literacy links
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I’m devoting a lot of my thinking and attention to writing this year. How can I support students’ independence in writing? How can I encourage their transfer of skills from one unit to the next? How can I improve their awareness of themselves as writers? Reflection is a tool that I turn to again and…
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I get a book budget every year, and I alternate between updating teachers’ classroom libraries (with their input about what their students want!) and the school’s book room. Last year was a book room update. I focused on buying #ownvoices and #weneeddiversebooks titles. The books all arrived by the end of June, so I spent…
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I have been obsessed with Dr. Rudine Bishop Sims’s quote about books as mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors ever since I first heard it. So true. So powerful. When I saw Grant Snider’s print inspired by the quote, I knew I had to get it. After the reading specialist at my school transformed a…
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I love Open House! When I was a classroom teacher, I documented “A Day in the Life of a Student in Ms. Vigna’s Class” with pictures, student work, and resources. Since I don’t have a classroom anymore (sniff, sniff!), I’m preparing the Connector, the underground tunnel connecting the two wings of our school, to be…
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Back to school is one of my favorite times of the school year! As a coach, I schedule read alouds in every classroom to introduce myself to students and enjoy a great book together. Whenever I work with teachers, I always find a resource to share with them that supports the work I’m doing. For…
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Having students pick book nooks is one of my favorite lessons in Readers’ Workshop launch! We read aloud You Can Read and discussed the good book nooks in their classroom. One of my goals for my lessons this year is to plan the what, the how, and the WHY. WHY is it important for readers to…
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Welcome back, Cardinals! Initially, I was struggling with what to post to launch this year’s Literacy Links, but when I saw this, I knew it was “the one”. Have you noticed that picture books are labeled “E” in the Dewey Decimal System? The “E” technically stands for “easy”, but many picture books are as or even…
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Today was the LAST Reading Ambassador meeting of the year. Sniff, sniff! What a tremendous first year. This group was so motivated and energetic. They had so many ideas, we didn’t have time to do them all! We celebrated with a slideshow, decorating book bags for summer reading (I *think* I got everyone to sign…
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The Reading Ambassadors hosted a Summer Reading Assembly for the ENTIRE school today. They revealed winners of the 2019 favorite book awards, shared summer reading tips, performed skits about summer reading, gave away books, and delivered copies of their reading-themed zine, Reading Republic! It was a blast. Be on the lookout for a CSS episode…
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The elementary literacy coaches have planned our second annual Summer Literacy Institute on August 19th-21st. This year, we’re offering eighteen different courses that will stimulate your teaching brain for a new year with students AND earn you SACs. Check out all of the choices here. Sign-ups will be coming from Central Office shortly! Here is…
A SEA OF TALK 