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The Sisters
Gail Boushey (left) and Joan Moser (right) are "The Sisters," a dynamic teaching and consulting team. They help colleagues in Washington state and throughout the country create more thoughtful, beautiful spaces in their elementary classrooms for literacy learning. The Sisters are co-authors of the book The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades (Stenhouse, 2006). And yes (if you're wondering), they are sisters, as well as elementary teachers with over forty years of teaching experience between them.
Gail currently works full-time as a literacy specialist in the Seattle area. Joan is a K-2 multi-age teacher who works in a nearby school. This year, their writing for Choice Literacy will focus on the CAFE assessment system they have developed over the past five years, and how they stay energized as teachers and learners. If you would like some video examples of Joan and Gail's work with teachers and students, you can visit this link describing their projects with Choice Literacy: http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/330.cfm
Joan and Gail have created a wonderful website as a free resource to teachers interested in their workshops, current learning, and on-line courses. You can visit their site by clicking here.
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Managing Book Boxes
(Organizing Book Boxes Video Series)
Joan Moser
In this first video in a month-long series, Joan Moser (of "The Sisters") explains three strategies she uses to help students pick book for their book boxes. In the coming weeks, Joan will explain how she and her students use the book boxes daily during literacy workshops. . . . more
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Coaching in Kindergarten: Conferring (VIDEO)
Joan Moser
What's in a name? For kindergartner Maria, it's the start of learning how letters and sounds work. In this coaching session, Joan Moser of "The Sisters" helps Daniel understand how to use a child's name as a beginning point for teaching letters and sounds. . . . more
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Middle School Library Makeover:
Stacks & Recap (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) collaborate with a middle school librarian, principal, and team of students to makeover the school library. In this final segment of the series, they redo the stacks and meeting area, and then talk with students about the transformation of the entire library. . . . more
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Cozy Seating for Literacy Learning
One thing we've learned is that the seats we are comfortable in as adults aren't always the same as our young students' preferences. Some like to sit at tables, but just as many prefer backless seating on the floor, a pile of pillows, or even a perch on a stool. . . . more
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Middle School Library Makeover Part I (VIDEO)
In this first of a two-part video series, "The Sisters" (Joan Moser and Gail Boushey) work with students, a librarian, and a principal to makeover a middle-school library. This first installment features the creation of a "cozy area" and new book browsing displays. . . . more
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Moving into "Big Fat Chapter Books": Conferring with Elyse (VIDEO)
In this conference with seven-year-old Elyse, Joan Moser helps her set a reading goal that will help her move into "big fat picture books." In the debrief with Gail Boushey, Joan talks about the importance of knowing a reader's history and how teachers can use that to motivate the child. . . . more
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Middle School Classroom Makeover Part III (VIDEO)
The Sisters
Have you ever been assigned a classroom with no storage cabinets or cupboards? In the final section of their video series on a middle school classroom makeover, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help seventh-grade teacher Erin reorganize and declutter her built-in bookshelves and talk through storage issues . . . more
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Middle School Classroom Makeover Part II (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this second of a three-part series featuring a middle school classroom makeover, The Sisters (Joan Moser and Gail Boushey) help Erin rearrange her classroom library and media cart area to create a more inviting space for her 7th grade students. . . . more
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Middle School Classroom Makeover Part I (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this first of a three-part video series, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help 7th grade teacher Erin declutter and rearrange her classroom. . . . more
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Wall Displays (PHOTO ESSAY)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
As the years have passed, we've also tried to make our classrooms more ecologically friendly. Keeping the same background paper and borders throughout the year is much less wasteful than continually changing backgrounds. The eye needs a place to rest when viewing items on the walls, which is another reason to keep backgrounds simple, and to leave space around any items within displays. . . . more
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Warm It Up:
Lighting a Classroom for Literacy (PHOTO ESSAY)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
Lighting is our favorite aspect of classroom design. The whole tone of the learning environment is shaped by the lamps we place throughout the room. We can have a lovely arrangement of seats, materials, and carpeting, but in the end, it is the lighting that creates a sense of warmth. . . . more
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Collaborative Team Meeting: Assessing and Planning Together (VIDEO)
Gail Boushey
