Most students can grasp the concept of changing the way they write or speak depending on whom they are addressing in just a small mini lesson. This post offers free materials to teach the lesson. Included is a PowerPoint, card activity, Boom Learning Deck. You will also find foldable organizer. In no time your students will be able to write and speak to a specific audience. This includes using both formal and informal speech.
Teaching this lesson is super important as it is addressed in a large number of Common Core State Standards.Continue Reading
Educational trends seem to change almost yearly. One year ‘this method’ is the best thing ever invented. The next year ‘this method’ has lost its appeal, and a new idea is a must try. However, the one trend that has remained constant year after year is higher order thinking skills (HOTS). HOTS encourages learners to go far beyond the memorization of facts. Students analyze, evaluate, and create. So, where do you begin? First, help students understand what HOTS is.
What are Higher Order Thinking Skills?
Bloom’s Taxonomy is as popular today as it was when Benjamin Bloom created the method in 1965. Teach students the six levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Also, go over what each level means.Continue Reading
Have you ever wondered how to teach students to eliminate wordiness in their essays? Professional writers edit and rewrite texts repeatedly. This post contains four areas to look for when revising for conciseness. Do not have students memorize these lists. Instead teach the concept of eliminating wordiness by going over these examples. Have students look through their writing to see if they have clouded the meaning they wish to convey with unneeded words.
Have students look for redundant pairs, explaining the obvious, using unnecessary modifiers, and repeating thoughts. Teaching students to be aware of, finding, and eliminating unneeded words will greatly improve their writing. Here is an organizer that will help.Continue Reading
The animated short film On the Same Page is uniquely creative. A news reporter types an article for the newspaper. The reporter types, “There is nothing to report today.”Continue Reading
All third graders and up in our school create a research paper each year. One year students may write about famous people from their social studies text. The next year they write about topics from science. The school year is just too short not to cover multiple skills with the research project.
Sources and the Bibliography
We have the best school librarian. She takes on the task of helping the students with their research. Students must use a minimum of three references: a book, an encyclopedia, and a website. Continue Reading
This “Text Features” blog post contains several free resources for the classroom. You will find anchor charts for text features and parts of a book. It includes two free resources: a foldable organizer on parts of a book and a student reference guide for text features.
Parts of a Book Anchor Chart
The clipart used to create the anchor is from Educlipsand Krista Wallden. The books are from one of Krista’s free sets. The set is really cute and includes a lot of options. Continue Reading
What is an appositive? An appositive is a word or group of words that explain or define a noun. Appositives follow the nouns they explain.
When to Use Commas
Appositives can be either restrictive or nonrestrictive. I teach students to first locate the appositive by finding the phrase that describes the noun. Next, I ask students to read the sentence skipping the appositive. If the meaning of the sentence is clear without the appositive, then it is nonrestrictive [CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.6.2.A]. Use commas to separate nonrestrictive elements from the rest of the sentence. Continue Reading
