actions, voice, fluency, wiggles, support, goal
We know fluency is important. We know fluent reading is the bridge to comprehension. But.... what can we do to help disfluent readers? To best help a disfluent reader, we must first determine what stage the student is at. This will help us find the best strategy for the reader. Is the student a beginning reader (kindergarten or first grade)? Is the reader one who is making adequate progress? Or, is the reader one who is struggling? Lets look at a beginning reader first. A beginning reader is someone in kindergarten and first grade who is attaching letters to their sounds and blending them into simple words. To improve reading fluency for these students a teacher should: Spend a significant amount of time on accurate text reading Implement a systematic daily practice for learning to read words accurately Model fluent reading. Give students lots of opportunity to read and re-read decodable text Encourage students to read "like they are talking." Now, lets look at a reader who is on-level or making adequate progress. These are students in grades two or higher who are average and making adequate gains. How do we keep the momentum going? How do we maintain their progress? To do this a teacher should use: Choral reading Echo Reading Cloze reading Partner reading Readers' theater Poetry readings Finally, lets look at struggling readers. Disfluent readers need a mixture of what beginning readers and on level students need. The best way for disfluent readers to become more fluent is by reading! These students need: Focus on ACCURATE text reading. Use decodable text Repeated readings Systemic daily practice of reading words accurately Modeled fluent reading Encourage students to read like they are talking LOTS of opportunities to read text (at their level) using choral, cloze, echo and partner reading. If you would like to know how to define fluency and why being a fluent reader important, check out the first post in the series by clicking here. There are a ton of great articles written by reading gurus on the topic of fluency. Check them out by clicking below. Everything You Wanted to Know about Repeated Reading by Timothy Shanahan via Reading Rockets Using Poetry to Teach Reading via Reading Rockets Developing Fluent Readers by Jan Hasbrouck via Reading Rockets I hope you will join us next time to discover ways you can fit daily fluency practice into your schedule!
Teaching student to be fluent readers can be tough. Here are 5 fluency activities to engage your students in fluency practices in fun ways!
Echolalia- Learn strategies for your Autism classroom. What echolalia is and how to reduce it with activities to decrease repetitive speech or non-authentic communication.
Hey all! I'm here to tell you a little bit about Reading Kits! Reading Kits are a fun way to incorporate repeated practice in skills that are at each student's Guided Reading Level. Each level will
Καλησπέρα σε όλους και σε όλες... Βρήκα επιτέλους την ευκαιρία να σας δείξω τους δικούς μας χαρταετούς...Δεν τους είχαμε στο πρόγραμμα αλλά δεν γινόταν να φύγουν τα παιδιά για Καθαρά Δευτέρα χωρίς τον μικρό τους χαρταερτό... Κατασκευή εύκολη ακόμα και για μικρές ηλικίες όπως τη δική μας,με την τεχνική της χαρτοκολλητικής.... Οι κυρίες βάλανε κορδονάκι και φιογκάκια και έτοιμοι οι πολύχρωμοι χαρταετοί μας.... Όμορφες χρωμοσελίδες... Φύλλα εργασίας από το διαδίκτυο... Από την Ανθή Ζήση... Από την Τάνια Μάνεση... Από το Los Ninos... Όμορφοι χαρταετοί συναδέλφων... πηγή:Κατερίνα Παπαευθυμίου... πηγή: Έφη Μπακή... πηγή: Μαρία Γιαννίκη πηγή:Αγαθή Παπαθανάση... πηγή: κλικ εδώ... Για περισσότερο υλικό επισκεφθείτε τη συλλογή μου στο pinterest κάνοντας κλικ στην παρακάτω εικόνα... Ακολουθήστε τον πίνακα kites-χαρταετοί του Fay στο Pinterest.
Paragraph writing is a big challenge for many students. This post includes a step-by-step method to help your students write great paragraphs in no time.
