The highlight of last week was the final session of the High Quality Teacher Share I led called “Making a Literacy Toolkit”. The five participants, teachers from kindergarten to fourth grade, worked on Tuesday afternoons for ten weeks on a literacy toolkit of their choosing. For our final session, we laid out our toolkits for a gallery walk. My favorite part was asking them to leave words of praise or encouragement for each other in a little envelope that could be added to their toolkits as a reminder of their hard and amazing work. Brava, teachers!

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

• Middle Grade @ Heart – Twitter account focusing on book recommendations for middle grades
• Lucy Calkins has some wise words about teachers leaning ON each other.
• Some more wise words, this time from Jason Reynolds, about how poetry can be the gateway texts for bibliophiles.
• Want some reading conferences inspiration from Jennifer Serravallo? Tune in on Facebook on Wednesday, 3/20 from 8:00-8:30.
• Information about writing instruction and support to share with families from Two Writing Teachers:
  • “Enlisting Writing Support from Parents”
  • “Talking to Caregivers about Conventions and Spelling”
  • “Helping Parents See Student Writing With a Writer’s Eye”
  • “Helping Parents Understand Writer’s Workshop: Keep Learning Going Throughout the Summer”
• Mental Health Break – a homeless, 8 year-old refugee is a chess champion