1. Choose an animal you think about during the winter (like penguins, polar bears, or snowshoe rabbit), and explore its habits and life cycle with the Animal Inquiry interactive.
2. Use the Resume Generator to create a resume for a character from a favorite story or song. What would Scrooge list on his resume?
3. Compose Shape Poems with the bus for the last day of school. Students can talk about all the things they hope to do during the winter break—after they ride home on the school bus for the last time in 2011.
4. Have students map significant personal events they remember from previous winter holidays with the Graphic Map.
5. Write a class alphabet book of activities to try during the winter holidays with the Alphabet Organizer.
6. Ask students to think of a favorite event that happens during the winter break, and compose Acrostic Poems about it.
7. Create Character Trading Cards for characters from winter-themed or holiday-themed books or songs. Imagine a trading card for the Baby New Year!
8. Reflect on all that has happened since the start of the school year in a class newspaper, created with the ReadWriteThink Printing Press.
9. Explore school days and winter vacation in a Diamante Poem that unites the two opposing topics.
10. Use the Profile Publisher to mock up social networking profiles, yearbook profiles, or newspaper or magazine profiles for characters from winter-themed or holiday-themed books or songs. What would Frosty the Snowman list on his Facebook profile?

This list also posted in the Reading & Language Arts Group in the Thinkfinity Community.

Last week, Edutopia shared some ideas for using Wordle in the classroom, as part of their New Teacher Boot Camp. In addition to checking out the Edutopia resources, take a look at these blog posts for more ideas on using word clouds for reading and writing activities in the classroom:

• Wordle: Word Maps for Fun and Analysis
• Wordle and the Inauguration
• Using Wordle Images to Hear What’s Said
• Text + Image = Tagxedo: The Next Generation of Word Cloud Fun

This post is the introduction from “July 11 to 16 on ReadWriteThink.” Read the rest of the post on Facebook.

Take advantage of the long summer days, and prevent summer learning loss with Thinkfinity’s fun, interactive games and activities. In addition to online games and engaging summertime activities, you’ll find recommended reading lists as well as a discussion forum where parents and educators can interact.

For a review of the resources on ReadWriteThink, watch the new Engaging Students After School and at Home video, and check out the calendar entries, lesson plans, and classroom activities below for more classroom and summer ideas. Have a great week!

New Resources

• New on ReadWriteThink:
  • Storyboarding the Transformation from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde (For grades 9–12)
  • Professional Writing in Action! Publishing Student Reviews Online (For grades 11–12)
  • Authoring an Epilogue That Helps Our Characters Live On (For grades 3–5)
• Take advantage of long summer days and prevent learning loss with Thinkfinity.org’s Summer Learning collection.
• Celebrate Flag Day with Thinkfinity.org lessons and activities.
• Tap the Parent & Afterschool Resources on ReadWriteThink for a range of activities for K–12 students (ages 4–18), including such activities as going on a reading hunt, exploring nature, directing summer blockbusters for favorite books, and blogging about career options.

From the Calendar

• June 6: Celebrate Cynthia Rylant’s birthday! Students work in small groups or as a class to map the plot of a selected Cynthia Rylant story and create original literary works using the plot diagrams. (For grades K–8)
• June 7: Poet Nikki Giovanni was born in 1943. Using the poem “My First Memory (of Librarians),” students connect memory, their senses, and the language of poetry. (For grades 1–12)
• June 8: Commercial ice cream is first sold in the U.S. in 1786. After finding advertisements from the past, students evaluate them and discuss how ads have changed over the years. Students then create an advertisement for a new flavor of ice cream. (For grades 5–12)
• June 10: The Crystal Palace hosted the first display of life-size dinosaur replicas in 1854. After learning about Hawkins’ dinosaur replicas, students work individually or in small groups to investigate a dinosaur of their choice, comparing their findings to Hawkins’. (For grades 7–12)
• Look ahead to next week for lesson plans and activities on Anne Frank’s diary, Flag Day, and the birthdays of author Brian Jacques and Chris Van Allsburg.

Connecting with Other Teachers

• As a teacher, how do you inspire students to learn more during the summer? Share your ideas on the Thinkfinity Community.
• Make the most of Thinkfinity.org by adding it to your social network!
• Add your thoughts to one of the Featured Topics on the Thinkfinity Community:
       What are some good lessons that teach about Internet safety?
       What do you find most rewarding about being an educator?
       How do you inspire your students to learn more over the summer?
• What resource rocked your classroom this year? Share a resource that most surprised you and sample a few that other teachers have shared.

If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us.

[Photo: Red Slide by javcon117, on Flickr]

As I wrote in an NCTE Inbox blog post a couple of years ago, the problem is that while spelling has apparently become prime time entertainment, spelling bees still aren’t good pedagogy. A 2007 Washington Post article explains that spelling bees provide limited support to students learning about words and the ways that they work. Sue Ann Gleason, the teacher quoted in the article explains the spelling bees “honor the children who already know how to spell, but they do little to support those who need explicit instruction.”

