Category: Uncategorized

I wasn’t surprised when my oldest daughter Lauren said she planned to be a famous author someday. At nine years old, she and her friend Maddie were writing ghost stories together every playdate. She was also writing plays with her friend Billy that they performed for kids on the playground at lunch.  I was so busy with… Continue reading Advice I Needed 19 Years Ago

Teaching useage and grammar in a way that STICKS is challenging. We’ve found (in decades of teaching) that children will “know” how to do it on a quiz or worksheet, but they will miss the same rule repeatedly in their actual writing. I’m trying something new this year in my classroom that I love. It’s called Sentence of… Continue reading Grammar Lessons That Stick: Simple and Effective Methods

This week, Carrie and I both had conferences at our schools and talked to parents about how much we LOVE teaching their kids. In that spirit, we’re sending a parent conference via email to YOU to say how much we love helping you raise strong writers!  Being part of this community means you get it. You get that writing is important. You get that good writing… Continue reading Parent-Teacher Conference Therapy

We want to teach you something new about writing with your kids. And it’s going to sound a little crazy.  Here it is: Surprised? Maybe you’re not because when you think about it, it’s when your kids REALLY care about their writing that they take an extra long time. Right?  For example:  They want to change the start.  They aren’t sure if… Continue reading 12 Signs Your Child Is Becoming A Writer

What’s sitting on your kitchen countertop right now? On mine (next to the oranges and Anna’s ACT study guide) you’ll find a stack of holiday cards I am almost ready to put in the mail. Before I send my holiday cards, I love to have my family add handwritten messages. (I used to give them a chocolate kiss for every note… Continue reading Holiday Writng Download To Use With Your Kids

An important part of raising kids to be writers is to make writing part of your family culture. Holidays are an excellent opportunity to do this. As a wise and nobel subscriber to the “Raising a Writer” newsletters (yes, you are amazing) ask yourself: am I including gifts that reflect our family’s writing culture? As someone working to raise… Continue reading Thoughtful Gifts To Foster A Love of Writing at Home

Do you ever think you have nothing to write about? Do your kids ever complain they have no ideas?  We get it as writers (this newsletter is two days late because I was trying to think of an idea) and we hear it from the kids we teach too.  But author Orson Scott Card says claiming we have nothing to… Continue reading What We Say To Kids With Nothing To Write About

I used to think texting was going to ruin kids’ writing skills.  Here, for example, are clips from texts I (Carrie) received from my daughter this weekend: No caps? cuz? wanna? wdym?  The world is ending!  Except it isn’t.  Research over the past ten years from multiple universities (such as the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois, University of Alabama . . . )… Continue reading Is Texting Going To Ruin Your Kids’ Writing Skills?

When I was growing up, my dad made huge efforts to take us kids to visit our Great Uncle Harold. He had a Purple Heart for his service during World War II, and we would sit on the little couch of his apartment while he told us , about his time as an American serviceman.  On… Continue reading Write A Letter To A Real-Life Soldier

Have you had a chance to try the “Eat Your Words” Writer’s Box printable yet with your writers?  Last week, I (Emily) printed it out and spent an afternoon working the box with children from my school.  There are 500 ways I could have done it “right.” I decided to focus on food reviews and on helping them create… Continue reading EAT YOUR WORDS: Writing Food Reviews