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Graphic Organizer

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Story Maps | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Story maps use graphic organizers to help students learn the elements of a book or story. The most basic story maps focus on the beginning, middle, and end of the story. More advanced organizers focus more on plot or character traits.

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Word Work, Reading, Writing

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Anchor Charts for Reading Comprehension 

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Anchor Charts for Reading Comprehension 

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Cause and effect, Making Connections, Decoding Strategies

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Reading is both an art and a science in so many ways. Once young readers move on from word recognition to reading for meaning, a whole new world opens up. Reading comprehension activities within the ELA block help students develop skills that will deepen the meaning of literature, while also leading to an understanding of material in other subjects. As students learn to make connections within a text, lifelong reading skills are born and cultivated. Check out these ELA anchor charts to help your students analyze the many elements necessary for reading success.

1. Questions To Ask While Reading

Questions like these help students think about the purpose of reading itself. They also encourage kids to consider important basics, like setting and characters.

2. Story Elements

Going over the key components that make up a story will make your students better readers. They'll know exactly what to look out for, and searching for these pieces will make reading seem like a fun scavenger hunt.

3. Read, Cover, Remember, Retell

Stop students from skimming longer texts with this concept. This way, they'll break the text into bite-sized chunks and truly understand what they're reading.

4. Making Predictions

Making predictions is a great way for students to interact with a text. Just introduce them to these three simple steps and watch them succeed!

5. Beginning, Middle, End

Have students look for growth throughout a story by paying attention to the beginning, middle, and end. They should think about where the characters start, what happens to them, and how they're different at the end.

6. Choosing a Just-Right Book

Comprehension is deeply connected to children's current reading abilities, and knowing how to choose a just-right book can help them gain confidence in their skills.

7. Summary Sentences

Make sense of more complicated passages by writing summary sentences for each paragraph or section on sticky notes. They'll be helpful when reviewing for tests or writing a paper.

8. Monitoring for Meaning

Self-monitoring is key for success in reading comprehension at all levels. Giving students some questions to ask themselves as they read is a great first step toward understanding.

9. UNWRAP

Use the UNWRAP method to guide students through a thorough reading. This is an especially valuable technique for nonfiction passages.

10. Understanding What Reading Looks Like

Setting expectations for what reading really looks like can help lay the groundwork for comprehension, as illustrated in this reading anchor chart.

11. Literary Elements

This is like combining four anchor charts for reading comprehension into one! It's the kind of chart that kids can refer to over and over.

12. How To Mark a Text

Use an anchor chart and strategy like this one to teach your students how to properly mark up texts. Afterward, have a group discussion and ask students to utilize the sections they emphasized in their texts to support their individual points.

13. Cause and Effect

Considering cause and effect is an excellent way to improve reading comprehension. Students learn to watch for words like "because" and "so" with this anchor chart.

14. Decoding Tricky Words

Decoding strategies help students step back from a frustrating word or sentence and revisit it from another angle. Especially when they're just starting out, your class (and their parents) will appreciate having access to these tips.

15. Coding Thoughts

Shortcut symbols allow students to annotate texts without slowing down or interrupting the reading flow. Be sure to teach them how and when to use each symbol as they read.

16. Using Context Clues

This anchor chart for reading helps students use context clues, such as synonyms and word parts, to become "word detectives" when they stumble upon a word they don't know.

17. Types of Conflict

Dig deeper into characters by understanding the conflict they face during the story. Remind students that more than one of these often applies.

18. Nonfiction Text Features

If you're doing a nonfiction unit, consider creating an anchor chart as a guide. It can be difficult for some students to understand the differences between fiction and nonfiction, but a chart like this one will immediately orient them within a text.

19. Visualizing as They Read

Visualizing is an important part of achieving reading comprehension. Get kids to see the "movie in their minds" as they read.

20. Figurative Language

Figurative language can be challenging to teach. Make it easier with this anchor chart and a few pieces of text to act as examples. Then, set your students free and see how many elements of figurative language they can find in their individually chosen books.

21. Building Fluency

Fluency is another important part of reading comprehension. When students are robotic in their reading expression and pacing, they have trouble understanding meaning.

22. Overcome Distractions

Even the best readers sometimes have trouble focusing on their books! Make your students more effective readers by going over how to overcome wandering thoughts.

23. Retelling the Story

Retelling or summarizing is an important check on comprehension-can the student identify the main events and characters of the story? Reading anchor charts like this one lend a hand in explaining the concept.

24. Find the Main Idea

Understanding the main idea, or identifying what the text is mostly about, even if it's not explicitly stated, is one of the first higher-level tasks of reading comprehension.

