Twin Bubbles: Poetry Friday

As I was recopying some poems into my master writer’s notebook, I came across this one, which I wrote alongside my students after doing some close observations of bubbles.
TWIN BUBBLES
An original poem by Me
They float through the air
like a passing cloud.
Bobbing up and down –
twin bubbles
joined together
traveling along
holding on tightly…
They don’t let go for fear
they [...]

New York State of Mind: The Last Poetry Thursday

Today’s the last ever Poetry Thursday.
I just returned from spending a few whirlwind days in New York City (New Jersey and Connecticut too). I packed up the last boxes and said a permanent good-bye to the apartment I called home for the past four (of the seven and a half) years [...]

get a giggle out of this.

You absolutely must take two minutes and click over to Christi Overman’s blog, Chocolate for Teachers, and read about her very first sharing session of her teaching career. I think I’ll be giggling for days over this one.
Clarification: I’m giggling about the unexpected nature of kids in workshop — not the content [...]

power of place.

Today in a fourth grade classroom, the teacher let me experiment (play) a bit. We focused on places for our notebook entries. After all of the wn entries Stacey & I have posted about place (click here or here or here or here to read a few), the strategy has been yearning [...]

more on generating writing ideas.

Like Stacey, I think it’s imperative that kids have lists in their notebooks about writing ideas.  I think one of the most powerful lessons we can give students in regards to finding writing ideas is to help them find topics they can mine.  What I mean by this, is finding topics that have many topics inside of them.  For [...]

They can never say that they don’t know what to write about anymore!

Sample List

Originally uploaded by teachergal

Encourage your students to keep a list of things they can write about in their writer’s notebooks (an idea I took from The No-Nonsense Guide to Teaching Writing by Judy Davis and Sharon E. Hill). Here’s a page out of [...]

Take a new teacher by the hand and PAY IT FORWARD!

Pay it forward! It wasn’t just a movie and it’s not just an expression in my world. Those three little words are ones I try to live by at work, on the open road, and in my personal life.
If someone does something nice for me, then I thank them, but I [...]

writer’s notebook decorations.

Just wanted to let you know Z-Scrap has all K & Company products on sale right now (as well as other goodies).  Here’s a link to all of Z-Scrap’s sale items.  I’ve ordered from this online store a few times & have always been pleased with the results.
 Thought some may be interested as you collect [...]

ruth’s wn entry: my fav things about (you name the place).

Following Stacey’s lead, here’s my list –
Favorite Things About Indiana

Wide open spaces that allow for my mind to wander during late afternoon/early evening walks.

My family is close in proximity.

Indiana Hoosier Basketball – need I say more?

Colt’s Football.  My husband & I make several games each season.  In fact, we used to own season tickets — now [...]

Drumroll please…

I took Cliff and Jen’s advice and turned my time (after I recopied a bunch of poems though) into something productive for my students. I bought the Moleskine Cahiers at a Barnes & Noble Store yesterday since I realized I could use my Educator Discount since they were for my class. I personalized [...]

Scanning, Cutting & Pasting, or Rewriting?

I’ve come to realize that this whole “I’m going to recopy all of my writer’s notebooks into one” thing has become exceedingly tedious. I found another old Miquelruis Notebook yesterday and realized I need to be putting that into my master notebook. This is just one of MANY entries from 2006:

Aaaagggggh! What [...]

WN Entry: Making A List

I got inspired by Reflections from the Rockies‘ Post entitled “My Favorite Things About Colorado So Far.” Since a good deal of my students’ first couple weeks of Writing Workshos will revolve around the creation of lists (and then the development of a list item into an entry in their writer’s notebook), I thought, [...]

Steppin’ It Up: Real Writer’s Notebooks

No longer will my students be using composition notebooks or spiral-spined notebooks with perforated edges in Writing Workshop this year. I’m making a move and providing them with REAL writer’s notebooks (read: Moleskine Cahier Notebooks). I found them at a pretty affordable price at Moleskines.com. (Please note: I haven’t ordered them yet, [...]

the balance of teaching writing.

Do you ever feel like you’re being pulled in different teaching directions — conventions and craft and process?  Do you sometimes feel guilty when you’re teaching about craft that you should be teaching conventions?  Or in a conference when you compliment on the great focus of the writing, that you should be correcting the spelling?  [...]

My Writer’s Notebook: A Poem by Brod Bagert for Poetry Friday

I taped this poem into the inner front cover of each of my students’ writer’s notebooks this past year. I didn’t think it meant anything to them until, as an end of the year gift in June, one of my students made me a collage of a bunch of the writing things she had [...]

WN: Weekend Check-Ins

Last year I adopted (and adapted) an idea I got from Davis and Hill’s Book, The No-Nonsense Guide to Teaching Writing. For an entire year I gave my students weekend writing assessments. However, they were essentially checklists that didn’t inspire my students to really do much thinking about their writing. Hence, in [...]

It’s almost the last Poetry Thursday. :(

Apple
At the center, a dark star
wrapped in white.
When you bit, listen
for the crunch of boots on snow,
snow that has ripened. Over it
stretches the red, starry sky.
–Nan Fry
I simply love the visual imagery this poem evokes. I think it’s an excellent mentor for students who are trying to write with crystal-clear clarity (in their [...]

our talk.

This week I have been working with some stellar teachers.  My role in their rooms has been that of a team teacher and so it’s been easy for me to absorb things from them.  One of the things I’ve been struck by is the way they talk with their students.  They are so kind, so [...]

CWP Bulletin Board

Unlike New York City, my school doesn’t require me to put a task card or list the standards for things I place on bulletin boards. Hence, I’m at a loss for what to do with the big open space on the Celebrity Writer Profile Bulletin Board I put in the hallway outside of my [...]

writer’s notebook share.

Yesterday in Teresa Zurcher’s third grade classroom students were personalizing their writer’s notebooks. I love how much I learned about kids simply by chatting with them about the stuff they were putting on their notebooks. As an end-of-workshop share, Teresa had everyone put their writer’s notebooks on their desks and then they walked [...]

Keeping Track of Writing Conferences

I often feel like I’m conferring with the same kids over and over again in Writing Workshop. Hence, I’ve created a new tool, a KID TRACKER, to help me keep track of who I meet with in strategy lessons and for conferences. At the end of Writing Workshop, I intend on [...]

Words of Wisdom Bulletin Board

Words of Wisdom Bulletin Board

Originally uploaded by teachergal

My friend Carrie, and my in-laws-to-be, came up to Rhode Island to help me set up my classroom this weekend. Carrie helped me put up my WORDS OF WISDOM Bulletin Board in my classroom, which my students [...]

clay fragments.

When I was learning the ropes of teaching, Tammy Hess helped me along.  We stumbled into a study group for teachers of writing through the All-Write Consortium.  We weren’t sure what it was all about, but they offered great food, soothed us with read alouds, and encouraged us to reflect on our lives and our teaching.  [...]

T.G.I.P.F.

During my first year of teaching fifth grade, I introduced this poem to my students while preparing them for a trip called “Bridges and Boundaries: African-American and American-Jewish Relations” (at the Jewish Museum). We talked about what it meant to be equal in this country. A deep discussion ensued.
I hope you [...]

New Magazine for Student Writers

The first issue of Launch Pad: Where Young Authors and Illustrators Take Off will be coming out this January/February (2008), according to Reading Today, which arrived at my apartment yesterday. I explored Launch Pad’s Website and found the following information about student submissions:

Launch Pad invites submissions of creative works by young authors and [...]