This is the final post of The Big Picture Series. (Ruth stated hers was the last, but after I received some mail from her today, I decided we needed to have just one more post in this Series.) I returned home from running errands about 30 minutes ago and found a thick, manila envelope in… Continue reading The Big Picture: Happy Mail!!!
Category: letter writing
Letters to the Next President
FYI: The National Writing Project and Google are sponsoring a letter-writing campaign for high school students to send letters to the presidential candidates. (WHY NOT ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLERS? I wish I knew!) Essentially, the idea is to have kids write letters about issues that are important to them or concerns they have. Here's the… Continue reading Letters to the Next President
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Getting ready to send…
...handmade welcome cards to all of my students. This is what the backs of them look like: I kept it simple this year... a short note about me being their teacher and how I've been spending my summer. I also included a link to my class blog, which is a work in progress, to get… Continue reading Getting ready to send…
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A Simple Thank You Note
Four of my students took charge of the library problem in my classroom today when my kids purged their desks of everything. Over 50 books were missing and they were not happy. They took charge of the situation and helped me make a list of what books were missing and what books didn't have library… Continue reading A Simple Thank You Note
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Flipping My Schedule Upside Down
Today might be one of a handful of times I will ever teaching Writing Workshop after lunch when my kids come back from dance. (I LOVE teaching writing in the morning. When I was in NYC, my principal gave me special permission to do this since we were supposed to teach it in the afternoon.)… Continue reading Flipping My Schedule Upside Down
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A Labor of Love: Because My Students’ Lives and Experiences Matter
Here's what I'm working on now... Originally uploaded by teachergal Last year one of my fifth graders, Lauren, wrote a persuasive letter to a very large yearbook company's CEO asking him to give our class yearbooks. She successfully persuaded him to discount the price of a full-color yearbook for the entire class (the kids paid… Continue reading A Labor of Love: Because My Students’ Lives and Experiences Matter
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End of the Year Letters from Students to Me
This year will be the third year that I've had my students write me letters right before I do their final report card. I've come to believe that these letters not only help me understand my students better, but they make me a better teacher since I learn what they liked about being a student… Continue reading End of the Year Letters from Students to Me
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Writing Thank You Notes
The art of a thank you note... Miss Annechini, my sixth grade teacher, taught us how to write "Bread and Butter Notes," which has stuck with me for years. However, for years before that, my parents always told me I had to thank someone when they gave me something. In recent years, I've come to… Continue reading Writing Thank You Notes
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Card-Writing Challenge
No, I'm not proposing (yet another) challenge for you to do on your blog (to be linked here w/good ol' Mr. Linky!). However, I'm proposing that you challenge yourself to send someone a hand-written message this week. My birthday is this-coming Friday. So, when I saw a pink envelope in the mail from my Mom,… Continue reading Card-Writing Challenge
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Stacey’s Slice of Life Story: Day #30
This afternoon I met up with A & her mom at the Barnes & Noble on Bald Hill Road in Warwick. They spotted me getting a "Tall, skim, no-whip, white mocha," when they came in. Once my coffee was ready, we sauntered over to the children's section where we got to work using the $100… Continue reading Stacey’s Slice of Life Story: Day #30
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Persuasive Letter Lessons
Here's a great link to some persuasive letter lessons, complete with a business letter template, which I've used with my students since I started teaching, over at Scholastic.com. True, it's written for high schoolers, but you can adapt some of these sheets, as well as the lesson, for an elementary school Writing Workshop.
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News & Announcements Chart
Each and every Sunday I create my News & Announcements Charts for the week (i.e., for Morning Meeting). I just created one that I really like for this-coming Friday. It looks like this: The #1 reason I like this chart is because of the geography tie-in. (Just thought of doing this since I recently purchased… Continue reading News & Announcements Chart
