Do you use the reading workshop AND writing workshop models in your K-2 classroom? I love the workshop model because it: Promotes student choice (which is motivating!) Gives students lots of real reading and writing time—not worksheets Creates time for us teachers to meet with students one-on-one or in small groups If you’d like to…… Continue Reading
Do you want your students to apply their phonics learning to their writing? I know I do! And I also know that this doesn’t happen easily for all students. In today’s quick post, I want to share a free tool with you—a template for a word part dictionary. Relatively recently, I started having my students…… Continue Reading
Looking for some websites and resources to help your students continue learning during the summer? Here are 10 great sites that you can share with the families of your Kindergarten, first, or second grade students!Photo Credits: Monkey Business Images, Shutterstock Some of these sites are geared toward parents (I put **asterisks** by these), while others…… Continue Reading
There are a million things that we have to fit into our school day—and handwriting can feel like just one more thing that we don’t have time for! BUT it’s super important. Even in our digital age, students need to learn to form letters correctly! In this post, I’ll share 5 activities that I use…… Continue Reading
Are you teaching writing in Spanish? If so, and you work with kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade students, I’ve got a BIG freebie for you! In this blog post, I explain how I use my Spanish writing folder tools to help my students become more independent writers. Keep reading to get all of these materials…… Continue Reading
If you teach writing in Spanish, then you may be able to relate to the difficulties I’ve had with finding materials! One problem I’ve had is finding mentor texts in Spanish. (Mentor texts are books that can be used to teach students about writing. We point out writing strategies that a published author has used…… Continue Reading
A detailed writing rubric is worth its weight in gold! (Actually…maybe it’s worth a lot more than that, because a sheet of paper doesn’t weigh very much. 😝) But anyway…you get what I’m saying! Detailed writing rubrics are very valuable, because they a) help us get a clear picture of how students are doing (much more…… Continue Reading
In the writing workshop model, assessing or grading students’ writing can be a challenge. Students are typically choosing different topics, selecting which strategies they want to apply, finishing their writing at different times…it can feel a little “all over the place.” So how do you assess their work in a consistent, easy-to-manage way? My personal…… Continue Reading
For a long time, I didn’t have a literacy center devoted entirely to reading response. I wanted to have my kids write about the books they read on their own AND the books that I read to them. But I wasn’t quite sure where it could fit into our day. Should it be part of…… Continue Reading
Do you have a writing center in your kindergarten, first, or second grade classroom? In my classroom, the writing center is part of our daily literacy centers rotations. Additionally, I have a separate writing block (writing workshop) at a different time of the day. The work students do in the writing center reflects what they’ve…… Continue Reading
