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Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken language.

For instance the word Rocket would be: |R| - |O|- |CK|- |E| - |T|

Phonemic awareness is a pre-reading skill that will help build the child’s reading, comprehension and writing skills.

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Phonemic Awareness Activity: Alliteration 

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Phonemic Awareness Activity: Alliteration 

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Having an alliteration picnic will help the student recognize words that
begin with the same sound. You can begin by turning snack time into a picnic using
alliteration words.  Try serving "tasty tomatoes", "leafy
lettuce", "pretty peaches", "crazy crackers",
"awesome apples", "moo milk" or "jungle
juice".

After you finish eating sing a few rounds of "I am going to the picnic." using your alliteration snacks.

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“What do you hear Sound Spotters?”

This is a great activity for young children especially after lunch.  Quietly sitting on their chairs or lying down on the floor, ask them to close their eyes and to “LISTEN CLOSELY” for any kinds of sounds.

Only using their ears they are becoming “sound spotters”.  After five or seven minutes of being perfectly still and quite, (as the teacher) discuss the different sounds that you and the students heard.

Students will have heard the air conditioner, doors opening and closing, stomachs rumbling, classmates yawning! The possibilities are endless!

It’s best to use some enthusiasm and exaggeration to get your students interested in the activity.  The key phase is, “Who can spot a sound with their ears?”

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How many syllables are in the word?

Bippity Boppity Bumble Bee is such a fun game. First, you get the kids clapping out names. As they get used to the game, you can start using other words with more syllables.

Rules of the game: everyone sits on the floor. Using a stuffed bumble bee or printable bumble bee adds an extra element of fun. The teacher begins the chant and walks around to a child and points the bumble bee and says:

Rules of the game: everyone sits on the floor. Using a stuffed bumble bee or printable bumble bee adds an extra element of fun. The teacher begins the chant and walks around to a child and points the bumble bee and says:

“Bippity Boppity Bumble Bee, Will You Say Your Name For Me?”

“Bippity Boppity Bumble Bee, Will You Say Your Name For Me?”

The student will say, “Ashley.”

Teachers: “Let’s all say it.”

As they say the name (Ashley) they are clapping once for each syllable.

Teacher: “Let’s all whisper it.”

Whispering her name, while quiet-clapping the syllables again, once per

syllable. As a whole group the teacher and the students say:

“Bippity Boppity Bumble Bee, Thank You For Saying Your Name

For Me!”
Repeat with another student and his/her name. As students become
familiar with the game, you can allow students to take on the “teacher” role.

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Using the same tune of the song, “If You’re Happy and You know It, Clap your Hands.”  can be used to teach blending.

If you think you know this word, shout it out!

If you think you know this word, shout it out!

If you think you know this word, shout it out!

If you think you know this word,

If you think you know this word,

Then tell me what you've heard,

Then tell me what you've heard,

If you think you know this word, shout it out!

If you think you know this word, shout it out!

After singing, the teacher says a segmented word such as /k/ /a/ /t/ and students provide the blended word "cat."

After singing, the teacher says a segmented word such as /k/ /a/ /t/ and students provide the blended word "cat."

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Phonograms are the common element in the word families.

Listening for rhyming sounds is an auditory skill so word play is important in this activity!

For this activity, creating or downloading a word family chart is necessary.

Students can be given a small bag filled with letters and rimes so they can “create” words for their family word chart.

Students would pick up the letter (p) and then line it up with the rime

(ot) “creating” a new word.

As the teacher, you would ask the students to dictate to you the words they have created.

It helps develop letter/ sound k nowledge; they can copy or write the words themselves.

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The purpose of segmentation

is to teach students how to break down words into sounds.

In this activity, the student will look at a small picture and determine how many sounds are heard as they pronounce the name.

Then the student will file it under the correct category.

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The method of teaching beginners to read and pronounce words by learning the usual sound of letters, letter groups, and syllables.

Once a student learns that "ph" sounds like /f/, she or he is applying and using phonics to read.

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Why is Phonics Important? 

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Why is Phonics Important? 