Collaborative team meetings take place every 9-10 days in our schools. In these meetings, teachers from one grade level, literacy coaches, and our principal meet together to discuss individual students, the curriculum, and goals. I want to share video from one team meeting early in the year. In September, three 4th grade teachers, a literacy coach, the principal and I sat down together in a collaborative team meeting to pore over the assessments of students from the previous year, comparing these notes to our ongoing fall assessments of individual students. . . . more
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Tight Spaces Part II: Design Photo Essay Series
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
Is there ever enough room for all the materials our students must access and use to learn hour after hour, day after day in our classrooms? We bet if we tallied the items up, there are literally thousands of pencils, manipulatives, books, notebooks, and other tools students need to sort through, use, and store daily in our classrooms. . . . more
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Tight Spaces Part I: Maximizing Room for Literacy Learning (PHOTO ESSAY)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
When we first began teaching, our students all sat in desks, row by row. The constant sound of chairs and desks scraping together, and the continually jostling of students against each other seemed normal to us. Over the years we have moved to different configurations of work spaces for literacy and learning throughout the classroom. Though we no longer have students sit in rows of desks, we still struggle to create a feeling of spaciousness in our classrooms. . . . more
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Conferring Notebook for Coaches (VIDEO with TEMPLATE)
Gail Boushey
I am always on the hunt for new ways to reorganize the records I keep as a literacy coach. I want to be sure I have good records of encounters with colleagues, but I don't want to spend more time taking notes than I do collaborating with teachers. Recently I revised my coaching conferring notebook to mirror the notebooks I encourage teachers to use in their own classrooms as they keep track of conferences with students. The video below explains the components of the notebook . . . more
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Bookroom Tours Part II (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this three-minute video, The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) continue their tours of school bookrooms. The focus in this presentation is on the checkout system used to keep track of where sets of books are in different classrooms. . . . more
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Bookroom Tours - Part I (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this three-minute video, The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) take viewers on a tour of an elementary bookroom. The books are arranged by levels, with Joan and Gail sharing simple strategies for checkout and updating bins as new titles are added. . . . more
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Personal Touches Early in the Year -
Classroom Design Photo Essay Series
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
Early in the year, many of the walls in our classroom are bare, as we wait to fill them up with our learning - our new words, books we've read together, literacy goals, math graphs, anchor charts. Yet our goal is still that our students can quickly see their place in this community. We want the classroom to feel like home to them, with those personal touches that connect home to school, and students to each other. Here are four quick art/design projects you can complete in the first weeks of school that personalize the classroom for students . . . more
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Preparing Walls for Displays (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this four-minute video, The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help a new teacher "frame up" an area of the room for future displays of student work, in a way that draws attention away from book bags and other clutter. . . . more
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Tips for Displaying Student Work (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this six-minute video, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help a colleague dress up her displays of student work. The common mistake made by teachers is to display work with standard-size borders, all lined up in a row. Joan and Gail demonstrate how teachers can use techniques that mix up the images visually, promoting more of an art gallery look and feel to wall displays. . . . more
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Meeting Area Makeover (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
Meeting areas in classrooms serve many purposes - they are gathering places for students and teachers, and they also are key storage areas on the perimeter for student work, materials, and literacy supports like big books or chart stands. In this two-part video, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help first-year teacher Christine reorganize her meeting area so that it is less cluttered and easier for students to access the materials they need...without disrupting lessons. . . . more
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The Literacy Coach Work Area: Arranging Materials in Cramped Spaces (VIDEO)
Gail Boushey
Many literacy specialists and coaches find themselves in cramped work spaces when it comes to their desks, storage areas for materials, and meeting rooms for conferring with colleagues. In this four-minute video, Literacy Coach Gail Boushey talks about how she arranges her materials in a limited space, and the benefits of sharing work space with colleagues. . . . more
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Organizing Reading Area Supplies (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