25. Understanding Character

Ask students to distinguish between what's on a character's outside versus a character's inside to help them understand the text.

26. Setting

A story's setting is made up of more than just where it takes place. Help your students fully grasp everything the concept encompasses with a fun and simple visual.

27. Point of View

Understanding point of view in a story can be challenging for beginning readers. This chart will help them pick it up and then implement it in their own writing too.

28. Theme vs. Main Idea

It's so easy for young readers to confuse the theme of a text with its main idea, which is why comparing the two concepts side by side is sure to set up your students for success.

29. Thin and Thick Questions

Teach your students the difference between basic yes-or-no (thin) questions and more involved (thick) questions. When students can answer harder questions about the story, their level of understanding will go through the roof.

30. Making Connections

You can be sure kids comprehend what they read when they can start connecting it to themselves and to the world around them.

31. Reading Conference Guidelines

Implementing one-on-one student-teacher conferences during individual reading time can be really helpful for students, especially when you set expectations and guidelines ahead of time. This will give your students time to think about what they will focus on during their time with you and how it will help them become better readers.

32. Plot Structure

This basic plot anchor chart can help students understand the rising action, climax, and falling action that make up a plot.

33. Making Inferences

To make an inference, students have to differentiate between what's being said on the page and what's not. This anchor chart does a great job of explaining.

34. Writing a Book Review

The key to writing a successful book review is being aware of what to focus on during the reading stage. If you plan on having your students write a book review, go over what they should take notes on or pay close attention to while they are reading with an easy anchor chart like this one.

35. Inference Thinking Stems

Reading is an active endeavor; readers often make predictions based on what they already know. These thinking stems can help students put their ideas about stories into words.

36. Evidence-Based Reading

Students show they understand what they are reading by pointing to evidence within the reading. These words are the key to finding those bits of evidence.

37. Elements of Poetry

Poetry is tricky and reads a lot differently than most other texts students tend to gravitate toward. Nevertheless, it's an important art form to explore in the classroom-so why not use a pretty anchor chart as a primer? We guarantee it will take the fear out of reading poetry.

38. Author's Purpose

Why did the author write this book? Was it to persuade, inform, or entertain? The author's purpose may dictate how students read an article or story, and this chart helps students identify it.

39. Questions and Answers

If your class is struggling with how to find answers to questions while reading, this anchor chart just might help them.

40. Themes in Literature

Another great way to teach theme. Books are like a cream-filled cupcake: You never know what's hiding inside!

41. Vowel Teams

Vowel teams can be confusing for young readers. This chart color-codes each vowel team and incorporates example words with pictures to help students remember these tricky sounds.

42. Stop and Jot

It is always a good idea to have students write about their reading in a Reader's Notebook so they can look back on their thoughts. Anchor charts for reading like this one remind students of great reasons to stop, think, and jot while reading.

43. Using Think Marks to Dig Deeper

Some students are great at remembering to stop and jot as they read, while others are more reluctant. Motivate your students by incorporating these fun symbols that can be placed on sticky notes throughout a text.

44. Thinking Questions To Ask While Reading

Use this chart to help students apply higher-order reading comprehension strategies as they read independently. These also make great conversation starters for whole- and small-group activities.

45. Understanding Why Readers Close-Read

Close reading helps students dig deeper as they read to better understand the text. Give them the background knowledge on this strategy to help motivate them to take a closer look.

46. Steps to Close Reading

Your students will become expert reading detectives with these helpful close-reading tips you can put on anchor charts.

47. Tone and Mood

As students think about their feelings while reading a particular piece, they will learn to build their own opinions of literature and poetry. Help them understand how the author's tone also has an impact by using these anchor charts for reading.

48. Reading Comprehension Strategies Summed Up

This is an excellent summary of multiple reading comprehension strategies used in the classroom all year long. It works well across most grade levels too.

49. ELA Test-Taking Strategies

Help ease the pressure of test taking with these practical reminders. These great tips are well suited for ELA and beyond!

If you like this roundup of anchor charts for reading, subscribe to our free newsletters for more of the latest teaching ideas and tips.

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49 Anchor Charts That Nail Reading Comprehension

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These terrific anchor charts for reading comprehension will help students learn about characters, setting, main ideas, context, and more.

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Writing Programs, Effective Grouping Strategies, Strategies for Teaching Comprehension

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Well-sequenced phonics instruction early in first grade has been shown to reduce the incidence of reading difficulty even as it accelerates the growth of the class as a whole. Given this, it is probably best to start all children, most especially in high-poverty areas, with explicit phonics instruction.