So while the Spelling Bee may get kids and their families interested in spelling for a few days, take a look at the spelling lesson plans and activities on ReadWriteThink for ways to support every student (not just the ones who can spell funny words like weissnichtwo. And check out the calendar entries, lesson plans, and classroom activities below for more classroom-ready ideas. Have a great week!

New Resources

• Listen to the most recent podcasts on ReadWriteThink:
  • Books about Bullying from Text Messages: Recommendations for Adolescent Readers
  • Take Me Out to the Ball Game from Chatting About Books: Recommendations for Young Readers
• Are your budding scientists eager to discover what makes plants grow? Check out The Science of Spring from Science NetLinks and watch students’ imaginations bloom.
• Inspire students with some summer reading activities:
  • Authentic Persuasive Writing to Promote Summer Reading (Grades 9–12)
  • Beyond “What I Did on Vacation”: Exploring the Genre of Travel Writing(Grades 9–12)
  • Book Clubs: Reading for Fun (Grades 3–5)
  • Reading Everywhere with Dr. Seuss (Grades K–2)
• Find more resources to kick off a summer of learning from our partners on Thinkfinity.

From the Calendar

• May 31: Today is Walt Whitman’s birthday. Students write and illustrate their own children’s stories using the text from a Walt Whitman poem. (For grades 7–12)
• June 1: National Spelling Bee Finals are held this week. Students discuss why certain contests get more publicity than others and what counts as “knowledge.” (For grades 7–12)
• June 1: CNN debuted as the first television news network in 1980. Students brainstorm a list of modern news sources and from previous centuries. Groups then research one of these sources and create a timeline showing the evolution of news. (For grades 3–12)
• June 3: Jesse James robs the Obocock Bank in 1871. Students listen to folksongs and related information about Jesse James, and then research James’ life and write new folk songs about James or another famous outlaw. (For grades 3–12)
• Look ahead to next week for lesson plans and activities on the Crystal Palace, the first sale of ice cream, and the birthdays of authors Cynthia Rylant and Nikki Giovanni.

Connecting with Other Teachers

• As a teacher, how do you inspire students to learn more during the summer? Share your ideas on the Thinkfinity Community.
• Follow, friend, and connect with all the Thinkfinity partners with this collection of links to where to find us online.
• Add your thoughts to one of the Featured Topics on the Thinkfinity Community:
       What do you find most rewarding about being an educator?
       How do you motivate the unmotivated?
       How do you inspire your students to learn more over the summer?
• What resource rocked your classroom this year? Share a resource that most surprised you and sample a few that other teachers have shared.

If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us.

[Photo: Bee by _PaulS_, on Flickr]

New Resources

• Answer students’ questions and discuss current events with Thinkfinity.org’s classroom resources on earthquakes & tsunamis and nuclear energy.
   
• Spring into Writing! Create a haiku about the season with the grades 3–5 lesson Seasonal Haiku: Writing Poems to Celebrate Any Season.
   
• Need some egg-citement in your life? Then, listen in to hear about some books featuring adventurous chickens on Episode 32 of Chatting About Books: Chicken Adventures.

From the Calendar

• March 21: It’s World Poetry Day! Explore a poem by Billy Collins, create themed poetry collections, annotate favorite poems, or try your hand at acrostics, diamante, letter, or shape poems. (For grades K–12)
   
• March 22: Randolph Caldecott was born on March 22, 1846. Create a classroom literary award modeled after the Caldecott Medal (For grades K–12)
   
• March 24: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof premiered in New York in 1955. Introduce students to the characteristics of drama with Reader’s Theater. (For grades 5–12)
   
• March 25: Celebrate Kate DiCamillo’s birthday today. After examining the characters in one of DiCamillo’s stories, students write original short stories featuring animals as central characters. (For grades 3–6)
   
• March 26: Poet Robert Frost was born in 1874. Celebrate Frost’s birthday and his poetry by exploring his innovation in the sonnet form. (For grades 3–12)
   
• Look ahead to next week for resources on National Poetry Month and the birthdays of César Chávez, Anna Sewell, and Hans Christian Andersen.

Connecting with Other Teachers

• Want to ask questions, exchange ideas, & share resources for teaching reading & language arts? Join our Reading & Language Arts group forum.
   
• What books do you recommend to get kids laughing and learning? Share your favorites in Humor and Giggles in the Classroom.
   
• Join the discussion on Bullying and Civic Education in the Thinkfinity Community.
   
• Thinkfinity is planning to invite educational figures to discussion events. Who would you like to connect with in the Thinkfinity Community?

If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us. Have a great week!

New Resources

• Answer students’ questions and discuss current events with Thinkfinity.org’s classroom resources on earthquakes & tsunamis.
   
• In like a lion, out like a lamb! It’s the perfect time for the grades 7–12 lesson It’s Raining Cats and Dogs! Make a Children’s Book about the Weather.
   