We design our rooms to support students as they work independently. Often this means areas throughout the room house supplies for literacy - books for independent reading, guided reading, notebooks, and storage bins for students. This time-lapse video provides some tips for reorganizing a small-group reading area that receives a lot of traffic from students. . . . more
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Decluttering a Storage Area (VIDEO)
The Sisters
In this time-lapse video, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help second-year teacher Carrie declutter a storage area at the end of the year, talking through decisions of what to keep, what to throw away, and simple tricks for dressing up shelves. The video is divided into two parts for ease of viewing, and is approximately ten minutes long. . . . more
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Numbering and Arranging Classroom Library Bins (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this video, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help experienced teacher Kelly create a numbering system for her classroom library. They talk together about strategies for teaching children to become more independent in finding books and maintaining the library. . . . more
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Reorganizing the Classroom Library (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this brief time-lapse video, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser help Carrie, a second-year teacher, begin to organize her classroom library according to themes and traffic patterns in the classroom. . . . more
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Community Language Board:
Building Vocabulary All Year Long (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
The Community Language Board is where the class shares interesting new words from read alouds, sight words, and alternatives to common words in writing. In this video tour, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) talk about how the board changes and evolves over the year, building a sense of community and shared literacy. . . . more
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Noticing Interesting Words: Small-Group Vocabulary Lesson (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this five-minute video, Gail Boushey (of "The Sisters") leads a short small-group lesson on vocabulary. In the debrief following the lesson, Gail talks with Joan Moser about vocabulary instruction, and the importance of fostering independence in students when it comes to noticing and learning new words. . . . more
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Concepts of Print: Conferring with a Kindergartner (VIDEO)
In this conference with five-year-old Mariano, Joan Moser (of "The Sisters") assesses his understanding of reading, print, and books at the start of the school year. After the conference, Joan debriefs with Gail Boushey about appropriate next steps for this kindergartner. . . . more
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The Conferring Notebook: Organizing for Teaching in Workshops (VIDEO with TEMPLATES)
In this five-minute video, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) describe how they organize their conferring notebook. The notebook includes a section for each student, as well as grids for organizing flexible reading groups and calendars for scheduling conferences. If you would like to download any of the templates mentioned in the video, they are available just below the video player. . . . more
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Whole-Class Vocabulary Lesson, Grades K-2 (VIDEO)
In this five-minute video, Joan Moser of "The Sisters" teaches a whole-class vocabulary lesson. The focus is on helping students notice interesting words, and make connections between daily read-alouds and word learning. After the lesson, Joan and Gail talk about the place of vocabulary instruction in their literacy workshops. . . . more
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Student Storage Areas: Tips for Reorganizing (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) talk with Kelly about strategies for reorganizing student storage areas, considering access, group supplies, and how the materials are used. . . . more
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Desk Area Reorganization (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this brief time-lapse video, The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help Carrie reorganize her desk and rug area for better access to literacy materials and teaching supplies. . . . more
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Noticing Words to Expand Vocabulary: Conferring with Mariah (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this conference with six-year-old Mariah, Joan Moser of "The Sisters" has chosen to focus on expanding vocabulary. Joan uses the charts in the classroom linked to read-alouds to anchor Mariah's learning to shared reading experiences. After the conference Joan talks with Gail Boushey about strategies for vocabulary instruction with young children. . . . more
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Small Group Instruction: Inferring Focus (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this six-minute video example of reading instruction with a small group, Gail Boushey of "The Sisters" leads a discussion of inference, using Peter Rabbit as a focus text. All of the children in the group are reading at different levels independently, but they share a goal of learning more about inference. . . . more
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Flexible Groups: Moving Beyond Levels to Assess Reading Needs (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In the past, flexible groups really weren't that flexible in our classrooms, especially when we based the groups on students' reading levels. For years we said, "Yes, of course we do flexible groups!" But the truth was we didn't really know what that meant, and we certainly had no idea of how to manage those groups. Once we started slotting kids into groups based on needing to know something more about specific reading strategies or skills like inferring or fluency, it moved us beyond levels... . . . more