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12 Ways to Support English Learners in the Mainstream Classroom

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12 Ways to Support English Learners in the Mainstream Classroom

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Listen to this post as a podcast:
A note on terminology: The acronym ESL is used less often now in schools than it used to be, because we recognize that many students who are learning English already speak several other languages, so English would not be a "second" language. I use it several times in the post because schools sometimes refer to the teachers as ESL teachers, and the term is still widely used as a search term for this topic. My intent in using the acronym is to make this post easier to find online.

You have a new student, and he speaks no English. His family has just moved to your town from Japan, and though he receives English as a Second Language (ESL) support, he will also be sitting in your room every day to give him more exposure to his new language. How can you be a good teacher to someone who barely understands you?

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, an average of 9 percent of students in U.S. public schools are English Language Learners (ELLs); that number is closer to 14 percent in cities. Although many of these students start off in high-intensity, whole-day English programs, most are integrated into mainstream classrooms within a year, well before their English language skills would be considered proficient.

How prepared are you to teach these students? If you're like most classroom teachers, you have little to no training in the most effective methods for working with English language learners (Walker, Shafer, & Iiams, 2004). So that means we have a problem here: Lots of ELL kids in regular classrooms, and no teacher training to ensure the success of that placement.

Below, three ESL teachers tell us what they know about the things regular classroom teachers can do to improve instruction for ELL students. These 12 strategies are simple, they are not very time consuming, and best of all, they will help everyone in your class learn better:

1. Make it Visual

"Avoid giving instructions in the air," says Melissa Eddington, an Ohio-based ESL teacher. "ELL kids have a harder time processing spoken language." So instructions - even basic directions for classroom procedures - should be written on the board whenever possible. Challenging concepts should be diagrammed or supported with pictures. And modeling the steps of a process or showing students what a finished product should look like can go a long way toward helping students understand. "Sometimes showing our students what to do is all they need in order to do it," Eddington says. Not only will this kind of nonlinguistic representation improve comprehension for ELL students, it will help all of your students grasp concepts better.

2. Build in more group work.

"Kids aren't just empty glasses that we pour stuff into and then at the end of the day they dump it back onto a test," says Kim, an ESL teacher who was the subject of my very first podcast interview. "If you really want the kids to learn, they've got to be engaged." That means less teacher-led, whole-class instruction, and more small groups, where students can practice language with their peers in a more personal, lower-risk setting. And if ELL students attend your class with a resource teacher, make use of that person: In most cases the resource teacher doesn't have to work exclusively with the ESL students; they can work with smaller groups that happen to contain these students, helping to improve the teacher-student ratio and give kids more time to practice.

3. Communicate with the ESL teacher.

Mary Yurkosky, a former ESL teacher in Massachusetts, credits much of her students' success to the strong relationship she had with the regular classroom teachers. "The classroom teachers were always talking to me about what they were doing in their classes," she says. "They made it so easy for me to support them: If a teacher was going to be doing a unit on plants, I could make sure we used some of that same vocabulary in the ESL class."

Ideally, this could be systematized, where ESL teachers could regularly get copies of lesson plans or collaborate with regular classroom teachers to build solid back-and-forth support, but "it doesn't have to be that much work," Yurkosky insists. "Just talk to each other. Talk about what's going on in your classrooms, invite each other to special presentations, share what your students are learning, and the words will naturally find their way into the ESL class."

4. Honor the "silent period."

Many new language learners go through a silent period, during which they will speak very little, if at all. "Don't force them to talk if they don't want to," says Eddington, "A lot of students who come from cultures outside of America want to be perfect when they speak, so they will not share until they feel they are at a point where they're perfect." Just knowing that this is a normal stage in second language acquisition should help relieve any pressure you feel to move them toward talking too quickly.

5. Allow some scaffolding with the native language.

Although it has been a hotly debated topic in the language-learning community, allowing students some use of their first language (L1) in second-language (L2) classrooms is gaining acceptance. When a student is still very new to a language, it's okay to pair him with other students who speak his native language. "Some students are afraid to open their mouths at all for fear of sounding stupid or just not knowing the words to use," Yurkosky says. "Letting them explain things or ask questions in their first language gets them to relax and feel like a part of the class."

And this doesn't only apply to spoken language. If you give students a written assignment, but the ELL student doesn't yet have the proficiency to handle writing his response in English, "Don't make them just sit there and do nothing," Eddington says. "Allow them to write in their first language if they're able. This allows them to still participate in journal writing or a math extended response, even if you can't read what they write." There has even been some evidence that allowing second-language learners to pre-write and brainstorm in L1 results in higher-quality writing in L2 in later stages of the writing process (Yigzaw, 2012).

