Literacy Resources from Jen Bengel
Writing is my favorite subject to teach! Learn all kinds of helpful tips for planning, lessons, revising, editing, grading, getting all kids writing, and more!
So I have been extremely busy these last 10 months because I have been preparing to adopt our new son from Uganda!
The road has been long and exhausting. But every time I think it gets too hard, I remind myself of the happy ending that is soon to come! And I remind myself that I have been working on this for 10 months, but my son has been waiting for a mom for 7 years!
Because of my adoption agency's policies, I am unable to share any specifics about the process or about our son until we are back home safe in the states. I will say that he has this picture of our family and he is so, so, so excited to have a mom and dad!
But, I can say that very soon the five of us will be boarding a flight to Uganda!! My husband will stay for about 10 days. My children and I will stay for as long as it takes for us all to be able to fly back home. I have been told this will be at least 2 months, but likely longer.
We are so fortunate that we are able to stay this entire time. I am going to be homeschooling our children. And because I work solely on the internet, I can work from Uganda! The kids are very excited about working in the orphanage and learning about their brother's culture.
As you can imagine, the cost to fly 5 people to Uganda, stay in country for several months, and then fly 6 people back is not cheap. And the cost along the way has been high as well. We are nowhere near wealthy, but we just keep pushing our way through the process. We refuse to use the excuse, ‘We can't adopt because we can't afford it.' And for the past 10 months, God has made a way to pay every bill that has come our way!!! It truly is incredible!! He is so much bigger than our bank account! 🙂
So enough blabbing from me. I am writing this post to share an amazing back to school adoption fundraiser bundle some of my friends have helped me put together.
You can save 50% off all these resources and help support our family's adoption by purchasing this bundle!
But, hurry, because the bundle is only available through September 30th.
Lots of Love,
Jen Bengel and Family
Hello Friends!
So guess what!? November 20th is my birthday and I am turning 30-something (NEVER ask a lady her real age). I wanted to offer 20% off everything in my store for one-day only.
 |
| Click on the image to visit my TpT Store! |
To add to my birthday fun, I put together a birthday celebration you can share with your students. Help them remember that special day with this freebie!
 |
| Click on the image to get this FREEBIE! |
I hope everyone is having a great week!
Best wishes to all,
Jen
Visit my TpT store
Find me on Pinterest
Join me on Facebook
Writing is my
absolute favorite subject to teach because it is the time in the day when I
begin to understand my students the best.
Through their writing, I can see their experiences, beliefs, values, and
so on. It is a magical time when their
creative minds are at work! But, before
I can begin teaching writing, I have to ask myself what it is I want my
students to be able to do as writers when they leave my classroom.
What
do I Understand Writing to Be?
•Making
a difference with the written word.
•Feeling
valued with what we have to say.
What
do I Understand Writing NOT to be?
•Writing
is not about everyone in the class writing about the same topic.
•Writing
is not about simply responding to a prompt.
•Writing
is not only about correcting poorly written sentences.
•Writing
is not at all about trying to write with someone elses idea.
•Writing
is not about learning how to follow directions.
•Writing
is not just about learning about paragraphs, indenting, spacing, etc.
•Each
writer brings a unique set of experiences and beliefs to writing. A class of writers can not produce the same
response to a prompt.
•There
is no right or wrong answer.
•They
are reflective…they think about their personal experiences.
As you begin teaching
writing this year, ask yourself these 3 questions and make your own list! You may find that the third list makes a
great set of teaching objectives. After
all, we all want to teach our young writers to do their very best!
I’d LOVE to hear your
lists and thoughts! Send me a message
and tell me how you are planning to instill a sense of value and purpose in
your young writers!!
Best wishes to all the writers out there!!
Jen
Hi everyone! Check out my classroom happenings page for newly uploaded videos of the writing workshop structure. There is a video for the mini lesson, independent writing/conference time, and the share. Enjoy and happy writing!!
