Explore Black History Month writing projects that celebrate Canadian voices. Engage students in meaningful learning and reflection with these projects.

Making an inference is one of the most important reading comprehension skills teachers can help students develop.  It allows students to read between the lines, using clues from the text combined with their prior knowledge to draw logical conclusions.  Unlike directly stated facts, inferences require critical thinking, making this skill essential for understanding stories, informational texts, and test passages.  In this post, I’ll explain what it means to make an inference,

Middle-grade writers often struggle with sentence fragments, short choppy sentences, or run-ons. Even students who understand grammar in theory may produce writing that feels disjointed, simplistic, or hard to read.  This is especially true for EAL learners, who are simultaneously building language skills while learning how to write fluent, coherent sentences. The good news? Sentence combining and daily micro-writing tasks can transform even hesitant writers into confident, f

If you’ve ever taught a reading comprehension skill in September only to have students forget it by October, you’re not alone. As teachers, especially those working with English language learners, we know that mastery doesn’t come from a single lesson. It grows through consistent, repeated exposure. That’s where spiral review  becomes a game-changer. Today, I’m breaking down why spiral review works best for reading comprehension  and exactly how to use spiral review in readin

The winter months are tough, aren't they? Post-holiday fatigue sets in, the days are short, and student engagement can feel like trying to pull a wool sweater over a grumpy cat. As ELA and EAL teachers, we face a big challenge: how do we keep the academic rigor high—pushing for deep comprehension and evidence-based writing—when student energy is running on fumes? The answer isn’t more flashy activities; it’s creating a  weekly reading to writing cycle   . Unstructured ELA tim