“You can’t be a good writer without being a devoted reader.” – J.K. Rowling “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.” – Stephen King. The Number One […]
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Mentor Texts to Teach Juicy Word Choice in Writing
When we teach children to use rich, wondrous words by filling them up with the sound of many wonderful words. We must read to them them authors who use astounding word choices. We must encourage them to read high quality mentor text picture and chapter books filled with precise, lyrical, sensory words. Katie Wood Ray, […]
Continue ReadingFinishing Summer Writing Homework (GROAN)
My fifth grader is supposed to be keeping a journal over the summer –that will be 1) graded and 2) used as an assessment. (Groan.) Summer Writing Intervention AJ does not want to write and it shows in her work. I can barely get a paragraph out of her. (But, at least she writes with lots […]
Continue ReadingTeaching Individuals with a Workshop Instructional Model
Let’s continue education month here on Imagination Soup by looking at best practices for encouraging divergent thinking in children with reading and writing workshop. Linear thinking, or convergent thinking, is about learning facts, follow instructions, and solving problems with one right answer. Divergent thinking is generating unique solutions and seeing various possibilities in response to questions and problems. To […]
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