A Reason for Handwriting
About a dozen years ago, a friend shared with me that she decided to bypass teaching her children the art of penmanship. Her children would jump straight to keyboarding: “This is the computer age. Cursive handwriting is archaic. Why do…
Imagine a Big Idea: A State Quilt
The big idea was to study our state in detail for one full school year, learning its basic geography and all the state symbols. There was no pattern. We just designed it the way we wanted it as we journeyed…
Moving BEYOND the Topic Sentence
Squirrels are everywhere. That’s for sure! Most young writers have had a squirrel encounter or two. Tapping into a rich storehouse of knowledge is a great place to learn to craft a HOOK—not a topic sentence, a HOOK! The best…
Meet Kimberly
Me? What if I told you that the day my grandmother gave me a dinky white portable typewriter I made each of my family members mailboxes for The Friday Night Flash out of a Captain Crunch cereal box? What…
On Looking Closely…
The habit of observing is habit worth developing—a habit of being. Observation of simple objects is the best way to begin your Observation Journal—think shell, spoon, marshmallow, apple. Begin this activity in kindergarten and continue through 12th grade! Create an…
Crafting a Wonder-FULL Sentence is Courageous
Staring down the blank page is a courageous endeavor. Where to begin? We say: Begin with a BOOK! BIG ideas are sparked by knowledge + curiosity. “All you need to do is write one TRUE sentence,” so said great American…
Coming this APRIL: The Wonderful World of Phonics
Do your students shut down at the mention of reading? Do they cringe when you gently hand them a freshly sharpened pencil, suggesting it’s time to write an idea? Some students need a little extra support to unlock the code…
Leonardo Coming Soon!
Look Imagine Create “All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” ~Leonardo da Vinci…
Sentences are Poetry!
How do we get students excited to write a sentence? I’d start the lesson with this whopping fact: Every year more than a SEPTILLION snowflakes fall on Earth. Hundreds of inches of snow falls on the Sierra Nevadas here in…
Words are Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
To read is to imagine. To imagine is to story tell. To story tell is to write. This last weekend we went and saw my son in a performance of Mary Poppins. He had been rehearsing for months and it…