Pets make great subjects for stories. Especially your pet, who is the best pet in the world. But…where and how do we start a story? First, you need an idea…and maybe you should take a moment and follow your pet around the house or take him for a walk. What is he thinking about? Does …
Start Writing your Animal Stories by Thinking Like your Pet Read More »
Ashley loves animals, and wanted to write about so many of them. When she said down to write a story, she could not decide which one to write about. Would it be a dog? Would it be a bird? Maybe a raccoon? But if it’s a dog, then what breed ? Big or small? Long …
Talking propels reading and writing development. “It is through talk that children learn to follow and tell stories, understand logical sequences, recognize causes, anticipate consequences, explore options and consider motives… It is through talk that our children learn that their observations, hunches, and insights are interesting and worth developing. It is through talk that our …
Sharing stories in the classroom and at home is the most important way to support literacy, according to Gordon Wells, who conducted a 10-year study of oral language development in the home and at school at the University of California at Santa Cruz. “Constructing stories in the mind — or storytelling, as it has been …
In her book Raising Lifelong Learners Lucy Calkins states, “Teachers know the value of talking about books… helping children to have conversations about texts, will help them to have conversations in their minds’ eyes as they read silently. This sort of learning into the story makes for active, powerful reading.” Powerful reading broadens the mind …
By investigating junk mail, students learn to think about and question texts in ways that develop their analytical capacities and critical reading practices. Students work in small groups to investigate and sort junk mail into categories of their choice using a Venn diagram. They discuss the purpose of junk mail and compose a class definition. …
At the time Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, it is a good idea to pause to teach children how to EXPRESS thanks. The Today Show has many wonderful ideas for all ages, including these for elementary school-age children: 1. Hand-write thank-you’s. One sentence per grade is a good rule of thumb, and be sure to send them out promptly. …
Children’s Illustrator Angela Padron once again bring insight and storytelling ideas to those who create art with their words.
10 Tips for Proofreading Effectively By Richard Norquist There’s no foolproof formula for perfect proofreading every time. But these 10 tips should help you see (or hear) your errors before anybody else does. Give it a rest. If time allows, set your text aside for a few hours (or days) after you’ve finished composing, and …
Rescue Writing considers it an honor to support teachers in their classrooms and parents of homeschoolers. When we started, we thought it would best be suited for third, fourth and fifth graders, since that was when students began to express themselves individually, or so we thought. As it turns out, even kindergarten students want to …
Writing Stories with My Title I Kindergarten Class – Part Four Read More »
