I have a confession to make. I’ve been sitting on a secret for a couple weeks now that I’ve been dying to spill here… I’m part of the very first Teacher Appreciation Jackpot! Word went on a few blogs yesterday, but in case you haven’t already heard about it, here’s the scoop. The event is…
My Writing a Poem A Day Poetry Unit was a huge hit this month, both online and in our classroom. In case you missed it, here’s the video that tells you all about it. We’ve completed all the poems at school and are in the process of publishing them. I realized that I had a…
Our school mascot is the Knight, and every Knight needs a castle, so our class decided to become castle architects. I got the initial idea from blog stalking, and it was just in time for our unit. Love it when that happens! I just realized the file I downloaded doesn’t have a copyright attached, so…
Our school is pretty lucky. For the most part, we have involved parents and community support. As with many other schools though, our population has changed quite a bit within the last few years. We’re constantly looking for additional ways to strengthen the home/school bond because it really does make a positive impact on student…
Mother’s Day is May 13th. That means it’s time to start thinking about what we’ll do for our moms this year instead of waiting until the last minute (you know who you are!). I try to mix things up instead of doing the same thing each year because I get so many siblings. Here are…
I had so much fun sharing my innovations with you. I actually learned about the concept of mentor texts and genre studies from a Katie Wood Ray workshop I attended several years ago. She inspired me to create a mentor basket of books to help teach writing workshop. Using the mentor texts to teach craft…
Oh. My. Goodness. I honestly have to pinch myself every day when I open my blog or Facebook page. Seeing new followers, newsletter subscribers, and all of the thoughtful comments you leave makes me feel so loved. Before I started blogging myself, I was a blog-follower. Reading all of the other teachers’ ideas and seeing…
Today is the fifth and final day of my five-day series on using innovations in your classroom during writing workshop. For today’s post, I’m highlighting My Teacher’s Secret Life by Stephen Krensky. I always save this innovation for the end of our series because it provides the least scaffolding. Like many of our kiddos, the…
Today is the fourth day of my five-day series on using innovations in your classroom during writing workshop. For today’s post, I’m highlighting The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups by David Wisniewski. In case you aren’t familiar with this book, it’s written from a kid’s point of view and has interesting graphics that make the book…