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Top 10 From Scholastics

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Scholastic Books Clubs editor David Allender shares 10 trends to watch for 2013.

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Lesson Plan help

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Literacy begins at home

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Do you have a child who is ready to read? Here are a few helpful posts, with several that focus on one area of teaching your child to read (sight words, word families, decoding, etc). Click on the image below to take you to the post!

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The classroom library enables students to learn

strategies for selecting books and for sampling books

from different contents. Libraries also allow teachers to

assign individual work or group work. Libraries should be

placed in the reading center next to a comfortable place

where students can feel comfortable to read. Teachers

should try to accumulate as many books as then can in order

to make their library interesting for all students. Books should

also be put in level order to make the books appropriate for

the reader.

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The type of genre is something that will either

hook the student or tune out the student. It

is important for students to know the different

types of genres there are in order for them to

discover their personal favorite.

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The firsts task of this seminar was to choose

books we thought would be great for our

future reading classes. These were my selections:

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There are many other websites which

help both teachers and students out there. Another example is the fabulous Pinterest! Just like this website, there are other websites in which teachers can find help from other professionals to make their classroom the best one.

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See what Tanya Rivera (trivera11) has discovered on Pinterest, the world's biggest collection of everybody's favorite things.

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Social networking is now used by a huge percentage of

people in the world. There are now apps and specific

social networking ideas made for teachers and students.

For example, we use WebCampus which connects us to

our professors and classmates with a click of a button.

My cousin introduced me to Edmodo, which is a mix

of WebCampus and Facebook for teachers and students.

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Speech to Text technology use is great for students who

struggle with getting their thoughts on paper. This is also

great for students with disabilities. This program allows

students to speak their thoughts and converts their ideas

into text. The cool thing about this is that now every smart phone has this app!

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Students can use technology to improve their

reading and writing skills. There are electronics

that help students in these areas. For example,

"talking books", Wiggleworks, Living books, and

much more. Also, Write Away, Co-Writer and

Creative Writer 2.

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Thumbelina was a pretty girl, so small anyone would have ever seen. This story narrates her life in the woods, the field and finally how she finds a land full of little people just like her.

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Wrap-Up and Share :

Students should share their personal experiences involved in their writing. Students can share with the entire class or with the small groups assigned.

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Independent Writing:

Students can be put in small groups, or work

individually for this part of the workshop. Teachers

should meet with each student/group to make sure

everyone is on the same page of their writing.

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Mini-Lesson:

Teachers should review materials and work done the

day before in this part of the workshop. Also, teachers

should give mini lessons like in the use of descriptive

words or ways in which students can enhance their writing. Teachers should point out different resources such as the

use of dictionaries, internet and even word walls.

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Introduction :

Students gather around writing corner and the teacher

should provide background knowledge. There should

be activities which students can refer to prior knowledge.

The teacher should also offer motivational strategies!!

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Creating centers are the centers where students

are encourage to put their imagination to work.

Teachers should encourage students to use

their creativity to express themselves in this center.

There should be many materials and supplies for

students to use in this center.

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Computer centers are the centers that excite

students the most. Teachers can monitor computer

use for any student. In computers students can find

tutors, their own level of reading programs, they can

reinforce computer skills, and they can use e-books.

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Listening center - where students can sit

and listen to books being read to them.

Repeated reading is one of the best strategies

used in this center. Following this, read-alongs

are also very crucial for students to participate

in.

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Prediction encourages students to think about

the text based on the "clues" they pick up from

the book. Prediction helps students develop

questions about the book before it is being read.

Prediction gives students a purpose to read!

- Book Walk

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Recognizing story structure is very important for

students because this is when students can define

the reading as a "story". It's important for students to

recognize the story's setting, main characters, theme

and the style of the story,

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Drawing conclusions is another very

important strategy because it is

based on the effect of the other

strategies used. Here teachers can

see if students understood in depth

the point of the story. Teachers can

also see the which student is struggling

with reading.

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Comparing and contrasting is very important for students

because they get to discover how things are alike and how

things are different. This strategy teaches students to visualize

and this develops an ability to read for high-order thinking

skills which increases reading comprehension.

