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Blevins, W. (1998). Strategies for struggling readers: making predictions. Instructor, 49.

Block, C. C. & Israel, S. E. (2004). The ABCs of performing highly effective think-aloud: Effective think-aloud can build students' comprehension, decoding, vocabulary, and fluency. International Literacy Association, 58(2), 154.

Flint, A. S., Kitson, L., Lowe, K., & Shaw, K. (2014). Literacy in Australia: Pedagogies for engagement. John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teacher College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054.

Robb, L. (1996). Use predictions to help kids think deeply about books. Scholastic, 106(3), 61.

Rhodes, M. (2008). Reading comprehension: Making predictions. Instructor, 117(4), 54.

Sawyer, W. E. (2012). Growing up with literature (6th, Eds). Linda Schreiber-Ganster. USA.

Shannon, J. (2014). Building oral language through the iPad Project: The journey. Practically Primary, 19(2), 37.

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This activity enables the students to practice predicting through simple activities, helps them to focus on their thinking when they engaging the activity. Students will put the story lines into sequence to demonstrate their understandings of the plot, and are able to think and justify their predictions.

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Making Predictions Mini-Bundle - Click Image to Close

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In my opinion, this is a teaching and prepared by the teacher to show the steps to be followed by the students during written prediction activities within the reading program, as it outlines using the predicting strategy before, during and after reading.

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So all this talk about anchor charts really got me thinking about my to do list. Last week I started mapping out what I need to do to meet the curriculum maps for April till the end of the year in ELA.

When I do this I make a list of books I need to gather, anchor charts I need to make, and any centers, writing prompts, or work pages I need to create. I decided to tackle the anchor charts first. So far I've only accomplished 1 of 4 that I need to create for April ... But I felt accomplished so I thought I would share it with you and give myself a well deserved break :)

I decided that since I was going to share I would give you a quick how to based on my process for creating anchor charts. So here we go!

Now, like I said before I just start whipping these bad boys out there is planning to do. The first step is to write down the topics on my first to do list. For April these topics included, finding key events in texts, predicting, writing drafts and revising, and writing summaries using temporal words. And yes folks, that's 1 topic per week - add in spring break that's already one week with 2 topics - OH MY! I decided to tackle predicting first, well, because it seemed the easiest to me.

So I moved on to work with my trusty friend Pinterest! That lovely photo of my chicken scratch (not my normal handwriting!) is what my Pinterest research turned into. What I do is search my topic then I write down key words or phrases that I liked from various anchor charts posted on Pinterest by all of you lovelies. I then compile this mess into the anchor chart that you will see below. Now, this may not work for everyone, but this is the process that works for me. Next I sketch out my poster in pencil and then go over in Mr. Sketch markers ( MY FAVORITE!!!).

Now, here's what the finished masterpiece looks like. I choose two colors that are for key points. Here I chose purple and green. Here I used purple to highlight the topic, predictions, and I used green to highlight the steps and key vocabulary. Then I will go back through and highlight anything else important in yellow - usually sentence frames like here. I try to add as many visual pictures as possible because they help the students remember the steps quickly.

If you are interested here is the link to my Pinterest page that contains many anchor charts that I have used to create some of mine. One last bit of information - I would highly suggest purchasing a good art eraser for your anchor charts. I use a Staedtler Mars Plastic one. This helps so that your marker doesn't smudge and there aren't pencil smudges left when you are all done. Hope this was helpful! Enjoy the week!

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So all this talk about anchor charts really got me thinking about my to do list. Last week I started mapping out what I need to do to meet the curriculum maps for April till the end of the year in ELA.

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Science activity to help students to make prediction 

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Science activity to help students to make prediction 

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In my opinion, making prediction also can be link to science learning or theme-based units. Theme-based units are 'integrated and interdisciplinary units of what that embed reading and writing practices within other subject or curriculum areas' (Flint, 2014, p. 142). Students in first grade get introduced to Life Science, Earth Science, and Physical Science. They are expected to make good predictions and then to talk and write about their predictions and the outcome of events.

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A Day In First Grade, First Grade, First Grade Science, Free, Kindergarten Science, Preschool Science, Science Posted By: Kristen Smith

Planning for a new year is always so much fun! In reflecting on my past school year I definitely think one of the very best things that I did was my Science Units.

I have been collecting and gathering Non-fiction books for years and this year I totally went for it. Last August, I sat down with my teaching partner and we went over all of the Science TEKS(Texas standards) that we had to teach and created a Scope and Sequence.

