I‘m starting to write a series of posts on my use of the progymnasmata with my oldest child. My younger children are not yet doing simple written narrations, so though I plan to use what I’ve learned with them, it’ll still be a while before I begin to implement that. While I’m working on it, I know a few of you have been asking about this, so now is your chance to leave your questions in the comments, and I’ll Continue Reading...
So you want to become a Nutritarian? You’ve read one of Dr. Fuhrman’s books and you know what the 6 week Aggressive Weight Loss plan entails. Get ready for week #1! This first week was all about survival and acceptance. I’m happy to report that when I weighed myself this morning I had lost 7 ...
UPDATE: Since this post, I've created Pop The Balloon! cards for sight words and addition facts. You can find them by clicking the pictures below!
This book wasn’t even on my list to read last week but after reading Erin’s post on Adrenal Fatigue, I was so intrigued by it and the changes she’s made that I used some of my Swagbucks to buy a Kindle copy of The Adrenal Reset Diet. I’m such a paper/hardcover book girl so youRead More
Find out what books every lady should read in her lifetime!
Book Review: A rhyming text with vivid descriptions of life in tidepools, from sea stars, to anemones, to barnacles.
My Camp NaNoWriMo plan for July 2019 is to enjoy writing. Today I'm sharing some tips for my Camp NaNoWriMo plan to keep your writing on track.
This post has been a LONG time coming! I just keep adding to it, reorganizing it, and adding some more. I'm happy to finally push Publish o...
I’m back with another list of 25 more of my favorite art books! Be forewarned, this is a long post. I have given you extra details about the books and some ideas to spark your lesson planning. It is no secret that I love children’s books. Previously, I wrote a list of 25 amazing art books which I like to use in my art classroom. This has been one of my most viewed posts. Since then, I have discovered some … Read more... →
Free Novel Writing Worksheets (PDFs) The cornerstone of the Novel Factory software for writers is to handle useful information that authors might be collating in order to help them write their novel. This could be relating to plot, characters, locations and more. As well a offering a place to keep all that data, the Novel…
It’s no secret that I love books! I especially love books that help my students understand kindness, community, friendships, and teach valuable life lessons. The follow list of books is pretty extensive back-to-school read aloud list. I don’t read these all in one day, but rather spread them out over the course of the first ... Read more
Need Wonder activities for your classroom or home school Wonder teaching resources? We have Wonder lesson plans, Wonder worksheets, and more ideas for book projects, kindness activities for middle school, and diversity lessons to make a great study unit for students using both the novel by RJ Palacio and teaching with movies (including the popular precepts project!).
Here are some of my favorites STEM books for kids that you can add to your collection today! Before starting a STEM or building challenge, I always read a book with my class. I love connecting literacy, sitting together on the carpet, and engaging my students in discussions. There are so many amazing books that ... Read more
Last week, I started teaching Writing Workshop. When asked who liked writing a few weeks ago, most students responded saying that they did not like writing. I knew this was the first thing we needed to work on if we were going to get anywhere in Writing Workshop. They cannot all hate writing, so I decided my first week needed to be spent motivating them to write. When I was in a second grade classroom, I used the book Library Mouse to inspire a writing project, and I thought that this may also work with my first graders. On Monday, we read the book Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk. I had them listen to find out what the library mouse liked to do and how he started it. In this book, Sam the library mouse loves to read and decides that he will write books too. He begins by remember what he read in a book about writing: "Write what you know." He writes his first book about the life of a mouse. This fits perfectly with what I need to be teaching in Writing Workshop, since the first unit is about small moments from their own lives. I sent my first graders off to write a book about themselves. I let them know that if they needed more paper they could get more since stories about yourself can get long. I also told them that if they wrote a story that was at least two pages, then they could receive a cover later in the week. They immediately got to work. It was hard to get them to stop writing so that we could go to specials! They were so focused it worked like magic. On Tuesday, I told them that when I came in, I found a book that Sam the library mouse had left for us. I downloaded it from Daniel Kirk's website. They could not believe that Sam wrote them a book. We read it and talked about what Sam had starting writing first in Library Mouse, and they started writing. On Wednesday, Sam left another special gift. It was the Meet the Author box! When they looked inside, they saw a mirror, just like in the book. Some students were so surprised. One girl squealed, "It's me! I'm the author!" I also introduced "When I'm done, I've just begun" on this day, since some students were beginning to stop writing during Writing Workshop. I was amazed to see the difference in my writers from where they were at the beginning of school to where they are now. Most did not like writing, and on Monday, everyone could not wait to start writing. My teacher said that she even had students coming up asking when Writing Workshop is. A little motivation goes a long way. I'm thinking Sam will need to bring everyone erasers when we start working on editing skills. What do you do to motivate your writers and help them to view themselves as authors?
