Teachers love novel studies. Students LOVE novel studies. However, novel studies can be a struggle for several reasons. As a teacher, I want to talk about EVERY. SINGLE. THING. That’s obviously not always the best option. Because, well, the novel study would take 2ish years. Still, I wanted my students to dig into the richness… Continue reading Novel Study for Any Novel
Category: Close Reading
Diverse Picture Books
Every year or so there is an introduction of a new buzz word among educators. A few from the past few years have been empathy and diversity. The thing with "buzz words" is that they tend to come and go. What does not need to happen with these particular words in our classroom is the latter; they don't need to go.… Continue reading Diverse Picture Books
Text Analysis Carousel Activity
The Winter Olympics are here again and my kiddos and I have been enjoying not only reading, but watching the Olympics and gearing up for our own version of 6th Grade Winter Olympic Games in a few weeks! As well as reading and writing and reading and writing and reading and writing like the gold… Continue reading Text Analysis Carousel Activity
Text Analysis Lesson
Lemme just tell you. This lesson is amazing for lots of reasons. It gets your kids up and moving. They want to move. Hence, fidget spinner mania. It gets your kids collaborating with one another. It forces your students to "out smart" one another, in the friendly spirit of academic excellence of course. (Duh.) It forces your… Continue reading Text Analysis Lesson
Determining Importance Lessons
Determining importance is a critical skill that students must understand before they analyze any element of text, specifically main idea or central idea.