Need to kickstart your summer of reading with your kids or students? Try these ideas! 1. Take a summer reading field trip. 2. Read Swimmy and make something fishy! 3. Write and draw a summer journal/scrapbook. 4. Read camping stories and make cool lanterns! 5. Read Psst! and take a real or pretend trip to ...

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 ...

As I’ve previously shared, our ninth-graders finish up the year with a unit on Mount Everest. I’ve also previously described the writing prompts we often use (see Writing Prompts — Feel Free To Contribute Your Own! and Rwanda Lesson & … Continue reading →

This year, I have been posting some of my more ''crafty'' (and I use the term loosely) on Classroom DIY.  Have you visited?  It really is a fun blog full of LOTS of fun ideas.  Well, anyway, I wanted to bring you one of the ideas I posted over there to my blog too.  A Hardcover book!    This book can be used for SO many different things, from an ...

Create Stories at Storyboard That by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Storyboard That offers an online place for kids to create digital stories. Its main purpose is as a visual aid for communicators e.g. in the business area, but it would also make a useful place for kids to storyboard short videos ...

There’s a fair amount of research, which I describe in some of my books, which shows that leaving lots of teacher comments on student papers is pretty much a waste of time — many, if not most,  students don’t pay … Continue reading →

Here are over fifty ideas to help children enjoy learning their ABCs. 50+ ways to learn your ABCs Welcome to the Carnival of Letter Play! This Play Academy link-up is all about Letter Play. Please share an idea for any kind of letter play – a new post or . . . → Read More: 50+ ideas for learning your ABCs The post 50+ ideas for learning your ...

I’m adding this infographic to The Best Digital (& Non-Digital) Storytelling Resources: Source: the-cma.com via Larry on Pinterest

Switch Kids On to Reading and Writing by Brian Rock As a former teacher and current parent, I’ve had experience in introducing kids to reading and writing. And while there’s no magic potion that works for all kids, I’ve learned that oftentimes the messenger is as important as the message. Even reluctant readers and worrisome writers ...

Exploring our names and other shapes through window tracing!