Week of December 1st, 2008 Originally uploaded by teachergal I just finished planning out the upcoming week and wow... there's a lot going on! However, when I realized my kids were publishing and starting a new unit of study this week, I realized I had to create some additional sheets to get them to reflect… Continue reading It’s going to be a busy week!
Category: immersion
Launching Personal Essay
It's nearly November, which means it's time for me to start teaching my students how to craft personal essays. I use Calkins and Gilette's book for my teaching points, but deviate from their text when it comes to teaching the actual lessons since I've tweaked every lesson each year that I've taught it. I recall… Continue reading Launching Personal Essay
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In Their Words
Today's Workshop, in my classroom, was spent immersing my students in the memoir genre (or is it genre of memoir... both sound funny to me!). The kids realized that most memoirs are a combination of exposition and narrative. (I compared memoir to a hybrid car. That definitely helped!) After my kids listened to four of… Continue reading In Their Words
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Immersing them in the memoir genre
Deb asked me which texts I'll be using on day one of the memoir unit. Well, the answer is that I will be reading When the Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant or rereading What You Know First by Patricia MacLachlan. That being said, I'm actually having the kids spend their independent writing time reading three… Continue reading Immersing them in the memoir genre
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Immersion Begins Tomorrow
I'll begin immersing my students in the literary essay genre tomorrow. I'm fortunate to have had some wonderful students last year who graciously allowed me to share their essays with future students to-come. Hence, I have quite a few literary essays copied, ready-to-go for my students to possibly use as mentor texts tomorrow. I realized… Continue reading Immersion Begins Tomorrow
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Being inspired by a great picture book…
Today was spent immersing my students in the short fiction genre by reading picture books. Here are the texts my students read and enjoyed either by themselves or with a partner: Beatrice's Goat by Paige McBrier Betty Doll by Patricia Polacco * Duck and Goose by Tad Hills * Imagine A Day by Sarah L.… Continue reading Being inspired by a great picture book…
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Ideas Galore!!!
Ideas Galore Originally uploaded by teachergal I disseminated a packet of four touchstone texts, written by my former students, that will serve as mentors for my students to use in the persuasive letter unit of study we began today. The letters I gave them as touchstones, which we read together before the WW Time began,… Continue reading Ideas Galore!!!
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A writing challenge I volunteered for… and it’s going to be challenging!
Every week my synagogue attaches a D'var Torah, which is an interpretation of the week's Torah portion, to the weekly newsletter. I decided to volunteer to write a D'var Torah on the occasion of our upcoming Auf Ruf. [Auf-ruf is a Yiddish term, taken from German, which means "to be called up." An Auf Ruf… Continue reading A writing challenge I volunteered for… and it’s going to be challenging!
