For a long time I had no idea what a mentor text was. I would hear the term thrown around but never really got the specifics of it. When I finally did learn what mentor texts were, I realized the power they had to grow student writers. I thought…
Read MoreTips for Teaching Argumentative Writing
From the desk of Carol C… Writing is an important component of the Common Core literacy standards. There are three types of writing the CC addresses: argumentative/opinion, informational, and narrative. All three of these types are found in the standards at every grade level K-12. In the past, most students have written narratives or informational…
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