writing workshop

Are You Taking Care of Yourself?

Taking care of yourself is a lot of work. Our school nurse shared a tool with us today that I hope you'll find helpful.

COVID-19

How To Share News of School Closures and COVID-19 with Children: A Trauma-Informed Practice

Use a trauma-informed practice to share COVID-19 related news, such as school closings, with children and caregivers.

Slice of Life Story Challenge

Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge

Join us every Tuesday for the Slice of Life Story Challenge!

conferring · COVID-19

Taking a Little Dip Back into Tried and True Teaching: Simple Ways to Embrace the Writing Conference During Virtual Learning

When the world of education suddenly shifted, so did our teaching practices. Some of us might be ready to start bringing back some of the teaching structures we replied on in the classroom. This will offer some quick practical ways we might bring back parts of the traditional writing conference during virtual learning.

audience · authentic writing · Belief Statements · blogging · COVID-19 · writing workshop

Beliefs Inspire Actions During Remote Learning

My beliefs about teaching and learning have grounded the decisions I make, in the classroom and now during this time of remote learning. Come with me on a video tour of how my beliefs are shaping my actions. Share in the comments how your beliefs are influencing the instructional decisions are you are making.

COVID-19 · curriculum planning · minilesson

Some Perspectives for Pandemic Teaching & Learning

Recently, researcher and professor John Hattie released a paper regarding his research-based perspectives on what truly matters for education (and what does not) during this time of global pandemic. Thus, when I ran across his latest thinking, I became eager to share some of it with you here...

conventions · COVID-19 · editing · grammar · Inventive spelling · punctuation · spelling

Using Personal Editing Checklists At-Home

Many caregivers believe that grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling is what matters most when reading their child's writing. Children’s writing should be readable, not perfect. What matters most RIGHT NOW is that kids are engaging in the act of putting words on the page or on a screen. Therefore, we can teach young writers how to use a personal editing checklist to help them make their writing more readable anytime they finish crafting a piece of writing.

SOLSC

SOL Tuesday

It's the final Tuesday in April... Come write, share, give! All are welcome!

community · EAL

Widening the Classroom Community to Include Families

In the last two months, our world has required us to live in the space of continuous new experiences. All of us, but especially the world of education, have taken a hard and immediate shift. It would be blind denial to say it has been easy, but this past week has taken me by surprise.

slice of life · Slice of Life Story Challenge · SOLSC Classroom Challenge · SOLSC Classroom Challenge · writing workshop

Classroom SOLSC: Closing In On the End – Week 5

2020 Classroom Slice of Life Challenge Twenty-five days of student writing are now behind us, and we are closing in on the end of the 2020 Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge. Students have worked hard to write stories each day. There have been stories that have filled pages and stories that seemed to barely… Continue reading Classroom SOLSC: Closing In On the End – Week 5

bulletin boards · classroom environment · COVID-19 · independence · small group · writing workshop

Bringing Virtual Classrooms to Life

Is it possible to duplicate the live, in-person experiences? Of course not, but maybe some of you could feel the authenticity of a high-five or hug I'm sending your way. So let’s think about some ways to bring virtual classrooms to life, maybe thinking of it as duplicating some of the processes of your classroom in a virtual world.

community · sharing

Be a Rainbow in Someone Else’s Cloud Right Now

Maya Angelou said, "Prepare yourself, so that you can be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud." I'm working on it. I hope you'll join me.