Welcome to the Shurley English Blog! For the past thirty-five years, our mission at Shurley Instructional Materials has been simple. We do all we can to help teachers and students experience grammar and writing success. With that goal in mind, we wanted to create a space where our team of educators could share tips, tricks, and techniques to ignite learning. It’s all about educators helping educators on the Shurley English Blog. We invite you to join the conversation!
The upcoming Thanksgiving holiday is the perfect time to help your students show appreciation for someone special in their lives by creating a special, handmade memento.
I’ve got a great activity that will take your students through the entire writing process to create a heartwarming essay to share with their loved ones. Here are the details…
Read MoreWhen was the last time you had your students write a Comparison-Contrast Essay? Personally, it is one of my favorite forms of writing. With this type of essay, you must use factual details to analyze the similarities and differences between two or more subjects. I think the wanna-be researcher in me LOVES this! I get to scour sources for facts and data. I get to learn new information. That’s my jam, and you may be surprised by how many of your students will love this type of writing too!
Read MoreIt’s that time of year when all things Halloween are tripping about, including thematic lessons like the one I’d like to share with you today. Since it can be exhausting to come up with new, exciting ideas to engage kids during the holidays, hopefully, you will appreciate the idea. I think it’s important to embrace and even outdo students’ excitement because kids long to have adults who can embrace fun!
A favorite lesson plan of mine requires 360˚ thinking—a process where you consider a lesson theme and use it to branch into as many academic areas as possible—sort of like the spokes on a wheel. I like to call it 360˚ Thinking because you actually do look at the possibilities from every aspect where it can apply. Since Halloween is coming up,
Read MoreVocabulary development is an important part of a child’s education! Since language is the system of words and the methods of combining them that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other, it makes sense that a large vocabulary improves communication.
Writers most definitely need a large vocabulary to have the words they need to express themselves in an interesting way. That’s why Shurley English establishes a routine early on to teach students to incorporate new and unfamiliar words. It’s called a Vocabulary Check, and it includes proven strategies to increase vocabulary. Here’s how it works:
Read MoreNeed a new idea to get the creative juices flowing in your classroom?
The Haiku offers that opportunity to your students by channeling their creativity into this unique form of Japanese poetry.
Here is a great lesson plan to get you started. (By the way, you can find this lesson, along with many others, in the Unit Studies Section of your Shurley English book!)
Read MoreWhen the excitement of a snow day or a long weekend is over, you may want an activity to teach your students how to find interest in nature’s resting time. It's an opportunity to find the beauty on display right outside the window! Take a classroom field trip outside and have your students paired up with clipboards to record the details they observe. This is a great time to review descriptive writing to spark their imagination. We've provided a few descriptive writing resources for you at the bottom of this page!
Read MoreAs a classroom teacher, returning from holiday break was always bittersweet. On one hand, I knew the pressure for “test prep” would be more intense, but on the other hand, the satisfaction of witnessing my students grow into wiser beings put a validating smile on my face.
The New Year seems to offer people a clean slate or a fresh start from which to begin another 365 days of the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. Celebrations with family, eating delicious food, watching the “ball” drop with flashy fireworks, and reevaluating the past or creating resolutions for the next 365 days is how most Americans bring in the New Year. Why not create a New Year’s Celebration in your classroom? It’s an ideal time to celebrate your students’ academic growth and invite them to reexamine their goals. Here are two ways you can bring in the New Year with positivity and possibility.
Read MoreDuring the first few days of January, many people across the globe participate in the age-old tradition of writing a New Year’s Resolution. The custom of making a promise to do something differently to improve one’s life (mind, body, & soul) in the coming year has been going on since ancient times.
Writing a New Year’s Resolution is not the same thing as coming up with a goal for the New Year. Goals require
Read MoreThere are only eight shopping days left before Christmas! (Let that sink in for just a minute!) I know that Christmas is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, but right about now, I’m feeling a little less than wonderful! The very idea that I only have a handful of days left to select, purchase, and wrap gifts for my family stresses me out! I’ve never been this unprepared!
Read MoreColoring sheets, word puzzles, tinsel, glitter, and glue are just some of the items you’ll find scattered around many classrooms during the holidays. There are so many wonderful craft ideas and activities people have used to make the season a memorable one at school. Here’s a fun way to keep your students engaged in writing during the weeks before the holiday break.
Ask students to use their creativity to rewrite the lyrics of a holiday tune. Allow them to work in pairs or small groups, and invite them to really “get outside of the box” to present their final masterpiece to the class. They might turn their song into a rap, a short musical skit, dramatic presentation, radio broadcast, or a story. Anything’s possible when
Read MoreShurley English is the best English Language Arts curriculum available to public schools, private schools, and home educators.Shurley English is a rigorous curriculum that brings back student-teacher interaction, promotes higher-order thinking skills, and provides students with a successful base from which they can achieve mastery, retention, and enthusiasm for English.
Our mission is to inspire and empower ALL students to become competent, confident communicators by providing superior educational solutions and innovative teacher training tools. This will enable all students to positively impact their school, community, and future work environments.
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