Where you like to read

http://larremoreteachertips.blogspot.com/

I absolutely loved these two ideas!!

Write and draw about where readers like to read. Check out her post here. 

"What we are reading"

http://4thgradefrolics.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%20Whisperer

wanted the kids to be able to visibly see their progress in the classroom as well as in their data notebooks so here was my plan:

I made a What We're Reading board. Each time decides they are committed to a book or a student finishes a book, they get a note card. On the card they put their name, the title of the book, and the author. Then they turn the cards in to me and I punch a hole and put them on a metal ring and hang them on the board on a fat push pin. (now, I realize that there are only 12 hanging there....I have 22 students so........some are slower readers, some have given up on a book, others forgotten....it's a work in progress.)

The Story of the Frog Belly Rat Bone

by Timothy Basil Ering

Students need one sheet of paper folded in 4ths. and a pencil/crayons
Cover the cover with a folder.
Read a few pages give the students 3 minutes to draw and color

Caught it.

3rd grade books

Recess 20 Below- Sharing our thinking
The Red Book- No pictures, so telling our thinking as we went through the story
How Many Days to America- recording thinking throught the book (think marks)
Fly Away Home- Text-to-world connections

4th grade guided reading groups

Monday morning I was asked to instruct 2 guided reading groups of students that were reading on level for the next 2 weeks. Having led one guided reading group (and that was simply a running record and assigning the next chapter) I was feeling quite nervous. I didn't feel prepared, but I knew where I wanted to go with my lesson. I've been dying to lead or be a part of an amazing book club like I keep hearing about!
So, of my two reading groups I have one that I feel is on track to discovering something great! The second day we met I started to give them the responsibility of answering the "what's next question" I give them guidance, but I let them do the discussing and only intervene when needed. I'd like to look different, but it isn't my classroom and that is okay. I am just glad I can see that it's feasible! Cause I'm so excited about the possibilities!

"2s please read it aloud together"

I have not ran into this issue yet, but now that I am in fourth grade I'm seeing a lot of "book" work. Their math book, directions, shared reading, etc. My current teacher will ask the students to read things aloud as a group. For example, she'll ask to have all the NUMBER 2 read simultaneously the following paragraphs. It looks similar to round robin reading... only it's a little worse because there are usually 5/6 people talking at the same time. This way obviously works for her, but I'm thinking I know I don't like round robin reading... how am I going to have students read during shared reading, etc.

Nonfiction Book Clubs

Before implementing book clubs:
~ Immerse students in genre of nonfictoin text using a variety of books for explorating and investigation
~Condcut whole class genre study on nonfiction text focusing on text features and reading strategies
~ Have students write nonfiction books incorportating text features previously studied
~ Model using "think alouds" while reading nonfiction books to class (think alouds include explict language discribing reading strategies being used)
~ Lead whole class discussion of appropriate conversational moves while participating in nonfiction book clubs
~Have class practice participating in nonfiction book clubs to gain understanding of how they work
~Interview students to determine which books to select for book clubs

Implementation:
~Teacher presents students with nonfiction books and gives brief "book talk" about each one
~Students select books *books can be rotated weekly so all students get to read all books*
~Teacher sends note of explanation home to parents stating that students should read the book and complete a journal page (journal ideas include: questions while reding, interesting concpets for discussion, new information gained)
~ Book clbus meet according to rotation schedule (students bring books and journal pages to discussion; anchor chart with "conversational moves" available if needed)
~STudents discuss book and journal notes while building on responses of each other *teacher participates as needed)
~Teacher observes and takes field notes for assessment and reflection purposes
~Students reflect on book club process, nonfiction genre, and new information


Guided reading groups happen Monday, and Tuesday,
Book clubs Wednesday, Thursday
Book discussion Friday

Students can read to an adult, partner, alone, or be read to.


Nationa Geographic for Kids great books

literacy websites

storybookonline - actors and actresses read aloud story books. 3rd grade teachers uses it for the end of the day when parent pick ups and have left and they are waiting on the buses.

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2literacy.html#looksay2 - spelling practice (word sorts)

Teach students to conversate

1. Model what a good conversation looks like. Pull up a youtube video and have the students watch one, and then make observations like a scientists on another.
~Beethoven (the movie) where they are debating on keeping the dog.
~Opra video of bookclub for kids
~Joe Gould Secret
~Ramona Mysteral Meal

What did you notice? Make an anchor chart.

2. Read a small expert from a book together (each student has their own copy)
3. Give them a sticky note and write something you'd like to discuss further.
4. Add them to the Parking Lot (regroup into categories and rewrite on the board)
5. Have the students write somewhere what group they want to go to.
6. Have students go there and discuss for a short amount of time (start small)
7. Walk around with sticky notes noting good and bad behaviors you saw.
8. Do a t chart asking the students what they think.
9. Ask the students what they did to start a conversation (anchor chart)
10. Ask what they did to get back on topic

Slowly build their stamina, taking time to discuss what they did to have a successful conversation.

As groups become better at conversating together do a fish bowl


You can also have previous students who can conversate well and have them model it, or also a group of teachers.

Determining Importance in Nonfiction

Prior Knowledge
~Must know what fiction is and how it is organized
~Bring in a variety of different topics. Let the students become familiar with them

Day 1
~Model the difference between nonfiction and fiction
~Hold up a text that a prediction can easily be made from the cover and title
~"What type of text do you predict this is?" (fiction)
~"Knowing that it is fiction, how might oyu expect the story to be organized?" (beginning, middle, end... characters, setting.... story elements)
~"What do you predict this story might be about?" (students make a prediction)
~Hold up a nonfiction book
~"What do you notice about this type of text?" Leaf through the book and read parts aloud
~"You won't find a beginning, middle, or end in this book. And you won't find characters, problems, or resolutions either."
~"Instead these types of books are nonfiction and they are organized around specific topics and main ideas, they try to teach you something. Nonfiction writing tells you something that is true. Let's read it and see what we learn..."


Day 2
~Use what you know to make predictions about its content, or what the text might teach them.
~"Remember when ____ predicted _____ in the fiction book? He was able to do that because he's learned what to expect hwen ytou read fiction. When readers read nonfiction, they make predictions about the kidns of things they expect will happen, or the types of things they expect to learn."
~Pick up a book that tells you what the book might be about by the cover and title. Example, Nature Watch Spiders by Barbara Taylor. "Right away, because of the title and photographs on the cover, I can tell it's a nonfiction text and it's going to be about spiders. See all the different spiders on the cover? I don't know a lot about spiders, but I do know they have 8 legs, and they spin webs. I'm predicting this book will be about the different spiders in the world, and that I maybe learn where they live, what they eat, and their life cycle, and even which ones will be dangerous to humans."
~Flip through the book, checking out the table of contents, the headings, and the index, explaining how these features help us make predictions about the text.
~ Do the same with some other books.

Day 3/4
~Ask the children to bring a nonfiction book they haven't read to the meeting area, get EEKK with a partner, and make predictions about wht they expect to learn.
~Have a variety of both nonfiction and fiction books ready to go that can easily be spread around the room.
~Ask the children to get a partner and choose two/thre items, and ask themselves, "Is this a fiction or nonfiction? How do we know?"
~Ask the children to bring a nonfiction book and a fiction book to the meeting area, get into pairs, and create a Venn diagram that shows the two books' differences and similiarities.
~We then meet back at the carpet and create one large diagram that combines everyone's thinking.


*Model how to use reading strategies that are special to nonfiction texts. Showing the children how to skim and scan, access the index and table of contents, use the headings, captions... etc.

Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller

Asking Questions

Chapter 9 Reading with Meaning Debbie Miller

"Books can help you think about important things in new ways"

Books like....
Miss Maggie by Cynthia Rylant
Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
If you Listen by Charlotte Zolotow
Olliver Button is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola
Fireflies by Julie Brinkloe

gives readers access to characters who experience ups and downs of childhood, might help children gain new perspectives.

Authors often want their readers to take away something from their story.



Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller Chapter 8

Thinking Stems

My third grade class just wrapped up their lesson on using thinking stems to be a more active reader.

They read the book How many Days to America? by Eve Bunting


Thinking Stems

I'm thinking.....
I'm wondering....
I'm seeing.....
I'm feeling......

Inferring for meaning with poetry

Creatures of the Earth, Sea, and Sky by Georgia Heard


Choose 6 poems that could lend themselves best to dramatic interpretation and copy them onto chart paper.
Together as a class read them several times.
"Think carefully about the poems we just read. Which one is the most interesting to you? Which one makes you think? Hmm.... what is the poem really about? Choose one you'd like to understand better"
"Once you've decided, go to the peom you want to learn more about. Take it with you and find a place in the room you can work well. You'll have about fifteen minutes to build on each other's ideas and figure out how your group can best interpret the peom you've chosen."
Figure 8.6 what the worksheet could look like

*Integrate Writing*
Children saw this activity as a way to construct riddles. They decided to write a poem together and send it home to see if their parents could figure out what they were describing.

*Integrate into the community*
Have each child write a riddle. Post it in the hallway allowing other students to try and infer what the poems are about.  After a week or so, children wrote their titles of the poems.




Reading With Meaning chapter 8

Thinking bubble

My third grade teachers have this thinking bubble they use when they teach thinking about metacognition.



 It looks like this only there is a hole cut in the middle of it the size of a head.

Then as they share connections or what they are thinking they pass the bubble around and speak with the thing around their head!

The kids loved it!

Students taking ownership

I'm subbing on Monday and Tuesday so today and tomorrow I am making up my subbing days. And,  I'm so glad I was there today! In our course readings and classes we are taught to allow the students to take ownership for thing. Today I had the opportunity to see how teaches allow the students to take the most ownership in their classroom.

Come independet reading time she says okay here is our generated topic sheet, this folder is your writing folder/notebook, get writing.

She doesn't go over expectations or what to do or not do. She just lets them have at it.
While the kids are working, or probably not woring, she walks around with sticky notes and writes the good and bad things she sees.

They then regroup at the end of the alloted writing time and she creates an anchor chart of good things and needs improvements.
She reads each sticky note she has written and the kids decide if that is important to do or not.

For example, today we did one for writing....
She pulled up the anchor chart they worked on yesterday and says, "okay these were the things we did well, and here were the things that you all decided needed work."

So today I walked around and wrote down good things and wrote down bad things I saw happening. We then regrouped at the end of the writing time and we talked about each one. The good things were obvious but some things that I would have considered as things as needing improvement they didnt' mind. For example, I noticed friends not using both sides of a paper, but when I brought it to their attention they voted and only a couple of people cared about it.


I liked this style of teaching, because if the students come up with it and they decide it is important they are more likely to follow it.

How do you read wish books?

By the pictures

Colorful Book Tubs

In the past I have seen teachers organize their book tubs by color. So all the kids in the green reading group have a green folder and they shop from the green book tubs which are marked with a green sticker.

My first reaction to that was that's organized.... but what happens when they move up or down in a reading group? Do you change out the folder?? Does that get messy and how much time does that take?
Also, if the kids know what book tubs they can choose out of based on the color of their folder do they every get to find a 'just right book' on their own?

Guided Reading Form