I have featured lessons from 4th Grade Frolics in the past because teacher Tara always has such innovative ideas and is always sharing great work samples with her readers. Today, I was poking around on her site and found an idea that fit so beautifully into our month’s theme of literacy: book reports in a bag. As I read about the requirements for the assessment, I not only thought about how motivating the “work” would be for kids, but immediately noticed [read more…]

Looking for a novel way for students to share favorite reads with peers? How about trying this cereal box book report idea from 3rd-grade teacher Mrs. Snyder found on her blog, Snyder’s Scoop? This clever educator not only had learners create boxes as part of their report but let them shoot commercials to “advertise” key elements of their [Read more…]

Master P, I love your vocabulary idea! What a neat idea for honoring student individuality while inspiring students to get their work finished. This teacher differentiated homework by giving all learners the same [Read more…]

Today’s idea is a post I created on my professional blog, PaulaKluth.com, for Autism Awareness Month two years ago. I initially used this writing checklist idea for a few students on the spectrum, but you could use this tool with all of your learners. They may be especially useful for those of you [read more…]

Thank you so much to the wonderful mom who clued me into this great modified Charlotte’s Web unit over on Miss Kolis’ Classroom Blog. Wow! This post is a treasure trove of ideas for the teacher who wants to teach this book in a differentiated classroom. You will find graphic organizers, a comprehension journal, visuals to [read more…]

Teaching Channel has done it again. They have produced yet another great video on differentiating literacy instruction.

Don’t believe me? Click on over to this short piece (5 minutes) on analyzing text. If you teach ELLs, you will find the differentiation focus of this video to be especially helpful. This is a Grade 5 example, but teachers in many [read more…]

So today I am featuring an idea that is brand-spanking new and it is nothing short of fabulous. After reading my short description, you are going to want to hop over to Ed-U-Like to read all about one teacher’s idea for using Lego to teach about poetry. Specifically, she is using Lego to teach about a poem’s structure. I am crazy about this idea. Not only would Lego-loving students love it, but visual learners (I am thinking in particular of many of my former students on the autism spectrum) may find that the light bulb finally goes off when [read more…]

Today’s idea is an oldie but a goodie. Larry Ferlazzo’s site is one of the best education blogs out there and he writes about dozens of teaching-and-learning-related topics. A few years ago, he posted this description about using student-created [read more…]

Stuart is a writer, teacher, and provider of professional development and his blog is filled with great content and detailed posts that go beyond description and read like tutorials. This one on close readings will help any educator pick up new annotation-related skills and ideas including those that will support diverse [read more…]