Monthly Archives: November 2011

NCTE 2011 Recap: Katie Wood Ray and Lisa Cleveland

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Kristin

On Saturday morning I woke up early to see Katie Wood Ray.  I have been a fan for years and seen her speak several times.  Her session at NCTE did not disappoint.  Katie spends most of her time teaching, observing … Continue reading →

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NCTE 2011 Recap: Seymour Simon, Linda Hoyt, Ann Marie Corgill & Ellin Keene

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Kristin

WOW!  The NCTE conference was terrific this year!  I’m still recovering from information overload.  My brain is literally full. Now that I’ve acquired all this new learning, it’ time to process it and actively use it… First, a big thank … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Book Reviews, Inquiry, Professional Books, Professional Development, Writer's Workshop | 4 Comments

Customizing The World

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Katie

In my coat room I have an ugly dirty greyish cabinet that I use for storage.  It’s covered with old magnetic words that were given to me  many years ago.  The students enjoy playing with them to create odd sentences … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Cloning Myself

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Katie

I’m lucky enough to have a day to work on creating content for my iPads.  My loose plan is to create some instructional videos in math to better differentiate teaching some concepts.  I’ve seen Jennie Cho Magiera do this with … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Inquiry, iPad, Math, Technology | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Using Google Forms in 1st grade

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Kristin

We’ve got pets on the brain.  For the past few weeks we have been reading about pets.  We’ve written nonfiction text and poems about pets.  We’ve collected data on pets, taken informal surveys of favorite pets and graphed our results.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Collaboration, Inquiry, iPad, Technology | 2 Comments

Come See Us At NCTE!

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Katie

We’ll be at the NCTE convention next week.  I’m already sifting through the amazing offerings trying to figure out which sessions to attend.  On Sunday we’ll be presenting with some colleagues on Inquiry Circles in the classroom.  Stop by and … Continue reading →

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Friday Read Aloud

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Katie

I breathed out slowly.  Twenty-nine pairs of eyes looked at me pleadingly.  Don’t stop reading they begged.  Don’t stop.  I flipped ahead a few pages but I didn’t need to.  I knew what was coming.  If I kept reading today … Continue reading →

Posted in Slice of Life | 9 Comments

A Place for Books

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Katie

Several weeks ago I was doing some work at two wonderful little elementary schools in Wisconsin.  While both schools had wonderful meeting facilities I have to admit I was a little jealous of the book room at one of them.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Fifth Graders and Their Intellectual Property

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Katie

A few weeks ago I launched a list article unit of study in writing workshop.  Our goal was to give kids a highly structured format to follow as they dipped their toe into the magazine writing genre.  As part of … Continue reading →

Posted in iPad, Writer's Workshop | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Thinking about writing with Matt Glover: Part 2

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Kristin

Reading Matt’s book, you’ll find that he does not refer to student writing as fiction or nonfiction.  He recognizes the blurred line in young children’s writing and notices how sometimes books start out as nonfiction and turn into fiction text. … Continue reading →

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