Links I Loved 11/25/18

Kate Dicamillo on the Magic of Reading Aloud

"Reading aloud ushers us into a third place, a safe room. It's a room where everyone involved, the reader and the listener, can put down their defenses and lower their guard. We humans long not just for story, not just for the flow of language, but for the connection that comes when words are read aloud. That connection provides illumination. It lets us see each other."

On the Podcast: Building Better Heroes with Cornelius Minor 

Thinking About Language Development

by Kristi Mraz 

"If I only look at the reading side of this (memorize a million sight words, read through to the end of every word) I am working on the pipes and not the well from which the water comes. Oral language drives reading and writing and much of my learning life. So how do I set about helping kids learn more about school English without getting overwhelmed myself?"

Energy and Calm: Brain Breaks and Focused-Attention Practices 

"When we take a brain break, it refreshes our thinking and helps us discover another solution to a problem or see a situation through a different lens. During these few minutes, the brain moves away from learning, memorizing, and problem solving. The brain break actually helps to incubate and process new information. Consider trying these activities with your class."

 

  

Links I Loved 11/11

Making Our Teaching Visible: Tide Pools and Teacher Expertise

by Megan M. Allen

"Under what seems like an effortless lesson lays an intricate performance. Under each word, movement, question, task, and response are thousands of prior interactions, many professional conversations with expert colleagues, and hours of learning. Each instructional move is composed of hundreds of micro-decisions. Knowledge of students, content knowledge, pedagogy, content pedagogy, knowledge of community, knowledge of culture, analysis of situation, possible missteps and misunderstandings, reflection, and an ever-growing bag of strategies...the toolkit of an expert teacher is vast. But because of the skill of expert teachers, this knowledge is hidden underneath the surface."

The Danger of Teacher Nostalgia

by Jennifer Gonzalez  

"It depends entirely on the impact: Nostalgia for the past is toxic when it makes us feel contempt toward the present. And that toxicity works itself into our classrooms in some pretty destructive ways." 

Differentiating Instruction: It's Not as Hard as You Think  

by Larry Ferlazzo

In this video, teacher and author Larry Ferlazzo explains that differentiation is not about long nights of planning and grading, but about being flexible and making decisions in the moment based on what your students need. 

 

Math Links I Loved 11/11

Questioning the Pattern of Our Questions

by Mark Chubb

Week of Inspirational Math

by Jo Boaler

Interesting and challenging math problems for all ages.

Broken Calculators

Online version of the broken calculator game.

Dot Image Cards

More dot images to use as a math routine. Love the idea of carrying them around with you to use while waiting.

Literacy Links I Loved 11/11

Teaching Young Readers is Not for the Fainthearted 

by Valinda Kimmel

"Occasionally, I hear someone outside the education community remark that teaching is not rocket science. Those who would say that are either intentionally or unintentionally led astray (doesn’t matter which) and need a little enlightenment. Teaching, and teaching reading in particular, is both a science and an art. It requires hours of preparation, deep reflection and well-thought out planning. The 187 days each school year allotted for teaching a child to read are full of drama, trauma, joy and frustration. Teaching children to read is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it for the misinformed, or the ill-equipped."

Rethinking Guided Reading to Advantage ALL  Our Learners 

by Regie Routman

"Finally, while we might pride ourselves on having excellent guided reading groups, we could still fail in developing students who are engaged, inquisitive, comprehending readers. Until we prioritize daily choice, access, and sustained time to read interesting texts as the mainstay of any reading program, our students will not become self-sustaining, joyful readers."

Time to Check in on Your Literacy Plan Implementation

by Michael Haggen 

"In the comprehensive literacy culture, you will find an inclusive classroom that goes beyond defining a child by his or her reading level. This classroom will be filled with positive energy focused on addressing the needs of each child through reading, writing, speaking, listening and social emotional learning as students rotate from whole-class instruction, to small-group instruction and independent learning time throughout the week."

Creating Teaching Tools for Picture Books

by Stacey Shubitz 

Great list of picture books and possible teaching points for reading and writing lessons for each book.

13 Standout STEM Engineering and Invention Picture Books

by Melissa Taylor

Links I Loved 11/4/18

Crafting a Curriculum That Works for Your Students 

 by Cornelius Minor

"Mrs. Davenport and the countless teachers like her have helped me to understand that my job as a teacher is not to “teach the curriculum” or even to just “teach the students”; it is to seek to understand my kids as completely as possible so that I can purposefully bend curriculum to meet them."

Ideas to Help Kids with Their Writing Pace and Volume 

by Kristine Mraz

Focus lesson ideas to help students increase their writing pace and volume.

Strategies for Cultivating Mathematical Thinking in All Learners

Google Slides presentation by Heidi Fessenden and Jenna Laib 

Picture Books That Teach Kids About Prejudice, Inclusion and Tolerance 

LGBTQ Books for Young Kids

 

The Blurry Line Between Parenting and Teaching

We Send You Our Best

"I hope my children’s teachers see us as parents who try.  That they know that sometimes we don’t understand a behavior either.  That we have raised them right but that doesn’t guarantee that they will act right.  That even though we did all the things to raise a reader, our child, who is a reader, may not be able to read well, yet.  That even though we have raised our child to be kind, helpful, and loving, others may not see her as such.

May we all remember how hard it is to send a child to school.  How hard it is to let go and hope that the child that walks through those doors is the child you hoped would show up.  Because we tried.  Because we are trying.  And I hope you see that.  I hope we all remember that."

Teaching While Parenting: About This Series 

"In taking on some of these questions, I hope to bridge the divide that can sometimes open up between professional and parent, to bring us back to our common goals and desires. It is aiming to be a mix of logic and statistics, and empathy, and maybe a little bit of therapy. We all struggle in this role of parent, we all struggle in this role of teacher."

Teaching While Parenting: Facing Struggle

"I want everything to be easy for my child. I want him to believe the world is good and kind. I want to keep him from pain and from worry and challenge. I want him wrapped in emotional bubble wrap. And yet, the world is hard. Life has pain and worry and cruelty. The best gift I can give my child is the ability to feel capable in the face of challenge, and compassion in the face of pain. The chance to bounce back from struggle and to find love and be loved. You do not learn these things in the absence of difficulty, rather, it is the presence of child sized struggles and challenges that engenders such development.

Don’t fear struggle, celebrate growth."

Games for Young Minds

"We all know to read to our kids for 20 minutes every day, but how should we prepare our kids to learn math?

Games for Young Minds is here to help parents and children learn to love math through the power of play. Using board games, puzzles, and other activities, you can give your children rich mathematical experiences that they will beg to keep exploring again and again."

Book Recommendation Posts

30 Books Starring Girls Who Love the Great Outdoors

"To celebrate the joys of the great outdoors, we’ve collected many of our favorite Mighty Girl books about all the wonders that outdoor play has to offer. The Mighty Girls in these stories have plenty of imagination, along with bundles of energy, and the end result is lots of outdoor fun. We've also included a selection of books for parents about just how important it is to let your kids get out in the sun, sand, and dirt of outdoor games and ideas on how to build more outdoor time into your family's busy schedule."

Easy But Not Boring Beginning Reader Books

Diverse Back To School Books to Help Everyone Feel Welcome!