6. Look out for culturally unique vocabulary.

"For most of these kids, their background knowledge is lacking, especially with things that are unique to American or westernized culture," says Eddington. It's important to directly teach certain vocabulary words: "Show them videos of what it looks like to toss pizza dough, show pictures of a juke box or a clothing rack - things that are not common in their own language."

One way to differentiate for ELL students is to consider the whole list of terms you're going to teach for a unit, and if you think an ELL student may be overwhelmed by such a long list, omit those that are not essential to understanding the larger topic at hand.

7. Use sentence frames to give students practice with academic language.

All students, not just English language learners, need practice with academic conversations. Sentence frames - partially completed sentences like "I disagree with what _________ said because..." - show students how to structure language in a formal way. Keep these posted in a highly visible spot in your classroom and require students to refer to them during discussions and while they write.

For this kind of language to really sink in, though, Kim says it has to become a regular part of class. "They won't do it if it's not the norm in the class, because they'll be embarrassed to use it among their peers," she says. "But if they can put it off on the teacher and say, Oh, well, you know, Miss Kim makes me talk like this, then they don't look as hoity-toity as they would otherwise."

8. Pre-teach whenever possible.

If you're going to be reading a certain article next week, give ESL students a copy of it now. If you plan to show a YouTube video tomorrow, send a link to your ESL students today. Any chance you can give these students to preview material will increase the odds that they'll understand it on the day you present it to everyone else. "That kind of thing is wonderful," Yurkosky says. "The kids feel so empowered if they've had a chance to look at the material ahead of time."

9. Learn about the cultural background of your students...

Our second-language populations grow more diverse every year. Taking the time to learn the basics of where a child comes from - exactly, not 'somewhere in the Middle East/South America/Asia/Africa' - tells the student that you respect her enough to bother. Kim remembers one time when she had to set the record straight about the diverse South American population at her school: "I was listening to the teachers talking about the 'Mexican' kids in our building," she says, "and I was like, 'We don't have any Mexicans.'" Not taking the time to at least correctly identify a child's country of origin, much like not bothering to pronounce their name correctly, is a kind of microaggression, a small, subtle insult that communicates hostility toward people of color. Make a commitment to be someone who bothers to get it right.

Once you have the country straight, take things up a notch by learning about students' religious and cultural practices. If he is a practicing Muslim, he should be told if one of the pizzas you ordered for the class party has sausage on it. If she comes from a culture where eye contact with adults is viewed as disrespectful, you'll know not to force her to look you in the eye when she's talking.

10. ...but don't make a child speak for his entire culture.

In her podcast interview, Kim shared a story about watching a teacher ask a new Iraqi student how he felt about the war in his country, right in the middle of class. "That's not cultural inclusiveness," she explains. "I've seen teachers do this and then pat themselves on the back. The students' English is limited so they can't express themselves very well, and they don't want to 'represent'; they just want to be there." If you anticipate a theme coming up in your class that's going to be relevant to one of your students, have a conversation with them in advance, or check with your ESL teacher to see if they think it's appropriate for in-class discussion.

11. Show them how to take themselves less seriously...

By modeling the risk-taking that's required to learn a new language, you help students develop the courage to take their own risks, and to have a sense of humor about it. "I tried to say the word 'paint' ( pinta) in Portuguese and instead I said the word for 'penis' ( pinto). They all roared with laughter while I stood there with a What?? look on my face," Yurkosky says. "When they explained what I'd said, I laughed so hard! I told them that laughing was fine because sometimes mistakes are really funny, but ridicule is never okay."

12. ...but always take them seriously.

One of Kim's pet peeves about how teachers interact with English language learners is the way they often see students' efforts as 'cute,' missing the whole point of what the student is trying to say. "A student will be desperate to communicate, and the teacher will get distracted by the delivery and miss the message," she says. "That's painful for me to watch." It bothers her when teachers mistake a lack of language for a lack of intelligence or maturity. When a child can't express themselves as well as they would in their native language, it's far too easy to assume the concepts just aren't in their heads.

"It breaks my heart when I hear teachers say (ELL kids) don't know anything," says Eddington. "These are brilliant kids and they know a lot. They just can't tell us in English yet." Make a conscious effort to see past the accent and the mispronunciations and treat every interaction - every student - with the respect they deserve.

"They're doing twice the job of everybody else in the class," Kim adds, "even though the result looks like half as much." ♦

Further Reading

The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide is one of the highest-rated books on teaching English-language learners available. In addition to offering an overview of the research on second-language learners and best practices in teaching ESL, it also includes a whole section on teaching ESL in the content areas and another specifically geared toward teaching ELL students in mainstream classrooms.
References:
Walker, A., Shafer, J., & Iiams, M. (2004). "Not in my classroom": Teacher attitudes towards English language learners in the mainstream classroom. NABE Journal of Research and Practice, 2(1), 130-160.

