Monthly Archives: March 2013

Writing Wednesday: How important is the teaching of cursive?

I just finished filing my federal and state income taxes (Yay for me!). Since I filed both electronically, my “signature” for these documents included things like my social security number and special PINs. When I first started hearing about schools … Continue reading

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Monday Book Review: 13 Hangmen by Art Corriveau

This is the fourth children’s mystery I’ve read of the five nominated for this year’s Edgar Award. When I started reading it, I thought, “Let’s see–baseball, Italian Americans, and a mystery to find a hidden treasure–yep, sounds like my kind … Continue reading

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Writing Wednesday: Why it’s “Pope Francis” and not “Pope Francis I” (Or, why you can’t have an A without a B)

If you watched the news right after Pope Francis was elected, you may have heard some people questioning whether we should refer to him as Pope Francis I or simply Pope Francis. Any English teacher worth her weight in salt … Continue reading

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Monday Book Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

I’d seen this book mentioned on blogs and via Twitter quite a bit before it was nominated for the Edgars, so I was looking forward to reading it. Quite frankly, I find myself with mixed feelings about it. Title: Code Name … Continue reading

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Writing Wednesday: Affect vs Effect

These two words come up during the daily warm-up exercises with my students. Because of their similar spellings and meanings, they can be a tricky pair. Affect is almost always used as a verb. It means “to change or make … Continue reading

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Monday Book Review: Emily’s Dress and Other Missing Things by Kathryn Burak

This is my third of the five nominees for best Young Adult Mystery for the 2013 Edgars. Title: Emily’s Dress and Other Missing Things Author: Kathryn Burak Genre: Mystery Age group: Young Adult Synopsis: After Claire’s mother commits suicide and her best friend goes missing, … Continue reading

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