Top 3 Influential Summer Reads for Elementary Teachers

With each summer comes great intentions of making a dent in my "To Read" stack - or if I'm being honest, it's more like multiple stacks with a ton of board books and Mo Willems from my 11 month old stacked on top of that.

So, if I can't read them all, how should I prioritize my summer reading?  I've decided to focus on just three influential books that will not only be useful for me but that I can share with my colleagues:

Helping Children Succeed

In a follow up to his How Children Succeed, Paul Tough discusses how we as parents, teachers, and/or policy makers can develop the best enviornemnt to help children suceeed. 

Learn Like a Pirate

Geared more toward elementary teachers, Learn Like a Pirate focuses on building a collabroative classrooms that allows students to activly engage in tasks, lead, work together, and foster a community of learning.  

Visible Learning for Literacy

Visible Learning for Literacy breaks down fifteen years of research to provide clear ideas on what works in literacy instruction.  It focuses on how and when to implement these best research-based practices to help students dive deeper into their learning. 

I know I said three, but...

I'm also hoping to squeeze in DIY Literacy, Who's Doing the Work?, and Ditch That Textbook... and a few others too!

What are you reading this summer?  Give some suggestions in the comments section below!

TPT Summer Challenge Week One: Makeover Madness

I joined the ladies over at Third in Hollywood, Sparking in Second, Peppy Zesty Teacherista, and Teach Create Motivate for a TPT Seller Challenge.  

The challenge for week one?  Makeover Madness.  I instantly had big plans for giving several of my products a face lift, but I soon was thrown an extra challenge.  The keyboard on my laptop stopped working.  It already takes a decent chunk of time to create (and recreate) products for TPT, but not being able to type or use basic shortcuts has been quite the extra challenge.  

I was determined to make this work though, so with the help of my computer's handy on-screen keyboard, I was able to update one of my freebies.  

Using my On-Screen Keyboard to Update my Reading Fluency Charts

What is an on-screen keyboard, you might ask.  Well, I don't recommend using it unless absolutely necessary because it is just that - a keyboard on your screen that you have to move your mouse to click on each letter you want to type.  It is rather time consuming.  

Even with this set-back, I persevered (after dragging my feet for several days).  So I present to you an updated version of my Reading Fluency Charts:

The cover had a face-lift and the charts themselves now come in two versions: one with clipart that will appeal to younger students and one with a simpler designed (without clipart) that will appeal to older students.

If you're interested in grabbing this updates freebie, head over to my TPT Store by clicking here: Reading Fluency Charts.

Let me know what you think of the new look and enjoy!

You Oughta Know About... These Awesome Books!

Welcome to "You Oughta Know" - a blog hop devoted to great ideas and resources teachers should know about started by the one and only Mrs. McClain.


What do I think you oughta know?  I think you should know about these awesome books!

The Day the Crayons Quit

By Drew Daywalt

Grades K-2

Duncan wants to color, but every color in his box of crayons has walked out!  Each crayon has written Duncan a letter to explain why it was necessary to strike.  These letters will make your students giggle as they reflect on the life of a crayon.








I'm a Frog! (An Elephant and Piggie Book)

By Mo Willems

Grades K-2

From the Elephant and Piggie series, Mo Willems will make you and your students laugh with I'm a Frog! Piggie baffles Gerald the Elephant when he ribbits and hops around.  Can Gerald understand the concept of pretending?









That is Not a Good Idea

By Mo Willems

Grades 1-3

Like always, Mo Willems delivers in this hilarious picture book.  A hungry fox invites a mother hen to dinner. That is NOT a good idea!









Ungifted

By Gordon Korman

Lexile: 730, Grades 3-7

The only thing Donovan Curtis easily gets A's in is troublemaking.  And when he pulls his most massive prank yet, he knows he's gone too far.  Only a miracle can save him.  And a miracle, in the form of a mix-up, is what he gets.  The punishment Donovan expects is accidentally replaced by an invitation to the prestigious school for gifted and talented students, the Academy of Scholastic Distinction (ASD).  Although Donovan knows he is in over his head, ASD is his only chance to escape the consequences awaiting him.  At ASD he needs to navigate his more than difficult classes, his new teachers' suspicions, and a variety of genius-level students all while trying to make friends, fit in, and hide out.



Wonder

By R.J. Palacio

Lexile: 790L, Grades 4-7

August (Auggie) Pullman is your typical 10 year-old-boy in a lot of ways, with one main exception.  Auggie was born with a craniofacial abnormality which causes his facial features to be severally malformed.  This abnormality has kept him home for homeschooling--until now.  Auggie decides that he will start his fifth grade year, the beginning of middle school, in a private school.  Auggie is a mixture of nerves and excitement as he braves middle school if all the fears of a new student, plus a few extra.





Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

By Steve Sheinkin

*Newbery Honor Book
Lexile: 920L, Grades 5+

Bomb is the fascinating, true tale of America's race to build the atomic bomb, about the Allies endeavors to thwart the Nazi's atomic bomb plans, and about the Soviet Union's efforts to steal information from American scientists.  The story centers on three main people: J. Robert Oppenheimer (leader of the Manhattan Project), Harry Hold (Soviet Spy), and Knut Haukelid (member of the Norwegian Resistance). A great read that intertwines quality story-telling, history, danger, deceit, and scientific genius!




These books are all great for independent reading, as class novels, or as read-alouds.  Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry, and some will make you think, but they all will leave an impression on you and your students.

If you're looking for an easy and effective way to help students with reading comprehension, you can try my Reading Comprehension Sentence Starter Cards.  They are only $1.00 and they help students practice:

• Predicting
• Connecting
• Clarifying
• Questioning
• Commenting
• Synthesizing 

I recommend the Comprehension Cards for 3rd grade and up, but they can also be used as a teacher-led model with younger students.

An InLinkz Link-up

Characterization

I LOVE this easy four-square characterization organizer:

The character's name goes in the middle of the page, surrounded by four squares that include the characters Feelings, Actions, Sayings, and Thoughts.

This graphic organizer will be great when reading novels to better understand characters and for student writing as they develop their characters.  

Friday Freebie: Punctuation Fluency

A month or two ago I saw an awesome idea on Pinterest. A teacher had combined letter naming practice and reading with correct punctuation inflection into an awesome activity.  It was fantastic, and I immediately put the idea to use.

However, in my excitement about this idea, I apparently forgot to repin it, and now I cannot find the pin or the picture anywhere despite an extensive search.  (Be forewarned:  searching for "abc. def?" will produce surprising number of images of women in their bras.)

Essentially the teacher had written chunks of three to four letters in alphabetical order.  Each of these chunks ended with a punctuation mark.  Brilliant!  As younger students practice letter naming they can also practice reading with proper inflection and intonation as they encounter various punctuation marks.

The pin I saw had the series of letters written out on large paper, which would be great in a classroom.  However, since some of my interventions take place outside of my classroom (like in the hallway), I need something more portable.  I quickly made these strips:  Punctuation Fluency.

I've been using them for the last few weeks and my students LOVE them!  It is a fun, quick intervention that provides fast results.

The best part?  Older students love them too!

Initially, I thought I would use these strips mainly as a letter naming/punctuation fluency combo with younger students.  But some of my older students race through texts, ignoring any sign of punctuation.  These strips have also helped them learn to slow down and improve their prosody, which in turn will hopefully help their comprehension.

You can download the Punctuation Fluency strips for free here:  Punctuation Fluency.

If you use these strips in your classroom, I'd love to hear how they worked for your students.  Also, if you know of the pin I'm talking about, I'd love if you shared the link with me!  Thanks!

Get Students Excited About Reading!

I've been reading over several blog posts, articles, and talking to teachers about the best ways to get students excited about reading.  Here are my top three favorites:


1. Dress up as a character!
By far, this strategy gets a reaction from students.  Young and old, too-cool-for-school and comfortable being goofy, boy or girl - all students notice this.  While some might try to play it off or laugh out of comfortableness, you will show your passion for reading, and students will respond to it.

2. Make a Space

This works for both the home and the classroom: Make a comfortable space where students can relax and focus on reading.  I've seen students trod  into my classroom, negative body language flying, but they then transform as they cross the room to my reading corner, grab a cushion, and settle in with a book.  You can see the gloom and tension melt away.  The transformation is palpable.  That comfortable, safe space provides so much more than a place to read.

3. Make A Connection

Tastier than Fried Worms?

Find a way to make reading connect to real life.  This can be done in many ways.  Pick your favorite scene, re-write it as a play, and act it out.  Have students compare and contrast themselves and the main character.  But my absolute favorite way to connect reading to life is to find a book with food in it and then make it!  Green Eggs and Ham?  How to Eat Fried Worms?  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?  The Grapes of Wrath?

You might want to take a more abstract approach (substitute gummy worms for real worms), or get creative ans build a scene with food (angry grape people).  However you do it, food makes reading fun!

Reading becomes much more exciting when kids can see your passion, when they can relax and enjoy it, and when they see how reading relates to their lives.

Here are a few of the articles and blogs I read when brainstorming: The Cornerstone, Edudemic, Million Words Campaign, University of Tennessee, and Imagine Learning. 

What are your favorite ideas and activities to get kids excited about reading?  Share in the comments below and feel free to include a link to your own blog post on the topic.

