Simple yet engaging ways to make your upper elementary lessons meaningful and fun!
was teaching writing a challenge last year? let's change that.
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I know how it is, Reader. Students push back when we ask them to write a sentence, let alone an entire narrative essay. To be honest, things weren't that much different when I started teaching upper elementary grades around 15 years ago. Teaching writing has always been a tough sell. The instant-gratification-attention-span-of-a-gnat society we currently live in certainly doesn't make the task any easier. Teaching narrative writing can be particularly frustrating in this day and age. Why?
However, writing is too important of a skill to give up on. Writing a narrative gives students an insight into author's purpose and story structure that they can't develop through answering multiple-choice questions. Better writers become better readers...the research backs it up. This is why, in my conference session for Cheerful ELA 2024, I show you why we just have to grit our teeth and go waaaaay back to the beginning with our intermediate students when it comes to teaching writing. They are going to need a lot of structure and scaffolding to succeed. And you, Reader? Once you watch this presentation, you'll be ready to provide it for them.
And if you feel your writing game is on point already? There are 14 other presentations, taught by educators who are just as passionate about their topic as I am. There's so much value in this conference, and you get to watch it all for free! Here's a link to the FULL schedule. Have any questions about the event, or my presentation in particular? Just hit reply and let me know! Talk soon, Marianna |
Creatively Comprehensive
Simple yet engaging ways to make your upper elementary lessons meaningful and fun!
Trying to make history interesting, Reader? It can be a tough sell. One quick way to reel them in? Find a story they can see themselves in. And the Battle of Puebla has that built in. You've got: 🟢 A smaller Mexican army.🟢 A much larger French force.🟢 Long odds.🟢 A victory that surprised everybody. It's the kind of underdog story students connect to. But here’s the problem: Reading passages about historical events tend to be long. And dry. And hard to understand. So when a teacher told me...
Not everything needs to be invented from scratch, Reader. So if you need to come up with a way for students to respond to reading that doesn't interfere with your plans to binge The Pitt this week (because how is it the season finale already), may I humbly suggest this done-for-you option: JUST HIT PRINT They work with independent reading, centers, homework, small groups, and pair beautifully with whatever reading curriculum you are already using. So instead of spending your evening coming up...
Earth Day Every Day, Reader. ...unless you're a busy teacher prepping for test season. As much as torn construction paper collages and recycled art projects have their moment, this time of year is not exactly overflowing with extra wiggle room in upper elementary. You need your seasonal activities to pull their weight. Luckily, this one does: GET THE SCAVENGER HUNT Students move around the room reading Earth Day fact cards, answering text-based questions, working with vocabulary, and...