Category Archives: writing

The end is near! Letters to next year’s students

Cassie Medley, graphic organizer, strategies, writing,

Can you tell it is May?  Are your students acting as crazy as mine?  Don’t worry, the end is near. We just need to get them to hang on for a couple more weeks!

Throughout the year I have students keep all of their work in binders within my classroom and at the end of each unit we empty most of the material out.  What remains in the binder for the entire school year are the maps from each unit and a vocab log that my students have kept through the year as a resource when common vocabulary words are addressed in multiple units.  As I was working to wrap-up my content and start emptying student supplies out of my classroom, I wanted to come up with a way to check  student vocab logs without having to go through and grade each individual binder (80 students x 50+ words, no thanks!).

So, I had my students write a letter to the 6th graders that I will have next year as 7th graders, using the words from their vocab log to explain what the 6th graders would be learning in my class. Continue reading The end is near! Letters to next year’s students →

Trading Cards, ReadWriteThink, and the Common Core

best practice, common core, Glenn Wiebe, graphic organizer, lesson plans, reading, strategies, writing, , , ,

trading card 1We’ve always asked our kids to read. Informational text. Primary sources. Non-fiction. Fiction. Poetry. We’ve always asked our kids to write. Summaries. Research. Reviews. Reaction papers.

At least, that’s been the theory. Good social studies and history instruction has always included these things but I think that sometimes we can forget how critical reading and writing skills are to what we do. The Common Core, for better or worse, has been a good reminder for us. We need to have our kids read, write, and communicate much more.

The problem for many of us?

Uh . . . what does that look like again?

Continue reading Trading Cards, ReadWriteThink, and the Common Core →

Tools 4 Students

Cassie Medley, graphic organizer, ipad, lesson plans, strategies, technology, writing

I promise I’m not going to spend the whole blog using text language!  Tools 4 Students and Tools 4 Students 2 are actually the names of a great app that I use in my classroom to get students working with technology and cutting down on the amount of time that I have to spend in front of a copy machine.

Between the two versions of this app there are 50 different graphic organizers that are both premade and editable for teachers and students to create their own.  Continue reading Tools 4 Students →

Literacy strategies and book sites

books, common core, Glenn Wiebe, literacy, reading, strategies, writing, , ,

Feeling a bit uneasy about how to respond to the Common Core Literacy Standards for History / Government? Struggling with what that looks like? Need a few ideas and suggestions for integrating reading and writing into your social studies instruction?

Here ya go! Continue reading Literacy strategies and book sites →