Are you looking for a resource to help your primary students learn about patterns in math? To help my students learn and remember the vocabulary associated with patterns I designed these patterns posters. I post them on my math bulletin board and students refer to them as needed when working on patterns. Pattern math posters included in this resource are: -patterns are all around us -pattern -core -term -element -repeating pattern -attribute -increasing/growing pattern -decreasing pattern -reading a pattern -examples of AB, ABC, AAB, ABB, AABB, ABCD These posters go great with my patterns booklet resource. Patterns Booklet I hope this helps your students learn about patterns. Any questions of suggestions, please email me at [email protected]. Thank you, Jane
Whether you are teaching phonemic awareness, letter sounds or articulation in speech therapy, sometimes you need a book that repeats words with your sound over and over. Download the list in my store. This list is sorted by phoneme. What a time-saver! Don’t spend countless hours hunting in the library for a sound-loaded book. Click ... Read More about Need a Storybook That Emphasizes a Specific Phoneme? Find It In This List!
Repeated reading is a research-based instructional strategy with the goal of increasing decoding automaticity skills. The goal of repeated reading is not for students to become “fast readers”. Rather, we want students to read the words accurately, with intonation, and at a rate that is comparable to the speed of oral language. This resource was created to provide a rereading routine for students who would benefit from increasing accurate and automatic fluency skills. It is designed to be led by older students or volunteers, who assist younger students in the rereading routine. While it can be implemented as often as desired, we used this rereading routine three times a week for 6 weeks. Each student who participated in the fluency friends rereading routine was paired with a fifth-grade student who volunteered the first 10 minutes of their recess time. The older students used the assembled toolkits to walk their readers through the day’s rereading routine by following the instructions on the card. Each toolkit contained all of the materials needed for the lessons. This resource is designed to be used with passages or texts that you, the teacher, supply each week, based on the student’s decoding skills and needs. Please note, that no texts or passages are included with this resource. It can be used in conjunction with whatever word recognition curriculum, program, or texts you use. What does the rereading routine look like? (We chose the routine to take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You can edit and choose the days of the week that work best for your classroom.) Monday: Modeling Day. Volunteers led the student through a series of modeling exercises. They first read the passage to the student, modeling fluent reading. Next, they did a choral reading with the student. Last, they scooped the sentences in the passage for the student, and practiced fluent phrasing with the student. If time allowed, the student reread the passage an additional time. Wednesday: Fluency Fun Day. During Day 2, peers and students used novelty reading tools to reread the passage in engaging ways! Flashlights, microphones, mini cards, and reading pointer wands are used throughout the lesson. This rereading day is designed to be motivating and encourage as much rereading practice of the week’s passage as possible. The card for Day 2 acts as a "choice menu" to practice rereading the passage or text several times. Friday: The final day of each week is called “Beat Your Time Day”. A highlighter or pencil, and a sand timer is used on day 3. The student reads the passage. At the end of one minute, the peer leader draws a line after the last word read. The routine above is repeated, and the student tries to read farther than he or she did the first time. If time allows, the reader tries to read even more than his or her second reading. When can this routine take place? Fluency Friends is a perfect routine to fit into a center time, intervention block, before school, during a designated "no new teaching time", or during small group time. It's also a great way for parents to help their children with rereading practice at home! What grade(s) is this resource designed for? You can use this resource and rereading routine for ANY student who is reading connected text! Kindergarteners who are reading short decodable passages, first and second grade students, and upper elementary students who could benefit from increased rereading practice will love this routine! Thank you so much for learning more about Fluency Friends! -Christina DeCarbo Miss DeCarbo, Inc. Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.
The National Reading Panel researched the essential components of reading in 2000 and came up with a list of five: Phonemic awareness Phonics Vocabulary Fluency Comprehension All of these are important parts of the reading process and each one influences the other. Even though we know that reading fluency is important though, it seems to […]
Find 23 ready to use, effective vocabulary activities your students will love, by The Teacher Next Door!
Multisyllabic words may be easy to find online, but this selection is geared specifically for practicing speech therapy.
