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Movie Segments to Assess Grammar Goals

Guest Post: The Best Animated TV Shows of the 70s I'm proud to present, for the first time ever, a guest post on The Wonderful Wonderblog. See my comments at the bottom of this post. Often referred to as the decade of disco, the 1970s were a phenomenal and memorable set of years still widely referenced in today's culture. In addition to bell bottoms, platform shoes, Afro puffs, and white disco suits, the 70s are also renowned for their classic entertainment. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Brittany Johnson is a writer for Guide to Online Schools. A great big thank you to Brittany Johnson for the guest post.

DOGO News - Kids news articles! Kids current events; plus kids news on science, sports, and more! Show, Don't Tell: A Whiteboard Writing Lesson In this mini-lesson, whiteboard-ready writing samples help students spot the difference between telling or reporting information that holds the reader back and writing that involves the audience by showing what’s happening in stories. Exploring the question, "Does my writing show what's happening?," students view short paragraphs on the interactive whiteboard and pick out examples of where an author uses sounds, thoughts, and feelings, as well as examples of where the writing is straight reporting. Download These Files Show, Don’t Tell #1Show, Don’t Tell #2 Directions Display "Show, Don’t Tell" sample #1 on the interactive whiteboard. Read it aloud with expression, then ask: Do you understand what the author has written? Repeat this process, displaying sample #2 on the interactive whiteboard. Then, ask the class which of the two pieces has more “show.” Discussion Points If children cannot tell you why they think sample #1 is the stronger piece, display that sample again and ask: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Tips for Teaching Parts of Speech Memorably | Homeschool | Home EDucators Resource Directory | HERD by Sarah Major, M.Ed Grammar, phonics, and parts of speech often struggle for first place at the very pinnacle of the student boredom scale. When I was growing up, spelling and arithmetic also jockeyed for room at the top. Because my boredom/failure scale was so top heavy as a young student, these days I spend a lot of “working” time looking for ways to teach these types of mind-numbing concepts, ways that are not only easy to learn but hard to forget. Personification really helps make abstract concepts memorable and helps to avoid the need for a child to just memorize and remember. It makes sense to me to start with nouns when teaching parts of speech because very young children are first occupied in acquiring naming words for all the “things” they see and touch in their environment. Mr. Have your child act out being a noun, strutting around wearing a red T shirt and saying “I am a thing…I am i-t IT!” Verbs are great to follow up with after learning some nouns. Next we meet Ms.

Homeschool Articles: Teaching Ideas: The Problem With Creative Writing Creative writing assignments are often found to be vague, undefined or too open-ended. When asked about how to tackle a creative writing assignment, one fourth grader who generally enjoys writing responds, “you just keep on writing until you come to a good ending.” Another student, in the sixth grade, who does not get pleasure from writing, answers, “you write until you have enough words to make a paragraph. Then, you can stop for the day.” The importance of learning to write cannot be understated. With solid, consistent steps, one may learn to build paragraphs that easily combine into simple essays, expanded essays, or research reports. Start with a series of three “prompt pictures.” Begin with the setting paragraph. Paragraph two should encompass the conflict, or the problem in the story. The final paragraph will conclude the story. Janice P.

Activity #4: Invent a World Like C.S. Lewis did, make a map. I suggest making an island. Make it an odd shape. Now add some features. (By the way, islands don't have to be tropical islands. Here’s what I’ve added: Now decide who lives on the island. Finally, start your story by bringing to the island a main character or two. A boy has heard about the famed Well of Wishes, where any wish can come true. Writers Workshop Teaching writers workshop is a beautiful and amazing thing because it allows our own creativity to flow out on to paper for our student’s to see. Watch me model a lesson. :) I used to be scared to death of teaching writing. So, I didn’t really teach it. I was caught in a world of prompts, forced topics and “journals”. At the time I didn’t realize that this wasn’t building authors, I just knew that there was pencil put to paper, so I thought I was fine. In the past year I was introduced to “crafts”. I was in love with writing. Writer’s Workshop now is a joyous and electrifying time in my teaching day. So, where do you begin? Well, you need to learn the basic outline for Writer’s Workshop. Let’s go through step by step with one of my favorite books The Very Lazy Ladybug. With The Very Lazy Ladybug , a great first lesson is on “word wrapping”. As you can see from the title of the book, the words “wrap” around the pictures. PART 1 - Mini-Lesson: 10 – 15 minutes “Hi boys and girls! New teacher?

Story Starters Story Starters During our daily Writer's Workshop, I encourage my kindergarten and first grade students to choose their own topics, so that their writing will be meaningful. Most of the time, kids do their best writing when they're writing about what interests them, when they're telling a story they want to tell. Emergent writers and readers often draw a picture before they write, and then experiment with print in telling their stories. As children learn more about how print works, I begin to see a shift in their writing. Even the best writers get stuck sometimes. As an adult writer, I use Story Starters for what author and teacher Natalie Goldberg calls "Writing Practice." Other writing teachers call this type of exercise Quick Writes or Free Writes. No matter how your students choose their topic, I think one thing is vitally imporant: you need to sit down and write, too. Some days you'll write on the same topic as your students. Start each phrase with "What if ..." Write about: ! and

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