Today I'm sharing one of my favourite tasks for building community in the classroom. Students are able to share an important aspect of themselves (the story of their name) with the class and with me, their teacher. Through this task we are also working on important skills, like reading comprehension, writing, and reflection. Day 1 To begin, I asked my students to write any name they wish they had on a sticky note. They then placed it in a mason jar. I read my class the story "The Name Jar" by Yansook Choi. We stopped at several points in the story to predict, make connections, infer, and ask questions. At one point, we paused in the story so that students could journal about the name they wrote down on the sticky note earlier: - Did they choose their own name? Or another? - Why? - If you chose another name, where did you hear that name before? Day 2 At the end of Day 1, students were given homework. (Stick around to the bottom of this post for a chance to get your own copy of this sheet.) I make it very clear, that while names all have meanings, your family may not have chosen your name for that reason. They might not know the meaning, and you can choose to look it up with your family if you wish. I also focus a lot on nicknames and your own feelings about your name. While I've never taught a student in foster care, or one who was adopted, I do think it's important to mention that this could be a touchy task in those situations, so be sure to know your students first, and modify as needed. Students use the homework task, and the journal write from the previous day, to write "The Story of their Name". Some possible options to include are: - who you are named after - the meaning of your name - a name you'd rather have - your feelings toward your name - nicknames you may have - the person (or people) who chose your name - how your name was chosen This piece of writing is then self, peer, and teacher edited, and a "good" copy is made. Day 3 I found this excellent step-by-step self-portrait from "Art Projects for Kids". I modified the task so that instead of drawing the left or right side of their face, they would draw the top half. Students find that folding their page into quadrants as she suggests is very helpful. Under the document camera I demonstrate each step, and students copy, adapting to their own facial features. Each student gets a mirror to look in to help them personalize. The final pieces are put on a bulletin board for display. Students also coloured in a bubble letter version of their names to complete the display. (I used the font KG Red Hands Outline for this.) Day 4 Once we've completed the task, the last job is to reflect on our work. I pulled some elements from our Arts Education curriculum (very relevant regardless of where you teach) for students to self-assess on. I've used the proficiency scale language our school has moved to for all reporting. A few students found it helpful to complete their reflection while looking at the finished product on their bulletin board, but most didn't need this. Want a copy of both my homework and reflection pages? Follow the image or button below to grab your copy. Take Me to the Free Download Pin this post.
*I just updated this to include a link to the full document at the bottom of this post. I am so excited so many have joined me in doing this challenge. I know we're blessed for following counsel from the leaders of our church. If the link doesn't work, feel free to email me at ashleyjaggi at gmail.* One of the leaders in my church issued a challenge in January to read all the citations about Jesus Christ as listed in the back of the scriptures and promised those listening that if they would proceed to learn all they can about Jesus Christ, their love for Him and for God’s laws would grow beyond what they could currently imagine. This seemed overwhelming and I quickly gave up. But then he posted that he did this in just 6 weeks and gave us an idea of how in this post. Here is the picture he posted. There are 2,249 citations in the scriptures we use. Now that he made it more concrete for me, I'm going to try again. I plan to break it into 90 days, which is 25 citations a day. I copied the citations into a word doc similar to the printed sheets he used to help me keep track. I can send them to you if you'd like. :) Here is a link to the full doc. I printed the first page separately as a reference throughout and then the pages 2 to 30 front and back. Want to join me?
This lesson plan compliments the children's book "I'm NOT just a Scribble..." by Diane Alber. It teaches lessons on emotions and how colors can be associated with emotions as well.
A Charlotte Mason Handicrafts Lesson Before we begin A Charlotte Mason Handicrafts Lesson … First, I explain why I’m focusing subject by subject. Also, I include Charlotte Mason quotes because I find her original lectures on education to be awe inspiring and helpful. Next, please keep reading to see the break down of implementing lessons, the schedule, […]
DISCLAIMER This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book. Summary of Building a Second Brain By Tiago Forte: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential IN THIS SUMMARIZED BOOK, YOU WILL GET: Chapter astute outline of the main contents.Fast & simple understanding of the content analysis.Exceptionally summarized content that you may skip in the original book A Second Brain is a digital repository of your most valued ideas, notes, and creative work synced across all your devices and platforms. A revolutionary approach to enhancing productivity, creating flow, and vastly increasing your ability to capture, remember, and benefit from the unprecedented amount of information all around us.
Talk about a difficult concept with the help of a book! Plus, check out our tips for reading to your kids to increase comprehension.
These 12 books are perfect to read to our littlest learners when trying to highlight the skill of alliteration!
Teach your students how to preview, predict, question, infer, determine importance, theme and summarize through shared reading.
Sometimes the scariest villain is the one you didn't see coming. Use your reader's expectations of villains to hide your baddie right under their nose!
Looking to get serious about reading your Bible? For the last 19 months, I've been using the Grant Horner Bible Reading plan. Like many of you, I've tried my hand at plan after plan after plan, but th
I had such a great response from my Writing Rubrics Pack a nd a request to make a Reader Response Rubric pack . I'm so excited about this ...
I am guest posting today at Corkboard Connections with a book review for the book The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. Click the Corkboard Connections button below to take you to the post and a list of teaching tips that help turn this book into a great lesson. I have also created a freebie to go with it, so you really don’t want to miss it. Enjoy!
One of my most popular posts is for my Romance Beat Sheet, but one of my readers asked if I could create a Scrivener template to go along with the Romance Beat Sheet. Yes! If you're a romance author and use Scrivener for drafting your stories, today's post is for you.
I've been reading the book, Mindsets in the Classroom by Mary Cay Ricci, and just finished chapter 3. It was a real eye-opener. Through all of my years of teaching, I thought I was differentiating by planning and implementing reteaching and enrichment lessons and activities as my class worked through a unit. But in this chapter, I learned how important it is to start the differentiation before the unit even begins! This process begins with the preassessment. So much valuable information can be gathered before you begin teaching a unit. The purpose of the preassessment is to find how much students understand the content before you plan and teach the unit. Do they have a complete understanding of the content? Then they will need enrichment and/or accelerated activities. Do they have a partial understanding of the content? Then you need to make note of the gaps in their learning so you can plan accordingly. Checklists are a great way to keep track of the objectives and student mastery. From this checklist, you will also see students that need to be grouped for instruction. Keep in mind that this grouping will change as students master the objectives. Another insight I gained from this chapter is the different types of assessments used in a classroom. I put together this graphic to sum up the three types of assessment you should be using in your classroom. Click on the image to download the pdf version. You can also download this free packet with three quick and easy formative assessments you can use