This week I tried something new with the vocabulary in the story. I got the idea at a First Grade Conference in December. The student writes the vocabulary word in the middle of the sheet and then there are four things to do with the word. We completed two of the boxes together as a class and they finished the last two boxes independently. The kiddos sure had a great grasp of the vocabulary after this. When we read the story they had fantastic comprehension.
What is more fun than popping a balloon? Popping a balloon and then sequencing events, that's what!! You have to spice up your instruction to make a boring
Writing summaries is a challenging skills--and using the gradual release of responsibility model is definitely a great way to help student learning improve.
Those Shoes: Reading Unit for Those Shoes- Have you read the amazing and warm-hearted story Those Shoes by Mary Boelts? This reading activities pack is the perfect way to introduce this amazing book. You and your students will love this Those Shoes Reading unit! This week-long unit is packed with reading comprehension activities, crafts, responding to literature writing, vocabulary, quick prints, and soooo much more! They’ll love the fun and you'll love the academic focus this unit has! INCLUDES DIGITAL STUDENT ACTIVITIES! ******************************************************************** ✊ Buy the bundle and SAVE BIG!!! ✊ Ready to have your students fall in love with books by following a meaningful and deep reading routine ALL YEAR? Close Reading All Year Growing Bundle ********************************************************************* What's Included: Lesson Plans- A five-day lesson plan outline with suggestions of ideas for a close reading routine of the book and daily writing. Question Cards- After reading the book, use these question cards to check for basic understanding of the text. Questions range from levels 1-3 on Webb’s Depth of Knowledge scale. Shoe Story Elements- Students work to identify the text's story elements, including the characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end. Shoe character actions-Students use the text to understand how the main character changes from the beginning of the story to the end. Shoe Theme- Students work to better understand the theme of by using clues from the story. Includes option with a supported answer and one without. Question Marks Reference poster- Help students understand how quotation marks are used in a text to showcase dialogue. Quotation marks Cut and Paste- students read sentences and glue quotation marks around the dialogue. Quotation Marks Printables- students practice adding quotation marks around dialogue and quoted text. Quotation Marks Hands-on- Students read the sentence cards then use macaroni to build quotation marks around the dialogue and quoted text. Shoes Writing- students work on one of four writing prompts. Each prompt includes a self-checking rubric. Shoe Craft- students choose their shoe printout and decorate it how they like. Then, use it to publish their writings. See a Close Reading Unit in action! >>>Cranky Monster Close Reading!<<< ******************************************************************** ◼️ Click here to view a Video about this unit and all my other Close Reading Units!
This resource contains ten pages of opportunities for your students to compare text structures with two different texts. Each page has two short paragraphs on the same topic with one question to compare the text structures.🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5. If you need more support with teaching Text Structure, these activities are also included in the Text Structure Mini Unit. 👉This unit is also part of the Reading Mini Units Bundle for 3rd Grade. 👉This unit is also part of the Reading Mini Units Bundle for 4th and 5th Grade. Other ELA resources you may L♥VE... ELA Task Cards Bottomless Bundle for Grades 3-5 ELA Task Cards Bottomless Bundle for Grades 4-6 ELA Task Cards Bottomless Bundle for 4th Grade ELA Task Cards Bottomless Bundle for 5th Grade ELA Task Cards Bottomless Bundle for 6th Grade Let’s connect! The Literacy Loft Blog The Literacy Loft on Instagram The Literacy Loft on Pinterest The Literacy Loft on Facebook Email: [email protected]
When assessing writing, the fine line between expected standard and greater depth can be challenging and raises questions such as: What tips a child’s writing into that greater depth band? Is…
Children learn to SPEAK naturally through repeated and meaningful exposure to the SPOKEN language. Children can also learn to READ naturally through repeated and meaningful exposure to the WRITTEN language. Labels allow you to mimic the language acquisition of the spoken language. Here are the 10 reasons why you should fill your child’s world with