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Technology in Vocabulary Instruction

- National writing project

- Visual field trips

- Useful websites

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Teaching Vocabulary

- Word Walls

- Dictionaries

- Structure Analysis

- Direct Instruction

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Strategies for Diverse Learners

- Tier 1 Words

- Follow up activities for lessons

- Build on student's prior knowledge

- Words with similar roots and meaning

- Text summaries in native language

- Pre-teach vocabulary words

- Labeling

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Using Graphic Organizers

- Brainstorming

- Word map

- Concept wheel

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Libraries:

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Evaluating students:

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Fluency Workstation Voice Jar with 18 Emotions

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Help students improve fluency through expression using different voices! This jar activity includes 18 pictures of different facial expressions. Students choose an expression card from the jar and then read their book, poem, etc. using that expression.

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Alphabet Cards

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It's a phonics reading machine to help teach kids to read. You can turn the volume down and let your children make the sounds themselves, when they are ready. Video by KidsTV123. Copyright 2011 A.J.Jenkins/KidsTV123: All rights reserved.

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Teachers should have questions for books

a student is reading in order to guide

them.  Teachers can have a bucket students can refer

to anytime they are stuck focusing on the point of

the book they are reading.

The questions can vary from setting of

the book to the main characters and all of the

in between details of the book. For guided reading

teachers should also have students share their

understanding of the story with their classmates in

order to see if they are in the same train of thought

as everyone else.

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Students can work in groups of three

to work on shared reading. One student will

be in charge of reading only the beginning of

a story while another one should read only the

middle and the other student should only read

the end. In this activity students will need each

other in order to find the missing pieces of the

story!

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Teachers should develop an IRI

for their students in order to see

the level each student is on. With

this information teachers can make

their in class library more effective

for their class.

This is an example of an IRI I did on

a boy named Joel.

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Teachers can show students the

importance of reading by having

specific days of read alouds.

Teachers can use the blow up

books and read to the class to

motivate the students to read in

their free time.

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Teachers can evaluate the level of fluency of their students by having

them read out loud together. Students can work in pairs to read a dialog

out loud while the teacher uses the dialog to mark student's mistakes

and speed of reading.

Also, this can be a individual assignment by having students read fluency

passages out loud. Teachers should mark each of student's miscues.

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In order for teachers to help students with their expression

when reading, teachers should go over punctuation. Teachers

should explain that the punctuation at the end of each

sentence is the way the author intended for the sentence to

be read. Teachers can ask the students to write their own stories

using all types of punctuation and then reading their own work

to the class by using the punctuation used in their work.

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Teachers should have students record themselves

when they are doing their independent reading. When

students hear themselves read, they will be able to improve

on their weaknesses in reading. Phones can now be used as

recording devices and saved as a document. With this teachers

and students can also see how much the reader has improved

throughout the year.

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An easy activity teachers can do to helps students with

their phonics skills is to have students play with words by changing

either the end or the beginning of words. For example teachers can

put up the word PLAY on the board and students should change it to

"MAY" or "DAY" or "CLAY".

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Students should learn the difference between CVC Words

and CVC-e Words. For this, teachers should introduce vowels

and show the difference between long vowels and short vowels.

In class we did an activity which showed our skills with phonics:

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Having your students know the alphabet is a huge step for

their success in reading. For alphabet learning, the ABC's song

is a great way to start. However, they need to visually see the

letter in order for them to understand the connection.

For this, the picture of the letter Popsicle sticks shown above

could help students with the alphabet. Also, many of the

Sesame Street episodes relate to letters which can help young

children.

As a future teacher, I would break up the alphabet and work on

one letter at a time in order for students to understand the

importance of every letter.

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Sesame Street Elmo Celebrate the letter "A!"

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Sesame Street Elmo Celebrate the letter "A!"

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The following picture shows Alphabet Sticks! Teachers should keep these

in their classroom so that students can visually see how words are created.

Many activities can be created from these:

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One way I would teach phonemic awareness in my

classroom would be working through rhymes. I would

introduce rhymes to my class through stories such as "Jack

and Jill went up the hill" and point out "Jill" and "hill".  I would

find other rhyming stories and then create one with the class

which would bring the class from hearing a rhyme to creating

a rhyme. I would use the student's name in the poem which

would get the class more involved.

