Born out of lack of success in having students independently use their class word wall, high frequency word lists, or personal spelling dictionaries to edit their writing my co-teacher @YYteach and I decided to give the Don't and Do spelling strategy... Continue Reading →
One of the key components of any writing mini-lesson is modelling what we expect of our students. Often this takes the form of "guided" writing. However, over the years I have found that this wasn't always as effective as it... Continue Reading →
Every year the struggle is the same. Eager second grade writers pour their hearts out into their "small moment" personal narratives but without much to show for in terms of word choice or elaboration. In the spirit of sharing, one... Continue Reading →
I don't exactly remember how or when I learned to read, but I do remember what I loved to read ... National Geographic. Apparently I would sit in a way too big for me armchair next to my grandfather thumbing... Continue Reading →
Note: the original post was published in October 2018. Now in June 2019 we have version 4.0 with lessons learned and some refinements. The revisions are added in italics and am proud to say that we have complete task cards... Continue Reading →
My awesome co-teacher @YYteach and I recently used this "Simon Says" Vocabulary mastery strategy at the end of our math unit to consolidate our vocabulary understanding. It works something like this ... Using Kagan's Pair Compare cooperative learning framework, students... Continue Reading →
In the past I struggled to effectively involve my whole class authentically in retelling, inferring, and identifying author's message because the ranges of reading levels and English proficiency were so vast that it was hard to find a text we... Continue Reading →
This post is all based on awesome idea #99 by my fab co-teacher @YYteach. The problem we were facing was that we had great mini-lessons and charts, but the students struggled to apply the teaching points independently. With our personal... Continue Reading →
The "Don't and Do" spelling strategy is very simple, effective, and quick. It works something likes this: When your students are ready to start editing their piece of writing ask them to make a T-chart titled "Don't" and "Do" on... Continue Reading →
Alex Lancia 