Tips and Tricks for State Testing Writing Prompts Most writing prompts across all of the 50 states look very much alike. They have a similar structure, they use similar language, and they involve similar situations. While it’s true that writing prompts do change across grade levels, it’s also true that fourth grade writing prompts looks [...]
You and your students have worked hard on writing all year… and now it’s time to make sure it gets all the credit it deserves. Sometimes mandated writing rubrics can have harsh consequences… because sometimes fantastic writing misses the mark when it comes to the rubric. The goal here is to not only to improve [...]
What is the goal of your writing instruction? • Is your instruction geared to helping your students become the next great American novelist? • Is your primary goal to make sure that your students never leave a dangling participle or split an infinitive? • Do you hope to develop a passion for writing? • Is your goal to help [...]
Be sure to go homepage (or click over on the right) and get your FREE Guide to Writing EBook! Ten Top Reading Comprehension Strategies for Elementary and Middle School Students: 1. Main Idea – Can you figure out what is most important about this paragraph, chapter, or story? Can you see the big picture of what [...]
Are Patterns What You Think They Are? It’s likely that you know a lot more AND a lot less about patterns than you think you do! In the movie A Beautiful Mind, there is a scene where Russell Crowe’s character looks up at the night sky and illustrates all the beautiful patterns he can see. [...]