Tag Archives: elementary education

Slice of Life Day Challenge Day 2: On Timing

Whoo! Day two of the Slice of Life Challenge. Stick with me on this one. I promise this post has some fun in store. When you have a group of squirrelly fourth-graders on a beautiful spring day, And you have them for two full hours’ worth of literacy studio, And you know that some ofContinue reading “Slice of Life Day Challenge Day 2: On Timing”

Slice of Life Challenge, Day 1: Gone Fishin’

Hooray for the Slice of Life Challenge! This is year 4 for me – which is pretty tough to believe. I’m maybe a little proud of myself for sticking with it. Now…this is a year where life is a little…googly-eyed, shall we say. So, I’m not confident I’ll make it every day. I’ll sure giveContinue reading “Slice of Life Challenge, Day 1: Gone Fishin’”

Slice of Life Tuesday: Write-Along

Each year, I have my students craft forced association poems, where they pull together a poem that’s written about one thing…but it’s really about another. We start by thinking of places or things (usually in nature) important to us: that one lilac bush, the park we love to play at, a favorite tree. Then, weContinue reading “Slice of Life Tuesday: Write-Along”

Slice of Life Tuesday: The Important Thing

I love teaching units more than once. I get do-overs! Each year, my kids teach me more about how they learn, how best to reach them. And lucky me, I don’t even have to wait until the following year! Working at two schools, with two sets of kids, I get two tries for each lesson.Continue reading “Slice of Life Tuesday: The Important Thing”

Slice of Life Tuesday: Hidden Inspiration

Did you know that WordPress gives you a prompt when you start a new post? I certainly didn’t. I just kind of glossed over whatever print was under “add title” and took it from there without ever actually reading the text. I’m not sure what that says about me, but I’ll leave that up toContinue reading “Slice of Life Tuesday: Hidden Inspiration”

Slice of Life: Toying Around

Today’s post comes as part of Two Writing Teachers’ Slice of Life Tuesday. Give them a peek! As a teacher of gifted children, I’ve long used Frayer Models as a way of helping kids organize their thinking about topics. I’m all for ways to help kids visualize their thinking, develop generalizations, and synthesize their knowledge. ToContinue reading “Slice of Life: Toying Around”

Slice of Life: What If?

This week, our writing club played with the idea. What if? What if? What if? The kids came up with fantastic, insightful ideas. And throughout the next week, we’ll be posting them all around our schools for other kids to ponder about, to roll with, and – who knows? – maybe to write about.

Enjoy a sampling of sheer brilliance: