Creating a Classroom Library Here's how I organized my classroom library. There is no right or wrong way to organize your library and these ideas are simply how I choose to organize mine. Just below is a picture of my second grade library in progress. It is amazing how it transforms! I have combined my library and my meeting area. You can see the bright cheery carpet, lamp and tons and tons of books! Getting started Mark the books I highly suggest labeling the books as coming from your library. Decide on your sorting system One of the most difficult things to figure out is how to sort all of your books. In my classroom I have chosen to sort by books by topic and author. I am also a big fan of keeping books in books bins. Here is a close-up of my book bins (or book baskets): Decide on the book categories When I first started my classroom library, I did not have any preconceived categories that I wanted to use. Here are some of the categories into which I have decided to divide my books: Catalog the books Creating the labels
Am I Missing Something, Or Are There Very Few Online Tools That Can Help Students Write An Essay? World Bank Photo Collection via Compfight This post was originally one lamenting the lack of good online student essay-writing tools, but I’ve turned it into a “Best” list – even though I don’t think there are any that fit the bill for me. I’ve got a ton of tools on The Best Places Where Students Can Write Online. Many let you create picture books, create multimedia projects, and write a blog. But hardly any provide any scaffolded support for a student to actually write a “standard” essay. John Spencer’s Write About site, which I’ve previously written about in “Write About” May Be The Education Site Of The Year offers some of that. A site I learned about today called Write Well has some potential, though its scaffolded instructions are pretty meager and there are no models (they have, however, since made some improvements). Reader “mrsporterdcis” recommends SAS Curriculum Pathways’ Writing Navigator: What are tools that you use that I don’t know about? “Zoom In!”
For the Love of Teaching default Highland Park Central - home 4 Writing Tips to Help the Writing Process My student cried when I showed her how to voice type in Google. Then, instead of 90 words in one class period, she typed 500. She edited it. She turned it in early. Tears of joy happen when the right tool is taught to the right student. Technology isn’t flashy. Teachers are busy. I require students to use Spellcheck and Grammar tools before turning in work. 4 Writing Tips for Students Tutorial Video My 4 Favorite Student Writing Tips that Make Writing Easier Writing Tip #1: Use Grammarly www.grammarly.com Grammarly is awesome. How to Get the Basic Version of Grammarly Free (Read this First) Go to Grammarly using the Chrome web browser.Firefox and Internet Explorer take you in an endless loop. Now, Grammarly will check basic grammar. The Grammarly status bar. When grading student work, I paste all papers into Grammarly and turn on the plagiarism checker. When you check your writing, it generates citations for works you quote. Grammar Coaching Tip. Writing Tip #2: Use the Hemingway App
The Teacher Studio: Learning, Thinking, Creating: Historical Fiction, Here We Come! Well, my fourth graders and I are NEARLY finished with our feature articles unit...and, boy, have we had a blast! They have learned so much about different text structures, how to take a topic and "spin" it to make it more appealing--not to mention all the new tech skills they learned like inserting photos with citations, and so on. So...next on the list? Historical fiction! I LOVE historical fiction! This whole week I have been working to realign my unit "stuff" with the Common Core, and it was a big relief to finish that tonight! Here is my request/challenge/bribe...I am asking for suggestions as to other historical fiction books you have read with students and loved! So...leave me book suggestions over the next two days, and I will have my son draw the name out of a hat (could be a plastic baggie--just trying to be honest here) sometime Saturday morning and I will ship off all 64 pages of that bad boy right to the winner's emailbox!
A to Z Book Directory A to Z Book Directory The House That Jane Built No More “What Did You Do this Summer?”: 8 Questions We Should Ask Our Students as We Start the Year | jennyfroehle School begins this month in millions of classrooms, and as teachers begin to build a learning community with 25-180 unknown humans who will enter their classroom spaces, many of us will ask some version of the question “What did you do this summer?” I know what you’re thinking. “No we won’t. We are so beyond that.” We will. It might sound like “tell me about your family” or “tell me something you want me to know about yourself” or “tell me what you’re good at” or “interview/introduce the kid sitting next to you.” And this is fine. And I’d be missing the boat just a bit. (Apologies to those of you who hate sentences beginning quite ungrammatically with coordinating conjunctions. New research shows that the students I will greet next week likely will not work in a traditional economy. They will need to be constant learners and scanners of “what’s out there?” What questions do I ask the people who will live and work in that world as they come through my classroom door for the very first time?
verbs analysis Dirty Hands and Lesson Plans Cynthia Rylant Resources for Assessment in Project-Based Learning Project-based learning (PBL) demands excellent assessment practices to ensure that all learners are supported in the learning process. With good assessment practices, PBL can create a culture of excellence for all students and ensure deeper learning for all. We’ve compiled some of the best resources from Edutopia and the web to support your use of assessment in PBL, including information about strategies, advice on how to address the demands of standardized tests, and summaries of the research. PBL Assessment Foundations 10 Tips for Assessing Project-Based Learning (Edutopia, 2011) This comprehensive guide from Edutopia goes over many best practices for assessment, including authentic products, good feedback, formative assessment, and digital tools. Back to Top PBL and Formative Assessment Practices PBL Pilot: Formative Assessment in PBL (Edutopia, 2015) In another blog post from Matt Weyers, find great tips on using formative assessment within the PBL process to drive student learning.
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