Want to Understand Your Teacher?

The Grammar Song

Fragments From the Doctor

Fused/Run-on Sentences

Here are a few tips from the doctor.

Do You Have What it Takes to Succeed?

Paulsen on Books

Know Your Homophones

Homophones--Words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings.

Not Homophones—where/were
Homophones—where/wear

A

ant, aunt

H

here/hear

P

peer, pier

T

there, they're, their

threw, through

to, two, too

W

where,wear

The rules for today's Reading Workshop Homophone Telephone:

1. You can only whisper to the person beside you

2. You can only use www.dictionary.com as a resource

3. You can share with the person on each side

4. If you hear (here) words from anyone other than the person beside you, you (ewe) cannot use those words

5. If homophones start with different letters, you can list them under whichever word you list first.
6. You can't (cant) use proper nouns.

A Poster Child for Success

Her first month of school was tough. She was in trouble for not doing her school work. She spent every recess in study table. Her grades were not good. She got a lecture, or had to listen to teachers talk about not getting her work done daily. I had several conversations with her myself, and none seemed to help.

Fast forward to December and she is a success. She is getting every assignment complete and never has to go to study table. She is working hard to do her best. Her teachers are proud of her.

Annie's story started with the decision that she didn't want study table any more. She was tired of the pressure to do her work. She made the decision to start doing her work. Then she talked to all of her teachers about her missing assignments and how to get caught up on her work. She spent a few days working real hard to get everything done. Then she made sure she did all of her homework every night.

So what's the message here? Success is possible. It can and did happen. It seems simple when you read about it. Annie made it look easy. And when it happened it was amazing. Everyone felt good. The teachers were so proud of her. All it took was a little hard work and a lot of determination. Great job Annie!