Yigzaw, A. (2012). Impact of L1 use in L2 English writing classes. Ethiopian Journal of Education and Sciences, 8(1), 11-27.

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12 Ways to Support English Learners in the Mainstream Classroom

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Advice from three ESL teachers on the things regular classroom teachers can do to help English language learners thrive in mainstream classrooms.

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Grade 1

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Staff Guide to Accommodations and Modifications

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Classroom Accommodations for ESL and ELD Students

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Classroom Accommodations for ESL and ELD Students

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Accommodations: Assisting Students with Disabilities

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Get the Gist: A Summarizing Strategy for Any Content Area

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Get the Gist: A Summarizing Strategy for Any Content Area

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Get the GIST: A Summarizing Strategy for Any Content Area - ReadWriteThink

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GIST is a summarizing technique that can be used in any content area. Students will learn and apply the strategy while doing online research and writing activities on news stories.

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How to Teach a Retelling Reading Strategy for Primary Students

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How to Teach a Retelling Reading Strategy for Primary Students

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Reading Lessons

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How to Teach a Retelling Reading Strategy for Primary Students : Reading Lessons

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Reading and Learning Strategy
After Reading Strategy
Get the Gist- Summarising

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Reading Module

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Honeybees

Honeybees are a bright sunny yellow,
And they're busy all day with the chore
Of filling their hives up with honey
(I've heard it's a food they adore).

Honeybees all have very sharp stingers;
They don't like invasions of space;
And if you come too near their dwelling,
They'll sting you all over your face.

~ Barbara Vance

Available At:

For Librarians & Sellers

Follett School Solutions

Brodart

Baker & Taylor

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Crabby

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Summer children's poem about a crab on the beach. Great for school and classroom activities. common core 1st grade, 2nd gr… | Yard games and other toys | Pinterest | Kids poems, Preschool and Poems

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Summer children's poem about a crab on the beach. Great for school and classroom activities. common core 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade reading #ESL:

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The Crayon Box the Talked

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I've gotten so much done this week & last week, been nonstop going

and today I have felt like I haven't slept in a month!

Woke up just simply not wanting to teach.

Not wanting to do nothing!

I'm already chillin' in my bed {been here since 6},

because I could barely keep my eyes open out in the living room!

I was going through old pictures I took for my portfolio for my masters.

Thought maybe they could be some inspiration for MLK Jr. projects for future.

Sorry for the blurry picture, few years old!

Kids wrote their name + Dream's on the cloud.

Each strip of paper contains their dreams for school, future, and the world.

Do you like how I take over the library windows because I don't get but one little wall space?!:)

I'm sure many of you do this already....but.....here you go anyways!

I always team up with another class to do this project.

I plan on doing this tomorrow and created some writing prompt sheets

and also a few copies of the coordinating poem to hang in the hallway with the display.

I got a little carried away with doing them differently to give everyone more options.

I also can not stand the crayon pattern I have,

so I attempted to create one on powerpoint.

It is a little smaller {I get barely any wall space!}

You can get them for free in either of my stores:

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The Crayon Box That Talked Freebie Writing Papers - The Bubbly Blonde Teacher

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Please check out the NEW 2015 UPDATES here : http://thebubblyblondeteacher.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-crayon-box-that-talked-update.html -------------------------------- My energy has left me for the week! I've gotten so much done this week & last week, been nonstop going and today I have felt like I haven't slept in a month! Woke up just simply not wanting to teach.

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Getting to the Main Idea and Key Details

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Getting to the Main Idea and Key Details

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Today's post is Part 2 in a 10 part series of closely reading and understanding the Reading Informational Standards of the Common Core for grades 3-6. I "explained" Standard 1 in this post. I have also released a large bundle of....
graphic organizers to help students show (and teachers teach) the thinking behind comprehending informational content. The reading response sheets are open-ended, and leave lots of room for students to practice their written comprehension. The bundle can be found by clicking on the image below. (It's actually on sale right now, too.)

But, this post is dedicated to the student demands of Informational Text Standard 2. A lot of people might hyper-summarize standard 2 as Main Idea or Main Ideas, which is a fair hyper-summary. However, I like to say it's all about the Big Idea or Big Ideas.

Standard 2 still falls under the structural umbrella of Key Ideas and Details, so this standard is still asking students to really know "WHAT it is the article is about" or "WHAT the article is saying." You'll recall the same structure of this standard in Reading Literature is all about the message, lesson and theme of the story...so as far as we can find the message, lesson and theme in informational text, we will, and instead of calling it the "message, lesson and/or theme"...we'll call it the main idea(s), central idea(s) and/or big idea(s) in the text.

For third graders, this means they are expected to determine the main idea and key details AND explain how those details support the main idea. Several things about these expectations stand out to me vs. what kids used to be expected to know and show about informational text. One, they actually have to be able to articulate A main idea, a gist, in their own words. To me, key details have never been a problem for kids, in fact, that's usually all kids would find and for the most part, that's all teachers would expect. Think of key details of the past as FACTS about the topic in the article. Most students could and can read an article about say, Earth Day, for example, and tell you a lot of details or facts included in the article. In fact, I think kids thought/think that the more they include, AND the more detailed the facts are, AND the neater and shinier the piece of paper looks, that that's good enough, that they've met the expectations of the assignment...and if a student or a teacher really wanted to (think they were) going above and beyond, they would even do a Report or a Presentation or Display Board about that topic...but only falling short if only including facts, or a list of details, and pictures without a main idea or big idea statement.

For fourth graders, this also means determining the main idea of the text and explaining how it is supported by the key details. In addition, fourth graders must summarize the text in their own words. Organizational structure of a text article (Standard 5) is going to be key in helping students determine main idea and supporting details. I have found that many students confuse main idea and supporting details, calling supporting details main ideas and main ideas supporting details...so when teaching this standard to students, I find it helpful to ask students to determine the key supporting details first, and then when the two, three, or four of the them are identified in a a paragraph (start small), to ask students, "What do all these details have in common?" and answer to that question will be the main idea of the paragraph. It is important that third graders are expected to EXPLAIN how the key details support the main idea, because this skill is the foundation of the summary they are now expected to write in 4th grade.

Fifth graders are expected to do everything that fourth graders are expected to do and are asked to determine if a text may have two or more main ideas on the topic, not just one. But they will also need to be able to EXPLAIN how the main ideas are supported by the key details and be able to write a summary of the text.

In sixth grade, the words "main idea" turn to "central idea" and 6th graders are expected to determine the central idea of the text and how that idea is communicated through the details. A sixth grade summary of the text will be different from the student's opinion or attitudes about the topic, it will be objective.

I believe that in order to set kids up for success with this standard that we must teach them to identify and determine four things when reading informational text:

For many, many articles, especially ones in newspapers, magazines, online, at timeforkids and scholasticnews, the topic and main idea are right in front of us (see image below). I teach students that the title will tell you the topic, and the subtitle will tell you the main idea...most of the time. The key details are in the text but are organized in a way to support the main idea, and the big deal is the big idea, the SO WHAT. I realize that none of the 3rd-5th wording for standard 2 expects kids to answer the question SO WHAT? or SO, WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT THIS ARTICLE? But, other standards do (Standard 8), so it's a question I habitually ask students now. Again, I always like to bring the awareness of the WHY students should be learning this back to them, back to real-world relevance...not necessarily asking, what does this article have to do with me? But, what can I do to make a difference in this topic in the real world?

(Do you like this sheet? Do you want it? If so, click HERE.)

My dear friends, the Polar Bears. (I apologize to everyone that has already heard this, it's my token anecdote for determining BiG IdeA, and I tell this "story" when presenting.)

Take this article about the polar bears. ( Web version or Print version.) If you were to give this article to 3rd - 6th graders in the past and maybe some or most now, kids would read it and be able to tell you many key details (facts) about polar bears, like...

"Polar bears have thick fur."

"Polar bears have huge paws."

"Polar bears live in the Artic Sea."

"Some polar bears live in zoo."

"Polar bears hunt and eat seals."

"Polar bears need sea ice to sneak up on seals."

"Polar bears do not eat when on land."

"Polar bears cubs get food from their mother."

But would students be able to tell you the main idea about ice, the impact of ice on a polar bear's survival and what the threat of less ice may cause for polar bears in the future? And it isn't until the last paragraph that readers learn what they can do to protect the environment and save polar bears.

This is a great anchor article for this standard has a topic, main idea, key details and a big deal...and they are not too difficult to identify. In addition, this article uses three, and at certain spots, four, of the informational text structures from Standard 5. But more on that in the Standard 5 post.