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Learning phonics will help students learn how to read and spell as well as, determine which letters to use as he writes words.

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This is based on the popular game Battleship. The teacher would draw a grid on the board with initial sounds written across the top, and medial and final sounds
written together down the left side of the grid.

You would let the students know that you have chosen a few squares as ‘special squares’ that they should seek out.

They find these squares by volunteering to say a whole word made up
of a letter at the top and the side of the grid.

The intersection of this row and column highlights a particular square.

The object is for the students to find all your designated special locations.

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Phonic
Activity: Finding the Missing Sound

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Phonic
Activity: Finding the Missing Sound

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Draw or show an image on the blackboard.

Beside the image, write all but one of the sounds. For example, there is a picture of the moon on the board, you write ‘oon’ beside it and the students have to provide you with the missing sound, not the letter!

This can be made into a group contest or a simple whole-class exercise where you would give the class time to think ofthe answer and get everyone to say the answer at the same time.

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Phonic Activity: 














TIC TAC TOE ONSET

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Phonic Activity: 














TIC TAC TOE ONSET

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This activity is quite simple and fun! It's for two students and the teacher and focuses on the initial sounds (onset) and graphemes.

How the game goes:

1.  Draw a tic tac toe board either on paper or an erasable board.

Flip a coin to see who goes first.

2.  Say a word and the first player has to identify the letter (grapheme)

that goes with the sound.  If he or she identifies it correctly they get

to place the first X or O.  Then the next player goes.

Differentiate it by moving from the initial sound segmentation to using blends and digraphs - Yay!

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Phonic Activity: Ball and Cap Game

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Phonic Activity: Ball and Cap Game

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The students pass around a hat and a ball. When the music stops, the student with the hat must take out a piece of paper with the letter(s) written on it then read out its sound, not the letter name. The student with the ball must guess the letter(s). In lieu of music, the teacher can simply have his back turned and call out “stop”.

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Phonic Activity: All in he Family

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Phonic Activity: All in he Family

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Word families work well when practicing phonics. Since the ending of all of the words in the word family is the same, the kids can play with the beginning letters to focus on the sounds they make.

To use word families in a game, challenge the kids to come up with as many words as possible in a particular word family. Give them letter cards so they can build the words.

For example, give the kids a card with "-ight" on it and additional letter cards. Kids could build bright, night, knight, flight, slight and several other words. Encouraging the kids to use letter blends to improve their vocabulary.

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Have your class form two lines of equal numbers of students, with the end of each line a few feet away from the whiteboard.

At the other end, call the first students in line to come over to you.

Quietly tell the two students a word. Have them run back to their lines

and whisper the word to the next student in each of their lines.

The students should then whisper the words down the lines, and when the last student in each line hears the word, he or she should run to the whiteboard and write the word.

The first line to get the correct word on the whiteboard wins.

The first students in line should now go to the back of the line, and you can repeat the game.

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Fluency is the child's ability to read a book or other text correctly, quickly, and with expression.

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Fluency is important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. When fluent readers read silently, they recognize words automatically. They group words quickly to help them gain meaning from what they read. Fluent readers read aloud effortlessly and with expression.

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Fluency Activity: Reader’s
Theater

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Fluency Activity: Reader’s
Theater

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It involves children in oral reading through reading parts in scripts. In using this strategy, students do not need to memorize their part; they need only to reread it several times, thus developing their fluency skills. The best reader's theater scripts include lots of dialogue.

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Fluency Activities: Timed
Repeated Readings

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Fluency Activities: Timed
Repeated Readings

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How to use timed repeated readings:

Timed repeated readings should be done using books or passages the student has read before that are at an independent reading level (i.e. books the student can read with 90% accuracy or

above).

Most timed repeated reading sessions should include 3-4 re-readings of the same

text.

What you will need:

1.  Two copies of the assessment passage — one for the student and one for the teacher

1.  Two copies of the assessment passage — one for the student and one for

the teacher

2.  Stopwatch or clock

3.  Pencil

Carefully select passage to be used, and determine the type of assessment information you want to gather: One minute reading.

The student reads for 1 minute.

The teacher or partner counts the number of words read correctly in one minute

(WCPM).

This score is as valid as calculating perfect correct or accuracy on longer

readings.

It's useful to provide some practice time with non-assessment reading material before beginning the 1 minute timed reading.

AN extension to the One minute Reading would be Timed repeated readings.

The student reads the same passage for 1 minute multiple times (3-5). The teacher or partner counts how words the student read in 1 minute. The number of words read results can be graphed using a bar graph.

Using the same concept as the previous two activities, words correct per minute can be done too (WCPM). Choose a passage. Time the student when s/he reads the passage.

Using the same concept as the previous two activities, words correct per minute can be done too (WCPM). Choose a passage. Time the student when s/he reads the passage.

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Fluency Activity:  Audio –
Assisted Reading

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Fluency Activity:  Audio –
Assisted Reading

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How to use audio-assisted reading

1.  Choose a reading passage and audio recording of the reading that is slightly above students' independent reading levels.

2.  Ask students to listen to the audio while following along on the paper copy of the passage.

3.  Have students read out loud along out loud with the audio recording.

4.  Ask students to read the passage without the audio.

5.  Have students read and re-read along with the audio until they feel

comfortable reading the text unassisted.

Observing the students as they are listening and reading to ensure that

they're able to follow along accurately.

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Fluency Activity: Paired (Partner) Reading 

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Fluency Activity: Paired (Partner) Reading 

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Paired reading is a research-based fluency strategy used with readers who lack fluency. In this strategy, students read aloud to each other. When using partners, more fluent readers can be paired with less fluent readers, or children who read at the same level can be paired to reread a story they have already read. Paired reading can be used with any book, taking turns reading by sentence, paragraph, page or chapter.

How to pair students: Pair students either by same reading ability or by high level readers with low level readers.

Use the following steps to pair high-level readers with low-level readers:

List the students in order from highest to lowest according to reading ability.

Divide the list in half.

Place the top student in the first list with the top student in the second list.

Continue until all students have been partnered.

Be sensitive to pairings of students with special needs, including

learning or emotional needs. Adjust pairings as necessary.

The reader from the first list should read first while the reader from the second list listens and follows along.

The second reader should pick up where the first reader stops. If additional practice is needed, the second reader can reread what the first reader read.

Encourage pairs to ask each other about what was read. "What was

your page about? What was your favorite part?"

Implementing the strategy: Introduce the students to the Paired Reading strategy.

This includes:

Establishing a routine for students to adopt so that they know the step-by-step requirements for engaging in paired reading (i.e. Will they read out loud, simultaneously? Will they take turns with each person reading a paragraph? a page? Or will one person read while the other person listens?).

Teaching students an error-correction procedure to use when supporting each other's reading (i.e. re-reading misread words; signals for difficulty).

Modeling the procedure to ensure that students understand how to use the strategy.

•  Ask students to begin reading in pairs and adjust reading speed if

reading simultaneously so they stay together.

•  Have students offer feedback and praise frequently for correct

reading.

As for the teacher, he or she should monitor and support the students as they work.

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There are four types of reading that take place in a classroom. They are independent, shared, read out loud and guided reading. Each method can be adjusted to the students or student based on his or her needs.

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This term is used to describe a child who chooses a book that she or he can read or comprehend for personal enjoyment. Independent reading allows the reader to practice and sharpen his or her skills that were learned through shared, read out loud, and guided readings. It is best if the student chooses to read books on his or her grade level. It is suggested that students do not read "easy" books.

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To ensure the student comprehends what he or she is reading, ask the student to keep a reading journal that will be graded. In the journal, the student will write down what he or she has difficulty with or finds interesting and to share any and all thoughts of the text. It is best to provide the student with a reading rubric that provides clear instructions.

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This term describes an interactive reading experience that occurs when students join in and share the reading of a book while guided and supported by a teacher. During shared reading, teachers are modeling skills that proficient readers have, including reading with fluency and expression.

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It is essential for the teacher to reserve time for reactions and comment through the book. As a fun follow up assignment from the discussion, the teacher can have the students making crafts that are related to the story.

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This term refers to the act of teachers reading a book to their students. Read-alouds are great opener for just about any lesson plan in any subject.  The teacher chooses a book that is age appropriate/ grade level for the student; this would lead into a discussion based on pre-determined reading points which are selected by the teacher, all while meeting the curriculum’s standards.

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Read aloud are always so fun! Using enthusiasm and lots of energy the teacher should incorporate sound effects and if possible, dress up in character. Being as animated as possible, the teacher should analysis the author's purpose or discuss any moral conflicts presented in the text. Asking the children to discuss their thoughts or experiences also enhances the read aloud for the students.

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This is small group reading instruction designed to provide differentiated instruction that supports students in developing reading proficiency. Teaching in small groups focuses in on children's specific needs. In turn, this accelerates their progress!

Also, Guided Reading is a key component to the Reading Workshop model of literacy instruction.

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Before beginning the guided reading, the teacher should hand out a T-chart that will aid the student in making predictions prior to reading. As the students brainstorm, the teacher should create a T chart that combines everyone's ideas. Once they are done reading, the students will return to the T Charts to revisit the predictions and compare them to what actually happened.

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Short Film on How to Effectivly Teach Vocabulary 

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Short Film on How to Effectivly Teach Vocabulary 

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Dr. Curtis describes explicit vocabulary instruction & provides classroom examples, talks about key strategies students can use, & explains why it is important to provide explicit vocabulary instruction in content area classes.

Video uploaded by American Graduate D.C to Youtube.

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Vocabulary development is the link between vocabulary knowledge and comprehension. A teacher' goal is to all the students on the same vocabulary knowledge, comprehension, and reading level. This is no easy task, which is why teachers must use a variety of vocabulary developmental activities.

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When Teaching Vocabulary the usages of:

Word Walls

Dictionaries

Structure Analysis

Direct Instruction

Active & Generative Tasks

Varied Contents

will helps the students enrich their vocabulary.

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Introducing the concept of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 words helps to develop the students' reading, comprehension, speaking and writing skills.

Playing Jeopardy using Tier 1, 2, & or 3 words is fun and quite simple. If given a smart board, the teacher can follow this link and play online.
https://jeopardylabs.com/play/tier-3-words2

However, in the case the smart board does not work, or not available there's an alternative way to play.

To begin we will need index cards, a board, a container and a marker.

It is best if the teacher fills out the index cards ahead of time.
Once that is done, fold the index cards and put them in a closed lid container to be shaken up!.

Once in the classroom, have each student come up to the board and have him or her pick one of the index cards from the container. They do not put the index card back instead it is left out.

Once they have acknowledged the word, they will categorize the word. If the student is stuck, the teacher can provide only one life line in order to remain in the game.

If the answer is incorrect, they must return to their seats and can not longer play..

If the answer is correct, that student remains as an active player until he or she loses.

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Students love labeling items in a classroom and in return they are learning new vocabulary words.

This approach is most helpful to ELL students as they familiarize themselves with the English language.

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Comprehension can be defined as the ability to understand something. Reading comprehension is the ability to read text, process it, and understand its meaning.

Comprehension strategies are designed to help students make connections to their readings. The more connections the student makes, the more he will be able to fully understand what is being taught. Teachers should encourage meta-cognitive strategies. In other words, teaching students ways to think about thinking and having students be more aware of their learning styles.

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Encouraging students to make predications before or as they read will help them become active readers. Active readers look for clues through out the text that will help them understand the text better. If the reader does not understand what is being read, he or she will ask questions. Questions promotes curiosity. Curiosity promotes predictions

Prediction gives students a purpose to read!

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Parts of a Story:

Characters- The people in the story.

Setting- Where are the characters?

Beginning - What happened first?

Middle - What is the problem?

End - The last page.

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Parts of a Story | Singable Book | Classroom Book Project

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Create a Compare and Contrast Worksheet

Learning how to use a T Chart to compare and contrast also helps increase a student's comprehension skills. Students need to visualize the similarities and differences of objects for a deeper and better understanding of the text at hand.

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Drawing conclusions is an important skill to have as a reader because it helps the student read the ending of a story or of an event. Conclusions are the final decisions or thoughts of a process or event.

Comprehension is evident when a reader can:

interpret and evaluate events, ideas, information from a text

make self to text or text to text connections

being able to add or adjust new ideas to previous already learned information

being able to determine what are most important points in the text

being able to read and understand the underlying meaning of a text

A fun way to check a student's comprehension of a text is by playing a game with two dice.

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Workshops and centers are necessary in the classroom for both the student and teacher. Specialty Centers encourages students to participate in a variety of collaborative workshops. These centers promote activate learning in reading and writing using fun approaches to address specific needs of the student. The workshops allow children to develop their appreciation for reading and gives them an opportunity to practice strategies independently or the guidance or a teacher or buddy.

Learning centers are designated areas in the classroom where children are put into small groups and they have to complete an activity in a certain amount of time before they move onto the next center. Learning centers allow children social interaction while practicing hands-on skills.

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Teachers can place guidelines in the centers to remind students the purpose of the center.

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A more unique approachto a reader's workshop is to have students write letters to the teacher about the book.

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An extension to the reader's workshop is learning workshop. Teachers take this opportunity to teach or enforce a spelling or writing skill(s) the students need help with. For instance, a learning workshop can be used to teach students how to spell/write.

The teacher will say the word and have the students create the word based on the sound that is heard. The students will put together the word from bag of preselected prefixes, base words and suffixes.

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Teachers can design their classroom to have a Reflection Center. The students can enter this section for the room to reflect back on their behavior. When a student enters this section, he or she will be given a worksheet that forces the child to analyze the situation and the reactions of those affected by the bad behavior.

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Incorporating a computer section is a vital element in today's society. State testing methods are no longer paper and pen and have been replaced with computers. Teachers can monitor the students wpm and familiarize them with new research skills.

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A library is an essential component of a classroom. A small reading center is a great way to destress and promote reading!

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Writing as a process & Writing Workshop 

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Writing as a process & Writing Workshop 

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Writing as a process has 5 steps: pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.

1. Pre-writing: this is the planning phase of the process and the most important. Student's should be brainstorming and gathering their ideas into an outline or graphic organizer.

2. Drafting: student's should be creating a draft of their writing in an organized manner to convey their ideas.

3. Revising: student's should be reviewing and modifying their work by adding, changing, or taking away content in their writing. This stage is meant to improve their writing.

4. Editing: this is the stage where writer's proofread and correct any errors they see in their writing, such as grammatical and spelling errors.

5. Publishing: the final piece of work is shared with the group or even published online or printed out.

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Writing as a process & Writing Workshop 

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Writing as a process & Writing Workshop 

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Prewriting activity helps a flow of creativeness enter the student's mind. The teacher can begin the brain storm activity by presenting the method "I wonder..."

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Writing as a process & Writing Workshop 

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Writing as a process & Writing Workshop 

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Writing does not come easy for everyone so it the teacher's job to teach students different strategies to over come these writer blocks. One strategy is having the student writing down everything that comes to mind in only fifteen minutes. The grammar does not matter only the man ideas matter. This is considered their first draft.

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Writing as a process & Writing Workshop 

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Writing as a process & Writing Workshop 

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Using the acronyms A.R.M.S and C.U.P.S, the teacher can teach students the difference between revising and editing.

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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New literacies generally refers to new forms of literacy made possible by digital technology developments. Millennials are not familiar with the world of print sources, dial up internet, the pressure of reading a hand written text or the smell of white chalk.

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Educational Applications on smart phones,iPads and tablets are a wonderful way to disguise the boring element of learning through the use of wonderful graphics and animations. iTunes has a wonderful selection.

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Education - App Store Downloads on iTunes

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Browse and download Education apps on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch from the App Store. The App Store has a wide selection of Education apps for your iOS device.

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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E-Books have taken wonderful printing world by storm! Teachers can adopt e-books in their curriculum so students can access information at any time of the day!

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Podcasts are digital recordings of an audio that can be heard through the use of internet and a media player. Students can listen to the podcast at any time and day! In the case of a sick student, he or she can go into the podcast domain and listen to the missed lecture. Podcast prevents students from falling behind and helps them retain information by simply reviewing the audio.

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Smart board and smart board actives are a great way to integrate technology and academia into one!

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Play With A Purpose - Wii Learn - Education with Video Games!

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Discussion boards are a great way to introduce blogging to students. Teachers use discussion boards for sharing thoughts and ideas about class materials. Students can also comment on each other posts which promotes social media development skills. An advantage of using the discussion board is its asynchronous nature.

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. This is a great way to incorporate technology in the classroom and promote higher order thinking skills. They revolve around a question asked by the teacher and students go on a "quest" to try and answer that question.

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Integrating Technology: New Literacies. 

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Speech to Text technology is great for students that struggle with spelling. This is also great for students with learning disabilities. This program allows students to speak their thoughts and converts their ideas into text. This is also great for students with learning disabilities. Every smart phone, tablet and iPads have this technology.

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Children's literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are enjoyed by children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.

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National Geographic Magazine is a great magazine that promote literacy! Readers learn about the environment and what inhibits it. Its great source of information that will help the reader develop a high thinking level.

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Below a list of Caldecott Awarded Literature books that promote higher thinking levels.

Name of The Book: A Ball For Daisy

Author: Chris Raschka

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade Books

Year Published: 2012

Award it Won and Year: Won the Caldecott Award for his illustrations.

Short Description of the Plot: A Ball for Daisy is a children book about a dog name Daisy and her favorite red ball. She has separation anxiety so Daisy must be near her ball at all times including as she sleeps. One day her owner takes her to the park and Daisy meets a brown dog that snatches her ball away. Unfortunately, the brown dog accidentally pops the ball leaving Daisy feeling sad and blue for a little while. Later one, Daisy and her owner take another walk to the park where they happen to see the brown dog again. This time the brown dog had a brand new and shiny blue ball. The dog gave Daisy the new blue ball that made her extremely happy.

The Theme: The theme is love and loss.

How the Book can be used in a Diverse Classroom: Being designed for 3 -7 years old to understand the concept of love and lost through this wordless and beautifully illustrated book that allows the students to create their own monologue.

Name of The Book: This Is Not My Hat

Author: Jon Klassen

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Year Published: 2012

Award it won and year: Caldecott Medal 2013

Short Description of the Plot: This story is told from the perspective of a tiny fish that tries to get away with taking a hat from a gigantic fish. Racing through the large ocean to get to his secret garden, the tiny little fish fails. Thanks to the help of a crab, the gigantic fish is able to recover his hat.

The Theme: Do not take what does not belong to you.

How the Book can be used in a Diverse Classroom:

The simple illustration, minimal text and theme, will make the students question their moral compass. Is taking what is not yours, correct? This book is great way to discuss moral characteristics and consequences.
Name of The Book: The Adventures of Beekle The Unimaginary Friend

Author: Dan Santat

Publisher: Little Brown and Company

Year Published: 2014

Award it won and year: Caldecott Medal 2015

Short Description of the Plot: It begins on an island of imaginary friends waiting to be chosen by a kid and to be given a special name one; one chubby friend is constant overlooked. Feeling lonely and inspired, it sets sails for the big city in hopes to be given a special name. At first the city seems gloomy until it meets a cute, young girl that names the chubby friend Beekle. This makes him extremely happy.

The Theme: Courage

How the Book can be used in a Diverse Classroom: I would use this book as a pathway to speak about motivation, goals and any future adversity my students may encounter.
Name of The Book: Out of the Dust
Author: Karen Hesse

Publisher: Scholastic Press New York

Year Published: 1997

Award it won and year: John Newberry Medal 1998

Short Description of the Plot:

The main character is young girl named Billie Jo. The novel is about her

experiences between the winter of 1934 through the fall of 1935. This novel is a historical fiction novel that is said to take place during the depression. Living Oklahoma, Billie Jo and her family faced many financially hardships due to reoccurring dust storms that would damage the crops.  In order to forget about her pain, Billie Jo pours her heart out when she plays the piano. Unfortunately, a terrible fire accident left her and her mother severely burned. Ultimately, Billie Jo lost her mother and both hands leaving her feeling lost and confused. Despite it all, Billie Jo was able to put the past behind her and love again.

The theme: The themes range from loved and loss, self-identity, hardships, and poverty.
How the Book can be used in a Diverse Classroom: I would use this book as a supplement reading when exploring the Great

Depression. Further more, I would compare and contrast Oklahoma City during that time to present land as a social studies lesson. Thirdly, I can use this novel in order to explain certain emotions or feelings that occur when becoming a young adult. I can use this novel as an opening to poetry writing. But most importantly, I would use this novel to teach my students how not to be so hard on themselves when they make mistakes.

Name of the Book: The Witch of the Black Bird Pond

Author: Elizabeth George Speare

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Year Published: 1958

Award it won and year: John Newberry Medal 1959

Short description of the plot: Kit leaves the island of Barbados shortly after her grandfather passed away and right after a forty-year-old man asked to marry her. Kit finds herself in a new town completely different from her home in which she had servants and well accommodated. Eventually, Kit finds herself living with her religious aunt and two cousins in Connecticut. Kit meets a dashing and rich young man William Ashby and they begin to court. Shortly after, Kit begins to work with her cousin in a dame school for young children. One afternoon in order to make the school day finish quicker; Kit decides to act out a part of the bible with her students. Unfortunately, the school did not approve of her actions and fired her on the spot. Filled with sadness, Kit runs into the field where she meets an outlaw named Hannah. They bonded immediately. Their connection was so deep not even punishment kept Kit from seeing her friend. Along with this forbidding friendship, Kit also falls in love with Nathanial.  As an epidemic unleashed it self, the town believed it was Hanna who cursed the community and they were prepared to kill her. Kit and Nat risk their lives to save Hannah and do so successfully. Unfortunately, the same townspeople who did not approve of Hanna believe that she too is a witch. But with the help of a few good friends, Kit was saved from being killed. In the end, Nathanial and Kit get married and sail back to Barbados.

Themes: Forbidding relationships, ignorance, religion, justice, morality, marriage and acceptance.

How the Book can be used in a Diverse Classroom: This fictional novel can be used to explore the concept of culture and ideology during the Salem Witch Hunt period. We can looking into the different themes the novel posses and compare them to present day cultures.

Name of the Book: Jacob Have I Loved

Author: Katherine Paterson

Publisher: Thomas Y. Crowell

Year Published: 1980

Award it won and year: John Newberry 1981

Short description of the plot:

This story is about two sisters Sara Louise “Wheeze”  (the ugly ducking) and her pretty sister Caroline. Sara Louise always felt envious of her sister’s good looks and charismatic personality. Sara Louise did her best to break out of her sister’s shadow and was able to do successfully. Sara Louise went to nursing school where she becomes a nurse and a midwife. During a particular snowy evening, Sara Louise assists with the delivery of twins. The first child is born healthy however; the second child is born cold and smaller than the first. With limited supplies and tools, Sarah Louise rushed the cold baby to the fireplace in hopes to save it. As she is nursing this child back to health, a flashback of her childhood emerges. The repressed memories of being second best to her sister flooded her mind.  Instantly, Sara Louise realizes her attention is only on the second child and not the first. Living under the shadow of Caroline, was neither easy nor fun for Sara Louise. At the end of the novel, Sara Louise reaches a new stepping-stone within herself when she asks the parents the parents to love the twins equally.

Themes: Sibling rivalry, becoming of age, love, envy and compassion

How the Book can be used in a Diverse Classroom: This

is a wonderful novel to teach about accepting yourself and to love oneself unconditionally. It is difficult to live with a sibling especially if in the same grade and the same sex. But the moment, one lets go of the negative energy; the person begins to mature and starts to care for oneself.  This novel is a great way to introduce other behavioral standards such as good sportsmanship, becoming in control of personal emotions that are essential traits to be a leader.

