The Literacy Dive Podcast: Reading and Writing Strategies for Upper Elementary Teachers and Parents

The majority of this podcast’s content is literacy-focused, including effective strategies to implement in your classroom, which is all academic. While literacy is an important component in a classroom, so is a students’ mental health. In order to check on students and begin to look at the whole child, implementing SEL is the best way to do that. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic and certainly afterwards, SEL has become a hot topic and the forefront of teachers and other educational professionals’ minds. Although you might know what it is, how can you effectively use it in your classroom to impact students? I have special guest, Rachel Davis, on the podcast today to help share actionable tips and strategies for implementing SEL in the classroom.

Rachel is the school counselor and curriculum designer behind Bright Futures Counseling. With nearly a decade of experience, a highly rated school counseling podcast, and an engaged online community, Rachel is passionate about helping school counselors increase their impact and advocate for their role. She resides in Costa Rica, and when she's not working on her business you can find her at the beach playing with her family!

Throughout our conversation, Rachel identifies what SEL is and easy ways it can be incorporated into your already existing schedule. There are so many Rachel shares lesson and engagement ideas, along with simple tips to create a common language and community in your classroom by understanding the whole child through SEL. 

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode120

Resources Mentioned:

• Join the Writing Made Simple Membership.
• Grab your FREE writing routine!
• Download Rachel's Feelings Check Freebie

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In order to change our future, it’s important to know and learn from our history. There are so many important events and people in our nation’s history, that we should take time to teach it in our classrooms. February is next month, and also Black History Month, which is the perfect time to teach your students about African American history and the people who have impacted our society and laws. 

If this is your time teaching this topic, this episode is for you! I’m sharing easy to implement and creative Black History Month activities to teach, while also engaging students in literacy practices that are focused on reading and writing. I’ll also remind you of 3 important words to remember when discussing this topic. 

I first start out by sharing those 3 words: resilience, contributions, and inquiry. With each word, I explain how they’re associated with the teachings of black history, which leads into my 5 black history month activities. Each activity is meaningful and can be adapted to your individual students and specific topics you’re teaching of black history. 

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode119

Resources Mentioned:

• Join the Writing Made Simple Membership
• Black History Month Bundle
• Biography Graphic Organizer Freebie
• Episode 118, Using Morning Meeting to Support Black History

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• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
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With today being Martin Luther King Jr. day, the topic of today’s episode aligns perfectly. We talked last week about morning meeting and how it’s a designated time to take in new information and build classroom community. Keeping those ideas in mind, I’m sharing ways to use morning meeting as a way to support black history. 

In order to expose your students to and support black history, I’ve come up with 4 simple ways you can embed this information during morning meeting. Each idea is both meaningful and beneficial, that provide opportunities for learning and discussion amongst your students. 

Although I mention morning meeting throughout the episode, you can discuss these ideas any time you have available throughout your day. Whether your students are exploring famous people, events, or profound words spoken, they’re gaining a deeper understanding of the importance to support black history. 

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode118

Resources Mentioned:

• Join the Writing Made Simple Membership
• Black History Month Bundle
• Episode 117, Build a Thriving Classroom Community Through Morning Meeting with Shelly Small

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
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If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

Routines and structure are important parts to a smooth and effective classroom, but when a routine involves students, engagement, and relationships, that’s when it becomes an essential part of your day. This routine is known as morning meeting. While you may have heard of this before, my guest today, Shelly Small, provides more insight as she shares how to build a classroom community through morning meeting. 

Shelly Small is in her 15th year in Elementary Education and 13th year in the Dual Language setting in the Dallas area. Currently, she’s the 3rd-grade Dual Language teacher and Dual Language Lead at her campus. She loves being involved in her district’s Dual Language cohort. 

Señorita Small has taught 1st-6th grade with her favorite grade level being 3rd. She had the honor of winning Teacher of the Year during the unprecedented pandemic school year of 2020-2021. These past two years have been years of professional firsts including recording her first podcast episode - this one!

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode117

Resources Mentioned:

• Join my Writing Made Simple Membership

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
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If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

The last month has been all about resetting your classroom routines and reading and writing instruction. While all those are important, there’s another aspect of teaching we often forget about that might need a reset. That area is your relationships with parents. In today’s episode, I’m exploring three areas to consider when determining if a reset is necessary pertaining to your relationship with parents. 

Speaking from experience, I’ve gathered and evaluated everything I’ve done regarding improving my relationship with parents, and have narrowed it down to these three main categories: communication, support, and interactions/involvement. To give further insight, I breakdown each category and provide simple and effective ideas and strategies that you can easily implement in the new year. 

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode116

Resources Mentioned:

• Join the Writing Made Simple Membership
• Episode 115, Your Reading Block: Reflect & Reset for 2023
• Episode 114, Your Writing Block: Reflect & Reset for 2023
• Episode 113, Classroom Routines: Reflect & Reset for 2023
• Episode 112, How to be a Parent-Friendly Teacher with Heidi & Emily
• Guided Reading Question Cards
• Reading Reference Sheets
• Writing Reference Sheets

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

The beginning of the year is the perfect opportunity to think about the practices and routines that are set in your classroom. There’s power in asking yourself questions intended to see at what point you can add, remove, or adjust key elements in your instruction. In sticking with the theme of the past several episodes of reflecting, in this episode, I’m going to explore resetting the other side of literacy, which is reading, specifically your reading block. 

