I’ve always been a sucker for Top 40 lists. It probably dates back to my days listening to Casey Kasem and the “American Top 40” countdown on the radio. I was always so excited to see what the most popular song was each week. Now that I’m celebrating my fortieth birthday, it seemed like a good time to create a Top 40 of my own. I know ... Continue Reading
Planning Your Best Back to School Ever!
I know that some of you on the east coast are just settling into summer vacation. I hope you enjoy every minute. But believe it or not, many teachers in the western U.S. are already planning for back to school. Here in Arizona, we start school later this month!?! Back to school season brings up a range of emotions: happiness, excitement, ... Continue Reading
5 Things You Need to Know About the Writing Masterclass Today
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you’ve probably heard us talking about the Not So Wimpy Writing Masterclass over the past couple of weeks. If you aren’t familiar with it, the Masterclass is my signature online professional development program designed for teachers in grades 2-5 to help make teaching ... Continue Reading
Teachers Tell All: How the Masterclass Made Them Better Writing Teachers
One of my favorite parts about teaching the Masterclass each year is hearing from alumni about how the course has transformed their writing instruction. So far, we have had over 7000 teachers take the course, and the stories our teacher friends share make me laugh, cry, and want to stand up and dance. This week I thought it would be fun to share ... Continue Reading
How to Get Started with Writing Workshop at the Beginning of the Year
The beginning of a new school year is the perfect opportunity to get writing workshop off to a great start! And I know many of you are planning for back to school now. So today I'm sharing my favorite ways to get started with writing workshop at the beginning of the year. The key to establishing a successful writing workshop is to engage ... Continue Reading
The Secret to Getting Students to Revise and Edit
One of the most common questions I hear from teachers is “How do you get students to revise their writing?” At first, this question stumped me. I didn’t have a special plan or strategy to encourage kids to revise. I just made it part of my writing process. Each day, I taught a mini lesson and told my students to practice the skill we ... Continue Reading
How to Teach Writing When You Don’t Have Time
There are so many subjects competing for your instructional time. Math, reading, spelling, science, social studies, and grammar. So many lessons to teach, tasks to check off, standards to measure . . . . And now you need 30-45 minutes to teach writing!?! Everyday? I know it seems impossible. Your plate is filled to the edge, kind of like on ... Continue Reading
The Best Way to Teach Students Paragraph Writing
I’m not a betting girl . . . but if I were, I’d bet that many of you start the year with a unit about paragraph writing. Am I right? I thought so. It’s pretty common to begin your writing instruction with a unit on “how to write a paragraph." Typical lessons include what a paragraph is, how to write topic sentences and conclusions, and how ... Continue Reading
How To Plan an Entire Year of Writing Lessons
What if I told you that you can plan an entire year of writing lessons in one afternoon? You’d be amazed, right? And maybe a little bit skeptical. (That’s okay, I won’t take it personally). I wouldn’t have believed me either. I thought that teaching writing was so hard. Coming up with ideas. Gathering prompts. Photocopying pieces for all ... Continue Reading
It’s Time to Kick Writing Craftivities to the Curb
When I first started teaching, I had no idea how to teach writing. Literally no idea. I also had no idea how to decorate the large bulletin board outside my classroom. Each month I was expected to have a new display of student writing and art. And that seemed like a lot of work. #amiright? Writing Craftivities to the Rescue? So, I did what ... Continue Reading
Grab these FREE 60 writing prompts for grades 2-5.