First Week Watercolor Portraits 7 comments Back to School, Bulletin Boards, Self Portraits, Tutorials Every year, my second graders paint a watercolor self-portrait. It is truly my most favorite first week activity of all time. After sharing this picture of this year's portraits on Facebook, a sweet reader asked if I had a blog post about them. Well, it dawned on me that while I have shared my annual self-portraits many times, I've never really shared them exclusively in a post. So, here goes! Every year, I have my students paint a self-portrait during the first week of school (an idea I learned while student teaching many moons ago). I hang these portraits in the room, for the entire year. They really brighten up our space and they are such a joy to look at (this is a picture of my students' portraits from last year). I am not an art teacher and I believe that kids should be encouraged to take risks, so when I task my students with painting their portraits, I pretty much let them "have at it." Don't worry, it isn't a total free for all. I do model the process and I also share examples from years past, like the ones shown below. I just make it very clear that I don't expect their paintings to look like an actual photograph. ;) I always begin by pointing out how much of their body/self they will be painting. I tell them to think about the pictures they see in their yearbooks and how those pictures only show people's heads and shoulders. I explain that they will include only their head and shoulders in their paintings. I then show them examples from previous years (sometimes students move and they get left behind, so I have a few on hand). Once the students understand what it is that they will be including in their portrait, I model the drawing process on the board. I discuss how large the head should be in relation to the paper and show them what this looks like. From there, I show them how I draw a neck and shoulders, hair, and facial features. I apologize that I don't have a photo of this, but essentially, I model and narrate the process, one step at a time. And, then...it's the students' turn. I give each student a piece of white card stock (8x10 inches) to work with. Card stock is brighter and thicker than construction paper, and it just seems to hold the paint better, in my opinion. Then, they start their drawing. Sometimes, I have them draw the outline of their pictures with a black crayon (see below). When I do this, there is NO pencil involved. This helps them to really slow down and visualize before they draw because they know that they can't erase. However, this year, I let them draw with pencil first and then they traced over their pencil lines with a Sharpie. Why did I do that? I have no idea, it was just what I decided to do when I was prepping the materials, but the end result was still fab! Once the students draw the outline of their portrait, they get to paint! Using watercolor is a tricky thing for many second graders. They have a hard time always gauging how much water to use, so a discussion about this (and a little modeling) ahead of time is a good idea. Tip: No matter how much explaining and modeling you do, you'll still have a student or two that uses too much water. Let them use a tissue to blot their paper if you notice this happening. I lay the portraits to dry on the floor, in an out of the way spot. They dry within minutes here in the desert. Once they are dry, I flatten them by stacking heavy teacher manuals on them overnight. I could iron them, but my iron and I do not get along. At all. The next morning, I hang them up and admire the sight before me...all year long. :) At the end of the year, it's always fun to repeat this process. You will be amazed at how much growth your students show. Here are a few examples from last year. Amazing, right? We always get lots of compliments on our portrait display, and the kids are always very proud of them. They love seeing if their parents can guess which one is theirs, and it's fun to see how many parents get it right! At the end of the school year, I send the portraits home as a keepsake. Many parents have commented how much they love them, and they are the perfect size for framing! First week self-portraits are a great way to encourage students to take risks, have fun, and learn to use materials. Beyond that, the students take great pride in their creations and enjoy them just as much as I do, and we have something truly magnificent (that they created!) to look at all year long. :) Share It:
Blog by Charlene Tess, Grammar, Simple Steps to Sentence Sense, grammar workbooks, Simple Steps to Sentence Sense.
Step skip leap repeat - Teaching intervals such as step, skip, leap and repeat is an essential step in helping students to learn to read music fluently.
Avoiding plagiarism is a key to digital literacy. Teachers can differentiate plagiarism instruction to engage all learners.
