One
Read Alouds are to be savored and today was a day to be all in because after hearing the back story, we had the distinct pleasure of having Matt de la Pena read Love to us.
It won’t be the same. You won’t be in Cowin Auditorium with 600+ best friends. You won’t be in the front row. But here’s your opportunity to have the book read to you. Read by Matt de la Pena.
The hope
The joy
The love
That came from one little poem
About seeing “love” in the mirror.
Need more? Interview with author Matt de la Pena and illustrator Loren Long here.
Tissue Alert! Tissues Needed!
Two
Pure Delight for those of you that work with the precious “littles” in kindergarten. I attended Marie Mounteer’s Choice Session on the new kindergarten writing unit out in July – “Show and Tell: From Labels to Pattern Books”. The room was packed with teachers and the excitement bubbled within the room as Marie previewed some of the 17 sessions in the unit.
I am totally in love with this progression of spelling development.
Nerd out over spelling.
YES!
I see that eye roll!
But how do we explain this to colleagues? That first, yes, there is a progression and second, that not all students arrive at the same time on the same day. I believe that the explicitness in this chart makes it easier to describe ALL the things that a student can do on their journey as they develop as spellers.
The key is growth.
The key is celebrating growth along the progression so a child who enters kindergarten may be at a different stage than peers, but just look at the journey. It’s not about color coding whether a child is green, yellow, or red at any one stage. Instead it’s all about building on what the child can do . . . writing in kindergarten . . . so important to recognize that it is a journey. A journey students will love! A journey we will love!
And this unit gives students so many access points to be successful writers who can explore their passions. Thanks, Marie Mounteer and Lizzie Hetzler for authoring such an important unit and for all the wisdom from Natalie Louis and Lucy Calkins (and other staff developers and teachers) that helped bring this joyful unit to life.
What were your top 2 Highlights from Day 2 at the 2018 June Writing Institute at #TCRWP?
Resource - Full 
Thanks for slicing your institute day. Wish I were there.
You are welcome! So much learning! So much to consider! Wish you were here as well!
Thanks for sharing your highlights. It was so interesting to me when I first looked at spelling as part of a continuum and realized the “errors” made sense!
I love that whole continuum in Words Their Way but I so appreciate this “student friendly/parent friendly version” that we can follow very easily.