When I was at the TCRWP's Writing Institute a couple of weeks ago, there was a buzz about the power of three. Funny how I've been in and around lots of writing-related professional development in the past five years and have never heard anything about the power of three until mid-August. I heard it first… Continue reading The Power of Three
Category: reading-writing connections
Living Like a Writer: Why do you read and write?
I had the absolute pleasure of listening to Pam Muñoz Ryan deliver the keynote address at the TCRWP Writing Institute this past Wednesday. (And to make things even better, she even signed my copy of Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride for me.) The topic of her keynote address was “Reading to Write, and… Continue reading Living Like a Writer: Why do you read and write?
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Can “The Fluent Reader” Help Create A More Fluent Writer?
The Reading Specialist in my school recently lent me her copy of The Fluent Reader: Oral Reading Strategies for Building Word Recognition, Fluency, and Comprehension by Timothy V. Rasinski after a brainstorming session we had about ways to help two of the students in my class who have not met the reading benchmark for this… Continue reading Can “The Fluent Reader” Help Create A More Fluent Writer?
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Reading-Writing Connections: Focus on Conventions
Here's a link to the final document that focuses on how to lift the level of your students' conventions by using The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg. (If you haven't seen the draft I posted last week, then click here.)
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Draft of a New Craft Table About Ahlberg’s The Pencil: A Work-in-Progress
I've been working on a new craft table about Ahlberg's Book The Pencil for the past couple of days. I hope to use this craft table in writing conferences with my students when we get to our fiction picture book unit in March. So far, this is what I've come up with: The final version,… Continue reading Draft of a New Craft Table About Ahlberg’s The Pencil: A Work-in-Progress
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The Hunt for Dashes
Mentoring: Dashes Originally uploaded by teachergal I strategized a bit today about how to help my student understand how to use dashes. I used the About.com piece (that I referenced in my previous blog post) to help me create a five column chart to help my student look for dashes in the books she's reading… Continue reading The Hunt for Dashes
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Dashing Around to Find Dashes
During Family-Teacher Conferences, one of my students mentioned that she wanted to know "what that line was" that Harper was using throughout Just Grace, a book I lent her. I figured she meant the dashes, and once she showed it to me, I realized my hunch was correct. Then my student said, "I want to… Continue reading Dashing Around to Find Dashes
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The Craft Table for A SWEET SMELL OF ROSES is complete!
I dissected Angela Johnson's Book, A Sweet Smell of Roses, to the best of my ability today. I created wordy teaching points so you can truly help your students to see what craft moves Johnson made (at least, the ones I think she made). This will help you show the writers in your classroom how… Continue reading The Craft Table for A SWEET SMELL OF ROSES is complete!
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Have you used this mentor text?
I've been toting around Those Shoes a lot when I'm conferring with my students lately. I'm teaching them things like how to vary sentence lengths and ways to incorporate precise language into their personal narratives by showing them multiple places in Boelts' Text where she does these things. However, late last week, when I was… Continue reading Have you used this mentor text?
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Combo: 2 questionnaires meshed into one
Literacy Interview Originally uploaded by teachergal My colleague recently gave me a copy of a Reading Profile she uses with her students. Loved it! However, it left me realizing that the Writing Interview I've given my students in the past would be overkill since that would be two interviews they'd have to fill-out for me.… Continue reading Combo: 2 questionnaires meshed into one
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Those Shoes: The Mentor Text Teaching Document
I worked on the Reading-Writing Connections Document for Those Shoes until 12:30 a.m. Here are two examples of the way I set it up: Craft MovePage Number(s)Why the Author Might Be Doing This…Varied Sentence LengthsPgs. 2, 15 & 30One thing writers do is vary the lengths of their sentences when they write. If an author… Continue reading Those Shoes: The Mentor Text Teaching Document
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The Makings of a TRUE Mentor Text
I realize I'm a bit late to the "Those Shoes Party," which is a touching text written by Maribeth Boelts and illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. Those Shoes was published in 2007 and is the story of a little boy who desperately wants the shoes that nearly everyone else in school has. The catch? His… Continue reading The Makings of a TRUE Mentor Text