While teaching students to read in my grade one classroom as well as during my reading recovery sessions, I found that for some students, reading fluency is not something that happened easily. My reading recovery trainer REALLY drilled that "la fluidité en lecture" has to happen EARLY, before students develop bad habits. Students have to be TAUGHT to read with fluency. It does not happen automatically. You have to take every opportunity to teach fluency in reading! Here are some suggestions: 1. During shared reading, try not to point to words with your finger. You do not want students to do it once they have "le mot à mot" so you should not do it yourself. 2. During shared reading, once in awhile read "comme un robot" without fluency. Students will quickly tell you that this is NOT the way to read! 3. As soon as students are ready, insist that they remove the finger from the book. "Tu es si bon que tu n'as plus besoin de mettre ton doigt sous les mots maintenant! Regarde-moi. Je lis sans mettre mon doigt. Je "touche" les mots avec mes yeux mais pas avec mon doigt. Ceci t'aide à lire plus vite et à mieux comprendre ce que tu lis! Ceci te permet de lire les groupes de mots ensemble et de lire comme tu parles. 4. Demonstrate by reading one page of the little book and then ask the student to read the next page "C'est ton tour maintenant. Lis les mots ensemble. Lis comme Madame." 5. You can also demonstrate by grouping words on a page as you read. For example, if the sentence is "Je joue avec mon petit chien brun.", I would say "Je vais lire des petits groupes de mots et tu vas m'aider." "Je joue"...Maintenant lis les mots ensemble comme moi (Je joue). Ensuite, je lis "petit chien" (L'élève répète les mots ensemble "petit chien") Ensuite j'ajoute un mot et je lis "mon petit chien" (L'élève répète...). Finalement je dis "Maintenant, nous allons lire les groupes de mots ensemble "Je joue avec...mon petit chien." We want the student to realize that certain words are grouped together when reading. Reading fluency certainly goes hand in hand with reading comprehension. By practicing this often and by congratulating success, this will become more and more automatic! In order to give the opportunity to practice grouping words together when reading, I created the following resource. It made an ENORMOUS difference with my students. It is all ready to print and use in a variety of ways. Click HERE to view one of 6 documents. Each resource contains 30 sets of 4 sentences with many sight words. A word or two is added to each sentence, forcing the student to read the "group of words", therefore encouraging fluency in reading. Here is an example: These can be used as is on a card with 4 sentences or cut up and stapled. Each set of sentences can be attached with a ring and placed in a literacy center. My students and parents LOVED the interactive notebook idea, which I simply put in their morning message duo-tang regularly. Here is an example: Check out the BUNDLE containing 6 resources by clicking HERE Give it a try with this FREEBIE
Collaboration is great, isn’t it?! It brings students together and not only enhances their learning, it builds those critical social skills students are in desperate need of. Here are my 5 favorite strategies I use in my middle school classroom to encourage collaboration. They are step by step, ea
Keeping Students Engaged Part 1: I Spy 6 comments Engagement Activities, Freebies, Popular Posts, Student Engagement Raise your hand if you strive to keep your learners engaged. My hand is raised. I may even be hopping up and down in my seat as that hand is raised. There is nothing worse than looking out at your class and noticing that they are off task or disinterested in what is going on around them, am I right? One of my favorite ways to keep my students engaged is to provide them with structured activities that encourage engagement. I thought it would be fun to share these activities over a (mini) series of blog posts. In this mini series, I'll cover the following structured engagement activities: Part 1: I Spy Part 2: Scoot Part 3: Quiz-Quiz-Trade (Kagan) Part 4: I Have, Who Has Like I said, it will be a mini series...just four posts. Note: When I use say structured engagement activity, I am referring to a learning activity that can be used and reused throughout the year with different skills and content. The content may change, but the activity and how it works does not. These structures allow students to be successful because they are familiar with them, and they don't get bored with them because the content is always different. With that said, on to today's activity! OK, wait, before I get started, let me just say that I realize that you are probably familiar with some of the structures I'll be talking about. But, don't abandon ship just yet. I'd love for you to stick around for the tips and tricks. Who knows, you might be able to spice things up in your classroom, or streamline a few things. Oh, and there will be freebies. Alright, now I'm ready to go. Are you? I Spy is one of my favorite structured engagement activities. Mine, and the kids! You might also know this activity as "Around the Room." That's what it's commonly called, but somewhere along the way, I heard it