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Learning to Cross-Check: Conferring with Hailey (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this conference, Joan Moser confers with five-year-old Hailey and helps her set a reading goal. Hailey reads a text, and Joan helps her see how cross-checking is a useful strategy for readers in decoding and comprehending text... . . . more
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Let's Get Rid of "The Teacher Shrine": Organizing Meeting Areas, Walls, and Materials (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this six-minute classroom tour, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser ("The Sisters") talk about problems with teacher desks, present how they separate and define different curricular learning areas, and explain how they use borders to enhance displays on walls. This is an excerpt from the Simply Beautiful series on classroom design for literacy learning and gracious living... . . . more
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Conferring about Inferring: Teaching a Strategy to a Fluent Reader (VIDEO from CAFE series)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
In this conference, Gail Boushey (of "The Sisters") confers with Brandon, a reader who is becoming fluent in his skills. Gail helps him understand the concept of inferring, and Brandon sets a goal to post on the CAFE (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary) board for future reference. Part II of the video also includes a debrief with Joan Moser about the conference and how to teach inference. . . . more
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The CAFE Assessment System: Helping Young Children Set Literacy Goals (AUDIO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
"CAFE" is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary. Students work with their teacher during one-on-one conferences to set goals according to their individual strengths and needs, charting these goals with the whole class on a master chart. Teachers then refer to the goals in subsequent conferences, also using them to target small-group instruction and design whole class lessons. . . . more
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Lighting Redesign from the Sisters (VIDEO)
Gail Boushey and Joan Moser
In this five-minute time-lapse video, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser redesign the lighting in their colleague Ahnsaly's literacy meeting area. In the process, they talk about the challenges of "black hole" media mounted on walls, dealing with cords and codes, and creating banks of lights... . . . more
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Goal Sheets for Conferring (TEMPLATES)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
When we confer with students, we set goals with each child based upon their emerging needs. The forms include a space for us to record instruction we've provided to assist the child in meeting the goal (individually, in a small group, or with the whole class) and what we've observed with the child related to the goal. There is also a space to record what steps the child has said he or she will take to meet the goal... . . . more
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The Sisters Redesign a New Teacher's Storage Area (VIDEO)
The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser)
The Sisters help a new teacher, Amy, sort through junk she inherited from previous occupants of her classroom. They use the "piles" method to sort through materials, separating books and supplies into four stacks. The video uses time-lapse technology to show an amazing transformation in six minutes flat... . . . more
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Check-In for Independence: A Recordkeeping Form to Track Independent Work (TEMPLATE)
The Sisters (Joan Moser and Gail Boushey)
We find our Daily Check-In is an essential tool for helping children monitor their own reading and writing. By checking in with us at the start of independent work periods, they learn the importance of planning for a variety of literate activities themselves, rather than waiting for guidance for us... . . . more
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Tools to Redesign Your Classroom (TEMPLATES)
Gail Boushey and Joan Moser (The Sisters)
How can teachers get started with thinking through a new classroom design? In these two tools from their acclaimed "Trading Spaces" classroom design courses, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) share some strategies for working through a new design step by step... . . . more
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"Brainy" Classroom Design: An Interview with Joan Moser of "The Sisters" (AUDIO)
Joan Moser
Wouldn't it be a better world if we had interior designers with specialized knowledge of kids, literacy, and learning on call in our classrooms? Those who live in the Pacific Northwest have the next best thing with The Sisters, Joan Moser and Gail Boushey. Their "Trading Spaces" courses are a special combination of learning research and artistic flair. . . . . . more
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The "Passion" Gap: Ten Ways We Find Joy in Teaching
Gail Boushey and Joan Moser
The one and only thing each of us has complete control over...is...OURSELF! We control our teaching skills, how current we are in our knowledge of research and promising practices in our field, our understanding of children and their developmental strengths and needs, our attitude, and our love and passion for what we do. The "me" we bring to our children each day is powerfully influential... . . . more
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