Tips to Expand Your Vocabulary

Have you ever given thought to the vocabulary you use? Are you cognizant of whether or not you use the same words all the time, or if you use unique vocabulary based on the topic of discussion at hand? If you have recently begun to think about these questions, chances are that perhaps you are …

3 Steps to Combat Writing Hesitancy in Middle Graders

Of the many hurtles writing students need to clear on the journey to becoming better writers, for some students, simply getting the words onto the paper is the biggest hurtle of them all. They are incredibly similar to a cautious toddler considering jumping into a pool for the first time, carefully measuring their approach. And …

Better Your Writing: Step 4 – The First Draft

"Ain't nothing to it but to do it." - Ronnie Coleman First Draft With road map in hand, look through the notes you have in your journal about this topic and enter those thoughts in the box of your writing road map that makes sense. Now its time to let go. As you think more …

2021 Summer Reading Club Descriptions

Read the descriptions of the clubs below and click on the links to register for the clubs. Family Reading Club Sundays at 1PM - July, August, September Elementary- level books, articles and other reading material are read and afterwards either individual families, or families come together to speak to each other about the story and …

Summer Writing Activities List

Summer 2021 is upon us and every literacy advocate and organization has released their official summer reading lists. While everyone is excited to begin the beloved annual summer activity, the question begs to be asked, what about writing? Writing is an incredibly important tool we humans have to help us think, learn and communicate. An …

Better Your Writing: Step 3 Map out the Topic – Outline

So, for the past couple weeks you have been writing to your heart's content and at the same time exponentially increasing your terminology for everything in your environment.  Awesome!  I am sure you have strung together sentences with words you never imagined you can join. And I hope you continue to let that writing fire …

Better Your Writing: Step 2 Build Your Vocabulary

What makes for effective writing is the combination of a well thought out point with an attention-grabbing delivery.  Sentence variety plays a major role in that and one of the many ways to create a variety of sentences is to include a broad sampling of vocabulary.  The best way to obtain the knowledge of a …

Better Your Writing: Step 1 Journal Writing

In my last post, I left off with challenging my readers to purposefully work on building their writing skills.  But then it dawned on me that perhaps I should clue you in on the steps you can take to become a better writer.  The first tip I would like to share, in all honesty, has …

What is the Purpose of Writing?

As I was writing, "Pre-Writing: It's for your own good", I started to wonder about the reasoning I was using in defense of pre-writing, and that being the reader may one day be moved to write about something that he or she experienced.  But then I thought about it.  Who really does that anymore?  I …

Pre- Writing: It’s for your own good!

Does the title of this post, for some reason unknown to you, remind you of spiderwebs or perhaps a memory of you staring at a blank piece of paper, with anxiety knotting up your chest and stomach, as your English teacher gives you a warning glare that says, "WRITE or else!"? Well, try not to …