called I Spy and thought that was a much more interesting name. Plus, we get to act like spies when we use this structure. That's right, spies. But, more on that in just a moment. What is I Spy? I Spy is an activity that gets kids moving as they review previously learned concepts and skills, and practice new ones. In this activity, question cards are placed around the room (hence the other known name, "Around the Room"). Students move from card to card, at their own pace, to answer the questions. Note: These cards may be fancy, but believe me, fancy isn't required or necessary. You can write your questions on index cards and it will still be just as effective. I {pinky} promise. I Spy is perfect for encouraging individual engagement within a whole group setting. And, did I mention that it gets the kids moving? It's also super versatile. You can use this activity, or structure, to review and practice any skill within any content area (see the cards in the picture above...the proof is in the pictures, as they say). How to Play I Spy is a pretty easy "game" to play. Place some numbered questions around your room and give each student a recording page. You can tape the cards to your walls, or set them on the floor...or both! How many questions you set out is up to you. If using task cards, you could set out the entire set, or just half of it. It depends on what the kids are being asked to do, how much practice/review you want to do, and how much time you have. The students visit each card and answer the question. There is no need to visit the cards in order. Just remind your students to be mindful of the card they are on so that they can make sure to record their answer in the correct space on their recording page. At the end of the activity, go over the questions/answers with your students so that there is some sort of closure to the activity (and you can address any mistakes, misconceptions, etc). That's it. It's that easy. Tip #1: When placing out fewer question cards, you may want to set out duplicates of those question cards so that students aren't crowding around the questions and getting in each others' way. For example, when I use I Spy to practice answering story questions, I limit it to about four questions because the students need more time to formulate an answer, write said answer, and consult their book, if needed. Since I have 21 students, it wouldn't make any sense to put out 4 cards. Instead, I make 3 copies of the 4 questions and place them about the room. This way, there are only a few kids at each question at any given time. Tip #2: Your kids will finish at their own pace, so be prepared to have a task for your fast finishers. I usually have them do something on the back of their paper. For example, if they are answering story questions, I might have them draw a picture of the setting on the back of their paper. If we are practicing math facts, I might have them roll the die in their desk to write, and solve, their own number sentences on the back of the page. Materials The questions you set out can be from a set of task cards or a set of cards specifically designed to be used as an I Spy/Around the Room activity, like this fact family I Spy. Click here to grab this fact family I Spy for free. :) Task cards work great, and can easily be reused when you laminate them, but I also frequently type up questions and print them on bright paper. Nothing fancy, but it works like a charm. Tip#3: Make it fun! Kids like to have fun. So, why not let them have fun? Remember how I said that my students act like spies when they play this game? Let's talk about that, because, seriously, it makes this activity fun for the kids. Like, really fun. A few years ago, a (brilliant) colleague shared with our team how she taught her kids to act like spies when they play I Spy. Get it? That little tip was such a game changer for me! Ever since then, I have taught my students to move around the room like spies. They creep about the classroom moving from card to card. They move silently and speak to no one. After all, they don't know the good spies from the bad spies, and they certainly don't want to be seen by other spies as they accomplish their mission. I never have to remind them about voice levels or ask them to stay focused when playing I Spy. I don't need to. They are completely into it, every.single.time we play. Final Note I really, really, really like using engaging activities that are centered around movement. 7-year-olds need to move. I work at a school where recess is a at a minimum. And, let's be honest, we can only Go Noodle so many times in one day. Engagement activities that get my kids moving are a great way to let them move about while they learn. It's a win-win for everyone! I hope you were able to take a tip or two away from this post, and be sure to check out the rest of the series: Part Two (Scoot) Part Three (Quiz-Quiz-Trade) Part Four (I Have, Who Has) ::PIN IT!:: Share It:
Who is the Traveler? In this language arts worksheet, your child will read the poem aloud and then answer a series of reading comprehension questions about key details, overall meaning, and mechanics of the poem.
Help students understand invisible culture and visible culture with this free activity.
I love a book about slugs! That's right, slugs. Which is strange because slugs totally freak me out in real life, but not this guy! Every so often, I like to share a picture book that has worked for me in a mini-lesson and is a hit with my 5th grade friends. Today, I want to share with you a little paperback picture book, Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan Edwards. This is the story of a cute, YES! CUTE!, little slug that sees a slope he wants to climb. As he climbs the slope, several different critters warn him to stop. He keeps on his path to a very surprising end. I'll tell you more about the end of the book later in this post. Here are some of the ways I have used this book with my friends in the past: Teaching Alliteration This is perhaps the most obvious lesson for this book. Every single page, almost every single word focuses on the alliteration of S. Honestly, the first time I read this book, I was amazed that you could write a cohesive, entertaining story using almost all S words. Here's a sample page: "Slowly the slug started up the steep surface, stringing behind it scribble sparkling like silk." Teaching Variety of Dialog Verbs You would think that a book so focused on the alliteration of S would use said as a dialog verb at least once. Not this book! Some Smug Slug does not use said at all. Instead, there is a great variety of dialog verbs used such as: screamed shrieked sighed snickered squealed It's also a good book for just teaching action verbs. The slug and other animals shift, shudder, sway, swing, slumber, and there are many more S verbs used. Teaching Surprise Endings in Writing Through the entire book, we follow this cute little slug as he finally climbs the slope. Well, that slope turns out to be a salamander that promptly eats the slug! It's an unexpected surprise at the end that gets my friends every time. Now, my 5th graders totally find the humor in the slug being eaten, but I don't know how that would go over with a younger set. You'll have to make that call. The surprise ending is something my friends are always eager to try right away in their writer's notebook. It's a fun technique to use in spooky stories for Halloween. Foreshadowing Now that you know the slug is eaten in the end, you realize that all those animals that were warning the slug to stop knew it was a salamander and not a slope. While you read the book aloud, you can model your thinking aloud, wondering why the animals keep warning the slug. Your friends can make predictions as to why they think the animals would be saying those things to the slug. I promise you when you get to the end of the book, your friends will be all, "That's why the animals were warning him!" It's a nice simple lesson on foreshadowing. This book is also just plain fun. The illustrations, by Henry Cole, are so well done. While they have different illustrators, these remind me of the illustrations in The Great Kapok Tree. Also, there is a hidden S in every picture. To be honest, I never remember where they are and I never find them all when I search, but my friends are able to find them all every time. In case you want to preview the book, I found a video on YouTube that I embedded below. It's a reading of the book that shows each page, so you can take a look and decide if it's good for you. I should mention that I ran to Barnes & Nobel to pick up another copy of this book on Sunday. As I paid for the book, the clerk said sarcastically, "A book about slugs? Nice." If only she knew just how nice! (By the way, did you catch it? "said sarcastically" This S alliteration thing is catchy! I know, I'm a total cornball sometimes!) The reason I purchased another copy is that I am going to include it as one of the prizes in my little thank you give-away, which I will be posting about on Wednesday. So, come back on Wednesday to enter the give-away and possibly win a copy of Some Smug Slug for yourself! *By the way, this is just me sharing an opinion of a book I like. Pamela Duncan Edwards, Henry Cole, and the publishers of Some Smug Slug don't even know I exist or that I can read! ;-)
While teaching students to read in my grade one classroom as well as during my reading recovery sessions, I found that for some students, reading fluency is not something that happened easily. My reading recovery trainer REALLY drilled that "la fluidité en lecture" has to happen EARLY, before students develop bad habits. Students have to be TAUGHT to read with fluency. It does not happen automatically. You have to take every opportunity to teach fluency in reading! Here are some suggestions: 1. During shared reading, try not to point to words with your finger. You do not want students to do it once they have "le mot à mot" so you should not do it yourself. 2. During shared reading, once in awhile read "comme un robot" without fluency. Students will quickly tell you that this is NOT the way to read! 3. As soon as students are ready, insist that they remove the finger from the book. "Tu es si bon que tu n'as plus besoin de mettre ton doigt sous les mots maintenant! Regarde-moi. Je lis sans mettre mon doigt. Je "touche" les mots avec mes yeux mais pas avec mon doigt. Ceci t'aide à lire plus vite et à mieux comprendre ce que tu lis! Ceci te permet de lire les groupes de mots ensemble et de lire comme tu parles. 4. Demonstrate by reading one page of the little book and then ask the student to read the next page "C'est ton tour maintenant. Lis les mots ensemble. Lis comme Madame." 5. You can also demonstrate by grouping words on a page as you read. For example, if the sentence is "Je joue avec mon petit chien brun.", I would say "Je vais lire des petits groupes de mots et tu vas m'aider." "Je joue"...Maintenant lis les mots ensemble comme moi (Je joue). Ensuite, je lis "petit chien" (L'élève répète les mots ensemble "petit chien") Ensuite j'ajoute un mot et je lis "mon petit chien" (L'élève répète...). Finalement je dis "Maintenant, nous allons lire les groupes de mots ensemble "Je joue avec...mon petit chien." We want the student to realize that certain words are grouped together when reading. Reading fluency certainly goes hand in hand with reading comprehension. By practicing this often and by congratulating success, this will become more and more automatic! In order to give the opportunity to practice grouping words together when reading, I created the following resource. It made an ENORMOUS difference with my students. It is all ready to print and use in a variety of ways. Click HERE to view one of 6 documents. Each resource contains 30 sets of 4 sentences with many sight words. A word or two is added to each sentence, forcing the student to read the "group of words", therefore encouraging fluency in reading. Here is an example: These can be used as is on a card with 4 sentences or cut up and stapled. Each set of sentences can be attached with a ring and placed in a literacy center. My students and parents LOVED the interactive notebook idea, which I simply put in their morning message duo-tang regularly. Here is an example: Check out the BUNDLE containing 6 resources by clicking HERE Give it a try with this FREEBIE
Faced with the decision of repeating in preschool, kindergarten or early elementary school? Here are some important factors to consider.
Help your students begin learning about musical steps, skips, leaps and repeats. With a variety of leveled worksheets that gradually step your students through the process, this print and go packet is perfect for your music classroom ! This set is great for the sub tub, piano lessons, early finisher...
It's frustrating when students don't follow directions the first time! Here are 5 quick tricks for getting students on track fast!
Step skip leap repeat - Teaching intervals such as step, skip, leap and repeat is an essential step in helping students to learn to read music fluently.
Do your student needs practice with the high frequency words- “yo”, “tengo”, “un” and “una”? Then this is the bundle for you!This product is great for guided reading groups, individual practice, or even as at-home practice for students!The following is what is included by page number.4-13: Mi mascota Emergent Reader- and comprehension questions (color and black and white versions) . Each sentence begins with “Yo tengo...", the text repeats on every page with great pictures for getting a picture clue. Each word in the sentence has a dot underneath to help little readers with tracking and recognizing one-to-one matching.14-23: Build A Sentence Pocket Chart (color and black and white versions) - This resource will help beginning writers with learning sentence structure. Students will unscramble the sentences to show a capital letter at the beginning and a period at the end. Just print, laminate, and cut out the sentence cards for each set of scrambled sentences. Have the children sort the cards, put them in order to make sentences, and write them neatly on the recording sheet. 24-27: Yo tengo Practice Worksheet:Students will write and trace the sight word, read sentence, circle the sight word in a sentence, compose their own original sentence using the word and cut and paste the word. 28: Yo tengo- Read, Cut and Paste Worksheet:This activity requires students use early phonics skills to decode words to be able to find the correct picture. The pictures have to be cut out, which helps build fine motor skills.As always, if you love this unit, please take a moment to rate it and anything else you have purchased from me. Follow me to learn about all of the newest upcoming units as they are released. Thank you so much!
Here we have a drum beat repeated 3 times, then a fill, then another drum beat 3 times followed by another drum fill. The sheet can be then repeated around multiple times, or you could just repeat the first half around for a while and then focus on repeating the second half. These are great […]
R.E.A.P bible study method print out. Engage in a deeper bible study for verses or passages. S.O.A.P bible study method is a simpler way to study Gods word, easy to use as well as fast and effective.
