This list celebrates female writers who wrote coming-of-age classics as well as modern page-turners. They've won awards, provoked discussion, and ultimately their work has become cherished favorites on the bookshelves of many.

lagniappe noun la·​gniappe | \ ˈlan-ˌyap, lan-ˈyap\ Definition of lagniappe : a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase: something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure. The baker put 13 donuts in the bag, the

A few years ago I stumbled across the reverse poem, A Lost Generation, by Jonathan Reed. I was blown away by it. Immediately, I knew I wanted to share it with my class, and they were just as blown away as I was. Over the years, I have continued to use it in my classroom, and every year, the reaction by the students is the same. Many of them even ask to bring a copy home so they can share it with their parents. (If you can't see the video below, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA) This year, I was finally brave enough to let my students have a go at writing their own reverse poetry. After we watched and read the poem numerous times, I gave each student their own copy, and they went to work with a highlighter, highlighting the phrases that made the poem "work" (I had them work in groups of 2 or 3 for this). They quickly noticed that every second phrase was generic - the fact that it contained no specific references was what made the poem reversible. Then, we visited the site Budding Poets: Reverse Poetry and read through some more examples of Reverse Poetry before I let the students loose to begin writing their own. I did tell them they were allowed to "borrow" some of the general phrases from the poem if they were stuck. This really helped the students get their poems started. I asked them to try to write at least 14 lines, but many wrote more. We have been piloting the use of 10 tablets in our classroom - Surface 2 tablets, so we wanted to be able to incorporate this technology into our poetry, as well. We decided that when the groups were finished writing their poems (and after teacher approval) they would use the whiteboards and the video camera on the tablets to make a whiteboard movie or slideshow of their poems. They used one whiteboard per line, stacked them all up, and then got ready to shoot their movies. Most groups chose to make a video of their poems, but a few groups took individual pictures of each whiteboard (slide) and then put them together into a slideshow. Both worked equally well. We didn't read the poems out loud on the videos - the students thought it would be more powerful if the video was silent. Here is a completed example of one of the poems my students wrote. This group was made up of two 6th grade students. The video you see is one I took on my iPad, standing behind them while they made a video on their tablet. One student took the video, and one student was reponsible for changing the whiteboards. On the video they took, you can only see the one stack of whiteboards (not the stack of removed whiteboards) - mine shows the whole process so you can have a better idea of what we did. When all the groups were finished, we shared the poems with the whole class by projecting them onto the board. What a great project!! (Here is the link if you can't view the movie below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO_B9gS58wg)

If the success of female-centric biopics like 'Hidden Figures' has taught Hollywood anything, it's that there are riches to be found in the lives of history-making women.

Turn run-on sentences into compound sentences worksheets. A basic way to fix a run-on sentence is to form a compound sentence by joining the two ideas with a comma and a coordinating conjunction such as and, but, or, so or yet. Free printable worksheets from K5 Learning.

Swedish photographer Sannah Kvist created a collection of photographs entitled "All I Own" where students were pictured with a sculpture of all their possessions inspiring anticonsumerism.

One of my most favorite classroom activities to do is Composition. I just love, after teaching students the basics, watching them go through the creative process. I just love watching them as they realize that they can create a melody that sounds pretty. The smiles that come with this activity are so worth it! For […]

I think this plan ticks a lot of boxes! I would definitely say yes to this one. I like the separation of the bedrooms. That is, the kids would be up the back with their own space and the parents down the front with their own sitting room. I love…

A blog about elementary music education.

September 15, 2017 - Amazing! I'm sure I'm late to the party, but at least I'm here! And my favourite... DrP

To create characters as real as the people around us, we must remember to forge for them their own unique voices. With individual personalities, cultural influences, experiences, and world views, its no wonder people verbally interact with the world in different ways, and so our characters should

Fourth graders created their own choreography for some of the dances from Act II of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" ballet. Here is Mrs. John's…

Looking for drama activities for kids? Drama Notebook has a huge collection of drama lesson plans, scripts, skits and drama curriculum.

The Tang dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an interre

My husband is the art teacher and often has extra materials he can't use. (Many parents donate excess graph paper, card stock, and other supplies.) I spied several brightly colored tongue depressors in his room a few weeks ago. When I asked if he had plans for them, he said "no" and gladly handed them over. We've been preparing do and reviewing sol mi la songs in 2nd grade so I thought the sticks would provide a different way to practice constructing known songs. I used the following songs: Ickle Ockle Blue Bottle No Robbers Out Today Lucy Locket We Are Dancing in the Forest I have a SMART Board file with each song written out in stick notation (with the solfa written in underneath the rhythm.) After printing out copies of each song I cut them up in 4 beat phrases and glued each phrase on one side of the stick. On the other side is a small picture indicating what song the phrase is from. (You can see the little pictures near the song titles.) After reviewing the songs, we made a circle and students select one stick each. (One fun way to choose sticks is to play Apple Tree and have the eliminated student pick a stick until everyone has one.) Students identify their "teammates" by finding those who have the same color and picture on their song stick. Each team rebuilds their assigned song as a team and practices singing and body signing the song. Once a team is confident their song is built correctly, they request a song sheet from me and check to see if it matches. 2nd graders check their song Are all of my students able to put together a known sol mi la song from memory with the stick notation? No way. How can make this activity a successful learning experience for everyone? Well... Many students will benefit from being in a group where they can work together. Some students with stronger skills have the option of building their song with a partner, (there are always uneven groups so this is a great way divvy out the song sticks.) Some groups build their song with the song sheet in hand. Yes, they are essentially copying the song. This is still a reinforcement of the melody, rhythm and form of the song and those students can still be successful. I'm all about doing the same old thing in a slightly different way. (And I just love those colorful song sticks!)

Besides the usual vocabulary and grammar, discover other categories you can include in your author's notebook to improve your writing.

This is a great story writing activity! This set can be used as a center or for group lessons. The story writing cubes enable students to roll for a character, a setting, and a problem. First, they record their answers on the writing paper. Then the students can use the information to create their own narrative story using the elements provided on the cubes. The writing cubes give beginning writers the foundation they need to imagine and create amazing stories while enhancing their writing skills! This product aligns with the following common core standard: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to creative a narrative story

As summer approaches, I always find myself thinking about specific students and wondering how they will do at home all summer long. One simple activity I like to do with them before the end of the year is build a coping toolbox that they can use at home during the summer.

It is important for young readers and writers to know how to read and write abbreviations. This post features engaging lessons and activities to help students master abbreviations.

Check out our blog for tonnes of ideas, inspiration and resources as well as the latest news from Teacher's Pet and Bostik!

There’s nothing better in this hard, chaotic world than gifting yourself a movie night. Whether it’s binge-watching your favorite sit-com, or seeing the new movie everyone’s talking about, nobody can take the magic away from it. Your good old couch is surely a big part of this, and out of respect, we should call the lonely, shabby sofas out there our precious "domestic movie theaters."

Kamp Kephart 2016 See below for the Kamp Kephart 2016 class schedule taught by Steve Watts at the Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia, NC. Space is limited so sign up quick! To download the registration form in PDF, click here >>—> KAMP KEPHART 2016. Check out Steve Watts FaceBook Page!

It's that time of year when I feel like I am chasing daylight and running against the clock of the cold winter night to get everything I want to get done in daylight. The act of daylight growing dim and having to turn on secondary lighting is something I really only find myself doing in the wintertime, but I love the act so much. Whether it be lighting candles, utilizing lamps, or even just the festive lights on the Christmas tree. Today I am sharing with you 5 candlelit scroll stoppers. These are 5 images that I have been inspired