During our historical fiction unit , we give students the opportunity to do a unique type of narrative writing.  They take a key "scene" from one of the books we have read (either as a read aloud or their book club novel) and rewrite a scene from a different character's point of view.  To really guide and scaffold their work, I wrote my own narrative from our read aloud as they wrote theirs, modeling each step of the process along the way.  I love that by having the storyline more established, students could focus on some of the other details involved in writing quality narratives. Planning our Narratives It was the perfect time for us to review some key narrative writing skills and strategies .  We did mini lessons on planning our draft (I LOVE using sticky notes for students to write "micro" events that flow...so easy to rearrange or remove), on working in sensory details, a review of dialogue strategies and techniques, and how to write a quality lead. ...
State testing is a drag. For many of us, it can be a two or three-week adventure filled with multiple hours of testings. It cuts into our days, messes with schedules, and (honestly) is just boring for everybody. I could continue to give you a plethora of reasons why this testing time of the year stinks, but I'll spare you.  Instead, I’m going to give you five reasons why you should use it to your advantage. At my school, we tend to have testing in the morning, which means the afternoons usually are pretty wide open. BUT with scheduling, specials, PE, pull-outs, and elementary school life the days becoming a little wild. But it is different everywhere, so your schedule probably won't match up with mine--but that's okay, so here we go. FIRST: Give your students to time of Genius Hour  Let your students pick what they want to do with a Genius Hour. It’ll allow kids find something that interests them and they can go wild with it. Recently our students did this, and th...
Understanding fractions can be quite difficult for some of our kids.  Number lines have always been effective tools to teach different operations like addition, subtraction and multiplication. These trusty lines also come in handy when understanding how to count, compose and compare fractions (just to name a few). Much like a ruler, a number line is a linear scale that’s divided into equal parts.  They are great tools because both whole numbers and fractions live on them. However, students often don't think of fractions as numbers, making it challenging for them to understand.  To support our students in understanding number lines and fractions, I’ve come up with 3 tips. Tip #1: Focus on the Distance NOT the Hash Marks In my experience, a lot of kids count the hash marks on a number line starting with 0, leading to major misconceptions. The example below shows how a student may incorrectly label points due to counting hash marks. Starting wit...