Foundational Skills for Writing: A Brain-Based Guide to Strengthen Executive Functioning, Language And Other Cornerstones For Writers by Melanie Meehan & Maggie Beattie Roberts

Foundational Skills for Writing: A Brain-Based Guide to Strengthen Executive Functioning, Language And Other Cornerstones For Writers 

by Melanie Meehan & Maggie Beattie Roberts

Published May, 2026

Corwin 

232 Pages

Paperback

Professional Learning Text

I am a bit of a professional book addict. I love reading professional texts to deepen and broaden my own knowledge and skills so that I can be the best teacher for my students. While I always learn something, not every professional text is as helpful as I hope it will be. Every now and then, a professional text comes along that is a game-changer--one that has the potential to impact the practice of everyone who reads it. Foundational Skills for Writing is one of those books. 

It is an understatement to say that Melanie and Maggie have done their homework. They have done a deep dive into how executive functioning, oral language, large and small motor skills, handwriting, spelling, syntax, and sentence construction all play important roles in writing development. They provide predictable progressions of developmental skills, which will help educators determine next steps for students. Each chapter is grounded in classroom practice by presenting a student scenario. Then the student is revisited at the end of the chapter, and the authors give an update on how the students have progressed using the information and strategies presented in the chapter. 

Most importantly, the authors provide replicable instructional strategies to address each foundational skill in a section called "Leveraging Literacy". These strategies are accompanied by sequential steps, visuals, and even direct links to resources. I got some new ideas that I will share later in this post. A section called Researchers to Know, includes a list of prominent researchers in the field presented in the chapter, including a brief description of their contributions. Each chapter ends with Conversations With a Colleague, where a practitioner in the field shares their experience, expertise, and advice. 

The mark of a good professional text is in how it will impact the practice of an educator who reads it. Books like this one make me wish I were back in the classroom so that I could use what I have learned with my classroom writers. But now I read professional texts through a library lens. Below are the strategies and activities I will implement (or continue to implement) in my library program to support foundational writing development after reading and processing Foundational Skills for Writing.

Executive Functioning

• Allow extra think time
• Leverage quick-writes
• Use sketchnoting with students
• Incorporate more oral storytelling

Oral Language

• Turn & talks (pairing similar "talkers" together
• Asking students to share what they heard rather than what they said. 
• Verbal rehearsal before writing
• Incorporate visuals like sketches as options
• Incorporate the use of sentence frames during discussions
• Ask questions to think deeper about characters from read-alouds, such as What would be the character's least favorite food? 
• Have students orally tell the story of wordless picture books

Large Motor Skills

• Utilize large motor movements before read-aloud
• Encourage students to read books on their bellies propped up on their arms
• Incorporate yoga poses in the library

Small Motor/Handwriting/Spelling Skills

• Offer a variety of writing utensils 
• Have a variety of paper choices on hand
• Offer Jigsaw puzzles
• Incorporate STEAM activities such as Legos 
• Bookmaking activities
• Incorporate the use of sticky notes and mini notebooks throughout the library and during play activities
• Keep letter-sound charts and high-frequency word lists available during writing activities
• Do high-frequency word hunts in books
• Orthographically map tricky words 
• Incorporate Interactive Writing 
• Label the library
• Use magnetic letters for choice activities

Syntax & Sentence Construction

• Mentor sentence activities
• Sort a sentence
• Collaborative sentence construction
• Sentence scrambles 
• Magnetic poetry

I would strongly encourage any educator to get a copy of Foundational Skills for Writing: A Brain-Based Guide to Strengthen Executive Functioning, Language, and Other Cornerstones for Writers by Melanie Meehan & Maggie Beattie Roberts.  

Summer #CyberPD Reflection Weeks 2 and 3

This summer I am participating in my first #CyberPD session. This virtual book club is organized and facilitated by educators, Cathy Mere, Laura Komos and Michelle Nero.  This group started in 2011 and has grown every year. This summer, we are reading and discussing DIY Literacy: Tools for Differentiation, Rigor and Independence. 

This post serves as my reflection for weeks 2 and 3 since I never got to it last week. 

Reflection 

For me, chapters 3-5 were the really the "heart" of the book for me. It hit upon all of the reasons I need to use these tools:

*To help students remember what I have taught them.

*To help motivate students.

*To tailor my teaching to meet the needs of all of my students. 

Of all of these reasons, helping my students remember what I have taught them is probably one of my biggest issues in the classroom. On page 38 Kate and Maggie list all of the things our students must try to learn and attend to on a given day. No wonder our students can't remember what we teach them. 

I really love the idea of using anchor and repertoire charts and bookmarks for this purpose. I also like the list on page 42 of the ways to keep charts alive. I am very guilty of creating a chart and expecting the students to remember to refer to it. These tips such as interrupting the students' reading or writing during workshop to remind them to check a chart for a certain strategy for example are excellent ways to help students remember to use the tools. 

A Couple of Takeaways

*Just because I taught it, doesn't mean they learned it. It they actually learned something, they would remember it. So I already knew this but it is always a good reminder. 

*Tools can motivate students and give them confidence by providing them with a place to turn when they need help. It also helps with independence because the teacher can always refer the student to the tool before intervening.  

Now I Wonder...

*How can I let go of the fact that my handwriting looks like I wrote while riding a roller coaster? I know Kate and Maggie said it's ok, but I still hate my charts. 

*How can I share what I have learned with other staff members?

*Will I really be able to organize all the tools effectively? 

I have enjoyed participating in this #CyberPD summer session. I hope we can all continue to extend our learning as we apply what we have learned in the classroom. 

A BIG Thank you to Cathy, Laura and Michelle for hosting! 

Summer #CyberPD Week One

This summer I am participating in my first #CyberPD session. This virtual book club is organized and facilitated by educators, Cathy Mere, Laura Komos and Michelle Nero.  This group started in 2011 and has grown every year. This summer, we are reading and discussing DIY Literacy: Tools for Differentiation, Rigor and Independence. 

I was fortunate to participate in a mini online book club using this book in late spring. However, I am excited to read it a second time when I am not so busy with school and I have more mental energy to process it. 

The focus of DIY Literacy is on how tools can be created and used with students in the classroom allowing them to access, remember and extend their learning. This week we read chapters 1, 2 and the "Bonus chapter". 

Reflection 

These first chapters are very exciting. They lay the foundation of how, when and why to use four "tools" in the classroom. Using repertoire/process charts, demonstration notebooks, micro-progressions and bookmarks can help solve a variety of problems teachers face in the classroom. 

I enjoyed the section on page 5 about making our teaching clear and the fact that, oftentimes, we teach too many strategies completely made sense to me. I feel like I need to narrow things down for my students and help them to really learn and use fewer strategies more effectively. 

The Tools

Is it too geeky that the tools look super-fun to make? Even though it is summer, I wanted to grab a rainbow of sharpies, colored stickies and start going to town with drafts in my notebook. 

Kate and Maggie present the tools in such a way that makes me think, "Yeah, I could do that!" I was familiar with charts and demo notebooks to some degree, but using micro progressions and bookmarks to help students monitor, remember and extend learning were new strategies for me. 

The whole time I was reading chapters 1 and 2, I was thinking about where I might find strategies for the tools. Then came the "bonus" chapter. I like the ideas for places to go to find strategies (books, colleagues, online). I also added too many new professional texts to my TBR list after looking at the appendix. 

My Big BIG Aha

I reread the section on "Making Learning Stick" several times. This is one of the most difficult things for me personally. I teach fourth grade and they need repetition, repetition, repetition and then even more. I feel that these tools can help me to give them something visual and concrete to use if they forget a strategy or concept and give them a better chance of actually owning the skill. 

Little "Nuggets" I want to post around my school.

"True learning happens when students get the instruction that fits their needs, have the agency and motivation to work hard, and remember and recycle what they've learned." DIY Literacy pg. 2

"...often we get trapped in the hamster wheel of breadth--of being sure we have gotten to everything--rather than centering our work on depth." DIY Literacy pg. 3

"One key to joy is working hard and seeing that hard work pay off." DIY Literacy pg. 9

"We want to tether our skills and strategies to a strong sense of purpose. This helps students (and ourselves) buy into the work, know when to do the work, and see the bigger meaning of the work." DIY Literacy pg. 32

Now I Wonder...
~Will I really have time to make all the tools I want/need to make? 
~How can I make sure students will use the tools? 
~Will I be able to find strategies to help with particular problems?
~Is there a place where others are posting examples of tools they have developed? 

Celebrate This Week-July 18, 2015

Every week, Ruth Ayres over at Discover. Play. Build. invites people to share celebrations from their week.  Please visit and consider linking up your own celebration. 

Thanks to Ruth for providing a platform for me to share my big and small celebrations. 

Today I am catching up on a few celebrations from the last couple of weeks. 

Girls Weekend
Last weekend I went to an annual "girls weekend". This is one weekend each year where I get together with friends from high school on a gorgeous lake here in Maine. The weekend was a picture perfect summer weekend with lots of sunshine and low humidity. Twelve of us "girls" spent floating on the lake and catching up on what is happening in our lives. There was talk of kids getting ready to head to college and others facing the challenges of middle school. Of course there was also much eating, drinking and laughing...so much laughing. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried? 


Learning New Stuff
I spent the last 5 days in a graduate class on assessment at The University of Southern Maine. Although it is tough to miss out on some of the few warm, sunny days here, I enjoyed this class very much. I love learning new things, but I especially enjoy learning among really smart and dedicated educators. The twelve of us spent the week learning more about assessment for learning with lively discussions and challenging perspectives. It was an invigorating experience has me rethinking the ways I will teach and measure learning going forward. 

A Weekend at Home
Today I celebrate being with my family. After over a week of being gone, I am very happy to be able to hang out with my family this weekend. Today is a rainy day and I am welcoming the chance to talk, read, watch movies and just be home. 

What are YOU celebrating this week? 

Slie of Life-nErDcampNNE 2015 Reflection

Each Tuesday the amazing bloggers at Two Writing Teachers host Slice of Life Stories (SOLS). This is where bloggers link up to share anything they would like to share about what is happening in their lives. 

After a year of planning, the second nErDcamp Northern New England was held this past weekend. 200ish teachers, librarians, authors and other educators gathered together for a day of learning and connecting. To my knowledge we are the second region to hold a nErDcamp. Nerdcamp was the brainchild of Colby Sharp and his friends at Nerdy Book Club in Michigan who hold their nErDcamp in the summer. 
The weekend started off with an author event on Friday night. Dozens of local authors and illustrators from New England gathered to meet fans and sign books. It was so exciting to see kids' eyes light up when they meet the author that wrote their favorite book. Of course, kids were not the only ones who were a little star struck. 

Susan Dee, author Lynne Plourde, Me, author Jennifer Jacobson

Me with author of the Cooper and Packrat series, Mainer Tamra Wight!

Yep, that's me with Cynthia Lord!! Love her!

Lynda Mullaly Hunt is the selfie queen! 

Lynda, Jenn Chafin, me, Paula Bourque, JoEllen McCarthy

What a fabulous group of authors and illustrators!!

Our planning committee: Mary Lou Shuster, Cathy Potter, yours truly, Jenny Stahl, Susan Dee, Natalee Stotz, Jenn Chafin (Chris Pirkl was not able to attend due to illness, but helped us with technology from home. He was missed very much.)

The day of nErDcamp started early and ended late. Last year's nErDcamp was great and I have to say I think this year was even better! We were more prepared and we had many participants return who were familiar with the "unconference" model. We also had many volunteers who helped in numerous ways! We had four sessions, two in the morning. Thanks to many generous publishers, authors and educational companies, we were able to offer great door prizes and a ton of giveaways. 

The day passed too quickly. I love the "unconference" model where the participants choose what they would like to learn. Nothing is preplanned and no one assumes to be an expert. It's teachers getting together to share what they know in a relaxed, supportive environment. We were able to connect with people around the country via Twitter and our live Google notes. One of the hardest parts was choosing which of the amazing sessions to attend. 

Visit Jenny Lussier's storify of nErDcamp to see a collection of Tweets.

Author Sarah Albee reflected on her time in Maine and the Nerdy weekend here.  

LOVE these ladies! Susan Dee and Cathy Potter!

This picture was taken at an after camp gathering. I had to include it because it makes me laugh just looking at us. 

We are already talking about nErDcampNNE 2016! I love this weekend and all it offers teachers. We just don't get this kind of PD at school. It respects teachers' ability to determine what they need to learn. Can't wait until next year!