773 articles since 2009
The Pennington Publishing Blog
Grade-level 4-adult standards and assessment-based ELA and reading instruction. Free Diagnostic Reading and ELA Assessments
Articles · page 33
Essay Conclusion Response Comments
Fair to say that the essay conclusion tends to be the weakest instructional piece of our essay teaching repertoire. The full extent of my own high…
Essay Hooks and Response Comments
Writing comments to respond to student essays as formative assessment (first or second drafts) and summative assessment (final published draft) is tough work. It’s both art…
Academic Language: What Not to Teach and What to Teach
The Tier 2 academic vocabulary words are not ends in themselves; they are gateways to more sophisticated reading. Academic language is all about access to text…
Curriculum Map for Grammar, Mechanics, Spelling, and Vocabulary
This grades 4-8 Curriculum Map for Grammar, Mechanics, Spelling, and Vocabulary helps teachers develop a coherent instructional scope and sequence.
Grammar Program Choices
Broadly speaking, teachers agree that standard English grammar and usage needs to be learned, but they disagree on how it should be taught. The Pennington Publishing…
Grammar Interactive Notebook Checklist
Teacher-authors have made significant revisions to the interactive notebook style of instruction for grammar. Here’s a checklist of what to look for in your first grammar…
Counterclaim and Refutation Sentence Frames
Transitions within the counterclaim paragraph are extremely important to master in order to create clear connections between the counterclaim and refutation.
Why Use an Essay Counterclaim?
Where is the best place to put the essay counterclaim? Five placements serve different purposes within the argumentative essay.