With this book, the authors give you the tools you need to improve writing instruction for young children, while you gain the confidence you need to further develop the writing program in your classroom and school. To this end, they've loaded the book with examples and lessons you can use and adapt to your own teaching situation. The book deals with genre study. It helps you expose students to a variety of genres through reading, and then helps you support them as they write within a chosen genre. You see clearly how to help students write memoirs, biographies and autobiographies, informational text, fantasies, and poetry. You also see how to help students write everyday texts, such as postcards, friendly notes, and book recommendations.

2005 Just Published Paperbound 236pp ISBN: 1-929024-83-5 Order #601 $33.95

Here’s the ideal resource for making the most of your writing workshop program. In it the authors explain a writing enrichment program called VOICES, which is an acronym used to extend writing instruction beyond the fundamentals. VOICES stands for particular elements of a writer's craft that have often been thought of as out-of-reach of primary writers — craft elements such as dialogue, metaphors, and transition words. You’ll refer to the guide again and again for its hands-on information including step-by-step instructions, day-by-day plans, enrichment activities, and the reproducibles necessary to implement the VOICES lessons. The authors have field-tested the components of the writing program, and have found them effective with primary students.

2003 Available in March 120pp est. Paperbound (K-3) Order #3026 ISBN: 1-929024-58-4 $18.95

Specific, ready-to-use information about writing workshop — plus step-by-step instructions and day-by-day plans!
Primarily Writing:
A Practical Guide for Teachers of Young Children
Debbie Rickards, Literacy Support Specialist, Boone Elementary School, TX

Shirl Hawes, Reading Recovery™ Specialist and first grade teacher, Drabek Elementary School, TX

If you’re considering developing, implementing, and sustaining a writing workshop for your primary grade students — or improving the one you already have — here’s all the help you need! This new resource gives you clear explanations of the theory underlying successful writing workshops, plus practical help for putting the ideas to work. You see how to implement writing workshop . . . how to recognize and teach target skills such as organization and revision . . . and how to enhance writing by incorporating children’s literature. In a comprehensive organizational structure that covers the material in a clear, concise manner, you learn from a the voices and perspectives of authors who speak with authority as they share their experiences with writing conferences, assessment, and small group instruction. The warm, professional writing style coaches you through the process of writing workshop, while inspiring you to use the power of the program.

2003 256pp. Paperbound ISBN: 1-929024-52-5 Order #600 $32.95

Debbie Rickards and Earl Cheek, Jr.

See how to use rubrics, and how they fit into an effective assessment program in this handy new guide. Using the authors' advice you see how to develop and use rubrics in your own classroom for reading, writing, math, social studies, and science, plus:

• How to use rubrics effectively with special needs students and how to use them to report student progress to parents and others.
• What the role of the administrator is in setting the tone for an effective assessment program - emphasizing the principal as an agent for change.
• The numerous student examples show growth and confidence as learners.

Earl Cheek, Jr. is a Professor of Education at Louisiana State University and A&M College.

1999 128pp Paperbound ISBN 0-926842-86-2 (K-6) Order #3006 $14.95

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