Andrea Knight

Teacher · Learner · Author

Having Fun with the Famous!

Before I even start, I have to explain the horrible desk arrangement in the background. Usually, the desks are grouped together in student teams of 4, but it's standardized testing time. You know the spiel. "The students have to be separated. Remove any visual aids. Yadda, yadda, yadda." Our counselor doesn't really say yadda... that's just what I hear. So the room is super boring and … [Read more...]

Writing and Sharing Our How-To Books

This is a piggyback-post to an earlier one: Getting Ready to Write How-To Books. I finally did the software updates on my computer and some of the applications changed. I usually hate when that happens, but this time Apple added something to my dock called "Photos" and pictures I thought I had lost were suddenly available!! Honestly, it felt a little like Christmas. And when I looked through … [Read more...]

Getting Ready to Write How-To Books

Remember when you knew everything about teaching? I do. I had just graduated from college and I was ready to bring all my gifts and talents to the world of teaching. That summer before my first job, I would tell anyone who would listen all about Whole Language, Continuous Quality Improvement, Guided Reading, and a dozen other things I had read about in my education courses. Um, reality … [Read more...]

1st Grade Writing: Animals People Love to Hate!

Before I start, does anyone else think this shark's mouth is totally photo-shopped? I've watched my fair share of Shark Week episodes and I've never seen such a happy shark.   Ever. When you're looking over your district's instructional calendar, do you sometimes think, "This doesn't quite make sense. Are they kidding?" I know they didn't ask for my opinion, but sometimes I scratch … [Read more...]

Teaching with Toys in Your Writing Workshop

The writing workshop is one of my favorite times of the day. It's sometimes a real challenge to teach writing to children who are only six years old, but when they finally let go and just put it all out there, it's so courageously fun. Their transformation from the beginning of the year to the end is amazing. What was once pretty unreadable in August becomes a small work of art and suddenly … [Read more...]