Flourishing an Idea: Before & After
Aesthetics is a set of principles that inform the outcome of a work of art. Aesthetics taps into that part of our being that connects with beauty. After reading The Mozart Season, students knew right away the section of the…
Let’s Talk Books
Nothing fosters the higher-order Critical Creative Thinking that allows students to form ideas and opinions about real life, more than hashing through a story in a discussion circle. What begins as an imagining in the mind of the writer is…
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…
Around the Campfire: Make Reading a Gift
Add a happy surprise into your student’s reading tradition. Choose a dozen books that will be easily devoured. Wrap the books up this month and put in a basket or a reading nook for your reader to open, one each…
Around the Campfire: Alphabatize
TIP #4 Alphabetize I have such fond memories of alphabetizing words, dictionary in hand. I loved the way the dictionary was organized, unlocking the system on each page, the guide words at the top—the left word directing me to…
Around the Campfire: Make Some Mistakes
Who doesn’t have a memory of the classic pink eraser? Back when I was in elementary school, the eraser was at once a tool for writing and a tool for printmaking—yes, printmaking! Essential tools were paperclips, stamp pads, and blank…
Around the Campfire: Adventuring into a Story!
TIP #2 Unplug! Increasingly in our world, we all know electronics have played a bigger and bigger role in our lives. With the advantage, comes a great deal of disadvantage we all are trying to mitigate, especially when it comes…