• Hear about fiction & nonfiction books that explore music in the lives of teens on Episode 36 of Text Messages: Musical Books for Teens.

From the Calendar

• March 15: Beware the Ides of March! Explore superstition and proverbs—and perhaps a bit of Shakespeare. (For grades 3–12)
   
• March 16: The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850. Ask students to explore the meaning of the book’s title, characterization, related movies and more. (For grades 9–12)
   
• March 17: Today is St. Patrick’s Day. Talk about Irish tales and world culture to celebrate. (For grades 1–12)
   
• March 19: On this day in 1918, the United States passed the U.S. Standard Time Act. It’s the perfect time to talk about time! (For grades 3–12)
   
• Look ahead to next week for resources on World Poetry Day and birthdays of writers Kate DiCamillo and Robert Frost!

Connecting with Other Teachers

• Want to ask questions, exchange ideas, & share resources for teaching reading & language arts? Join our Reading & Language Arts group forum.
   
• What books do you recommend to get kids laughing and learning? Share your favorites in Humor and Giggles in the Classroom.
   
• How are you celebrating Women’s History Month with your students or in your classroom?

If you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us. Have a great week!

—Traci Gardner

As I explained in more detail yesterday, Script Frenzy is the free event that asks writers to spend April writing a script for a screenplay, stage play, TV show, short film, comic, or graphic novel.

The YWP site has information for teachers that includes lesson plans for all age levels walk students through the basic tasks from setting their goals to building conflict and developing dialogue. You can even apply to borrow computers for classroom use during the month—deadline March 15, so hurry!

Help students find the focus for their scripts by trying one of these ReadWriteThink lessons (plus one from Thinkfinity partner EDSITEment):

• Bring a historical character to the present day with History Comes Alive: Using Fluency and Comprehension Using Social Studies (grades 2–5). The lesson focuses on Benjamin Franklin, but you could adapt the idea to any historical figure or period.
   
• Create a fan fiction script after examining an existing television show with Media Literacy: Examining the World of Television Teens (grades 6–8).
   
• Compose a radio script for a recently-read short story or novel with Audio Broadcasts and Podcasts: Oral Storytelling and Dramatization (grades 9–12).
   
• Focus on a voice from the past with Giving Voice to Child Laborers Through Monologues (grades 6–8). The monologue students compose can be broken out and distributed in a longer script, used as of a one-person show, or kept as is to serve as a soliloquy in a longer script. This basic technique could be adapted to any time period and speakers from the past, present, or future.
• Ask students to create a script that focuses on sharing an important message with the audience with MyTube: Changing the World With Video Public Service Announcements (grades 9–12). Point families interested in helping with the project to the family resource MyTube: Make a Video Public Service Announcement (grades 7–12).
   
• Focus on inquiry and research by asking students to script a documentary on a famous woman with Scripting the Past: Exploring Women’s History Through Film (grades 9–12).
   
• Share a movie scene with no dialogue and ask students to create a script for that scene with Writing a Movie: Summarizing and Rereading a Film Script (grades 3–5). Students can go on to create a longer script that explores a subplot or scenes that have not been included in the original film.
   
• Have students create an alter ego and compose scripts for that persona’s radio show with Alter Egos and More with Avi’s "Who Was That Masked Man, Anyway?" (3–5).
   
• If students are working on comics or graphic novels, for instance, be sure to try The Comic Book Show and Tell (grades 9–12) lesson to help them sharpen their word choice. Use the Comic Vocabulary Interactive to explore the genre in more detail.

Cross-posted to the Reading and Language Arts Discussion Group in the Thinkfinity Community and to the NCTE Community ReadWriteThink eGroup and Graphic Novels eGroup.

[Photo: Day 30 - Fade In: by Kurt Thomas Hunt, on Flickr]

The activity that I describe in the lesson, and also in a related English Journal article, “Write Like You Talk (Snapshots),” demonstrated to me how important it is for students to writing from authentic subject position and in their own voice. (You can find out more by reading the EJ article.)

Okay, I admit though, choosing this poem is probably prideful. It’s a poem I like and that I teach well. Further, it led to my first publication in English Journal. Who wouldn’t be pleased about that? 

But there’s more. I found about a month ago that the Library of Congress’s Web Guide, "Gwendolyn Brooks: Online Resources," points to my lesson plan. Seriously, scroll down to the lesson plan section and there it is. Okay, it’s just a link, but hey, someone at the Library of Congress thought my lesson was good enough to point to. And it’s all because of that great poem by Gwendolyn Brooks.

Instead I remember teaching with it. I guess I’m realizing I have a pattern—I like teaching narrative poems. But this poem in particular always seemed perfect for the writing classroom, with it’s metaphor for what it’s like to be a writer and struggle through attempt after attempt at the right word and the most effective phrase.

If you want to see how I used the poem in the classroom, check out my ReadWriteThink lesson plan: Writing about Writing: An Extended Metaphor Assignment.