This year we've been experimenting with Makerspace Mondays on a low budget with success. We've run a Cardboard Challenge & up-cycled books to create trees and jewelry, but nothing has been more successful than coding with Scratch! Mondays were a busy lunch recess, but now it's been expanded to a Grade 3-5 Monday Makerspace and a Grade 6-8 Friday Makerspace to accommodate everyone. The library is jumping. It can be overwhelming, but If you have the skills to run a Workshop program, you have the skills to run a Coding Club. With the excitement and enthusiasm, a Coding Club brings, you'll need those skills too! Here are five reasons why!
Nonfiction November has opened my eyes. I carry biases against nonfiction. Do I read it myself? In volumes! Do I love the pictures and facts in the nonfiction books I purchase for my library? Absolutely! Does my stomach turn when one of my students in my Readers’ Workshop is curled up with certain foms of nonfiction books. Sadly, yes… It seems, in my mind, it doesn’t hold the same validity as novels for readers' workshop. I don’t believe certain forms have those large chunks of text that my students need to develop stamina in their reading. I don’t trust that my students are reading every page. I don’t see it as an easily measurable genre in my workshop format. I need fight this reaction and begin to see all that nonfiction can bring. |
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Some Great Teaching/Book Blogs Nerdy Book Club Teach Mentor Texts Free Tech for Teachers Reading, Teaching Learning On The Shoulders of Giants Edumcation Two Writing Teachers Dirigible Plum Three Teachers Talk |