Writing and analysis

"But when it comes to writing, these students are already building the skills that will propel their success through school.

Writing often takes a back seat in the curriculum to math, science and reading. But reading isn't enough unless you know what to make of the content.

The skills that help students analyze a novel are the skills that help them write about it. Good writing requires thinking tools that need to be taught — starting with reading – and teachers who know how to teach them." (excerpted at the National Writing Project website)

The above excerpt comes from an article about Angie Bailius' second grade classroom and how the University of California at Irvine Writing Project informed her teaching. To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text and then follow the link to the original article.

Note: After today's post, this blog will be hiatus until January 3, 2011.

Winter?

Winter begins! The name "winter" comes from an old Germanic word meaning "time of water" and refers to the seasonal precipitation. The winter solstice—the moment when the sun's apparent path is farthest south from the equator—is used to officially mark winter's beginning. In the Northern Hemisphere, winter begins on the "shortest day" of the year, which most frequently falls on December 21, but occasionally occurs on December 22. Winter lasts until the vernal, or spring, equinox--equal night--around March 20, thus marking the beginning of spring when day and night are equal in length. (from the Library of Congress)

Winter begins at midnight....hard to believe.

National Archives resources

Teaching With Documents:
Lesson Plans

This section contains reproducible copies of primary documents from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States, teaching activities correlated to the National History Standards and National Standards for Civics and Government, and cross-curricular connections.

Teaching with primary documents encourages a varied learning environment for teachers and students alike. Lectures, demonstrations, analysis of documents, independent research, and group work become a gateway for research with historical records in ways that sharpen students' skills and enthusiasm for history, social studies, and the humanities.
(from the National Archives of the United States)

Quick feedback

This video comes from the Teaching Channel, which is replete with resources like the one above.

(Note: the video does exceed the space for the post; but there doesn't appear to be a way to fix that)