This is an example of a story I would create,

but it would change according to the class.

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This first example shows our class, EDUC 6818,

and our ideas on different ways to teach phonemic

awareness in our classroom.

I focus on phonemic segmentation which is the separation of words into phonemes!

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The literature teachers choose for their students is very important. If teachers choose a genre the student is not interested in, the student will mentally check out and there most likely be no positive results. Also,

children's literature have to be chosen according to the type of reading level the student is in. For this teachers should conduct IRIs or use any other strategies in order to place the student in the correct reading level and assign correct leveled books.

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Bringing technology into the classroom is a skill both students and teachers should learn how to master. Technology is a huge part of our everyday lives now which makes integrating it into the classroom even more important. Students and teachers can do many things with technology. Teachers can use the SmartBoard to show PowerPoints and other fun ways to students to learn. Students can find online games to enhance their learning skills and even find online tutors if they are struggling.

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Writing workshops are workshops where students can engage in enjoyable writing and reading activities. This workshop should be student-centered and should serve to each student's literacy needs. Students should learn skills to become better at the process of writing.

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Workshops and centers are very important in the classroom not only for students, but also for the teachers. Centers enable students to participate in a variety of collaborative workshops. These centers engage students to be active in learning, reading and writing. It is very important for teachers to introduce any new center created. Students must know the purpose of each center and they must know the rules for working with each other in each center.

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I love silent reading time! I think it should be illegal for teachers not to include at least 20 minutes of uninterrupted reading time each day! Over the past 9 years, I have tried various things for silent reading time and last year, my trials evolved to this (pardon the glare):

Each day, students go to a different spot for silent reading. On the day that students "Read with Mrs. Wheeler," before we read together, they can trade out their books in their baggies. *NOTE: Each student has 6 books in their bag. They select the books they want, based on their personal interest, from our classroom library. I firmly believe that if students have a choice for reading, they will become more interested in it, and thus become stronger readers. . For awhile, everything was "levels;" it made me crazy. My students get leveled text in reading groups, as well as in their take home data binders each night.

The students do well in their stations and I rarely have problems. The visual helps them see where to go for the day, and they can also plan out where they will be the following day. It's quick and easy for me...I just rotate the name cards down. It also gives me a great opportunity to read with every student every week. To purchase my library labels, click here!! I have 3 color schemes available.

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I love silent reading time! I think it should be illegal for teachers not to include at least 20 minutes of uninterrupted reading time each day! Over the past 9 years, I have tried various things for silent reading time and last year, my trials evolved to this (pardon the glare): Each day, students go to a different spot for silent reading.

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Strategies or plans 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 aware of how they each learn.

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The process in which students learn words. The link between vocabulary knowledge and comprehension! Vocabulary development is very important because many students come into school with different levels of vocabulary knowledge. It is the teacher's job to close the gap between the different types of levels in the classroom by introducing vocabulary development to all of the students.

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What types of reading should be in the classroom? Each teacher should have a library in their classroom to promote reading to the students. The library should be for all types of skill levels in order for students to explore their guided reading level as well as their independent level. Reading in the classroom is very important!

Teachers should also encourage reading outside of the classroom!

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What is Fluency? Fluency is expressive reading that involves both rate of reading words and phrasing good readers use when they read out loud. It refers to how a reader puts words together in phrases creating a good pace to the reading while he/she puts expression to the words read.

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What are Phonics? It is a method of teaching students to read by correlating sounds with letters! It's a teacher's job to help students unlock the pronunciation and meaning of words they run into. Of course, the discovery of phonics should begin at birth, but during class time it is up to the teacher to provide the students with powerful tools in order for them to be able to identify words correctly. Teachers can do this by simply labeling everything in their classrooms to having posters in the classroom or more hands-on activities like the ones shows below:

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What is Phonemic Awareness? It refers to an awareness that words are made of separate sounds, known as phonemes. It refers to sound units smaller than the syllable which makes it more specific.

For example breaking down the word FISH would be: /F/ - /I/-/SH/

In order for young students to improve reading achievement, teachers should create phonemic awareness activities in class. Here are some examples of phonemic awareness activities classes should follow: