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Visuals image to stimulate vocabulary - Kayla Kassees

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Visuals image to stimulate vocabulary - Kayla Kassees

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A picture of the week is something that I enjoy doing with my students. I pick a photograph at random (typically an image that is fitting for that time of year or week). Projecting this image on the board and then asking my students to provide vocabulary to label the picture stems from their prior knowledge of the content. After completing this, I start to ask them to create sentences utilizing the vocabulary that they developed from looking at the image. This builds sentence structure from the vocabulary they already knew. It is also helpful doing this in a verbal format. Through the use of this activity, I can further develop my student's ability to create sentences and build on their prior knowledge of vocabulary. Many times I will incorporate other language that I can add to the image in order to build their schema of the topic/vocabulary development.

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I visited my office bookshelf to pull out my "old" Whole Language books that I held on to for historical purposes. Here were some of my faves from the 90's!

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Changing Our Independent Novel Assignment

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Changing Our Independent Novel Assignment

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Michel Helwig

For next school year, my grade level partners and I are attempting to change our independent novel assignation. As of right now, students read two full-length novels on top of the other assigned texts. However, we chose the texts, with very little options left (all the other grades took all the classic fiction one usually remember from high school). So between taking away student choice and assigning the amount of work we do, we are going to adapt the assignment, where they will have a choice of the four novels we have, but this way reading materials are chosen more so by the student and not the teacher. Also, we are only making them read one, so maybe it does not seem so forced upon them. Rather, it will be more natural to read one book over the course of 9 weeks.

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Malinda Stoner

When my students are learning to Read to Self (Daily 5) we talk about how to pick a 'Good Fit' book that they choose on their own to meet their personal interests. They each have a book basket that has books they've picked themselves from the class library and some that I've picked to be appropriate for their reading level. They spend time independently looking at these books every day and I can hear them reading or telling stories using words they learning from looking at these books again and again.

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Teressa McClimans

Creating a meaningful literacy environment is the big idea behind Whole Language. Here is a link to some fun ways to bring The Three Little Pig story to life. It would be ideal to have different stations. The one that really got my attention was making houses and using a blow dryer (teacher operated) to see which homes could stay together. Talk about using fine motor skills! They could also think of ways to write their own songs or versions of the story...there are so many ideas that would get kidsusing language, reading and writing in meaningful ways!

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This storytime is one of the reasons that I started using fairy tales with my STEAM storytimes. I had seen so many cool examples on Pinterest and other librarian blogs where the kids were challenged to build houses for the little pigs and see if they could withstand the big bad wolf. Hello Song: Story:
Outline:

Put Your Hands Up High Opening Rhyme: Hands Go Up
Flannel Board: Traditional Three Little Pigs

The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz

That is what the pigs all do.

What a way to play!

Oh, so very nice and cool

Dance break: Story: Action cube to "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale by Steven

Guarnaccia

And I work in a button factory,

I've got a house and a dog and a family,

One day the boss came up to me and said

Are you busy, Joe? I said no,

He said turn the button with your _____.

Craft/Activity: Build the pigs a new house Final Story:
The Three Little Pigs Count to 100 by Grace Maccarone

How it actually went:
The kids absolutely loved the first book, The Three Ninja Pigs. They were attentive and commented throughout the story. There seemed to be something in the air this week, however, because during the transitions between stories and songs the children became very animated and had a hard time settling down to the task at hand.
They seemed to simply humor me with the first song, but they really enjoyed using the action dice with different dance moves on it.
The second story brought the opportunity to discuss the different building materials used by the architectural pigs: scraps, glass, and stone.
The Button Factory Song was a new one for this group, but it's one that I plan to bring back. It took them a bit to pick up on it, but by the end they were laughing at me trying to sing while turning a button with my tongue.
For craft time, the children were challenged to build a new home for the three little pigs. When they felt that they had built the best home they could, then it was time to challenge the Big Bad Wolf (aka, my hair dryer).