In my packet, I have included several organizers for students to show how they know main idea and key details. Here are a few:

In addition, I've included some (of what I think kids will think is fun, at least when I showed them to my own daughter, she said, "Mom, that is so cool, none of my teachers every asked me to show what I knew about famous people [biographies] like that!") sheets using tools from social media. Here's my rationale: if you are going to complete a Facebook (Fakebook) page about someone famous, you first have to know key details about their life...and not just the facts. You also need to know what they believed and valued. In order to complete the "What's in George Washington's Inbox?" sheet, students need to know the key people in George's life. Who would you expect him to be receiving emails from? And what would the subject line be? If you know a person well, you know what they believe in and what they stand up for, or won't stand up for, like Rosa Parks. If cell phones existed in the days of Rosa Parks, what would her text home be, that famous day she refused to move to the back of the bus? If iPods existed in the days of George Washington, what songs would be on his iPod? In order to complete these Main Idea and Key Details with Social Media Sheets, you have to really know and "get" this person, you have to look and find common patterns and trends in their behaviors and beliefs, before you can complete these social media sheets.

Here is a snapshot of how I used social media tools to practice main idea and key details in Standard 2:

These sheets, along with all the others are available HERE.

Are you enjoying this so far?

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Also, wanted to let everyone know that my Planet Earth Fluency Fact Cards is up in my store. Plan ahead for Earth Day, April 22. These cards are perfect companion to your Geography, Landforms, Ecosystems, and Environmental Literacy studies. On a related but side note, these cards are also good for any of your struggling readers as short text passages. They deliver the content in bite-size pieces.

Planet Earth Fluency Fact Cards available HERE.

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So What's the Big Deal? Getting to the Main Idea & Key Details - (Standard 2)

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Today's post is Part 2 in a 10 part series of closely reading and understanding the Reading Informational Standards of the Common Core f...

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Close Reading Anchor Chart

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21 Cool Anchor Charts To Teach Close-Reading Skills

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Close reading is a hot topic that's just getting hotter! Here are 21 anchor charts, bulletin board ideas and other resources that you can bring into your classroom to turn your readers into even closer readers.

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Standard 1.2

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Hi! I am linking up with Ashley over at Just Reed to share 10 pins about writing! Writing is my FAVORITE area to teach. You can incorporate it in everything you do. I love having kids create cute projects and write about them.

Here are some of my favorite writing pins.
1. Fun With Firsties created this cute poster as a Writing Checklist. First grade is a big year for learning to write. Our students growth in writing is huge. It's very common to forget capitalizing letters and ending with an end mark. I will be adding this to my classroom.

2. I love this poster by Andrea Knight. Every year I have a kiddo or two that just can't seem to find anything to write about. Having this poster in each of my kids writing folders will hopefully help them come up with ideas.

3. Teach Love had this great book. I love using books to encourage my kids to write. It shows my students they are not alone in their writing journey. I use different books all the time when talking about illustrating our books. This is one of my favorites.

4. I love this idea from Emily over at I Love My Classroom. I used it when introducing how-to books. Kids who are visual learners benefit so much from seeing the step by step directions.

5. Nancy over at First Grade Wow shared this fun poster for us. I love it!

6. I love this idea!!! I will be using it next year. The link goes to a Flicker account... Lewis Elementary.

7. Christie over at Mrs. Gilchrist's Class shared this poster. Again, another great reminder as to what writers need to remember.

8. Heidi and Emily over at Second Story Window have a fabulous post. They give lots of monthly writing ideas for you to do with your kids.

9. Spiffy Steph has AMAZING organization ideas for a writer's notebook! You can check it out over at Apples Of Your Eye. There are so many ideas running through my mind right now!

10. You can find this poster over at Scholastic. It's always so much fun teaching kids new ways to say an overused word.

I hope you got some great ideas! You can link up with Ashley too to share your fun writing pins.
Sara

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Hi! I am linking up with Ashley over at Just Reed to share 10 pins about writing! Writing is my FAVORITE area to teach. You can incorpo...

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Accommodation for ELL and Special Needs

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GIST Graphic Organizer for Close Reading

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GIST Graphic Organizer for Close Reading

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GIST Graphic Organizer for Close Reading

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The GIST strategy: Generating Interaction between Schemata & Text. Students answer the 5 w & 1 h questions and then using that information they create a 20 word summary (gist). Included with the graphic organizer is a link to an online prezi that I use to help explain the GIST strategy.

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Graphic Organizer for Characters

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Analyzing Characters Independent Reading Project Grades 4-6

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This independent reading project requires students to read a fiction book and complete an in-depth character analysis about the main character. Students complete five different tasks during this unit. A grading rubric for both reading and writing are included.

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Reading and Learning Strategies

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Common themes emerge from the research on Adolescent Literacy as to the most effective practices and strategies for addressing the literacy needs of all adolescent learners. There is a need for all subject teachers to integrate the explicit and direct teaching of vocabulary, comprehension and writing skills necessary for learning in their subject areas. By integrating these skills into their subject, teachers can enable students to read and write a wide range of texts, help them to become strategic thinkers and problem solvers and provide them with opportunities to apply reading and learning strategies in many different contexts.

