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

Small group instruction is a big part of a teacher’s literacy block and being able to work with students on certain skills. But the question always seems to be, what different types of activities can I do with my students during that time, especially when working with texts? In today’s (100th 🥳) episode, I’m sharing how to keep students engaged by leveling up your small groups with reading responses. 

To help celebrate my 100th episode, I’m giving away a resource of mine for FREE! In order to receive your free resource, here are the steps.

1. Take a screenshot of one of your favorite episodes from The Literacy Dive Podcast
2. Share the episode on Instagram (through a post, reel, or story) and tag me @theliteracydive (that’s the most important part!)
3. Once you do that, you have the opportunity to win a free resource that assists you with responding to reading
4. Then, I’ll send you a DM with a Google Form that you will need to fill out (includes your Instagram handle and select the reading response resource you want)
5. Finally, the form is reviewed and I’ll send you a link to the free download!

Resources Mentioned:

• Monthly Writing Prompts
• Context Clues Reading Response Freebie
• Reading Response Activities
• Reading Graphic Organizers
• Reading Response Choice Boards
• Reading Response Bookmarks

SHOW NOTES: https://theliteracydive.com/episode100

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Small group instruction is an important and necessary part of your day. It’s a great opportunity to reteach and practice a variety of reading skills with a smaller group of students. I thought I had mastered small group instruction, until I accidentally stopped what I had planned, and it worked out for the better! So in today’s episode, I’m sharing 3 things to stop doing during small groups. 

During our small groups, we have goals and skills we want our students to accomplish during that instruction time. It was amazing to me, that when I stopped doing these 3 things, it was more beneficial for my students! Not only did I see more growth, but I also saw an excitement amongst my students as readers. 

The 3 things to stop doing during small groups are stop reading a text only one time through, stop making students read silently during that time, and stop finishing every book you bring to the small group table. After each of these suggestions, I explain the many benefits to not doing these during your small groups.

These 3 suggestions aren’t meant to criticize the way you run your small group instruction, but to give you a new perspective on practices that are helpful for your students. When you stop doing those 3 things during small groups, not only will you feel less stressed, but your students will start excelling in the area of literacy skills.

Resources Mentioned:

• Monthly Writing Prompts
• Small Group Question Slips
• Small Group Data Trackers

SHOW NOTES: https://theliteracydive.com/episode99

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• Check out my TpT Store
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• 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!

I’m so excited about today’s episode because it’s a topic that I haven’t discussed in almost 100 episodes, but is so important and relevant in our world today. That topic is multimedia in a 21st century classroom. Now, you might think you know what all of this entails, but some concepts discussed might surprise you. To help me dive in, I have guest Rachael Parlett and we’re discussing using multimedia to support readers in a 21st century classroom.

Rachael Parlett has been an educator for 16+ years, having spent most of her time teaching 4th grade.  Currently, she is the founder and creator of The Classroom Nook, an educational company that supports upper elementary teachers with resources that make learning interactive, engaging, and fun for both teachers and students.  She is also the host of the podcast The Classroom Commute where she shares tips, strategies, and best teaching practices for a 21st century classroom.  

Most recently, Rachael, along with her husband, Jacob, have founded a second educational company called LINKtivity Learning - a membership that provides teachers with a growing library of interactive digital resources known as LINKtivities.  LINKtivities have been used in tens of thousands of classrooms around the world and provide students with a multimedia learning experience that truly ignites the love of learning and is powerful enough to meet the demands of a 21st century classroom.  

At the heart of everything, Rachael believes that classrooms should be student-centered, hands-on, and collaborative.  She loves sharing this passion with educators around the world.

SHOW NOTES: https://theliteracydive.com/episode98

Resources Mentioned:

• Monthly Writing Prompts

Connect with Rachael:

• Check out the Membership Site for LINKtivity
• Free LINKtivity Resource
• Visit Rachael’s Website
• Check out Rachael’s Instagram
• LINKtivity Instagram

Connect with me:

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

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!

Bringing you descriptive writing strategies has been like Christmas morning to me, and today might be my favorite strategy of them all. Have you guessed it yet? It’s figurative language! In the last episode in the series about descriptive writing, I’m sharing my favorite and effective figurative language strategies. 

