Here's a quick reference for writing ballroom or dance scenes.
The Well-Trained Mind's chapters 5 and 6 are jammed with useful information about grammar stage reading, writing, and arithmetic.
If you want to send your readers into a 3AM reading frenzy, these ideas could help!
Help! There’s a grammar test
Writing advice that I think is often misinterpreted, unhelpful, or applied in ways I disagree with.
Some of my favourite first lines.
Ah yes, torturing readers, your favourite hobby!
How do writers create characters readers love to hate? How can you create your own Dolores Umbridge or Ramsey Bolton?
Here's a guide to writing cozy fantasy, including some examples of the subgenre and some ideas to get you started.
7 weeks I have been teaching again My head is spinning But I feel like I am finally starting to get back up to speed So much has changed for me And in education Since I last had a class of my own 6…
Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing and feed your love of the English language.
We are fortunate to homeschool at a time when there are so many fantastic homeschool language arts curriculum options available. I tend to think that language arts is the most important subject for elementary students
Welcome to Teacher's Pet your one stop shop for all of the very best in classroom resources including, posters, labels, games, activities, challenge cards, bunting and so, so much more!
I awoke to catch the 4:45am Friday train to NYC so I could be part of a school visit to PS41 in Greenwich Village starting at 9am. I arrived in time and spent the day observing grades K-5 doing reading and writing workshop. Here are some of the clear and purposeful anchor charts I saw hung at PS41: In 1st grade: Writing: Generating Ideas Charts in a 3rd grade classroom: Writing Realistic Fiction Anchor charts in a 4th grade classroom: Jotting in a 2nd grade classroom: THEN SATURDAY....TCRWP SATURDAY REUNION!!!!! When Students read book we don’t know by Alex Marron Teachers can’t read everything our kids are reading. Instead of trying to, try to do this: 1.Read the first book in several popular series. 2.Read a variety of genres so you are familiar with HOW that genre goes and see if kids understand the way the genre goes when you conference with them. 3.Go to your strongest readers and ask them for recommendations. They know! 4.Get kids excited about the series YOU are reading by buzzing about these books. Then they will be reading books you know! 5.KNOW how books go at each level. Then see if they are doing the kind of thinking required at this level. KNOW How Books GO at each level: KLM books have: •General, predictable characters •Character that always wants something and in the end they get something •but it might be different than what they first wanted (EX: In Those Shoes, Jeremy wants shoes but gets a friend) •Multi-syllabic words (are they being problem-solvers of tricky words?) •More domain specific words (can they understand these words in context?) •Character will not change but their FEELINGS will. •We can help these readers to identify the feeling of the character, track his feeling across the book, and state how the feeling changes NOPQ books have: •Characters that change and learn a lesson •We can help them track character in beg, note changes by the end •Multiple plot lines •Are students aware of this? Also pay attention to what is happening both internally and externally •Lots of figurative language •Do they “get it”? Teach them how to attack understanding of idioms using the context •EX: Ramona, Amber Brown RST books have: •Setting becomes important and is like a character •Especially in HF and Fantasy. Do they have a sense of place? Are they reading the long descriptions and visualizing? •Character Traits are not explicitly stated •Characters are more than one way •Push them by asking “And what else? Are they different in different situations? •Underlying plot lines •The plot may start somewhere in the storyline (not always at the very beginning) and the reader needs to suspend comprehension, hold onto what is happening and ask LOTS of questions. Soon it will all make sense. •EX: Great Gilly Hopkins UVW books have: •Characters are VERY complex and nuanced •It may not be until the very end that we understand the character because the book is more of a journey; The character has multiple traits and internal factors also influence who they are externally •Big shifts occur in time •flashbacks / flashforwards / structure may be diff perspectives told by chapter •Symbolism •Something stands for more. What does it really stand for? Are their things repeated? •Themes •What is it really about? •Variety of Language structures Knowing characteristics of bands of books can help us anticipate the hurdles are students may have. We can teach into the skills they need to read and understand the books they are reading. General questions to ask when you don’t know the book: 1.What seems important so far? 2.What themes, issues, lessons are you noticing? 3.What have you learned about the character so far? Show me a part in the book that told you that. NOTE: if they seem to only retell, you know they are reading for plot. So teach into the other strategies (character traits, setting, themes, symbolism Great New Books – Suggested by Rob Ross Two great historical fiction books set in the time of the Civil Rights Movement. BOOKS BY JEREMY TANKARD: NONFICTION BOOKS by Nicola Davies, Molly, Bang and Gail Gibbons: Lucy shared highlights of the NEW Units for teaching Writing that can be purchased through Heinemann come April. The Unit sets are GRADE SPECIFIC. http://www.heinemann.com/products/E04717.aspx NEXT Reunion Saturday - March 9th and Katherine Paterson will be the Keynote Speaker!