Reading is fundamental and the foundation of all subjects, which makes it so important to have an effective reading block. The five questions I share examine your practices while leaving you with actionable tips you can easily implement. They also take a look into your reading strategies, supports, and reading goals set for your students. 

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode115

Resources Mentioned: 

• Join the Writing Made Simple Membership
• Episode 114, Your Writing Block: Reflect & Reset in 2023
• Episode 113, Classroom Routines: Reflect & Reset for 2023
• Running Records Cheat Sheet Freebie 
• Reading Choice Boards freebie 
• Reading Reference Sheets
• Reading Activities Bundle
• Reading Skills and Strategies Anchor Charts
• Reading Response Sentence Stem Anchor Charts
• Small Group Observation Notes Data Tracker
• Reading Workshop Bundle

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

In last week’s episode, I talked about the importance of reflection, especially with the start of a new year approaching. I asked you to think broad with classroom routines, but this week I want you to look more specifically at your writing block. We want our students to develop their skills and enjoy writing, so in order to do that, it might be necessary to revamp or reset your writing block.

Instead of asking your students questions, this week, the questions are for you. Your writing block is an opportunity for students to develop and grow their writing skills. Therefore, each question examines your practices, methods, and engagement, while also looking closely at written supports and student feedback. 

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode114

Resources Mentioned:

• Join the Writing Made Simple Membership
• Primary and Upper Elementary Writing Office
• Writing Reference Sheets
• Descriptive Writing Anchor Charts
• Writing Prompts
• Writing Process Sticky Note Checklists
• Literacy Choice Boards freebie
• Episode 64, Reset Your Routine: 5 Questions to Ask Your Students
• Episode 32, Setting Up Effective Writing Centers
• Episode 23, Using Centers for Upper Elementary Kids
• Episode 9, Using Quick Writes to Strengthen Student Writing
• Episode 2, 5 Components of a Mini Lesson

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

With being so close to winter break, you’re probably just in survival mode and ready to leave the classroom behind for a while and not think about it until you go back in January. And while I totally understand your mindset, now is the perfect time to evaluate and reassess your current classroom routines, procedures, and systems and determine if a change is needed. Trust me, you’ll thank me come January! 

While I think it’s important for you to do some self-reflection, there’s another group that needs to be involved in the assessment of the first half of the school year: your students. By involving your students, you’ll get the most accurate depiction of what’s truly working or not working in your classroom. I’ve come up with 5 key questions to ask your students that will help you determine if a reset is necessary on any of your current classroom routines. 

Resources Mentioned:

• Join the Writing Made Simple Membership
• Would You Rather/This or That Freebie
• Starting the New Year with Student Reflection and Goal Setting

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode113

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

Literacy Dive listeners, you are in for a treat today! On the podcast today, I’m doing something I’ve never done before, which is airing an episode from another show’s podcast. This episode is coming from the Teacher Approved podcast, co-hosted by Heidi & Emily, who share research-based and teacher approved strategies that make your teaching more efficient and effective. The episode they’re sharing with me on today’s show is on how to be a parent-friendly teacher. 

As teachers, you know that parents are your biggest allies. Having parents on your side during the school year helps make your year run smoothly when it comes to behavior issues, volunteer opportunities, and so much more. Throughout the episode, Heidi & Emily discuss what being a parent-friendly teacher means and a common misconception teachers have in being a parent-friendly teacher. 

In order to achieve that goal, they’ve come up with 6 tips that will help you become a parent-friendly teacher. To gain further understanding, Heidi & Emily explain each tip, share how to achieve them, and provide real-life examples.

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode112

Resources Mentioned:

• Join the Writing Made Simple Membership
• Check out Second Story Window’s Homework Resources

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

Finding ways to support students, whether it’s in writing or other academic needs, is a passion of mine. Therefore, when I had ESL students in my classroom, it was my goal to help them grow, learn, and develop academically and in the English language. 

In last week’s episode, Episode 110, I shared writing strategies that support ESL students, so be sure to take a listen if you haven’t already. On the podcast today, I’m sharing 4 additional tips to support your ESL students that help them thrive in your classroom.

When having students in your classroom who need additional support, it’s important that each support helps them grow academically, in the language, and provide simple action steps. These 4 tips are simple, yet effective for your ESL students, or really, any student needing additional support pertaining to literacy. My 4 tips are:

1. Allow and welcome more think/wait time
2. Provide oral response stems or rephrase student statements
3. Use visuals and icons
4. Read aloud to students

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode111

Resources Mentioned:

• Join the Writing Made Simple Membership
• Episode 110, Writing Strategies to Support Your ESL Students

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!