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Description: Collections of words posted in the classroom that students use for word-study activities and refer to when they are writing. There are two types of word walls. The first one is students and the teacher write important words from books they are reading or big ideas they are learning about during units.  These walls are taken down after book or unit is completed. The second word wall consists of high-frequency words the students are currently learning and new words are added as they are introduced to the students.  These walls remain on display all year.
Advantages:
~Provides a visual reference
~Promote independence in reading and writing by building vocabulary
~Convenience
Disadvantages:
-Students rely too much on the word wall for spelling

Tompkins, Gail E. (2015) Literacy in the Early Grades, Pearson

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Description: A collaborative learning strategy in which students work together to solve a problem or answer a question about an assigned reading.This strategy requires students to think individually about a topic or answer to a question and share ideas with classmates.
Advantages:
~Total involvement
~Generates a lot of ideas quickly
~Small groups can have quality discussions
Disadvantages:
-Can be very noisy
-Puts time pressure on some
-Partner can be overshawdowed by the other partner

*Page 21

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Description: After a presentation of material or a reading, students summarize the material in to one or a few simple statements of no more than 20 words all together.
Advantages:
~Focuses on main ideas/important parts of a text
~Challenges students to think about what was read
~Enhances summarizing skills
~Large amounts of information become simple and straightforward
Disadvantages:
~Important information may be left out in order to not go over the 20 word limit

Reimann, Carol (2017) Let's Make Literacy "Sparkle" for Your Students!, RPDC

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Description: A visual brainstorming tool used to compare and contrast two different things. It is made up of two large circles that overlap in the middle. Where the two circles overlap, students write traits that the two things have in common. In either side of the intersecting space, students write differences among the two things.
Advantages:
~Make connections between items
~Visualizes information/concepts
~Requires higher-order thinking
Disadvantages:
-Requires a knowledge base
-Difficult to do with new ideas
-May limit responses

*Page 24

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Description: A graphic organizer that has students recall important information from a story.  The students are asked questions about certain aspects of the story, in which they respond with one-word descriptive answers. The final product is in the shape of a tree.
Advantages:
~Students use descriptive words
~Students pay close attention to details of a story
~Helps students organize and identify critical information
Disadvantages:
-Difficulty coming up with the required amount of descriptive  words for each question

Reimann, Carol (2017) Let's Make Literacy "Sparkle" for Your Students!, RPDC

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Description: A graphic organizer for building student vocabulary.  In Box 1, students create a kid-friendly definition for the vocabulary word. In Box 2, students draw a picture to illustrate what the word means. In the third box, students write or draw nonexamples of the vocabulary word. In the last box, Box 4, students draw examples of the vocabulary word.
Advantages:
~Draws on students' prior knowledge
~Creates a visual reference
~Improves retention of information
~Promotes critical thinking
Disadvantages:
-Students may lack prior knowledge disabling them to complete some of the boxes

Reimann, Carol (2017) Let's Make Literacy "Sparkle" for Your Students!, RPDC

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Description: A strategy that uses a graphic organizer to help students learn the elements of a book or story.  Students identify story characters, plot, setting, and problem and solution.
Advantages:
~Students pay close attention to details of a story
~Helps students organize and identify critical information
~Improves students' comprehension
Disadvantages:
-Students need to understand what elements make up a story before they can use this

*Page 20 (Story Map 2)

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Description: Students individually select and record 10 important words as they read a text.  Students then write their ideas about the words and what they think the words mean.
Advantages:
~ Active engagement with words
~Fosters word knowledge
~Focuses on word meaning and comprehension
Disadvantages:
-Students may not choose or know 10 words that are considered important
-Students may choose "easier" words that they already know a lot about

*Page 4

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Description: A graphic organizer designed to help in learning. The letters KWL are an acronym that stands for what the students already Know, what the
students Want to know, and what the students have Learned.
Advantages:
~Connects prior knowledge to content to create interest
~Teacher can figure out what students know
~Easy to create
~Helps with monitoring comprehension
~Additional scaffolding for students when they might need it
Disadvantages:
-Students might not have any prior knowledge to connect with
- Students might just skip over concepts they really do not understand and can't explain
-Background information might be incorrect

Tompkins, Gail E. (2015) Literacy in the Early Grades, Pearson

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Description: Children draw a picture of the head and neck of a character in a story they are reading. The children then cut out the portrait and place it on several other sheets of paper to be traced and cut out.  These are called the "thinking" pages and are stapled to the portrait page. Next, the students flip the portrait page and on the "thinking" pages, they draw and write about the character's thoughts at key points in the story. Afterwards, the children share their open-minded portraits with the class.
Advantages:
~Students think more in depth about a character
~Students reflect on story events from the character's viewpoint
~Students pay attention to details
~Students make inferences
Disadvantages:
-Drawings might be difficult for some students
-Some students may have difficulty recalling specific events or details

Tompkins, Gail E. (2015) Literacy in the Early Grades, Pearson