Today I’d like to chat gameschooling language arts! I’m sharing our family’s favorite reading and language arts games. Playing with language is a huge part of our homeschool routine! These ar…
Oral language often takes a backseat to other subjects in the curriculum. We do curriculum mapping to make sure we cover all of the reading, writing, and math standards for our students, but how often do we map out a plan for addressing oral language skills? In my state, Illinois, we use the Common Core Standards, and I have to admit that I almost always look at the other literacy standards and only infrequently glance at the “Speaking and Listening” standards. But guess what? THIS IS NOT GOOD!! Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in some professional development and learn more about students’ oral language and literacy development. I want to share what I’ve learned so far with you, because oral language development is definitely something worth paying attention to – whether you teach ELLs or students whose first language is English. Read on for some of the facts that I’ve learned about how students’ oral language affects their literacy development, as well as some tips to help develop your students’ oral language. 1. Oral language is one of the most powerful tools young children have to help them learn about the world. As babies and toddlers learn to understand and produce language, their knowledge about the world around them grows exponentially. For example, they may first call all small pets “dogs,” only later learning about the categories of “dog” and “cat.” When students begin school at the age of 5, their oral language development is far from finished. If we don’t allow our students opportunities to grow their oral language, we are impeding their learning. Which leads me to… 2. Oral language develops through use. We can talk all day until we are blue in the face, but students’ oral language will only develop when they have opportunities to use it. That means we gotta let ’em talk! 3. There are ways we can assess students’ oral language development. One 3-minute assessment I was recently introduced to is an Oral Language Assessment by Mondo. Click {here} to download the assessment for free (scroll down to where it says “Let’s Talk About It! Oral Language Assessment”). In this assessment, you say aloud sentences of varying lengths, and students have to repeat back the sentences to you (one at a time). Students are supposed to be able to correctly repeat back at least 14 of the 15 sentences by the middle of first grade. But… 4. Many struggling readers also struggle with oral language. If you give the assessment that I linked to above to struggling readers (even those in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade), they will likely not achieve the score that a 1st grader is supposed to have achieved. Eek! If you transcribe what a child has repeated back to you during the assessment, you can look for patterns. Is the child missing verb phrases? Subjects? Pronouns? Prepositions? These gaps will also show up in the child’s reading and writing. 5. Listening comprehension precedes reading comprehension. If a student can’t repeat back what you said during the assessment, then they will likely not comprehend the same sentence in text, EVEN if they can decode it. Let’s take a look at this sentence from the assessment: The car and the truck were carrying some large boxes. This sentence might seem pretty simple at first glance. But it contains all of the following ideas: – There was a car – There was also a truck – The car and the truck were carrying some boxes – The boxes that they were carrying were large If a child cannot repeat back the sentence exactly as it is spoken, he/she likely does not grasp all of those individual ideas that make up the sentence. Missing many small details like this adds up to poor reading comprehension and inferential thinking. 6. Oral language ability impacts students’ writing. Do you have any students whose writing consists of one big run-on sentence, a bunch of thoughts connected by “and,” “and,” “and?” They likely sound the same way when they talk. I feel like I’m sharing lots of bad news here!! And, honestly, poor oral language development can be really bad news for students when it comes to their literacy development. However, there ARE things that we can do to support students’ oral language development. Here are a few ideas: – Simplify directions given orally. Students who struggle with listening comprehension / oral language likely will not be able to understand or follow directions that are include lots of clauses, prepositional phrases, etc. You can’t stop giving multi-step directions just because you have students who struggle with their oral language. You can, however, give those directions in simple language, one step at a time, with pauses in between. – Have students engage in “turn and talks” (think-pair-shares) every 4-5 minutes. This sounded like a lot to me, but again, oral language develops through use – kids need to talk about what they are learning! – Provide low-risk opportunities for kids to practice talking. Kids need to feel comfortable talking about non-academic topics before they will take risks when talking about their learning. Low-risk activities can take the form of having students share about their activities over the weekend or asking them to talk to each other about what they see in a funny/strange picture. During these “practice sessions,” act as a participant or observer in the conversation, rather than bombarding kids with questions. Encourage kids to use specific vocabulary words during the discussion. – Help students extend their oral language with prompting. Here’s a sample conversation between a child (C) and teacher (T): T: Where did you go this weekend? C: The park. T: Oh, you went to the park? What did you do there? C: Played on the swings. T: Ah, you played on the swings. Who did you play with? C: My brother! T: Great! You could say, I went to the park and played on the swings with my brother. Can you say that with me? C & T: I went to the park
Is this little known learning difference limiting your child's academic success? Learn more about common dysgraphia symptoms you may be missing. You may never have heard of dysgraphia, but it may very well effect your
Language comprehension is the ability to understand spoken or written language. This along with word recognition leads to reading comprehension.
Matchbook chapter summaries super simple and fun project that you can have your students complete during your next novel study.
The majority of singular nouns are made plural simply by adding an S on to the end of the word. However, there are many different rules depending on what letter the word ends in.
How To Promote Rich Storytelling by Young Children | you clever monkey
Analyzing writing curriculums, planning writing workshop and teaching writing lessons can be overwhelming. You might think, how am I going to fit everything in and produce successful writers? Where do I start? What skills do they need? This post will share the 7 BASIC WRITING LESSONS that every teacher should teach! With this basic knowledge, students will be able to perform other writing assignments more effectively. The following skills are not only effective in upper elementary, they are often needed at the middle school level for review or the primary level for differentiation. So yes, every teacher should teach them! If you start with these 7 fundamental skills, it will set the expectations for your writing lessons and assignments throughout the year! Frequently Asked Questions What are the basic skills and what order should I teach them? Sentence Structure 1. Complete Sentences Lesson for complete sentences 2. Fragments Lesson for fragments 3. Run-ons Lesson for run-ons Paragraph Writing 4. Topic Sentences Lesson for topic sentences 5. Relevant Details Lesson for relevant details 6. Transition Words Lesson for transition words 7. Closing Sentences Lesson for closing sentences How much time should I dedicate to teaching these fundamental skills? I recommend one day for each skill. If you spend a whole writing block for each skill, students will benefit from the practice. How do I teach each skill? First: Start with an anchor chart explaining the skill. (See each lesson link above for effective anchor charts.) Second: Provide examples. Students can share examples too! Next: Students should take notes. I love using Interactive Writing Notebooks to take notes. Research supports the use of interactive notebooks through studies on multiple intelligences, the brain and note taking. Here are a few videos to Set Up Interactive Writing Notebooks. Click photo for the Upper Elementary Version. A Primary Version is also available. Then: Identify the skill. Provide practice sheets and task cards for students to practice identifying the skill in sentences and paragraphs. Last: Apply the skill. Students should have the opportunity to write their own sentence or paragraph to apply the particular skill. What if I can't fit the lesson in one writing block? If you can't extend the days to complete them, there are other ways to get the whole lesson in. You can put practice sheets or task cards in a center, or you can have students apply the skill for homework or morning work the next day. What if my students, some of my students, or absent students can't do interactive notebooks? Make a small anchor chart to put in their notebooks with the same information! If you don't have a printable poster, take a picture of the anchor chart you used in class and print them off! I hope you found this post helpful and your students become successful writers this year! Connect With Me! TPT Store Facebook Pinterest My Blog
Following written and even oral directions can be a difficult task for many students. Dr. Warren now offers both her advice on fun games and a freebie sampling of printable activities. Click here: Dr. Warren's Blog and Freebie link
You'll be able to appreciate Korean handwriting more once you get to know each Hangeul letter and have done some exercises. You can truly start having fun with writing in Korean. Learning more about the different handwriting styles is useful, especially when encountering many people's handwriting. In this article,
I have used the reading workshop model for about 8 years now. It has changed a lot over the years! One thing that has stayed the same is the ‘Respond to Text’ station. This is a time where students get to write about their reading. The station stays the same all year, but the activities in the station change. Below is a list of activities you can add to your ‘Respond to Text’ station at the beginning of the year. 1. Bookmark Book Report At the beginning of the year, some students struggle to finish chapter books. I find that this bookmark book report helps them stay engaged in their reading. The students keep track of the pages they read, and complete activities as they read their book. There is a fiction and nonfiction version available for download. 2. Text Structures Tri-fold Students can use this trifold to ‘hunt’ for different text structures. Just put a basket of nonfiction books at the station and you are set! It’s a great way to get them reading nonfiction books. 3. Choice Board Students get to choose what activities they’d like to complete. This is great because it can be used for the story of the week (if you follow a basal) or the chapter book they are currently reading. You can have the students glue this page inside their reading notebook, or have them staple their responses to this sheet and turn in. Download the Printables: Click here to download the bookmark book report. Click here to download the text structures trifold and choice board. Add editing tasks to your reading workshop block! Math Resources: 1st Grade Tri-Folds 2nd Grade Tri-Folds 3rd Grade Tri-Folds 4th Grade Tri-Folds 5th Grade Tri-Folds Thanks for reading! I hope you will find these printable helpful :) Visit my blog @ Learning With Mrs S. Visit my TPT Store Follow me on Pinterest! Follow me on Instagram! Follow me on Facebook :)
This Annotating Text-Teach, Model, & Apply activity will encourage your students to learn how to annotate properly and efficiently.
Are you required to teach a list of vocabulary words each week? This list of vocabulary activities will help teach students to read!
This is a guest post written by Barbara Dewey of Waldorf Without Walls in which she describes learning to read the Waldorf way.
If the titles of my blog posts are any indication of how well I can focus on one specific task- that doesn't look very good. I never can focus on one thing in these blog posts- hence the extremely long and random combinations in my titles :) My kiddos were WIRED this week! They definitely have spring fever. My. goodness. It probably didn't help that it was Dr. Seuss day on Monday and we had a spirit week the rest of the days. Something about Wacky Wednesday doesn't exactly scream "concentration." :) Don't get me wrong- I love spirit week because I can wear jeans or comfy clothes. Plus the kiddos deserved some fun distractions. BUT. It was a complete battle between spirit/fun and testing/instruction all week. I finally had a "come to jesus" talk with the class on Friday. I actually think it helped. Last year, if I had a talk like that with my firsties, I wasn't always sure it got through, but with third graders this year, it was actually a mutual discussion. We'll see, that might just be my Saturday-induced optimism talking.... :) Speaking of spring fever, I just finished my newest "Spring Fling" and "Happy Snails" clipart sets and posted them to my store! I have used a lot of pastel colors in my spring sets, but I made a new color scheme for these sets (and some other spring sets I plan on making) because I needed some extra energizing sets after this week! Check out these little splashes of spring color.... If you want to check out these sets in my store, you can click on the links below. Happy Snails: $2.00 Spring Fling: $4.00 Onto the other part of my random blog title......If there was one word that would be tattooed across my forehead lately, it would be "EVIDENCE." If I had a dollar for every time I said that word ("Where's your evidence?" "Find evidence to support your claim" "Support your answers with evidence" "Find the evidence in the text" "Do you have evidence for that?" ETC), I could retire. Surprisingly, it doesn't bother my kiddos at all and they FEED off of showing evidence. For this reason, the most precious half piece of paper in my classroom is this little beauty: I made up my own version of a "Showing Evidence" reference sheet because I needed it to include a few more evidence stems than the ones I was finding on TpT or pinterest. In our reading lessons, we are focusing on the kiddos using text AND visual cues, so I wanted some stems specific to each. Also, we have discussed how to talk about poetry, so I wanted one in there with "stanza." My students have been using these little reference strips in pretty much every subject! They even started pulling them out in math and changing some of the wording around to work with their conclusions based on graphs, charts and word problems. God bless them and their evidence-eager hearts! One of my kids suggested that I laminate them for each student so they can "take it to fourth grade with them." I told him that I would make a special "Showing Evidence in Fourth Grade" strip....printed in COLOR....and laminated for everyone in the class if they found evidence to answer every reading comp question on the DCAS (state test). I hope I will be needing to buy lots of color ink soon! If you think your kiddos could use these same strips, you can snatch them up below from google docs. I just print them out and cut them down the middle. And, per my student's suggestion, you could laminate them so they last forever and ever :) {Snatch it HERE} Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead before bed tonight. Nothing like LOSING and hour of sleep- but at least it is more EVIDENCE that spring is on it's way......sorry I couldn't resist :)
Today we are going to learn about... blah... blah... blah. Once students hear the words today we are going to learning about, a majority of them hear nothing but the blah...blah...blah. That is why it's important to try to hook them before the lesson begins. Peak their interest, allow them to think, get them talking, and engage them in what they will be learning about. Guess the Topic This is one of my favorite! Before introducing the new topic, give students a collection of words related to the lesson. Allow them to guess the topic they are about to learn about. Play a Game That's right, play a game BEFORE you begin the lesson. When choosing a game choose a game that activates students' prior knowledge. For example, before beginning multiplying by multi-digit numbers we played a cooperative learning game called Ask-n-Switch to review the basic multiplication facts. Giving Scenarios Highlight lesson objectives by giving students scenarios that require them to draw conclusions. I like to use this activity when introducing problem/solution, cause/effect, inferences, and drawing conclusions. I give students a scenario either verbal or a picture prompt similar to below. Without telling them what they will be learning they respond. After responses have been discussed they are amazed at how much they know. After responding to the picture/prompt below, students realized that they make inferences every single day! Present a Challenge I do this one A LOT in math. Present students with a challenge. For example, when introducing division I bring in gum. I tell students how many pieces of gum I have, and it is their job to figure out how many pieces of gum each of them will get. It's real life. It's hands one, and it lays a foundation for what they will be learning. Scavenger Hunt Provide students with clues about what they will be learning. The clues can be actual objects or pictures of what they will be learning about. You may have an out of this world lesson planned, but unless students are excited or engaged in what they will be learning, success isn't imminent. Try hooking them BEFORE the lesson! Teaching With Simplicity Pinterest Facebook Instagram Teachers Pay Teachers
Figurative Language is an essential part of reading and writing for students. Figurative Language Spoons Game gives students an opportunity to explore and practice several types of figurative language with this engaging, hands on, fast paced game full of fun! Your students will work in small groups to match figurative language terms to their meanings & sentences using the Figurative Language Spoons Game! This game follows the real Spoons Game rules and directions, and a directions sheet for students is included. These cards can be printed on Astrobright Colored Card Stock, and laminated for durability. All you need are some plastic spoons, and then it's game time! This products reviews the following types of figurative language: idioms, similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, hyperbole, and onomatopoeia. This product includes: 28 games cards (black and white) Directions sheet for students (in color & black & white) Spoons scoring cards Answer key Set-up information for teachers Editable cards so you can make more Spoons cards Spoons Game Group Planning Sheet Please feel free to reach out with questions. My email address is [email protected].
Do you need help teaching your child how to write a personal narrative essay? Here is a short video that explains an easy way to organize an...
Are your students having trouble finding answers and citing evidence in their reading? This STEP-BY-STEP process scaffolds through reading strategies to help your students be successful! Students will learn the acronyms for ACE, RACE, and RAP to provide them with the proper tools for citing evidence effectively along with
Many young learners struggle with linguistic cues and following both written and oral directions can be difficult. They are required to learn vocabulary as well as strengthen cognitive processing areas such as auditory processing, visual processing, sequencing and more. Come download some free sample activities on my blog that you can use to help your students ... Read More about Fun Following Directions Activities Freebie
Need poems for middle school students? Here are 12 that are funny, quirky, interesting, and poignant. Perfect for teens and teaching poetry.
I made this Subject & Predicate Writing Game from craft sticks as a fun way to show the students that every sentence need a subjects and a predicate. I made the sentence options very simple,
This 9-week poetry study guide will take you through nine poems written by Helen Beatrix Potter. Each week (or longer) your student will study one poem.
Working on main idea isn't just a reading skill, but a very important language skill as well. If you're overwhelmed or unsure about where to start when teaching main idea in your speech classroom, this blog post was written for you! I've also included my free resources to help you save time and teach main idea better!
LOTS of fun, no-prep Antonyms and Synonyms Worksheets! This pdf is filled with exercises for K-3rd grade students.
These short readings are a great way for your students to get lots of input! This resource includes 24 short readings about famous people of Hispanic heritage written in comprehensible language. 57 pages - 12 MB - PDF
If you’d rather watch paint dry than come up with figurative language examples and activities, give your brain a break because this post will leave you
Planning your trip to the Netherlands? Read this perfect Netherlands itinerary in a week (or more) covering the best Dutch cities to visit by a resident.
*** PLEASE NOTE: This is a digital crochet pattern, not the physical item itself *** Always wanted to play the trumpet yourself? Now you can easily play the greatest solos with this lovely crochet trumpet! All you have to do is crochet it yourself with this very clear and easy to follow crochet pattern. ^^ Needed materials to make this pattern: - crochet hook, size B/1 / 2.5mm - yarn type: light worsted weight / DK - yellow yarn: about 110yd/100m - tapestry needle - optional but handy: sewing pins - fiberfill for stuffing - optional: metal wire Needed skills to make this pattern: - magic ring - chain stitches - slip stitches - single crochet - increasing and decreasing Overall skill level: intermediate. Size of finished item: When made with the described yarn and hook size, the trumpet will become approx. 8"/20cm in length. The pattern is written in US crochet terminology and is available in English, German and Spanish. The pattern description is written using abbreviations; there's an extensive list included to explain all abbreviations used. There are also a lot of detailed pictures included to guide you through the pattern. After you've completed your purchase, you can download the pattern in the language you require. ==> As soon as Etsy has processed your payment, you can download the pattern through your Etsy account. Go to Your Account ==> Purchases, and select the order. --> PLEASE NOTE: you will only buy the pattern, not the entire item or the wool needed to crochet it. Also, please note that all sales are final and we can not refund patterns, so please make sure to read our shop policies: http://www.etsy.com/shop/VliegendeHollander/policy Thanks for looking! If you like this pattern, I've got plenty of others in my Etsy shop. :) ----- PS: If you want to buy one of the actual items instead of just the pattern, please have a look over here: www.etsy.com/shop/TheAmigurumiShop Please note: This pattern is protected by copyright. It is not allowed to copy (parts of) the pattern, reuse it or parts of it in other patterns, resell it or spread it without written permission of The Flying Dutchman Crochet Design.
Book reports don't need to be painfully boring. In fact, they can be a ton of fun! Here are 10 creative book report ideas to use in your classroom.
Reduce Reuse Recycle Worksheet. Reduce Reuse Recycle Worksheet. Reduce Reuse Recycle Esl Worksheet by Myemma
Are you a foreign language teacher who has native speakers in class? Get some tips for teaching native speakers in your French class here!
Help students understand the meaning behind figurative language—specifically idioms—with a costume party! Begin with explanations of the literal and figurative meaning of idioms. Continue instruction with lessons on author purpose and written response practice. Culminate the unit of study with an idiom costume party. This product includes: • Suggested sequence of lessons to introduce and teach idiomatic phrases & meanings • Idiom examples with idiomatic meaning & sample sentences • Parent letter to explain culminating costume party • Photo collage of example costumes Idiom Costume Ideas: Middle School by Smekens Education Solutions, Inc. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at http://www.smekenseducation.com/.
HOUSE: Interactive Notebook HOUSE: Vocabulary HOUSE: Worksheets
This free Spanish workbook has exercises for children learning to read. It can be a useful supplement for early readers. It can also be used by older Spanish learners for vocabulary and reading practice. Check out our Spanish reading for kids resource page for more printable reading activities, activities
