Developing a love of reading seems to come naturally for some students, but for some--it takes a loving teacher to make the magic happen! Check out these ten tips for getting started building a culture for reading in YOUR class! 1. Share YOUR love of reading. Whether you are in a "grown up" book club of your own or can simply model your love with HOW you read, how MUCH you read, or your ... Read the Post
Novel in a Day? A Collaborative Reading Comprehension Lesson
I am always looking for ways to keep reading interesting and exciting for students while still working on comprehension skills and reading behaviors and processes. I have done this novel in a day activity for more than 20 years, and I thought I’d finally put it in a more useful format! What is it? Novel in a Day is a way to take a chapter book, divide it into sections, assign a section ... Read the Post
More Than a Graphic Organizer! Written responses to reading
As you know, the purpose of a graphic organizer is to help students (or adults!) make sense of information and organize it into a visible, usable fashion. Sometimes using an organizer is all we need from students—a way for them to represent the information we are asking for. Sometimes, however, we want students to organize information for other reasons…like to do a piece of writing. I wanted a way ... Read the Post
Helping Students Fall In Love With Books: A Reader’s Workshop Intervention
One group of students who I think we often ignore is those students who are solid readers, are compliant--but aren't "engaged readers". We know that students learn to read by READING, so if they aren't reading at home and aren't challenging themselves at school, their progress will be impacted. Check out this reader's workshop lesson for some inspiration! Getting Students Talking About ... Read the Post
3 Best Books about Teaching Reading!
Today is my day to post over on Upper Elementary Snapshots, and I hope you'll stop by to check out my post about 3 "must read" books...just click the image below to take you there! I'd love to hear what you think...and watch tomorrow for my Monday Made It post--with a brand new multiplication resource that has taken me the better part of a year to finish! WHEW! ... Read the Post
Task Cards, Interventions, Real Reading, and more
One thing that I know to be true is that getting moments of quality intervention time with students is tough--especially if they are receiving other interventions from specialists. I am lucky this year that several of my students receive a daily 30 minute reading intervention with a specialist--but that means that they are in my room for my minilesson, leave for their intervention, and then ... Read the Post
Refocusing on Reading Behaviors
When I start the school year, one of the first things I tackle with my students is "reading behaviors"--how we function within our reader's workshop so that we maximize our own reading and don't disrupt those around us. We talk about just right books...about stamina...about thinking while we read. From the very first week, we work to build these good habits so that we can get TONS of ... Read the Post