Our Blog

Letters From Lucy: New Frontiers in Reading and Writing Institute Reflection

In this 'Letter from Lucy', Lucy recaps the intimacy and experience from our in-person New Frontiers in Reading and Writing Institute in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Building a Classroom Library on a Budget

Every classroom teacher understands the immeasurable value of a well-stocked library. After all, one of the things growing readers need most is to spend lots of time reading lots of books! However, curating a classroom library can be a real challenge, especially with limited resources. Here are 5 ways you can build your classroom library on a budget.

Tim Rasinski Supper Club Highlights

Tim eats, sleeps and breathes fluency. For over four decades, he has been actively studying literacy and fluency, first as a classroom teacher and later as a professor of literacy education at Kent State University, where he is now a professor emeritus. Tim has devoted his career to the building of literacy and – having written over 200 articles and authored, co-authored or edited over 50 books or curriculum programs on reading education.

Essential Tips for Teaching Letter Writing to Young Students

From letters of recommendation to emails between friends to direct messages with strangers on social media platforms, strengthening written communication and letter writing practices is beneficial and relevant, perhaps now more than ever.

Naomi Shihab Nye Supper Club Highlights

About Supper Club guest Naomi Shihab Nye, the poet William Stafford has said: “her poems combine transcendent liveliness and sparkle along with warmth and human insight.” The same might be said of this award-winning Palestinian-American’s author’s intimate Supper Club talk with Lucy Calkins

12 QUOTES WE LOVE ABOUT WRITING

At The Reading & Writing Project at Mossflower, we love that the craft of writing can be harnessed as the sincerest form of storytelling. Through writing, we are able to express our innermost thoughts and share our creativity in order to better connect with others. In this post, we have compiled 12 quotes we love about writing.

Where to Find RWP-M Tools and Resources

This post is intended to walk you through where key pieces of information live across our channels (website, various social media, email, etc) so you always have access to the tools, resources, and documents you may need from us to support you.

Help Students Plan for Summer Reading

Much has been written about the importance of summer reading (and the risk of “the summer slide”). If you think of summer as Yuyi Morales does, you see “the days stretched out like a blanket of warmth and possibility,” and the chance for the school year’s learning not to slip away, but to deepen and expand. Summer reading can solidify skills, grow knowledge, and unlock passions. Reading is portable too–perfect for summer adventures near and far! Here are some ways to help students maintain their reading lives across the summer and beyond.

Matt de la Peña Supper Club Highlights

It’s not every day we get to hear the thoughts and inner workings of a thoughtful and brilliant writer, but this is exactly what we have the opportunity to do when we listen to this Supper Club conversation between New York Times bestselling and Newbery Medal winning author Matt de la Peña and Lucy Calkins

2024 Summer Institute Overviews

Yasmina, a colleague at RWP-M, walks us through the topics and details of each of our 5 Institutes this summer.

Elfrieda "Freddy" Hiebert Supper Club Highlights

Freddy Hiebert has been a pioneer in the field of literacy, advancing strong and evidence-based reading instruction over the course of her career. In this informal conversation with Lucy, Freddy discusses her thoughts and views on the vitally important issue of the teaching of reading.

Staff Developer Spotlight: Alicia Luick

Get to know our wonderful staff developers as they share some of their favorite things. This week we are shining the light on Alicia Luick!

Staff Developer Spotlight: Casey Maxwell

Get to know our wonderful staff developers as they share some of their favorite things. This week we are shining the spotlight on Casey Maxwell!

Empower Young Poets: A Teacher’s Guide to Boosting Poetry Writing

Whether you’re teaching poetry with our resources like our “Poetry: Writing, Thinking, and Seeing More” in the Grades 3-5 If…Then… Curriculum Guide, “Poetry: Immersion and Innovation” in the Grades 6-8 If…Then… Curriculum Guide, using our Grades 7-8 Curriculum Calendar, “How to Eat a Poem,” or designing your own poetry unit, we’ve got tips to help!

Staff Developer Spotlight: Jessica Mazzone

Get to know our wonderful staff developers as they share some of their favorite things. This week we are shining the spotlight on Jessica Mazzone!

Staff Developer Spotlight: Logan Fisher

Get to know our wonderful staff developers as they share some of their favorite things. This week we are shining the spotlight on Logan Fisher!

Features of New Writing Units of Study, Grades 3-5

In this post we are breaking down the new features of our Grades 3-5 Units!

5 Tips for Supporting Your Priorities Amid Budget Cuts

This post breaks down 5 different ways to help support your educators professional development while balancing the reality of budget cuts.

20 Quotes about Reading & Books

The gift of reading is so profound; the ability to share stories, recount history, and express emotions can help us build empathy for those around us. In this post, we have compiled 20 quotes about reading and books that inspire us.

Literacy Professional Development

Five Ways To Learn With The Reading & Writing Project

3 Tips For Students Reading Below Benchmark

Today we are sharing 3 tips to help your students who are reading below benchmark handle complex texts.

6 Tips to Writing a High-Scoring Extended Response

If you’re looking for some quick tips to make the extended response more approachable, you’re in the right place. Below are 6 strategies to help you and your students achieve a high score.

3 Comprehension Strategies for Reading

Here are 3 comprehension tips to help your readers approach test passages with confidence and to hold onto what’s most important.

Vocabulary Success: How Elfrieda Hiebert’s Four C’s Can Transform Your Classroom

This post breaks down best practices, built around Freddy Hiebert’s four C’s, that could help transform vocabulary learning in your classroom.

Rebalancing Literacy Instruction: Key Talking Points and Research

This post aims to establish more common ground between Science of Reading and Balanced Literacy, while also clarifying some of the ways in which the two approaches continue to differ.

AI Learnings in the Classroom

Last month, Holly Clark, a leader in technology integration and the author of The AI Infused Classroom, came to visit us for a few days at The Reading & Writing Project at Mossflower. This post shares our 3 takeaways from the session.

From Boxes to Bins: Unpacking Classroom Libraries

Wondering how to process your RWP-M classroom libraries as quickly and efficiently as possible?

Celebrating National Poetry Month

The poet Lucille Clifton said, “Poetry comes out of wonder, not out of knowing.” In honor of National Poetry Month, consider the power of poetry to capture the varied, nuanced, complex range of human emotions and experience.

Jump Rope Readers Are HERE!

Have you heard? Jump Rope Readers are here and ready for you to order now!