The Unexamined Colors of Summer

If you had one wish for your students as they set out on summer vacation, what would it be?

Goldenrod, salmon, lilac, buff, aqua. By any other name, they’re still just the colors of fast and frequent handouts coming at the end of the year. Like many of you, I am a parent watching a pastel pile of possibilities growing exponentially on my kitchen counter everyday. Right now I’m thinking of what my boys will be doing with their summer. Mixed in with the fun, I hope my boys will spend plenty of time with books. I have thought about bringing some home from The Mailbox to give them skill-builders, writing prompts, and math practice pages to work on when the rain falls. Further, I hope they will encounter real-world problems that require them to use some of what they’ve learned in school this year.

March Into Literacy, Part 3 — Gone to the Dogs

I was talking with my wife about this series of blog posts when she suggested I mention my own favorite novels that work well for students in the upper grades. Not quite official book reviews so much as a few suggestions and a way for you to get to know me better. You know, what [...]

March Into Literacy Month, Part 2

We’re a reading family. We have more bookcases than any other single item of furniture, yet there’s always a stack of books teetering on some nightstand or chair arm somewhere in our house. My four-year-old has his favorite books and will sit down to “read” them to himself even though he’s not fully reading yet. [...]