Before we began, I reminded the kids that as always, everything in my storytime is an experiment and a chance to learn, nothing has to be perfect. Even still, the craft didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped. I wanted it to be open-ended so that they could try different things and experiment, but now I'm wondering if I need to provide a little more structure. I have craft caddies that I put each set of supplies in. The children were given: 2 pieces of card stock, 10 pipe cleaners, 10 drinking straws, 20 wooden tongue-depressor- type sticks, 5 rubber bands, a long strip of masking tape ( I didn't measure, but each one was the same length), scissors, and a glue stick.
This was one of those times where two out of the three houses built, were essentially done by the parents. I'm new enough in my profession and in this position, that I'm not really sure yet how to combat this. For now, I do my best to work with the kids who are working on their own; I try to encourage them with questions and ideas. Honestly, all of this is new to me too, so I'm figuring it out with them.

After the houses were done, it was time to challenge the wolf. Overall, the houses did fairly well. They went sliding across the table, but they did not fall over.

I really like the concept of this one, I just need to find a better way to present the house-building portion of the program. Live and learn.
Also, The Three Little Pigs Count to 100 is a super fun STEAM title. It's got numbers and shapes, and it's full of other fairy tale characters. I really enjoyed it, and the kids seemed to like pointing out the familiar characters.
*Disclaimer* As always, even though this post contains links to Amazon, I do not receive any compensation for any sales that may result from these links. I just provide them as a quick and easy way to find more information about a title.

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This storytime is one of the reasons that I started using fairy tales with my STEAM storytimes. I had seen so many cool examples on Pinterest and other librarian blogs where the kids were challenged to build houses for the little pigs and see if they could withstand the big bad wolf.

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Alyssia Gordon

I found this image that explains Student Centered very well! To have a student centered classroom, you need students to have an opportunity to learn independently, take ownership of their learning, need opportunities to succeed, and learning needs to be differentiated.

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Children's Books and Literary Devices for High School Students

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Children's Books and Literary Devices for High School Students

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Katherine Lindner

When we discuss allegory with our students, we choose to provide examples of stories that most of the students have heard of. For example, our students read Lord of the Flies. Prior to having them analyze the allegorical meaning of the novel, we discuss how Dr. Seuss created numerous books with allegorical meaning. The Sneeches and Yertle the Turtle both deal with Hitler and the Holocaust. Students are amazed by that, but once we point out the connections, it makes sense to them.

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Do you have students who struggle with understanding literary terms? Approaching literary terms in a more familiar way may help. Combining children's books and literary terms may be just the trick.
I strive to benefit my own understanding from whatever perspective I have. (The whole turning lemons into lemonade thing). Even if I don't actually have "lemons," just different shaped lemons, I still search for learning.

As my own kids grow, my teaching inside the classroom changes. I see students at the end of public education; high school students are at the end of formal, mandatory education. My children are at the start of learning, of exploration, of reading.

When I read with my own kids, I experience their understanding of letters and sounds - sure. As they become more confident readers, I also see their growth of understanding and enjoying literature.

Part of this growth is because they have a grasp of literary terms. In fact, I am darn impressed with the assignments they bring home - looking at tone, mood, purpose - in first and second grades. Then they mention these literary terms as we read. My heart explodes! I love it.

Years ago, I used children's books to teach short stories and literature with my high schoolers when my students struggled. Now I read these books as a pre-reading activity regularly and ask students to highlight literary terms. Even if I am teaching a higher level class and students aren't fully grasping the literary term, I recall a popular story for them. I have found that when students understand terms such as theme, irony, and characterization in regards to literature for younger kids, the application of literary terms to their level of literature becomes easier. Here are three children's books I have used to teach literary terms to high school students.
1. The Sneetches: characterization. Some Sneetches have stars, others do not. They want to look the same so they catch themselves up in an expensive star-off and star-on machine.
The characters are vibrant in this funny story! Since they are memorable, students can remember direct characterization - that the Sneetches with stars are "snooty" and those without are "plain." Their actions indirectly characterize them - ignoring the plain Sneetches (cruel, hurtful) and desiring to be like the Sneetches with stars (unconfident).