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Playing off of the popular DVD rental service "RedBox", the "ReadBox" is a new way to organize your classroom library to make it fun, appealing, and relevant to the child.

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Poetry promotes literacy comprehension, vocabulary awareness , and alliteration.

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Children's Literature Comprehension Database records and reviews of children's literature, videos, and audio books from the early 90's to present day children's literature.

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Due to the extensive amount of resources that contributed to my inspiration and some of my work, I feel it is best to list the main contributors to this project:

EDU6818

EDUC 2401

EDUC 6835

CSCI1105

PHIL1000

Pinterest Website

TeachersPayTeachers Website

Teachertube Website

Scholastic Website

Poetry4Kids Website

Youtube Website

Apple Website

Education Website

TeachHub Website

Common Core Standards Websites

In addition to these sources, mentors and past field experiences has also contribute to my knowledge.

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Ms. V's Social Studies Lesson Post No.1 

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Ms. V's Social Studies Lesson Post No.1 

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Subject: Instructions for Class Assignment

Objective: Given a compare and contrast graphic organizer, the student will be able to state the differences between Law and Act with 80% accuracy.

Instructions: Click on each hyperlink only once!

·     Introduction Example Link: http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-listening-and-hearing)

·     Guided Example Link: (http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-geography-and-geology).

·     Independent Example Link: http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-law-and-act).

Before submitting your work, ask yourself:

·              Did I put my name on my work?

·              Did I answer all the questions?

·              How neat is my work?

·              Any misspelling, grammar, punctuation issues?

Once the teacher has posted this entry on Padlet, the students will be asked open the first link: (http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-listening-and-hearing)

Using the smart board, the teacher will open the first link from the entry. Next, the teacher will begin to do a Read-Aloud using article Listening v. Hearing from the website WhatsTheDifference. As the teacher reads the article, she will point out all the similarities and differences. Using the overhead projector, the teacher will take that information and organize it into the compare and contrast graph like the one below.

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Objective: Given a chain of events map graphic organizer, the student will be able to describe the process it takes for a bill to become a law with 100% accuracy.

Instructions: Click on the link once.  Please note that the independent practice will be graded according to a rubric. The rubric can be found at the bottom of this email.

·      Guided Example Link: http://www.drgeorgehearingaids.com/sites/default/files/howwehear.gif

·      Independent Example Links:

http://kids.clerk.house.gov/grade-school/lesson.html?intID=17

https://www.usa.gov/how-laws-are-made

Before submitting your independent work, ask yourself:

Did I check my work according to the rubric? Is my work organized and neat?

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Creating this literacy portfolio has aided me in my growth in becoming a better teacher. This task has expanded not only my portfolio but my knowledge of language and literacy development. In my quest of searching the most useful and beneficial resources for my future students I have sharpened my research skills. I can see clearly now, that it is great time in history to integrate technology in our sunny classrooms. Literacy centers are the pillars of a positive reading experience for children.

The two INTASC Standards that apply to this assignment are Standard #1: Learner Development and Standard #8: Instructional Strategies. The first topic of this portfolio is phonemic awareness. This is a wonderful example that connects with Standard #1 in TASC. After exploring the world of phonemic awareness, I understand the benefits of applying this teaching strategy for young developing minds. I have learned how children develop an understanding of the alphabet, letter sounds and texts. This newly acquired information will help me gather the most suitable reading materials/ activities for my future scholars.

This fabulous literacy portfolio embodies Standards #8 in TASC. There is an array of instructional strategies that are and will continue to be benefiicial to students. These activities/ strategies address all kinds of learners especially for visuals and kinesthetic learners. Above all, I believe it is vital to know how to apply multiple teaching strategies to a group of diverse learners.

Over all, the literacy portfolio helped further my comprehension of literacy and language development. It was worth while researching the different kinds of teaching strategies while learning about beneficial classroom tools. I learned the importance of meeting the student's learning needs while keeping him or her engaged. Literacy portfolios are useful to teachers because they're systematic and consist of a wide variety of materials applicable to the students and to the classroom.