Resource Round-Up: Daily 5 & K-2 Literacy Resources

The Daily 5 is a system created by the Two Sisters (Gail Boushey & Joan Moser) that helps build literacy independence in students.  If you haven't heard about it yet, I recommend asking around to see if a friend or colleague has it or purchasing it: The Daily Five. 

The structure of the Daily 5 system makes it easily adaptable to many reading programs.  If you're using the Daily 5 or just thinking about it, here are some resources to help get you and your kiddos on their way:

An InLinkz Link-up

And, here are some beginning of the year K-2 literacy resources:



Enjoy!

Reading is Awesome

I love to read.

I don't think that statement will shock you.  Reading is amazing.  It can transport you to different worlds, give you insight into different lives and perspectives, fill you with interesting knowledge and information... the list goes on an on. 

She's really excited about the news!

Well, reading gets even more amazing.  A study published in Neurology, finds that reading helps delay cognitive decline.  Yup!  Reading helps your brain stay fit as you age.

Here is the part I found most interesting: "Researchers examined the brains of 294 patients post-mortem and found a slower rate of decline in patients who reported more early-life and late-life cognitive activity, such as reading, writing and playing games" (from the Atlantic Wire's summary of the study.)

Did you catch that?  Early-life and late-life cognitive activity, like reading, slows the rate of decline.  Early- and late-life!  So here is yet another way that having our kiddos and students challenge their minds and exercise their brains with reading will help them later in life.

Reading is awesome!

Reflective Questions for Responding to Common Core Texts

Check out this helpful chart from TeachThought

I can see this chart being helpful as students create their own questions to ask themselves, ask others, or respond to in writing. 

Having students create their own questions is a critical thinking task in itself.

Resource Round-Up: July 3, 2013

Both of today's resources come from wwwatanabe:

1) Steps of a Close Read

2) Text-Dependent Questions

Enjoy!

How Can Parents Help Their Children Read?

Here is a great poster from Resources for Teachers. 

You can also find a printable PDF version and a version for primary students on their website: Resources for Teachers.

Enjoy!

TPT: Common Core Reading Assessments - 2nd Grade

My new Common Core Reading Assessments - 2nd Grade is now available!

There are 20 unique reading assessments to help track student's growth across the Common Core Reading: Literature standards.

The packet includes:
1) Terms of Use
2) General Suggestions
3) Common Core Standards
4) Note on Related Texts
5) Note on Passage Reading Levels
6) Reproducible Recording Sheets
7) 20 Unique Reading Assessment Passages

All Reading: Literature standards are covered in each passage's comprehension check.

For more information, check the pack out here: Common Core Reading Assessments - 2nd Grade

*Remember that all new products are 50% off for the first 48 hours!

Resource Round-Up: May 21, 2013

It is that time of year - the end!  The school year varies depending on your state and district but most seem to be wrapping up in the next 1-4 weeks.  So make sure your kiddos stay on track this summer with summer reading.

Here are a few website that might help your students do just that:

1. Summer Reading Tips: PBS provides a handful of tips for parents of younger students

2. Scholastic - Summer Reading Challenge:  Win prizes for logging your summer reading minutes

3. Barnes & Noble Summer Reading: Read 8 books and get a free one!

28 Days of Free Literacy Resources, Ideas, and Tools: Day 22 - DIBELS Resources

Today's free resource is actually THREE resources and they come from Mrs. VanMeter.  All three resources relate to building early literacy skills that are tested by DIBELS.

The three activities are:

1. Pea-Pod DIBELS Interventions and Literacy Activities 
2. Camping Theme - Beginning Sounds Freebie
3. Popcorn - A NWF Game

Even if you do not use DIBELS in your classroom, your kiddos will still benefit from practicing literacy skills while playing these fun games.

Enjoy!

28 Days of Free Literacy Resources, Ideas, and Tools: Day 9 - List of Character Traits

I can’t tell you how many times students struggle to find just the right word to describe a character. Well, Mrs. R has created a two page list of character traits that will help any student find the right adjectives.

A List of Character Traits has been downloaded over 90,000 times already!  That should tell you how useful it is.  Plus, character description and analysis is a skill that students work on throughout school, from the young primary grades all the way through their senior year (and into college in literature courses too). 

This is a very helpful and flexible tool that many teachers can utilize.  You can download it here: A List of Character Traits.

28 Days of Free Literacy Resources, Ideas, and Tools: Day 8 - Five Senses Snowman Book

The Common Core standards ask students by first grade to be able to identify words in a story that appeal to the five senses.  Joan Doyle’s Five Senses Snowman Book is a great resource to help prepare younger students to be ready for this standard by first grade.  Plus, it is really cute!

You can download this free resource here: Five Senses Snowman Book

Enjoy!