I've used this story with multiple short stories when characterization is important, like "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket."
2. Gerald the Giraffe: mood. Gerald is known as a terrible dance until he finds the right type of music. Then he is the best dancer amongst the animals.
Mood sometimes presents as tricky for older students. Students can detect the mood - the feelings evoked in readers from reading.

They have sadness for Gerald when he can't dance. Gerald hangs his head, leaves the party, and faces ridicule. Later, students feel uplifted and triumphant as Gerald finds what works for him and discovers his strengths.
3. Snowmen at Christmas: point of view. A little boy wonders what his snowman does at night. He imagines what the snowmen do when humans aren't around.
I first used this book when I taught "A Raisin in the Sun." My group of students disliked Walter so much that they focused on the dislike more than the understanding of the novel. While I was glad they felt passionate about something with the play, they needed to move past it a bit. After reading Snowmen and understanding point of view better, they could 'walk in Walter's shoes' - a theme of the play. We could look at what Walter did, look at how he acts in the time period, and understand his world a little better.

For all three of those books, and most children's stories, the theme is quite evident. If students struggle to remember the meaning of 'theme,' I can quickly return to "The Three Bears" or "Little Red Riding Hood."

I've found using literary terms from children's books in the secondary classroom to be quite successful. Perhaps students are less intimidated by analyzing the content. Maybe the examples are quite evident. Maybe students are comfortable with the stories, familiar and fun from childhood.

No matter the reason, students respond well to analyzing children's literature for literary terms. Sometimes my coworkers think I'm a little nutty, and that's ok. My goal is for my students to understand literary terms. I'll present the information in this way if it gets them there.

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Children's Books and Literary Terms | Language Arts Classroom

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Do you have students who struggle with understanding literary terms? Approaching literary terms in a more familiar way may help. Combining children's books and literary terms may be just the trick. I strive to benefit my own understanding from whatever perspective I have. (The whole turning lemons into lemonade thing).

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Dasia Mulvenna
I will preview a book before we read it and look for a phonics pattern. The one story had a lot of compound words. We were learning about compound words so when a student is done reading, they get a post it and they go back through the text and write down all the compound words they can find. Once everyone is done reading the story, we make a list of the words we found and make sure we know how to read each one and understand the word meaning. I will do this with other patterns, like blends, digraphs, vowel teams. This helps my students to read other words with similar patterns and we learn the pattern as a group.

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Word Scavenger Hunt with Spelling Stones

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Word Scavenger Hunt with Spelling Stones

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Tracie Homsher

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Last week when I published our Thanksgiving Spelling Stones I promised that I had another simple activity to do with the stones. This is it. It was a rainy day ( can you tell by the not so great pictures?) but I wasn't ready to turn the TV on yet. This simple game got them moving, playing together , and working on their own levels at the same time. I will be making many more sets of these stones to do this activity and others throughout the year. To find out how to make the stones themselves check out our spelling stones tutorial.

Gather your materials. You will need spelling stones and somewhere to hide them.

I hide some in plain sight and others in tougher spots. My son knows to leave the easier ones for his sister although I think those days are numbered. She is a good hunter!

Before your kids start searching. Tell them the word / words you will be spelling and how many stones total they are searching for. This helps sneak in a wee bit of math.

Start searching! These dark stones blended in nicely in our living room.

Do spot checks to see how many stones you have found. My daughter counted and then I turned it into a math problem for my son to figure out how many more we were looking for.

Once all letters are in the basket start piecing together the word. At first my son started doing this step all by himself but I asked him to slow down and ask his sister to find him the letter he needed to spell from the bunch. This let him work on spelling and gave her a chance to work on letter recognition.

Told you it was simple, but hopefully I showed you how many little tidbits of learning you could fit into it too.

Check out some great Thanksgiving Books For Kids.

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Word Scavenger Hunt with Spelling Stones - No Time For Flash Cards

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Last week when I published our Thanksgiving Spelling Stones I promised that I had another simple activity to do with the stones. This is it. It was a rainy day ( can you tell by the not so great pictures?) but I wasn't ready to turn the TV on yet.

