One of our favourite books is Julia Donaldson's The Gruffalo. All right - it's one of my favourite books - but my enthusiasm is contagious - so the kids love it too. As well as being a perfect story for reading, watching (the BBCOne production is delightful), and retelling -- ...
One of the Eric Carle books that just has to be read and enjoyed every year is The Very Grouchy Ladybug. We love the art work, as a teacher I embrace the math concepts, and we enjoy all the animals. But we wonder, why does that ladybug need to be so grouchy! ...
3 clues and a brown paper bag I finally found a way to do show and tell that I not only could live with, but actually like and enjoyed. I had banned show and tell from my classroom for a number of years. I could not stand the "bring and brag" that it often turned into. ...
Some school years are defined by a particular event or activity. This year we all fell in love with the same book. The Book with No Pictures author: B. J. Novak illustrator: no pictures! publisher: Dial Books (September, 2014) ...
One of my favourite back to school reads is Robert Munsch's We Share Everything. author: Robert Munsch illustrator: Michael Martchenko publisher: Cartwheel Press, 2002, 1999 hilarious for children 3-5 ...
Mo Willems does it again (The man is brilliant.) A new book. Not Pigeon. Not Piggie and Elephant. Not Knuffle Bunny. A wily fox, a plump goose and baby goslings. That Is Not a Good Idea creative genius: Mo Willems published by Balzer + Bray April ...
chatper 7: I Thought I Knew How to Teach Reading - but Whoa! I was really hoping that this chapter would give me the magic ticket to teach reading. A list of to dos: turn three times clockwise under a silver moon, clap 3 syllable words twice a week, read a ...
I got two letters in the mail yesterday. My name on the front, stamps: Old School Mail. And not just any mail. Letters from 2 fabulous 5 year old boys. A crab to remember the fun that we had on Beach Day. This friend is an expert beach explorer. On ...
Pete has his school shoes on and he's heading to school. This time he's not walking. No siree. No strawberries. No blueberries. No puddles. Not that that would faze him. This time he has wheels. Those wheels go round and round. And it's all good. Pete ...
chapter 1 chapters 2 and 3 chapters 4, 5 and 6 These chapters get us down to the classroom. What does effective reading instruction look like and sound like in the classroom. Down to earth, practical, how can I change things up on Monday morning kind ...
chapter 3: Vygotsky Takes a Seat in Our Classroom Lev Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development has always seemed completely logical. (The most complicated thing about it is its name.) source: wikipedia Picture a parent with a baby learning to walk. The ...
We read a lot of stories in kindergarten. (One of my responsibilities to create, grow and nurture a love of books in my kid lets.) Many books we read and reread. I was curious what book was the class favourite. So, I put together a collection of books that we had ...
going to the free book store "Access to books is the key to reversing the [summer] reading slide." - Dr. Richard Allington and Dr. Anne McGill-Franzen. Last month I attended a Kindergarten Summit that focused on research proven strategies to help struggling ...
