Welcome to my blog on Balanced Literacy

My goal is to establish a format for ideas and discussions of best practices in reading and writing.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Book review by Jack the Russell

Jack is an avid reader.  Sometimes, he becomes exhausted from all of the reading, but after a brief nap, he's back at it.  He's already begun his summer reading.  His first book was A Dog's Purpose, by Bruce Cameron, which is not just another "dead dog" book.  Of course, he loved it.  One dog is followed through several lives with different owners.  In the end, our dog hero discovers his purpose with people .  This book would be appropriate for sixth, seventh or eigth grader readers who are dog lovers.  Beware, there are parts that are very emotional, but Jack felt it was well worth the tears!


Curriculum Mapping - Plugging what we know into next year's units.


Putting all of the pieces together!

 Lily helping me put the information into an excel spreadsheet.

Great Writing Power Point from writingfix.com

For those of you who want to improve your skills over the summer,  here's a great Power Point that shows examples of mentor texts and how to use them with writing workshop lessons. 
http://corbettharrison.com/documents/7Elements/7Elements_Mentor_Texts_WritingFix.pdf

Saturday, May 14, 2011

How many teachers does it take to screw in a projector?

A special thanks to Jeremy and David for being taller than me! Susan

Monday, May 2, 2011

Web sites for Critical Literary Lessons

Christopher Columbus Journal Entry
Columbus Think Quest
Christopher Columbus Biography and video

Web Sites Critical Literacy Lessons

American Revolution
Son of the American Revolution
Liberty! The American Revolution
American Revolution

Two Writing Teachers Blog

This is a great blog for teachers of writing. Someday, I hope this blog will be as wonderful. In the meantime, take a look for ideas and inspiration. Susan

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Aurora - Junior High

Mrs. Land brings her students up front for a mini-lesson on how to write good research questions.

Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children

If your focus is nonfiction, the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children is a great place to go to get the very best. Susan

Aurora - Robinson Elementary Anchor Charts



Robinson Elementary Classrooms are posting anchor charts that reflect mini-lessons that are being taught. It's exciting to see student thinking supported with visual information about reading and writing!