What are homonyms?
What are homonyms, homophones, and homographs? We are here to unravel the confusion in this Shurley English Two-Minute Tip.
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The Playbook of Literary Success, Part 1: Vocabulary
What if elementary teachers approached the subject of Language Arts as if it was a competitive sport? Just think of it. Every K-8 teacher would be part of a coaching staff charged with developing players’ language arts knowledge and skills. In this analogy, the playbook contains plays designed to help
Micro-comprehension: Sentence Structure Processing
In this series about developing micro-comprehension, I have discussed how students need a good vocabulary in order to create accurate mental models of the stories they read or hear. We also know that those mental models are affected by the way the brain fills in missing information, called gap-filling inference.
Writing Extension: A Valentine's Day Haiku
Do you need a new idea to get the creative juices flowing in your classroom? The Haiku offers that opportunity to your students by channeling their creativity into this unique form of Japanese poetry. Here is a great lesson plan to get you started. The best part is that it
Creating a Writing Inspiration Station
There’s nothing like the dreaded feeling of sitting at your desk with a blank sheet of writing paper staring back at you. You see some of your classmates busily jotting down ideas; you see them creating their prewriting map; or you see some classmates looking upward with a pleasant