#post_excerptA free selection of free ks2 worksheets is available to print, taken from various subjects. Help your kids to learn even at home. Identify what lesson/subject that your kid is still struggling with, match up the grade and find the worksheet here!
Most people think of Language Arts as a formal, tedious grammar program. but essentially, language flows naturally from listening and mimicking (copying) and speaking to reading and writing. (Thin…
A plot hole is a gap, contradiction or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the internal logic of the story. It's the kind of slip-up that makes switched-on readers say, "Wait, hang on a second!"
Teaching grammar and punctuation skills are essential in your classroom writing program. Ensure you cover these skills in your daily writing program.
This is a Narrative Writing unit that lays the foundation for holding writing workshop in your classroom using the Narrative Writing Genre! Your students will LOVE this unit as you guide them through Narrative Writing with: *Narrative Writing MUST HAVES guide poster (establish a situation, elements of plot, character development, point of view, temporal/transition words, dialogue) *Jack and the Beanstalk Narrative Unit where students write a narrative from the Giant's Point of View complete with an anchor paper/drafting papers/rubric (JUST ADDED!) *writing stages bookmark (students can keep track of where they are in the writing process with this) *writing stages posters with descriptions of each *writing topics brainstorming paper with example *editing marks poster with visual examples *self-conferencing checklists(lower/upper version) *Teacher Conference Sign-Up *Author's Chair Poster/Sign-Up *Revising for Dialogue/Prepositional Phrases *Narrative Writing Rubric
7 weeks I have been teaching again My head is spinning But I feel like I am finally starting to get back up to speed So much has changed for me And in education Since I last had a class of my own 6…
Teaching students how to write a paragraph is not an easy task! Especially since many children struggle to put their thoughts down on paper.
Expanding Sentences Anchor Chart and Mini-Lesson
It's simple: copy and paste your text into the online editor to check grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Find the best words to improve any text instantly using GrammarCheck's AI-powered grammar checker.
Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing and feed your love of the English language.
Help your struggling writers to write a simple four-paragraph essay. Includes: 18 Writing Topics and Organizers Simple Student Directions Writing Pages with Directions for each paragraph Essay Paragraph Starters Editing/Revision Checklist Final Copy writing paper ASSESSMENT TOOLS INCLUDED! Opinion Writing Rubric, Checklists, & Learning Targets (Provides a way to give your struggling writers quick and easy feedback so they can make improvements right away). This pack can be done as an RTI program and is simple enough to send home as extra writing practice for your struggling writers. Please let me know if you have any questions. The preview will provide you with a closer look at what is included. Thank you for visiting my store! Kathy O
We are fortunate to homeschool at a time when there are so many fantastic homeschool language arts curriculum options available. I tend to think that language arts is the most important subject for elementary students
Parts of speech are important in learning English because they help us understand how words work together in sentences. Just like puzzle pieces fit together to create a picture, parts of speech fit together to create meaningful sentences. When we know the different parts of speech, we can use them to build sentences correctly. It’s […]
This post contains affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure policy for more information. Welcome back to Simple Writing Lessons for the Primary Grades, a 12-week collaborative writing series, hosted by The Measured Mom and This Reading Mama (that’s me)! If you have missed any of the lessons we’ve covered so far, click here to ... Read More about Make it Interesting for the Reader: A Simple Writing Strategy {Week 4}
Paragraph writing is a big challenge for many students. This post includes a step-by-step method to help your students write great paragraphs in no time.
Welcome to Teacher's Pet your one stop shop for all of the very best in classroom resources including, posters, labels, games, activities, challenge cards, bunting and so, so much more!
