Writing for Minecrafters: Grade 2


Book Description

What do children love? Minecraft! What will make them love writing? Learning vocabulary, adjectives and adverbs, and sentence structure with Minecraft! Writing for Minecrafters: Grade 2 features video game characters and concepts to encourage second grade writing practice. With Steve, Alex, zombies, creepers, and villagers to inspire them, young Minecrafters will be eager to fill the pages with their own words. Colorful art and engaging prompts invite kids to expand their vocabulary, practice proper grammar and capitalization, and write for different purposes and audiences. Each game-themed writing activity is designed to reinforce classroom learning and help kids meet the National Common Core language arts standards. Kids will get to express their creativity and writing skills with lessons in: vocabulary development adding detail with adjectives and adverbs past, present, and future tense structure sentence and paragraph structure pre-writing strategies and idea building Informational, opinion, and narrative writing Reinforce classroom learning and help them meet the National Common Core language arts standards with this kid-friendly tool. Writing for Minecrafters is the best way to get all kids excited about writing.




Writing for Minecrafters: Grade 1


Book Description

What is more fun than playing Minecraft. For most boys and girls, not much. So, why not use their love for their favorite game to teach them to write. Learning can be fun when it feels like a game! Writing for Minecrafters: Grade 1 features well-loved video game characters and concepts to encourage first grade writing practice. With Steve, Alex, zombies, creepers, and villagers to inspire them, young Minecrafters will be eager to fill the pages with their own words. Colorful art and engaging prompts invite kids to expand their vocabulary, practice proper grammar and capitalization, and write full sentences and paragraphs. Kids will get to express their creativity and writing skills with lessons in: vocabulary development adding detail with adjectives and adverbs past, present, and future tense structure grammar and sentence structure pre-writing strategies and idea building Informational, opinion, and narrative writing Reinforce classroom learning and help them meet the National Common Core language arts standards with this kid-friendly tool. Writing for Minecrafters is the best way to get all kids excited about writing.




When Writers Drive the Workshop


Book Description

With increasing school mandates and pressure to perform well on standardized tests, writing instruction has shifted to more accountability, taking the focus away from the writer. In his engaging book, When Writers Drive the Workshop: Honoring Young Voices and Bold Choices , author Brian Kissel asks teachers to go back to the roots of the writing workshop and let the students lead the conference. What happens when students, not tests, determine what they learned through reflection and self-evaluation?In When Writers Drive the Workshop, you'll find practical ideas, guiding beliefs, FAQs, and Digital Diversions to help visualize digital possibilities in the classroom. Written in an engaging, teacher-to-teacher style, this book focuses on four key components of writing workshop: Student-led conferring sessions where the teachers are the listenersThe Author's Chair-, where students set the agenda and gather feedbackStructured reflection time for students to set goals and expectations for themselvesMini lessons that allow for detours based on students' needs, not teacher or curricula goalsAll students have the powerful, shared need to be heard; when they choose their writing topics, they can see their lives unfold on the page. Teachers are educated by the bold choices of these young voices.




Becoming a Teacher of Writing in Elementary Classrooms


Book Description

The Second Edition of Becoming a Teacher of Writing in Elementary Classrooms is an interactive learning experience focusing on all aspects of becoming-writer and teacher of writing in the Writing Studio. The Writing Studio is illustrated with authentic classroom scenarios and include descriptions of assessments, mini-lessons, mentor texts, and collaborative and individual teaching strategies. The parallel text, Becoming-Writer, allows readers to engage as writers while learning and applying writing process, practice, and craft of the Writing Studio. The new edition includes integration of preschool writers, multilingual learners, translanguaging, culturally sustaining pedagogy, social emotional learning, Universal Design for Learning and an updated companion website with teacher resources. This dynamic text supports teachers’ agency in the ongoing journey of joyful teaching and writing.




An Educator's Guide to Using Minecraft® in the Classroom


Book Description

Learn how educators are using Minecraft® as a powerful instructional tool to engage students and teach subjects as varied as math and humanities. This book offers ten classroom projects from teachers using Minecraft® to teach math, science, languages, and more. Each project includes learning objectives, project organization and tasks, and ideas for reflection and assessments. You’ll also find detailed instructions for setting up and running a Minecraft® server in the classroom, both the regular and the popular MinecraftEdu versions. In this book, you’ll discover What Minecraft® is and why it’s such an engaging tool for the classroom. How to set up and administer servers that students use for their projects. What MinecraftEdu is, how to set up and manage it, and how to use its teacher controls. Techniques for using the game in special-education settings. Step-by-step instructions for printing 3D models of your classroom projects. Ways to use the game in a variety of different subject areas. You’ll find essential advice and captivating projects for using Minecraft® to enhance students’ learning experience from educators using Minecraft® in the Classroom: Shane Asselstine, Dan Bloom, André Chercka, Adam Clarke, Stephen Elford, Colin Gallagher, David Lee, John Miller, Eric Walker, and James York. Minecraft® is a trademark of Mojang Synergies/Notch Development AB. This book is not affiliated with or sponsored by Mojang Synergies/Notch Development AB.