First, let’s get on the same page. Figurative language is defined as the use of words in a way that deviates from the conventional order in meaning in order to convey a complicated meaning, colorful writing, clarity, or comparisons. Since this descriptive writing idea deviates from literal meanings, it can definitely be tricky for students to understand. However, the use of figurative language is a powerful way to express language, written expression, and keeping readers engaged.

As I’ve stated throughout this series, keep exposing your students to the various descriptive writing elements, but keep it on their level. Meaning, start small and at a level they understand, then work your way to more complex components. Today I’m sharing seven figurative language strategies to start using in your classroom today. 

Resources:

• Figurative Language Anchor Charts and Posters
• Figurative Language Task Cards
• Descriptive Writing Anchor Charts Bundle
• Monthly Writing Prompts

SHOW NOTES: https://theliteracydive.com/episode97

Connect with me:

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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!

Do you have students who are constantly using bland and boring words in their writing? I know I sure do! I’m continuing our series on descriptive writing, but if you haven’t listened to the first two episodes in the series, Episode 94 and Episode 95, be sure to do that now. In today’s episode, I’m focusing on providing excellent word choice strategies to use with your students. 

When I noticed my students not being descriptive with their writing, I realized the words they were using were in their comfort zone. However, as I started implementing ways to get them out of their comfort zone, to think more creatively about the words they were choosing and using, their language became more colorful and descriptive. 

I came up with 7 word choice strategies to use with my students, which you can start using immediately in your classroom! As always, make sure you model and practice each strategy with your students so they know what’s expected of them and how to use each strategy properly. 

Resources:

• Monthly Writing Prompts
• Thesaurus Word Choice Charts and Posters
• Descriptive Writing Anchor Charts Bundle 

SHOW NOTES: https://theliteracydive.com/episode96

Connect with me:

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

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!

On this podcast I’ve discussed various components of descriptive writing, several techniques, and the importance of instilling the writing process in your students. Today’s episode is essential to student writing, as it is the key to engaging the reader right away and wrapping it up in a conclusive way. I’m sharing strategies for writing leads and conclusions so they can begin incorporating them into their own writing. 

I’ve said it in previous episodes and I’ll say it again: writing is hard and it takes a lot of modeling and practice in order for students to feel comfortable with it. Writing effective introductions and conclusions of writing is no different. Nevertheless, by using these 6 strategies, students will get better at developing them on their own. Those strategies include:

1. Explore examples
2. Share your own drafts
3. Explore what doesn’t work
4. Use storytelling
5. Peer assistance
6. Rework the beginning of the first draft

Along with helping your students generate attention-grabbing leads and jaw-dropping conclusions in their writing, there are a few leads that are guaranteed to be a success for your students. During the episode, I share my top four leads and ways to model them in your classroom. 

Resources:

• Monthly Writing Prompts
• Writing Hooks and Writing Conclusions Anchor Charts 
• Descriptive Writing Anchor Charts Bundle

SHOW NOTES: https://theliteracydive.com/episode95

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
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• Blog Posts
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• Watch my YouTube channel 

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!

I focus a lot of episodes on strategies pertaining to writing and today is no different. Having students write descriptively is what engages the reader and makes them part of the story, not just reading about plot events. The best way to accomplish this goal as a writer is through show vs. tell. In today’s episode, I’m sharing eight strategies to consider when teaching show don’t tell to your students.

Show don’t tell is easy in theory to understand, but when applying it, can be quite complex. Throughout the episode, I give multiple examples of how to explain this technique to your students, but simply put, showing offers the reader a mental image of a scene or emotion, while telling merely offers a statement of action or emotion. 

Show don’t tell enhances any piece of written text and involves the reader by grabbing that person’s attention and hooking them, which is the ultimate goal of descriptive writing. My goal is to help you and your students become better writers, so stay encouraged during this writing technique. But I promise, by implementing these 8 strategies for show don’t tell, it’s going to be embedded indefinitely in student writing over time! 

