How much time do you think K-2 students need to complete an on-demand narrative writing assessment?
Category: primary grades
An Inspiring Mentor Text, an Interview, and a Giveaway
I love, LOVE, L-O-V-E Ralph Tells A Story (Amazon Children’s Publishing, 2012), which is a story about a boy, Ralph, who has trepidation about writing. (It’s already become a book I suggest to teachers when I speak about mentor texts!) Ralph is that kid in your writing workshop who claims he doesn’t have anything to… Continue reading An Inspiring Mentor Text, an Interview, and a Giveaway
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An Interview with Tad Hills + a Book Giveaway
Tad Hills's new book, Rocket Writes a Story, is as touching and well-written as the first Rocket book, Rocket Learned to Read. This book is sure to become a mentor text in primary writing workshops since Rocket has trouble generating ideas for writing and moving through the writing process. I am quite sure that the tale… Continue reading An Interview with Tad Hills + a Book Giveaway
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Boys and Girls Playing Together
I recently read Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture (2011) by Peggy Orenstein. While hospitals don't hand out manuals to parents who leave with a newborn, this book is the closest thing I've found to a manual on how I want to raise my daughter. (As for… Continue reading Boys and Girls Playing Together
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Documenting Our Learning
Sometimes I think about the amazing work happening in writing workshops, and then wonder if anyone else notices. Sometimes the things that are most amazing are small bits that pack big meaning. Sometimes the most amazing work can be easily missed. Often young writers' (or even old writers') talk is ahead of their walk. We… Continue reading Documenting Our Learning
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Infographics
Words + pictures have always intrigued me. As a scrapbooker I use words + pictures to document life. As a blogger, I know when an image is included it always impacts me more. (I've been thinking of making this a goal --- to include more images in my posts.) As a teacher I'm well aware… Continue reading Infographics
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Storytelling
One of the ways Martha Horn suggests launching workshop is to spend a significant amount of time steeping the workshop in storytelling. In fact, she suggests every child tell a story aloud to the entire class. She shares this approach along with Mary Ellen Giacobbe in their book Talking, Drawing, Writing (Stenhouse, 2007). She also… Continue reading Storytelling
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Planning Idea
I'm super fortunate to be working with a couple of third grade teachers (Hi Sandy & Dan!) who are interested in helping their writers to naturally develop more sophisticated writing processes. Their students are coming off of heavy illustration study in their previous writing experience (in grades k-2), so we are trying to find a… Continue reading Planning Idea
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Martha Horn!
Martha Horn is coming to NE Indiana on October 14, hosted by the All-Write Consortium. I'm super excited to hear her thoughts about teaching our youngest writers. If you are interested in attending, just click here for registration information. Do you know her book, Talking, Drawing, and Writing? She wrote it along with Mary Ellen… Continue reading Martha Horn!
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Say, Sketch, and Write
One of the many charts I made, with the help of some wonderful Kindergarten teachers, while I was taking Kristi Mraz's chart-making class at the July Writing Institute was a scaffold to get Kindergarten students ready to write an all-about book. Betsy Engel, who will be teaching Kindergarten in Manhattan this-coming school year, shared a… Continue reading Say, Sketch, and Write
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Simple Shapes Convey Meaning
I have a confession to make: I'm a wanna-be artist. I have a deep appreciation for art and for people who can draw the human form. Until last month, I couldn't even draw a decent stick figure. As a result, my classroom charts as a teacher were neatly written, and sometimes color-coded, but they rarely… Continue reading Simple Shapes Convey Meaning
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Writing Institute
The Summer Institute for the Teaching of Writing at Teachers College begins in just a few short weeks. This year, I've decided to take advanced sessions that focus on the primary grades. I just got my course placements and was thrilled to have received my first choices. I'll be taking: "Assessment-Based Writing Instruction: Use a… Continue reading Writing Institute