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Jamie Olphin

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Research on reading has shown that children acquire decoding and reading comprehension skills at the same time, but that each skill develops independently of the other. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically perform at average or above average levels when it comes to decoding written language.

However, they are generally better at sounding out and identifying words than understanding what they have read. This may be because comprehension is a more abstract skill than decoding. It relies on a reader's sensitivity to story structure, ability to pick up on referents, make inferences and use prior knowledge of the subject to makes sense of the text.

Attention and working memory are also implicated, as metacognitive monitoring strategies ensure the reader is following along.

Autism spectrum disorder

While no two students with autism will have the same set or degree of symptoms, children with ASD typically struggle with communication and social interaction. They may exhibit repetitive behaviour, focus on small details and lack the ability to "read between the lines."

This means that figurative language encountered during reading can be taken literally and they may have difficulty looking at a text globally in order to grasp gist or identify the author's purpose in writing.

Some students with autism are non-verbal. In these situations, it can be difficult to differentiate between a lack of understanding following a reading and an inability to relate what the child has understood.

For this reason, some educators advocate taking a variety of approaches to assess reading comprehension including allowing students ample time to respond to comprehension questions, providing objects they can manipulate to demonstrate an understanding of what has been read and even encouraging the creation of collages that reflect their reaction to a text.

Learn more in strategies for students with autism.

How reading works

Early reading instruction focuses on teaching children decoding skills so they are able to sound out written language. This requires phonemic awareness, knowledge of the alphabet and the ability to correctly map sounds to letters and letter combinations.

Once a word has been identified, semantic meaning can be accessed. As vocabulary grows, sight-reading skills develop because familiar words are recognized more quickly. When decoding is no longer necessary, the process speeds up and this frees cognitive energy in the brain for focusing on comprehension and making meaning out of what has been read. Learn more about teaching children how to read.

In order to make sense of narrative, students must interact with a text by accessing their prior knowledge of a subject and making inferences. Strong readers pick up on gist and specific details, attribute significance to the order in which information is presented and rely on referents within the text to follow along.

Other factors such as the coherence of a text and the size of a child's vocabulary can also impact reading comprehension. For example, it's important that a ratio of 10:1 known to unknown words exists as too many unfamiliar terms can hinder contextual guessing and cause frustration and cognitive overload.
TOP TIP: An easy way to know if a text is beyond a student's level is to have them read several paragraphs and raise a finger every time an unfamiliar word is encountered. If at the end of the page all five fingers are raised, it may be wise to choose material containing more familiar vocabulary.
Autism and reading comprehension

Students with autism may read and process language in a fluent way. This is in contrast to children with dyslexia who often struggle to decode written language. Nonetheless, these students are not always able to access semantic meaning in the same way.

They can have trouble visualizing action and understanding the social interactions upon which many storylines rely. Subtle hints left by the author can be missed or a detail might absorb all of the child's attention so the rest of the text is not fully processed.

Have you heard of hyperlexia? Some students with autism possess an uncanny ability to read and process text at a very fast pace. Researchers have used brain scans to show that this is due to simultaneous activity in the left and right hemispheres of the brain, allowing for phonological and visual processing to be engaged at the same time.

Helping students with autism

Autism is referred to as a spectrum disorder due to the wide range of symptoms that individuals may present. For this reason, it's important to explore a variety of interventions if one strategy for enhancing comprehension is proving ineffective.

1. Start with audio-books or books that contain images. Some students with autism learn best through sound while others tend to be strong visual learners. Take advantage of this by playing audio-books in the car or on a home stereo or reading picture books that clearly show action and narrative progression.

2. Read together from an early age. The sooner you start reading to a child with ASD the better, as fostering a love of books and familiarity with how they work are important pre-literacy skills for children to develop.

3. Demonstrate active reading skills. Narrate your understanding of a text out loud, even if the child does not seem interested. You might go so far as to ask and answer questions to model the types of internal monitoring that skilled readers engage in.

