Teacher B said to teacher A, “Something unfortunately many young people do not know how to do is to summarize.  You, teacher of English, can teach your students to do that.  Have them read a rather long text. Have them read it carefully, rather many times.  Then ask them and elicit what the key points are (from the text).  Now tell them that ...

Teacher A said to teacher B, “Writing is a process. Writing compositions can be like writing about one point, period, next idea or point. It’s a sequence. An imaginative one.  Have your students write like I’m telling you. If you give them linkers, they’ll have more weapons to carry on writing. But, also, however, and... henceforth, ...

Teacher A said to teacher B, “When writing compositions students should enjoy the process. Some students can get out a lot from few elements. They are imaginative.  Then one nice point would be an introduction to the story, a development and something brief to end. It’s of a paramount importance students should practice writing... And you, ...

One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “About writing essays or stories, you can tell your students to write an outline or a summary. Or just start to write – with some idea in mind – and more ideas will come up whilst writing. I see this in many students from one part or another: young people simply don’t know how to ...

Several people have asked me what I do with my students for the first few days of school. So, I thought I would take some time and share what we did to get this year off to a great start. We read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. This book always sets a great tone for the beginning of the school year. It has great life lessons about never giving ...

JUNE JUNE JUNE JUNE JUNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We made it!!! Bring on summer! Last month was seriously big, busy, and on-the-go for me. (I'm sure it was the same for you, too!) It started off by my having the opportunity to give the keynote for the state of Kentucky's Head Start conference. Then came making visits into schools, libraries, ...

Hello Pk+K Sharing blogging friends! My name is April Larremore but in the blogging world you may know me better as “Chalk Talk”.  I’m thrilled to have been asked to stop by as a guest blogger today.  Wanting to stay in line with the “artsy” feel of Hello Pk+K Sharing, I decided to share my thoughts on the importance of teaching young children ...

Since April is National Poetry Month, I thought I would do a short post on some of my current students' favorite poetry books. Last week, I hosted a Link Party where everyone could add their favorite poetry resources, lessons, blogs, or projects.There were a total of 46 links added. My students have had a great time collaboratively publishing ...

One thing that I've observed that makes a huge difference in student motivation is HOW the students learn the content. I've written other blog posts on this subject (see An Afternoon in Pleasantville and A Tale of Two Tools and Learning Inside the Box) but this past week, we've put a little different twist on it. We are working on the 10th Edition ...

As my students were putting the finishing touches on their collaborative PSAs that they were creating with students from across the country, we were reading There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. One of my goals this year is to bring more literature into our day in spite of our rigid schedule and prescriptive reading program. (See ...