'Disciplinary literacy is built on the premise that each subject area or discipline has a discourse community with its own language, texts, and ways of knowing, doing, and communicating within a discipline.' (O'Brien, Moje, & Stewart, 2001)

Informed by international best practice and research on Adolescent Literacy, the core of NBSS Level 1 academic literacy support is the explicit teaching of subject specific reading, learning and study skills and strategies. The NBSS support teachers to integrate these skills and strategies into all subjects, using a 'before, during and after' reading or learning framework. To support this work the NBSS has also published an extensive range of resources that can be used by teachers to help their students develop the specific skills required by their particular academic discipline. Additionally, the NBSS regularly provides in-service training to whole staffs, subject departments, working groups and individual teachers in the areas of reading, learning and academic skills development.

Following on from one such NBSS in-service in a partner school, six teachers of History and Geography agreed to explore the use of NBSS' recommended reading and learning strategies in their classes.

QUALITATIVE FINDINGS:

The following extracts are from interviews conducted by the NBSS with five of the teachers who undertook the pilot. The sixth teacher was unable to attend the interview but provided written responses to the interview schedule.

Teacher A:
"...Yes, it's nice to see students achieve and respond positively in Geography classes. Sense of success created for students. The NBSS literacy documents handed out at the meeting gave ideas for practical strategies to use with the group. This was most effective. It can be difficult to find multiple strategies applicable to topics so the resource books were helpful in giving ideas."
Teacher C:
"...But what I found that was very interesting, what I hadn't found before, was this idea of taking a guided tour of a chapter. I was fascinated with that ... I have this textbook and you know you have the different reading ages and the different styles of textbooks... so how am I going to use this textbook with the students that I have? So I used a guided tour of the chapter...I would never have done that before. I used it to introduce, at the start of a topic, say the Middle Ages. I'd say 'Let's look at what we are going to learn'. We would be kind of telling them what we are going to do. And I would say 'Let's take a look'. And I would focus on the headings and I would ask them to call out what the headings are on this page and we would write them into our copies. 'What are the pictures on this page? What is that a picture of? We would have shared learning outcomes, a purpose for reading... Look at those words that are in bold print. A lot of students don't realise why the words are in bold print. Why are there bigger headings? You know, the pictures aren't for decoration, they have a purpose... Use all the things that are there. Which I wouldn't have thought about before. Actually teaching them to use their books... ...And with History, we are always building up to research skills. And if they can't't use the books... Like you have to teach a student. And I think we take that for granted that they know how to use their textbooks..." You have to teach students what the Contents Page is. And how they are going to find information... "Oh there is nothing in this book about what I am doing, Miss, there is nothing". And I would say "Now slow down. When we scan a chapter, how do we do it? What are the headings? What is the heading about? And estimate will there be information in this section about what I am looking for?" Because I don't think that they have the confidence to use books. It is not even reading skill but actually how to use a book. That was the biggest thing that I got out of it."
Teacher D:
"...I also looked at activating prior knowledge and making connections. So you know, we would find out what do they already know... we would write up everything we knew about it and we might categorise it as we said it...So you know they were delighted with the Vikings...in fact we decided that we really didn't need to do the Vikings because they actually had enough prior knowledge about it...And they were delighted that they absolutely knew everything already. And anyway I think the Vikings are already done big time in primary school. But they were really chuffed with that."
Teacher C:
"...I think we underestimate the importance of confidence in their learning. And actually getting them ready to learn. We just assume that when we open the book...and that is okay for some because they are programmed for that in primary school. But not everybody is. There is actually a bit of... take up time...And I have noticed that they can navigate a textbook better now that we have started all the little bits and bobs. They actually, if I give them questions they can actually go and find the answers. Whereas before they couldn't at the start of the year."
Teacher A:
"...I have a new awareness of literacy difficulties of students sitting in classrooms and from trying to use strategies specific to literacy I feel my own professional skills have developed...I would use a similar project next year. I kept it to one group this year and would expand this ... I teach in a more proactive and concrete way. I think I would work more on developing the initial literacy skills of students earlier in the year..."

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Level 1: Reading and Learning Strategies for All Subjects | NBSS

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OVERVIEW:Common themes emerge from the research on Adolescent Literacy as to the most effective practices and strategies for addressing the literacy needs of all adolescent learners. There is a need for all subject teachers to integrate the explicit and direct teaching of vocabulary, comprehension and writing skills necessary for learning in their subject areas.

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Anchor Chart