4. Select material on their favourite subject. Some children take an extreme interest in certain subject areas so try providing them with material that satisfies their thirst for knowledge. Any practice with reading comprehension is helpful even if it means they read several books on the same topic.

5. Show them how to read on a computer or tablet. Technology is often a preferred medium for learning given it doesn't require any social interaction. Show learners how to research online, read material from the web and access digital books.

6. Emphasize top-down strategies. Taking a global perspective in reading can be difficult, as can connecting a text to external ideas. Help learners activate prior-knowledge in order to relate the reading to concepts they're already aware of. You can try making mind-maps or having a discussion about the topic before the reading begins.

7. Highlight referents and annotate paragraphs. Teach children with autism to monitor their understanding as they read. Show them how to re-read for missing information. It may be helpful to highlight and underline text.

8. Discuss figurative language. Making inferences is not always the easiest skill to master, which is why parents and teachers can help by explaining the meaning behind abstract language.

9. Promote sight reading. The more words a child recognizes, the easier it is to understand a sentence. New readers can reduce the amount of decoding needed by familiarizing themselves with sight words or high frequency terms that they are likely to encounter regularly. Read more about teaching sight words.

TTRS can help

The Touch-type Read and Spell programme is a multi-sensory course that enhances literacy through the teaching of keyboarding skills. Learners hear a word spoken out loud, see it on the screen and then type the corresponding keys. Modules follow the phonics based Orton-Gillingham approach and students are repeatedly exposed to high frequency vocabulary in order to teach sight-reading.

TTRS may be particularly helpful for autistic children as it is delivered via a computer and students can take a self-directed approach to learning. This means they can review past lessons until they feel ready to move on. Learners also benefit from personalized feedback and progress monitoring that helps to build self-esteem and confidence in students of all ages.
Do you have any experience with autism and reading comprehension? Join the discussion in the comments!

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Research on reading has shown that children acquire decoding and reading comprehension skills at the same time, but that each skill develops independently of the other. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically perform at average or above average levels when it comes to decoding written language.

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Don't worry, here are some ideas for you!

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Prufrock Press: Literature Activities Teens Actually Love: Authentic Projects for the Language Arts Classroom | Reading/Language Arts | Pinterest | Classroom, Language arts and Teaching

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Prufrock Press: Literature Activities Teens Actually Love: Authentic Projects for the Language Arts Classroom

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Pin by MindySue Skinner on Teaching | Pinterest | Classroom, High school classroom and School classroom

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This Pin was discovered by MindySue Skinner. Discover (and save!) your own Pins on Pinterest.

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-Morgan Gibellino-
Great way for students to choose how they want to learn a particular skill.

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A collaborative blog that shares teaching ideas and resources geared to third grade teachers and students. | Education | Pinterest | Word study, Teaching and Classroom

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A collaborative blog that shares teaching ideas and resources geared to third grade teachers and students.

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Which one do you have?

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Conferencing During Independent Writing: Teacher and Student

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(with social emotional learning concepts as well)

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by: Angie Q.
4 minute video
Excellent presentation on Whole Language

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22 minute video

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Ken Goodman UKLA 2014 conference keynote

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Ken Goodman UKLA 2014 conference keynote

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1 hour video

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Ken Goodman UKLA 2014 conference keynote

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DEAR MR. HUEY, HERE'S WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT READING IN THE LAST HALF CENTURY by Ken Goodman, Keynote at UK Literacy Association 2014 Conference, July 5, 2014, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom (video courtesy of the United Kingdom Literacy Association)

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15 signs you have emotional intelligence - World Economic Forum

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15 signs you have emotional intelligence - World Economic Forum

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Dr Travis Bradberry looks at the qualities shared by people with emotional intelligence, based on data from more than a million people.

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How Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are - TED Talk

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How Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are - TED Talk

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Your body language may shape who you are

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(NOTE: Some of the findings presented in this talk have been referenced in an ongoing debate among social scientists about robustness and reproducibility. Read “Corrections & Updates” below for more details as well as Amy Cuddy’s response.) Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy argues that “power posing” -- standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident -- can boost feelings of confidence, and might have an impact on our chances for success.