This Scope and Sequence allowed us to teach each area of Science well. Students in first grade get introduced to Life Science, Earth Science, and Physical Science. They are expected to make good predictions and then to talk and write about their predictions and the outcome of events. Because we taught in themes we were able to instill a love of Science in our students and they become better readers, writers, mathematicians, and scientists in the process. It was win-win!

Unfortunately my teaching partner is moving to a new school next year. I'm so sad to lose such a great teacher and friend. However, instead of dwelling on the loss, I got right to work and started creating something for my new teaching partner.

I remember how overwhelming starting at a new school is: new curriculum, new policies and procedures and everything else!

Well, I didn't want what we had created in Science to be lost so I created a few packets to help whoever will be hired. I also know that many other teachers would love this. These units include ALL of the Science activities that I did last year and have step by step picture directions. So far I have finished my Fall themed Science activities, my Weather unit, and a unit on Making Predictions.

Here's a peak at what you will get in the packets!

Numerous hands-on activities that first graders LOVE. These are all tried and true activities that I did in my first grade classroom.

Each activity has picture directions. (So you know what it SHOULD look like!)

It also includes cheat sheets for you to print out to have on hand while you are doing the experiment.

I even included grocery lists!

The weather packet follows the same structure as my fall unit!

I know that my new teaching partner will really appreciate this and I am so excited to have this and use it!!

For this weekend only, these packets are on sale!

AND, so that you can see what it looks like up close, I'm offering one of my Making Predictions activities away for FREE!!

I always start the year with "The Milk Experiment." This is a great way to set the tone in your classroom for how Science experiments will work and how to think like a Scientist. My students always love it!

They are all 20% off this weekend!! Grab them while they are on sale- I'm sure you will LOVE them!!

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A Day In First Grade, First Grade, First Grade Science, Free, Kindergarten Science, Preschool Science, Science Posted By: Kristen Smith Planning for a new year is always so much fun! In reflecting on my past school year I definitely think one of the very best things that I did was my Science Units.

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The main purpose of the teaching strategies implemented in the three activities above is to motivate the students’ interests in reading and encourage the use of prediction skills during their everyday reading practice.

The activities and strategies recognise the students’ diversity within the classroom. The comprehension strategy of making predictions includes activating prior knowledge, making predictions, then reading and confirming or revising predictions. This strategy can help students monitor their comprehension.

Furthermore, I would create a literacy-rich environment for the students, as Sawyer (2012) suggests that 'the classroom library should comprise a core collection and a revolving collection' (p. 167). At the same time, the selection of picturebooks has multicultural texts (p. 76). I will implement literature discussions to extend the conversation around multicultural texts. Literature discussions offer opportunities for students to share aspects of the text that are personally meaningful, thereby increasing engagement in the text (Mishra, & Koehler, 2006).

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Purpose:

Students will be able to flexibility in strategy use, such as multiple strategies that can be used in a particular situation. They develop oral language skills and motive in reading through engagement with iPads.

Producers:

In this activity, the students will be grouped to create their own story on iPads and then formulate predictions with the whole class. The students will collaborate to choose their characters, settings, and plot. Then they will take turns, use character voices and different tones of voice to create different moods in the stories and record the story on the app Tootastic. Creating their own stories will enable the students to draw upon their own experiences, and more importantly, support linguistically diverse learners in reading. Afterwards, the finished story will be viewed by the whole class, and other group members will be able to predict the story.

Teaching strategies: Using ICT for independent practice

IPads can be an exciting tool to enhance learning opportunities for the students. Shannon (2014) emphasises how the technology will fit into the curriculum to meet student needs. As she points out, education is shifting, and today, it is ‘student-centred, interactive, applied and project-based’. Also, students prefer visual literacy-pictures, sound and video to interact and create. Using iPads to create stories enables learning to be relevant, instantly useful and to connect with a student’s background and culture through real-life task (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). More importantly, iPads provide opportunities for the students’ social interactions and improve oral language outcomes as they communicate with others. Flint (2014) points out that when linguistically diverse students have opportunities to collaborate with others in meaningful contexts, there is increased communication and interaction among those in the classroom.

