Category: Critical Literacy

Summer Reading & Learning Recs for Elementary Teachers

*This post was originally published on 5/30/22. It was updated on 6/4/22 as I added even more resources to my summer learning stack! Enjoy!* Summer break is just weeks away or already here for many! It’s the perfect time to unwind, recharge, and do a little self-paced reading or learning in a book club! If…

May 30, 2022
Journaling: The Most Important Writing of the Moment

I’ve now been offering optional screencasted journaling sessions for my fifth graders for a little over a week. Tomorrow marks week three of being away from the classroom. It will be the start of week two for those of us in California sheltering in place. I’m screencasting a new journaling session each day for my…

March 29, 2020
Read Across America: If not Seuss, then who?

Read Across America is coming up this Monday, March 2nd. Originally, the National Education Association (NEA) started this nation-wide event on the birthday of political cartoonist turned children’s book author Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, to celebrate and promote reading. In 2018, the NEA dropped the celebration of Dr. Seuss in favor of…

February 29, 2020
Beyond the Textbook: Using Picture Books in Our History Learning, Part 1

Some picture books make us laugh. Others tug at our heart strings and make us cry. Many support our work in studying the craft of writing. Then, there are some that just truly stop us in our tracks. Today’s picture book read aloud, The People Shall Continue written by Simon J. Ortiz and illustrated by…

September 5, 2019
180 Days of Literacy Learning: Three Things That Mattered Most

Written off and on a week or so after the last day of school while enjoying a weekend away in the woods at Northern California’s Russian River and also in my backyard after summer school. All posts in this blog series can be found here. If you’re a classroom teacher, you can probably understand why it…

June 14, 2019
The Last 20 Days of Literacy Learning: 5 days to go, Drawing Inspiration from an Important Read Aloud

Written while enjoying a rare Bay Area rainy Sunday morning in late May with coffee. All posts in this blog series can be found here. “Wow- you’re still teaching?” These words were actually said to me last week when I was asked what my students were doing in class right before lunch on Friday. “Yes, I’m…

May 26, 2019
The Last 20 Days of Literacy Learning: 13 Days to Go, Classroom Book a Day- Pride

Post #7 in the Last 20 Days of Literacy Series… Written while scarfing down a salad during my 40 minute, oddly uninterrupted, lunch. All posts in this blog series can be found here. The absolute best thing that has happened in my classroom this school year has been our commitment to reading a picture book a…

May 14, 2019
The Last 20 Days of Literacy Learning: 16-15 Days to Go, Literacy & Math

Post #5 in the Last 20 Days of Literacy Series… Written after the teaching week on Sunday morning while savoring a cup of coffee– well, three cups of coffee. All posts in this blog series can be found here. A few years ago, I was given the best advice about teaching math that I have ever…

May 12, 2019
The Last 20 Days of Elementary Literacy Learning Blog Series

So much is emphasized, written, and said about the first 20 days of school. Well, I’m entering my last 20, and the work isn’t even close to being done. This blog series will chronicle the literacy learning of the last 20 days of school in my fifth grade classroom. The Last 20 Days of Elementary…

April 30, 2019