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Ugly Fish Book Giveaway Announcement

There were lots of people who entered the Ugly Fish book giveaway.  Unfortunately, there’s only one winner for the drawing.  The lucky winner of a copy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Ugly Fish is Lauren Wascher. If you missed the post about Ugly Fish, then click here to read it now.

Writing as Gifts

We have three weeks until winter break in my school district. This is the perfect time for a unit about using writing as gifts. To begin this unit, we are asking students to envision possibilities for using their writing for a gift. For the first week of the study, we will be busy imagining the [...]

Nurturing & Nudging Independence

Last weekend at NCTE, I had the pleasure of attending a session co-led by Patrick Allen, author of Conferring: The Keystone of Reader’s Workshop.  Patrick shared  some questions that he and one of his co-presenters, Troy Rushmore, asked their third and fourth grade students about independent reading in order to get a sense of how [...]

Words that are Speaking to Me

Anybody can write an exciting story and make it interesting. The trick is to . . . write a quiet story and make it interesting. — Hemingway

Gratitudes

Oops, this was suppose to post yesterday. I’m thankful for . . . Silly jokes that make giggles come alive Ordinary moments captured with words Photos documenting life The privileged work of education A full refrigerator Hugs Toasty fire crackling dry logs More white Christmas lights Two daughters and a son The ability to read A [...]

Say Hello + Giveaway: Bullying Series

The message in Say Hello, which is written by Jack and Michael Foreman, is so simple.  The message to young readers is that you should reach out to a person, who looks lonely or excluded, and extend a welcome by saying hello.  Everyone needs and is deserving of friends and this book reminds us of [...]

Twitter as PLN

I joined Twitter at the beginning of October. What began as an experiment in learning a new genre has become one of the best professional development experiences of my entire career. I’ve been envisioning a post about the professional development offered (free) on Twitter, when I came across “Making the Most of Twitter” by Franki [...]

Goal Giveaway Recipient

I’m pleased to announce that recipient of Goal, which is written by written by Mina Javaherbin and illustrated by A.G. Ford.  The giveaway goes to Heather Brougham-Cook.  Special thanks, again, to Candlewick Press for agreeing to giveaway a copy of Goal! If you missed the original post about Goal, and the ways you can use [...]

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NCTE: A Very Brief Reflection

Hugged. Home. Unpacked. Can’t wait to talk with Andy. But first, a very brief reflection of NCTE. I promise more will come. Still, in a word, this is what I’m taking away from NCTE 2010: Joy Yes, joy. I am joyful for the privileged work I get to do each day. I’m joyful to write alongside students, [...]

Don’t Fall Apart Now!

This-coming weeks marks the time of the year that I recall a few of my former students falling apart.  Why?  Thanksgiving, which marks the beginning of the holiday season, falls out in the last week of November.  When I was in the classroom I quickly came to learn that any child who had a home [...]

Ugly Fish + Giveaway: Bullying Series

We’ve all dealt with people who subscribe to the philosophy of “what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine.”  In fact, most of us have taught those children at least once (Let’s be real, MANY TIMES!) in our teaching careers.  Additionally, we’ve all worked with students who taunt others just to get a rise [...]

Our NCTE Presentation Is Tomorrrow.

Ruth and I will be presenting at at the NCTE Annual Convention tomorrow afternoon.  Our presentation on reflective practice will begin at 12:30 p.m. in the Saybrook Room at the Disney Yacht and Beach Club.  Since we’ll be presenting in the early afternoon, feel free to bring lunch with you if you’re attending. We always [...]

Slice of Life Story Challenge

End of a Fantastic Day

It’s been a long day at Literacy for All. We each attended great sessions (which I’m sure you’ll find out more about in upcoming blog posts), presented two different sessions, and are now putting our finishing touches on our NCTE presentation. Don’t we look ready to turn-in for the night?

S&S Giveaway Winners

Thanks to everybody who entered The Boss Baby Giveaway.  Simon & Schuster Children’s Books will be sending the following books to the following people who left comments on the Boss Baby Post.  (If you missed the original post about The Boss Baby, then click here to read it.) A copy of The Boss Baby goes [...]

Literacy for All — Tomorrow!

We’ll be presenting at at the Literacy for All Conference tomorrow.  Our presentations are will be at 10:30 and 3:30 p.m. If you’re planning to be at either of the presentations, then please introduce yourself to us.  We always enjoy meeting other bloggers!

Words that are Speaking to Me

If the story is in you, it has got to come out. — William Faulkner

Parent Communication

As we venture into teaching writing in authentic ways, it is important to communicate with parents our teaching decisions. When using technology in writing and reading workshops, communication with parents becomes imperative. When Christi began tweeting, she communicated this addition to their learning with parents. She also encouraged parents to follow their tweets and to [...]

Goal + Giveaway: Bullying Series

Games bring people together.  Soccer is no different.  Goal, which is written by Mina Javaherbin and illustrated by A.G. Ford, is a story about a group of South African boys who come together to enjoy a pick-up game of soccer despite a group of bullies who try to steal their brand-new, federation-size soccer ball. Readers [...]

Quality Writing Comes When Students are Invested in their Projects

A few weeks ago we talked about audience in Christi’s second grade workshop. During sharing, students sat in a circle and each shared the audience for their current WIP. When it was Allie’s turn she said, “Eve Bunting because I want to write a book like her.” This was a very different answer than her [...]

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Twitter in Classrooms

One of the first people I addressed in a tweet was @CAFirstGrade, Julie Simmons’ first grade classroom in Ohio. They were using Twitter via an iPad during their independent writing time. Later in the week, they tweeted during shared writing using a SmartBoard. It was fun to tweet with them and gain insight into their [...]

Teaching Tolerance: Bullying Series

Even though we “fell back” to standard time overnight, my body woke me up extremely early this morning.  Fortunately, my New York Times was already waiting at the foot of my driveway when I came downstairs for an earlier-than-normal breakfast.  In my typical Sunday morning fashion, I saved the first section of the paper to [...]