For my poetry unit, I co-taught in a classroom with a peer and we planned together with another classmate. The three of us took our lessons into fourth grade classrooms, one in Watagua County and the other in Avery County. Our sequence went as follows: Day #1: Poetry performances! Students watch an example of a…
Poetry Unit!
Hey yall! My partners and I finished up teaching our poetry unit focusing on strategies and techniques to help students develop descriptive and relatable poetry. we used figurative language, comparisons, our five senses, imagery, and our musical toolbox to help readers transport into our poems. It was so much fun to collaborate with peers and…
Let’s talk revision…
Do you ever feel like you put so much effort into a first draft and it is not exactly what you expected? Personally, I used to feel discouraged because my writing would not turn out how I visioned it. The emotions I wanted to convey were not there or the words I used sounded like…
Let’s talk shoutouts…
One thing that I LOVE about the teaching community is the people! There are so many creative and collaborative individuals all over the world who inspire and share their own work so that others can learn to help their students too. One individual that I would like to point out is Sydney, who just so…
Let’s Talk Poetry Centers…
To me, teaching poetry sounds even scarier than reading and writing it. How am I supposed to teach something that I, myself, am not very comfortable with?? I have to constantly remind myself that it is okay to not know everything because I am a lifelong learner who wants to encourage a growth mindset in…
Let’s Talk More Poetry…
I wanted to share a personal experience with poetry this week. My best friend passed away last November and I went home to the funeral which was beautiful. The entire service was perfect in capturing his spirit. During the service his mother read an Irish Blessing that has stuck with me ever since. For me…
Let’s Talk Poetry…
The word “poetry” causes a flood of emotions and memories from past experiences. I remember my dad reading to me from the Shel Silverstein’s poetry collections before bed almost every night. For a long time, that was my singular idea of poetry. As we continued to study poetry through school, through very short units, I…
Unit for Launching Writer’s Notebook
Lucy Calkins writes,“Success in writing, like success in reading or tennis or swimming, directly relates to the amount of time a person spends doing that thing. This means that day after day, children need to write. They need to write for long stretches or time–for something like thirty or forty minutes of each day’s writing…
Let’s Talk Developing a Personal Story…
Figured out a topic to write about? Now what? Where do you start once you have narrowed down an idea? Well, you’re in luck! Let’s look at one way you can begin to develop details of a personal story through describing the scene using all five senses: “Adding Details Through Questioning” Hook: Read aloud Rachel…
Let’s Talk Maps…
This week I want to talk about maps and the significance they have in our everyday lives, even when we might not know it. I have maps hanging up in my room and they represent a story, or maybe more so of a lost story, that remind me of what could have been or what…
Let's Talk Lit 