Summer is here and we are taking a break before August hits!
Month: June 2018
Summer Notebook: A Worthy Mission
As teachers, most of us view summer as a much-needed period for decompression and recharging. But as teachers of writing, there are likely several of us who see summertime as a valuable opportunity to prepare. One thing I plan to do is purchase a summer notebook...
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OLW CHECK-IN: EMBRACE
Maybe it was Betsy's post, OLW Check-in: Note that first brought the whispers. As I read her post and thought about my final week of school I heard the whispers grow louder. Embrace.
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Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge
Welcome to the Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge!
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Memory Chains: A Strategy for Writer’s Notebooks
Here’s a fun strategy you can try to generate writing in your notebook this summer. Come back-to-school time, you can teach your students how to use this strategy if they get stuck.
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Let’s Pretend!
We encourage fantasy play at choice time and outdoor play. We teach readers to pretend to be characters as they read. When role-playing is a natural and essential part of childhood, why wouldn't we encourage our young writers to make-believe?
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Watching Our Word Wall Come Alive
Read this post for the story of one classroom's creative celebration of word wall words.
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Write to the Finish!
It's the final countdown to summer for me and my third graders. Here are some ways we've used writing to end the year in a meaningful way.
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Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge
Welcome to the Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge!
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Personalizing charts to foster intention and independence
More and more, another way we’ve been making sure that charts become part of our writers’ toolbelts is to create individual ones that are either the same as the ones on the wall or close enough that they don’t require instruction for students to access.
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OLW Check-In: Note
How's your OLW going this year? Mine has been popping up again recently and reminding me to make more of an effort.
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Enlisting Writing Support from Parents
Parents can be a tremendous educational resource. Yet, in middle school it can be challenging, as developmentally our students are beginning to morph from children into young adults. Thinking about next year, I have drafted some ideas for partnering with parents on how to help their kids become stronger writers. How might parents provide support in the way writing workshop teachers believe is most helpful? Here are a few ideas...
