Welcome to Our Writing Space! My name is Sonia. I have an Education Specialist (Ed.S.) degree in Reading Education, Children’s Literature, and Language Arts (P-5).
I taught elementary school for over 28 years. I taught language arts, math, science, and social studies to students in grades 3-5. My favorite grade to teach was 5th grade! My passion was, and still is, teaching reading and writing through a workshop model.
I worked in schools where classes were departmentalized and schools where one teacher taught all the core subjects. Also, I have been a specials writing teacher for students in K-5.
I have teaching experience looping with a 4th grade class to 5th grade, teaching an all boys class, and teaching both English speaking students and ESOL students. In addition, I have co-taught with Special Education teachers and ESOL teachers.
Over the years, I had many opportunities to attend workshops and summer institutes focused on how to teach reading and writing through workshop models to students in upper elementary. I was able to implement my new knowledge in different classrooms, conduct reading and writing workshops for teachers, and present at faculty meetings.
In this blog, I want to pass on some of the things that I have learned about teaching writing (and reading) to students in upper elementary. I want to share research based writing strategies, practical teaching ideas, and useful resources for teachers and students in grades 3-5.
Plus, I have made available resources I created to support my teaching as well as newly created resources I wished I had at the time. You can find them in my Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) store, https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/our-writing-space.