Resources:

• Monthly Writing Prompts

• Monthly Writing Prompts Sample [Freebie!]

• Character Traits and Character Feelings PowerPoint Mini-Lessons

• Show Don’t Tell Charts and Posters

• Descriptive Writing Anchor Charts Bundle

SHOW NOTES: https://theliteracydive.com/episode94

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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!

How many of your students still struggle with writing complete sentences? I know I have experienced this in my classroom year after year. So what can you do to support your students? In today’s episode, I’m sharing 5 tips for writing a complete sentence. 

When our students enter our classrooms, they all come with different academic levels and prior knowledge. Although you might teach upper elementary, it cannot be assumed your students know the basics of complete sentences. With this alone, it’s important to make sure they have the foundational skills before they dive right in. 

Resources:

• Monthly Writing Prompts
• Punctuation Anchor Charts
• Guided Reading Sentence Stem Response Cards Bundle

SHOW NOTES: https://theliteracydive.com/episode93

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
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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!

Paragraph writing can be hard, but it can be easier! A major part of the battle is that our students just don’t understand how a paragraph works. If you are ready to make that a thing of the past, this episode is for you! In today’s episode, I’m sharing the 4 elements of strong paragraph writing.

Like all things, this process of paragraph writing does not happen overnight. But also like all things, with explicit teaching, routine, practice, consistency and accountability, progress and mastery can and will follow. But first, it’s important for your students to understand the 4 elements of strong paragraph writing, which are unity, order, coherence, and completeness.

Knowing the basics of paragraph writing is essential before the construction of the actual paragraph. We also know that writing can be difficult for students, especially getting started and coming up with their ideas. I’m also sharing 4 tips to help get your students started with paragraph writing that will meet the needs of each student.

Paragraph writing takes time and patience, but your students will eventually get there. The key is to be thorough, consistent, and intentional when modeling and supporting your students. By knowing the 4 elements of strong paragraph writing, it will have your students writing clear, focused paragraphs in no time! 

Resources:

• Monthly Writing Prompts
• Vocabulary Writing Prompts
• Writing Hooks and Conclusions Charts

SHOW NOTES: https://theliteracydive.com/episode92

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
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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!

In this podcast, we talk a lot about how to best incorporate literacy into your classroom that will benefit all of your students. But as teachers, we know that every student is not on the same academic level and some of our students have learning disabilities that we need to take into consideration when giving our instruction. One of the learning disabilities impacting students is dyslexia. In today’s episode, I have guest Rae Pritchett who is providing us with an understanding of dyslexia through best tips and practices.

Rae Pritchett is a curriculum author and Special Education Facilitator specializing in the area of teaching reading to students with Learning Disabilities. Rae is a passionate educator with more than 20 years of teaching experience and she holds a master’s degree in education, a CAGS in Educational Leadership, and is a certified Dyslexia practitioner. Rae shares her knowledge of teaching reading to students with Learning Disabilities on her blog and by teaching education courses through The Learning Tree Professional Development Network, LLC, an online teaching college Rae co-owns with her teacher husband.

Throughout the episode, Rae provides a wealth of knowledge on understanding dyslexia in a way that teachers can easily translate that to the instruction they provide for their students. Since dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in reading, particularly in relation to a student’s cognitive abilities, Rae breaks down what that can look like for each child.

Our conversation continues to circle back to two main points: the importance of early intervention and understanding the whole child. Rae discusses action steps you can take in your classroom if you notice potential warning signs of dyslexia in a student, while sharing tips on how teachers can design their reading instruction for students with learning disabilities in their classroom. These two ideas help contribute and are most effective when understanding the whole child and learning their areas of struggle when it comes to literacy. 

This episode is full of wonderful and useful information that can be easily transmitted to your own classroom and group of students. By the end of this episode, you’ll have a better understanding of dyslexia and the best tips and practices to reach all of your students’ academic needs! 

SHOW NOTES: https://theliteracydive.com/episode91

Connect with Rae:

• Check out Rae's blog  
• Take a course with Rae 
• Follow Rae on Social Media
• Read Rae's Guide on Teaching Reading to Students with Disabilities

Connect with me:

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

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!