Nurturing Your Child's Math and Literacy in Pre-K–Fifth Grade


Book Description

With recent changes in the curriculum and standards in language arts and mathematics, parents often are challenged to find ways to help their children be successful in their learning endeavors. While parents want to be involved in their children’s education, they are often unsure of their role in their children’s learning and the best ways to help their children to succeed academically. Moreover, with the changes in how math and literacy are being taught, parents often struggle with helping even first grade children with their homework. In this book we set out to alleviate this struggle, by offering parents a resource they can use to navigate their child’s education, communicate with teachers, and support their children in learning mathematics and literacy. After providing an overview of the current educational climate and tips for communication with teachers, we share strategies and suggestions parents can use to assist their children in language arts and mathematics. We provide detailed descriptions of activities, games, books, and conversations that connect with what children will be learning at each grade level.




Little Learning Labs: Unofficial Minecraft for Kids, abridged paperback edition


Book Description

Little Learning Labs: Unofficial Minecraft for Kids--an abridged edition of Unofficial Minecraft Lab for Kids--offers a variety of creative exercises that explore the game through fun, educational lessons. Activities selected from an Amazon Best Kids’ Books of 2016 pick! Balancing your child's screen time can be difficult, especially when it comes to wildly popular, open-ended video games like Minecraft. Minecraft offers players an environment focused on exploration, imagination, and creation, but its nonlinear game structure can mean spending a lot of time in the game. You will start the book by brushing up on some common Minecraft terminology and examining the two main modes of game play: creative and survival. You’ll then use this knowledge to venture off onto the six different quests that combine out-of-game and in-game activities and encourage child and adult participation. You'll even learn how to screencast and narrate your own videos to share with family and friends. Little Learning Labs: Unofficial Minecraft for Kids provides fun, educational gaming goals that you and your child can reach together!




Handbook of Writing, Literacies, and Education in Digital Cultures


Book Description

At the forefront of current digital literacy studies in education, this handbook uniquely systematizes emerging interdisciplinary themes, new knowledge, and insightful theoretical contributions to the field. Written by well-known scholars from around the world, it closely attends to the digitalization of writing and literacies that is transforming daily life and education. The chapter topics—identified through academic conference networks, rigorous analysis, and database searches of trending themes—are organized thematically in five sections: Digital Futures Digital Diversity Digital Lives Digital Spaces Digital Ethics This is an essential guide to digital writing and literacies research, with transformational ideas for educational and professional practice. It will enable new and established researchers to position their studies within highly relevant directions in the field and to generate new themes of inquiry.




Connecting Disciplinary Literacy and Digital Storytelling in K-12 Education


Book Description

The idea of storytelling goes beyond the borders of language, culture, or traditional education, and has historically been a tie that bonds families, communities, and nations. Digital storytelling offers opportunities for authentic academic and non-academic literacy learning across a multitude of genres. It is easily accessible to most members of society and has the potential to transform the boundaries of traditional education. As concepts around traditional literacy education evolve and become more culturally and linguistically relevant and responsive, the connections between digital storytelling and disciplinary literacy warrant considered exploration. Connecting Disciplinary Literacy and Digital Storytelling in K-12 Education develops a conceptual framework around pedagogical connections to digital storytelling within K-12 disciplinary literacy practices. This essential reference book supports student success through the integration of digital storytelling across content areas and grade levels. Covering topics that include immersive storytelling, multiliteracies, social justice, and pedagogical storytelling, it is intended for stakeholders interested in innovative K-12 disciplinary literacy skill development, research, and practices including but not limited to curriculum directors, education faculty, educational researchers, instructional facilitators, literacy professionals, teachers, pre-service teachers, professional development coordinators, teacher preparation programs, and students.




Early Career English Teachers in Action


Book Description

The first few years of teaching are critical to the professional development of effective English teachers. In these crucial years, new teachers establish their identities, learn the ins and outs of the curriculum, acclimate to unfamiliar communities, and cope with student behaviors that they never expected. All of this can be daunting for novice teachers. This book can help. The stories within are written by English teachers in the early stages of their careers. In their carefully crafted narratives, teachers offer practical strategies, professional insights, and a wealth of tips for surviving the first years in the classroom. The narratives are grouped into thematic chapters with brief introductions of key terms, helpful learning activities, and provocative discussion questions, all intended to foster critical conversation about beginning a career teaching English. In a time when many teachers leave the profession too soon, Early Career English Teachers in Action gives voice to those who have decided to stay. More importantly, this book validates teacher narratives as a powerful way of understanding what happens inside of the classroom—a way that provides more authentic evidence of learning than standardized test scores will ever supply.