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USING IPADS TO CREATE STORIES 

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USING IPADS TO CREATE STORIES 

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Teaching Strategies:

In teacher-led, student-centred discussions, the educator models, scaffolds, provides explicit instructions, and encourages students to take on more responsibility within the conversation (Flint et al., 2014). When educators are participants and active listeners in the conversation and not merely directors, patterns of interpretive authority emerge that locate meaning in the negotiation of ideas and texts (Rhodes, 2008). In this type of discussion, the educator provides opportunities for the students to start the line of questioning and encourages them to expand their thinking. As participants, the students and the educator share the role of interpretive authority.

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The students then will record their predictions on a sticky note. I will scaffold my students with an “I THINK…BECAUSE…” structure to support them to organise their ideas. After they finish sketching their perditions, they will place their sticky note on a chart. After sharing the students’ predictions, we will finish the film and find out what exactly happened.

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Purpose:

Students will be able to identify reasonable predictions and unreasonable predictions. Students will be given explicit instructions on how, when and why to use the prediction strategy.

Producers:

This activity is based on the principles of social learning (Vygotsky, 1962) and on scaffolded instruction (Bruner, 1978), which provides opportunities for the students to practice using prediction strategies.

The students will watch a Pixar Short film and I will stop the film at three different stopping points, to allow them to form predictions and state the evidence that supports that prediction.

After watching the first stopping point, I will use probing questions scaffolding the students to predict, help them to think about where the evidence came from by asking questions such as, ‘What do you think this film might be about? Why do you think this?’, ‘What clues in the film lead you to think this?’, ‘What do you already know about this?’

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MAKING PREIDICTIONS WITH A PIXAR SHORT FILM

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MAKING PREIDICTIONS WITH A PIXAR SHORT FILM

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Purpose: The first activity is designed for students to make thoughtful, informed predictions as they examine titles of texts and illustration on the covers of picturebooks. They should be able to understand that evidence may include the books’ covers, illustrations, a specific passage, personal experience or knowledge.

Producers:

To begin this activity, the students will be shown various covers of picture books and will be encouraged to use their background knowledge, picture clues and recognised words in the title to make a reasonable prediction about the story. Before the students are asked to make predictions, I will use a think-aloud strategy to demonstrate my thinking processes of what clues in the text and pictures I am using to make that prediction.

For example, I will model making a reasonable prediction about what will happen inWemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes, based on the cover of book. I will make explicit my thinking,

“When I make a prediction, I first read the title and examine the image on the cover of my book carefully. Then I combine these clues given by the authors to guess what the story might be. By reading the title and looking at the pictures on the cover, I can predict that the book will probably be about a little mouse that worries. I would not predict that it would be about a pig or other animal because there isn’t anything on the cover to tell me that.”

The think-aloud demonstration will help less-experienced readers ‘identify their own thinking patterns as they engage with text’, with the goal that they will apply this strategy when reading independently (Flint, Kitson, Lowe, & Shaw, 2014, p. 307). At the same time, I will also use “far-off” ridiculous examples as a way to remind my students that we need to predict from the evidence provided to us. Afterwards, I will have the students model their predictions about the story and explain what pictures or parts of the book cover contributed to their guesses.

Teaching Strategies:

A think-aloud is a metacognitive strategy that helps students make predictions about the text and reflect on their own thinking processes as they read a particular text (Flint, et al., 2014; Block & Israel, 2004). Educators use this strategy as an instructional practice to help students visualise the thoughts they use during reading, and thus bring that thinking into the open so that they can replicate it more effectively in the future (Robb, 1996). Moreover, as an instructional practice, the think-aloud strategy is differs from prompting, modeling, or giving directions. The think-aloud strategy enables educators to demonstrate for their students how to select an appropriate comprehension process at a specific point in a particular text (Flint, et al., 2014). This is also beneficial for EASL students and struggling readers (Block & Israel, 2004).

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PREDICTING in an effective reading strategy, as it develops in students a sense of curiosity, which in turn, encourages them to think deeply about what they are reading and enhances their capacity for comprehending their readings. Predictions push students to ask questions, recall details, reread, infer, draw conclusions, and eventually, understand the text better (Block & Israel, 2004). Moreover, making predictions concerning plots and themes of stories is an effective way of monitoring students’ ability to manipulate prior information provided in the text and illustrations of stories (Blevins, 1998).

The following three activities and plans are based on the content descriptions from Grade 1 in Australian Curriculum: English standards of Language, Literature and Literacy (ACARA, 2013), including teaching modeling by a think-aloud strategy, guided practice through teacher-led, student-centred discussion strategy, and independent practice through ICT.