A Teaching Blog
What is Reciprocal Reading? Have you heard about reciprocal reading (also known as reciprocal teaching)? I love the way this strategy enables independent readers to work together in a self-managing team to discuss a difficult text. They teach each other and take turns leading. Let me tell you more about it! The four comprehension strategies students learn and practice are: predicting what might follow and why.
I love teaching figurative language! It can be a really fun way to encourage students to make their writing come alive. It also makes the writing process more interesting for them, and the end product more interesting for others to read! This blog post looks at activities for teaching figurative language, including videos, mentor texts, and digital tools. When I use the term “Figurative Language”, I
If you are going to Teach Parts of Speech in your classroom, it can either be a snooze fest or an engaging time where students retain the information. It is important to understand the different parts of speech to know how words can and should be used together to make sentences. Also, understanding the parts of speech helps students to use punctuation correctly in sentences. Keep
The goal of improving student vocabulary should be front and centre for all teachers – it really is that important. Vocabulary development is enormously vital for all students, especially for their development of reading comprehension and writing skills. In fact, research has shown that children with larger vocabularies achieve better results at school, including higher reading achievement in particular. Unfortunately, research also shows that many
Setting Up A Spelling Programme How do you set up a spelling programme? Now that’s a topic that could get you 50 different, passionate responses! Interestingly, it is also a topic that is not practically covered in many teacher training courses. This blog post explains some practical ideas for setting up a spelling programme because I know that is what I would have found useful
The 21st-century skills of creativity, collaboration, and communication are vital for our students as they enter adulthood in a quickly changing world. Therefore, the art of public speaking and the ability to prepare and deliver a speech are even more important skills than ever. Why The Art of Public Speaking Is More Important Than Ever In this digital age, our students are growing up in
Teaching Grammar and Punctuation Skills in Your Classroom Grammar and punctuation skills are essential in your classroom writing program. Your students need to be using parts of speech correctly, developing figurative language, extending their use of sentence structure, using punctuation accurately, and further learning how words work. However, while we know the importance of teaching grammar and punctuation skills, it isn’t always easy to know
Kids loving learning about myths and legends from around the world. The stories are big, bold, exciting and stretch the imagination! In this blog post, I look at four reasons why you should use myths and legends reading activities in your reading and writing classroom. What is the difference between a myth and a legend? A myth is a story passed down from generation to
Daily writing is a crucial part of improving your students’ writing ability. Using daily writing prompts, as a bell ringer or morning work activity, ensures that the children are writing every day of the school year. Here is what I found worked for me: The Daily Writing Approach As the students enter the classroom at the beginning of the day, they know to take out
