Ideas, Craft, and Stories
Author Aisha Saeed shares her writing inspiration and the relationship between authors and their young readers and how they inspire her storytelling.
10 Books Celebrating Black Joy and Daily Life
While books about oppression, struggle, and suffering are of critical importance to read and discuss with children, so are books about Black joy and about the daily lives of Black children. I’ve curated a list of ten new (i.e., published in 2019 and 2020) texts that focus on Black people living life. Depending on who your students are, these books could serve as mirrors, windows, and/or sliding glass doors.
Instructional Ideas Inspired by the Author Spotlight Series
Have you been a reader of our annual Author Spotlight Series? How have you used these posts to inspire your teaching? Read on to find a collection of the Author Spotlight posts and ideas for using these treasures with your students.
All Aboard! Virtual Field Trips and Writing Experiences
In these days where we are home so much, take your class on a virtual field trip or two and allow them choices of what they will write about! This post includes 6 trips all ready to go with writing menus for each trip. Many thanks to Clare Landrigan and Pernille Ripp who both inspired what I am sharing here with you today.
Classroom SOLSC: Blogging Strong in Week 2
We are heading into our second week of blogging in the Classroom SOLSC during extraordinary times. Please let us know in the comments how we can best support you and your students at this time.
Every Child Can Write Blog Tour: Focus on Spelling and Conventions (Giveaway)
Welcome to the next stop on Melanie Meehan’s Every Child Can Write blog tour! Today’s focus is on Chapter 8, which has excellent ideas for educators when it comes to teaching striving writers about spelling and conventions. Be sure to comment on this post for a chance to win your own copy of Every Child Can Write! (You are going to want a copy of this book ASAP! It is THAT good!)
Fault Lines in the Constitution: A Review, Five Tips, + Giveaway!
This new book by Cynthia and Sanford Levinson is a treasure trove of information as well as a handy example of many elements of inspiring nonfiction writing.
First Graders Get Crafty
First graders use a mentor text to get crafty during a unit on informational writing.
Sharing Some Exciting News
I’m proud to announce my second professional book with Stenhouse Publishers will be coming to you in the winter of 2016.
Craft Tables for You — Part III of III
This week I’m sharing the Happy Like Soccer craft table my graduate students created. My students worked in partnerships to flesh out explanations for craft moves they identified in Maribeth … Continue Reading Craft Tables for You — Part III of III
Craft Tables for You — Part II of III
This is the second in a series of three posts that include craft tables you can download for use during your conferences or strategy lessons. If you missed last week’s … Continue Reading Craft Tables for You — Part II of III
Craft Tables for You — Part I of III
Craft tables are a way to organize one’s thinking about a books teachers will be use as a mentor text. Since a good deal of the mentor text work we … Continue Reading Craft Tables for You — Part I of III
An Interview with Maribeth Boelts + a Giveaway of Happy Like Soccer
Maribeth Boelts will be the visiting author for the graduate course I’m teaching about children’s literature and the teaching of writing this summer. I’m SO EXCITED to meet her in … Continue Reading An Interview with Maribeth Boelts + a Giveaway of Happy Like Soccer
The Book Stack
An eclectic little stack today. Click on the images to go to a link about the book. I’ve been enjoying books I can read a little here and a little … Continue Reading The Book Stack
Purpose, Process, & Craft with Carl Anderson
Carl Anderson (aka: The Conferring Guy) has not only listened to the Beatles’ music; he has studied it. He has determined by the Beatles wrote particular songs, how they wrote … Continue Reading Purpose, Process, & Craft with Carl Anderson
Spilling Ink in the Classroom
Nearly every professional book I’ve ever read has encouraged me to include guides about writing in the classroom writing center. Year-after-year, I tried to search for books about writing for … Continue Reading Spilling Ink in the Classroom
Picture Books in Upper Elementary School
The Fall of 2006 brought me the savviest class I ever taught. Nearly all 32 of them scoffed at me on Wednesday, September 6th when I pulled out Nothing Ever … Continue Reading Picture Books in Upper Elementary School
Planned & Unplanned Mentor Text Conferences
I have been a bit of a mentor text aficionada for the past three and a half years. It all started when I asked an incoming class of fifth graders … Continue Reading Planned & Unplanned Mentor Text Conferences
Mentoring Primary Writers
The past eight days have been exceedingly busy, while also being exceedingly great. First, Ruth was here and we spent a lot of time planning out the final third of … Continue Reading Mentoring Primary Writers
Personification, An Effective Ending, & More
A copy of Laurie Halse Anderon‘s The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School arrived at my home last week. I read it once and put it aside since I … Continue Reading Personification, An Effective Ending, & More
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 