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Good Books, Good Times
Reluctant readers…they can be hard to reach…hard to instill in them a love of reading. You’ve tried introducing them to novels, informational books, magazines, and nothing seems to work. These students read what is assigned, and that’s it. What can we do to inspire these kids? Poetry is not necessarily something you would pick up…
Read MoreGrowing All Learners – Creating Graphic Organizers
At ERG we are always on the lookout for tools that support and enhance the growth of all learners. Well designed graphic organizers are just such tools. These organizers can help students visualize and systematically arrange information and can benefit a wide array of students – from those who need enrichment to those in need…
Read MoreProfessional Books Worth Studying
At ERG we believe it is important to be a lifelong learner. One way to continue to develop yourself professionally when you have limited time and resources is to do a book study or just read a professional text on your own. Depending on what your area of interest and expertise is, there are many…
Read MoreWhat Makes a Favorite?
From the tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of children’s picture books, how does someone pick a favorite author or a favorite book? It’s an almost impossible task. Sometimes though it’s fun to reach back in time and find a book that was written 20 plus years ago and had almost been pushed aside, but as it’s…
Read MoreCelebrate the Read Aloud – One ERG Favorite
As ERG celebrates 11 years of growing all learners, we would also like to celebrate the joy of the read aloud. Just as music is said to “soothe the savage beast,” a great read aloud can calm a restless class. It also has the power to strengthen comprehension skills, build retention, boost vocabulary, and create…
Read MoreFine Tuning the Routine
“It is significant to realize that the most creative environments in our society are not the ever-changing ones. The artist’s studio, the researcher’s laboratory, the scholar’s library are each kept deliberately simple so as to support the complexities of the work in progress. They are deliberately kept predictable so the unpredictable can happen.” Lucy Calkins,…
Read MoreThe New 3 R's
From the desk of Leigh Ann . . . The day before school started, a young father asked me for advice on how to navigate the journey as a kindergarten parent. As a seasoned (really just a nice way to say – old) kindergarten teacher, my heart filled with empathy for this young dad. I…
Read MoreInfluence
From the desk of Carol C. . . “We change lives. We affect people every single day with the words we say, the looks on our face, the actions we choose, and the decisions we make.” Joshua Becker Last week I read a blog by Joshua Becker. It talked about how we influence people even when…
Read MoreTrue Coaching is a Gift
From the desk of Alice… ERG is on the eve of celebrating 11 years of business. In those 11 years, we have managed to fine tune the process of job-embedded coaching in a way that gets results at the school level. When we started ERG, coaching was not a mainstream idea. In fact, coaching was…
Read MoreSpreading a Feast of Ideas
From the desk of Leigh Ann… “Our fault, our exceeding great fault, is that we keep our own minds and the minds of our children shamefully underfed.” – Charlotte Mason This summer I became inspired by the work of educator Charlotte Mason. Her life was dedicated to improving the quality of education for children at…
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