Some teachers buy them for their students. Some teachers have parents purchase their own. Some teachers have school-issued marble composition books. Regardless of where students' writer's notebooks come from, there should be some fanfare for utilizing them for the first time during a given school year. I wrapped up my students' notebooks, during my last… Continue reading A New Notebook for the New School Year
Words that are Speaking to Me
Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas everyday. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any. --- Orson Scott Card And this is exciting: Check out our book!
Share this:
Share this:
Imagining Possibilities: A Guest Blog Post by Ryan Scala
Ryan Scala has been teaching 4th grade (both as a general educator and a co-teacher working alongside a special education teacher in an inclusive setting) for the past nine years in Springs School, a small K-8 school located on the eastern end of Long Island in New York. He has worked as a teacher consultant… Continue reading Imagining Possibilities: A Guest Blog Post by Ryan Scala
Share this:
Share this:
Start the Year with Some Small Poems
Poetry has always been one of my favorite ways to get kids writing during the first weeks of school. If you've done bio poems and are looking for an additional poetry activity, or just for something different, then this post is for you! All the Small Poems and Fourteen More is written by Valerie Worth… Continue reading Start the Year with Some Small Poems
Share this:
Share this:
Ruth’s SOLS: First Day Minilesson — What is Writing Workshop?
Here's a little Slice of Life from the first student day. As a coach, the first day is one of the days I miss the most about being a classroom teacher. Thankfully, Christi Overman (she blogs during the school year only, so you'll want to check back regularly on Chocolate for Teachers) invited me to… Continue reading Ruth’s SOLS: First Day Minilesson — What is Writing Workshop?
Share this:
Share this:
Fall Into Books with Your Students This Fall
Up until last week, if you had asked me what book I'd recommend you read to your students to get them excited about Reading Workshop (Yes, Reading Workshop. I know, I know, this is a blog about Writing Workshop, but sometimes we have to write about reading!), I'd suggest Wolf by Becky Bloom. Sure there… Continue reading Fall Into Books with Your Students This Fall
Share this:
Share this:
Share your writing today!
Share this:
Share this:
The Power of Thanks
Today was the first day back for the new school year. Students will come tomorrow. I spent my morning in a series of meetings and the afternoon helping teachers prepare for the first few days of the new year. At the end of the day I returned to my office, reminded of the stamina it… Continue reading The Power of Thanks
Share this:
Share this:
GoogleDocs Just Got Better!
Ruth and I spent a lot of time on the phone, using GoogleDocs, when planning and revising each chapter of Day by Day. Yesterday we were planning for KSRA's Annual Conference, which is the first of three conferences we'll present at this fall. (We will also be presenting at Literacy for All and NCTE, both… Continue reading GoogleDocs Just Got Better!
Share this:
Share this:
Reflecting on Reading Like a Writer
So I took some time to create a video about the system I created in order to track and reflect on my summer reading. Because I pushed myself to reflect in a new medium, I feel like I dug deeper into the work I've done with reading like a writer. (I hope it's not too… Continue reading Reflecting on Reading Like a Writer
Share this:
Share this:
Confessions of a Lurking Writer: A Guest Blog Post by Kristine Michael
Kristine Michael taught fourth grade for fifteen years before becoming the Curriculum Director for Granville Exempted Village Schools in Ohio. Kristine is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher in middle childhood who loves talking books, literacy, and school. A newly confident writer, she’s currently developing character sketches for a fiction book inspired by her years of… Continue reading Confessions of a Lurking Writer: A Guest Blog Post by Kristine Michael
Share this:
Share this:
Interrupting Chicken Blog Tour
David Ezra Stein wrote Leaves, which was one of my favorite picture books in 2008. Therefore, I was excited to read his newest picture book, The Interrupting Chicken, which was released this week. Stein was kind enough to answer a few questions I had about The Interrupting Chicken, as well as a few other things… Continue reading Interrupting Chicken Blog Tour
