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The books featured in this post, all of which were published in 2015, represent a variety of information writing. All of these are texts that can pull double- and even triple-duty in your classroom, thereby allowing you to use a text during read-aloud time so you can revisit it during a writing workshop minlesson and/or in a content area.

Melissa Stewart, award-winning author of more than 150 nonfiction books for children, steps into our Author's Spotlight today. In her post, she shares about the chunk and check process, which will help your students conduct research.

Tomorrow marks the last of our research days in writing workshop.  When we return to school next week, my sixth graders will begin the process of sifting through their research and drafting their… Read More →

If you’re planning to launch independent writing projects in your class during the final weeks of school, then you’ll most likely have several students who might want to write a book about a… Read More →

Yesterday I heard James Kofi Annan tell his story of child slave to business man to freedom fighter for the children in Ghana. Check out this CNN video for a taste of what I had the privilege of hearing first hand. His story moved me and compelled me to think about how I can use my corner [...]

Yesterday I heard James Kofi Annan tell his story of child slave to business man to freedom fighter for the children in Ghana. Check out this CNN video for a taste of what I had the privilege of hearing first hand. His story moved me and compelled me to think about how I can use my corner [...]

Martha Horn is coming to NE Indiana on October 14, hosted by the All-Write Consortium. I’m super excited to hear her thoughts about teaching our youngest writers. If you are interested in attending, just click here for registration information. Do you know her book, Teaching, Drawing, and Writing? She wrote it along with Mary Ellen [...]

Today I conferred with a fourth grade girl who was doing her best to write a feature article. I watched her for a few minutes before I conferred with her and noticed she had several pages written, but also seemed to be copying the research she printed (at home) about her topic. I pulled up [...]

I’ve just gotta tell you, I attended an incredible writing celebration today. Not only was the celebration itself cool, but the way it evolved rocked too. It was a true collaboration. It is teachers like Gretchen and Christi who push me to become a better teacher. So the celebration . . . how do I [...]

Earlier this month, The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice, which is written by Wendy Pfeffer and illustrated by Linda Bleck, was released by Dutton Children’s Books.  The Longest Day is non-fiction, but it reads like fiction since Pfeffer paints vivid in the reader’s mind with the language she purposefully selects.  The vivid language she [...]

My students published their research-based essays on the Holocaust this morning, which was not a small feat! I was so incredibly proud of their diligence and desire to produce a quality piece of writing during the final month of the school year.  After their celebration, they went to recess and lunch.  When they returned, [...]

I was at the computer this morning when my students created a pretty basic rubric for their final unit of study’s essays. The following is what they created. They’ll use it to self-assess their essays and I’ll use it to give them their final grade of the school year. [...]

My students and I agreed to a form that I would use to provide them with feedback on the drafts of their research-based essays.  We decided that it was a comprehensive way for me to quickly inform them whether their writing was clear and factual on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis (They’re only turning in the three [...]

My students and I agreed to a form that I would use to provide them with feedback on the drafts of their research-based essays.  We decided that it was a comprehensive way for me to quickly inform them whether their writing was clear and factual on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis (They’re only turning in the three [...]

(1)  Yesterday afternoon one of my students lingered a little bit after dismissal.  She said, “You know, I thought this research essay would be mad hard.” “What do you mean?” I asked. “I mean, I thought it would be mad hard to do all this research!  But it’s not.” “How come?” I asked. “‘Cuz it just feels easy.  We’re [...]

This-Coming Week’s Teaching Points Turned Into “I Can” Statements Originally uploaded by teachergal By the end of the week, these are the things my students will know they CAN do to help them write an essay that is based off of research. NOTE: The third bullet should say: “I can use literary examples to support my claim.” [...]

3 out of 18 Folders + Typed-Up Thesis Statements for the Entire Class Originally uploaded by teachergal Each of my students spent an extended time on the rug yesterday, crafting a thesis statement of his/her own for the essay they’re going to write. It was hard work, but they rose to the challenge! I actually [...]

Bubbl.us: Values and the Holocaust Originally uploaded by teachergal My students will be crafting their thesis statements for their essays today. As a pre-cursor to thesis creation, I had them complete a “Values Activity Sheet” from pg. 13 of the “This I Believe” Middle School Curriculum Guide. These were the values that seemed to be [...]

My students are embarking on their final unit of study of the school year. We’re doing research-based essays, which I’m attempting to tie-into the “This I Believe” Style. I have my teaching points and some of my charts (well, the ones for this week at least!) ready-to-go, but I’m still trying to write [...]

News & Announcements Chart for Monday, 11/10/08 Originally uploaded by teachergal In order to keep my demonstrations fresh, I’ve come to believe that I have to craft a NEW piece of writing each and every year for units I’ve taught in the past. If I don’t, then I find my teaching becomes stale. Plus, I [...]

Yesterday I was asked to expand “patches of thought” Essentially, patches of thought are little pieces of paper (could be index cards) on which students write mini-stories, lists, or other items that support a particular paragraph in an essay. It’s essentially the evidence that one feels will support a topic sentence within their [...]

Great news! The student who I blogged about yesterday went home and did the first of the graphic organizers last night. WOO-HOO! She really did a nice job working within the structure I set up for her. (Hopefully these scaffolds can be taken away in a couple of weeks.) Posted in non-narrative [...]

I’ll begin immersing my students in the literary essay genre tomorrow. I’m fortunate to have had some wonderful students last year who graciously allowed me to share their essays with future students to-come. Hence, I have quite a few literary essays copied, ready-to-go for my students to possibly use as mentor texts tomorrow. [...]

Castrillo de Murcia, Spain

Coordinates: 42 21 N 4 3 W

Population: 246 (2006 est.)

Certainly Pamplona’s running of the bulls and possibly the annual city-wide tomato fight in Buñol are well known outside of Spain, but the number of people aware of this Catholic country’s baby jumping tradition (yes, you read that right), is probably a lot smaller. (more…)

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