10 Ways to Motivate Your Readers

What do you think of when you hear the word, "Project"? Maybe art supplies (or the lack of them), creativity, or perhaps, "There goes my relaxation time!" Well, I have students who are incredibly excited to share their enthusiasm for reading whenever it's time to make a project, and today, we'll explore ways to motivate, celebrate, and increase reading with your students through projects and other motivational techniques.

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Blogging Adventures with Students

Happy Friday from Carla at Comprehension Connection!  Fall seems to be moving in to our part of the US, and we are settling in to a new school year. Things in my classroom have been a bit hectic since the addition of a new teacher meant relocating my classroom a week into school.  However, the dust has settled and we're into the groove of learning, so why not add a new adventure to the routine, right?  We have to keep education lively for our kids in this technology age, and over the past year, I've been mulling over the idea of blogging with my students. 

The first step for me was to get a blog design done.  I wanted our project to be professional looking, yet kid friendly.  I checked with a few blog designers I knew, and Kristy at Kristybear Designs made it very reasonable for me to do.  I could not be more pleased with the fun and fresh blog design she made for me .  My classroom has a "Wild About Reading" theme, so in keeping with the wild animal theme, our blog is titled, "Where Wild Readers Roam".  After all, I am working hard to build wild readers daily. Here's a sneak peek at our design, but stay tuned for the wonderful projects we will be showcasing.

Before we can begin posting, there are a few management related steps to address.  I want to make sure that each participating student abides by blogging etiquette and keeps posts positive in nature. Parents will also need to give permission for students to participate.  Students will blog under a pen name or with their first name only since this is a public forum, and photos will be carefully formatted to protect identities when needed.  Here is a sample blog permission letter that could be modified to fit your needs. To use it, just click on the image and modify as you like.

Blogging use varies depending upon the grade level of the students, the students level of understanding with technology, and upon the goals of a given assignment.  In our school, we house grades Pre-K through 5th Grade.  I have partnered with our technology specialist and our gifted coordinator to organize the opportunity for the students, and our plan is to form a core team of students who will work with staff to secure the content and pictures, write up the posts (probably in MS Word), and upload the content with the assistance of moi!  Through this process, the students will experience the "Train the Trainer" philosophy, and gradually, we'll include others who are interested. The hope is that the enthusiasm will encourage blog reading and commenting.  

As I planned out this project, I looked at other classroom blogs and websites to determine the best platform and ways to use the blog.  For me, Blogger was the best option since I was familiar with how to manipulate pictures, share permalinks, schedule posts to display at certain times, use labels, and add pages to share links, photos, etc.  The goals I have in mind for our blog will not be class specific, but rather be for our whole school.  We will be using our blog similar to a website or newspaper.  

In addition to Blogger, I have explored include Edmodo which has a "Facebook" appearance. I used this with my students last year, and what I loved about Edmodo is the capability to hold class discussions on our favorite book.  It is very easy to moderate and post to, but the viewing is limited to just the class using it. 

Another option is Edublogs. The positive is security which may allow more interaction between students within the classroom.  The layouts and designs are limited as well as the audience.  It is simple to set up though, so for busy teachers, this may be a great first step to give it a try.

Finally, Kidblog is another option too.  They advertise that their blogs can be set up in 20 seconds. Students are not required to give an email in order to participate.  Again, this is a quick and simple option for teachers and students just getting started and who want limited viewing.

I am very excited to see where this blog goes.  I am going to discuss with our student team to see what interests they have, and we'll see how to channel those ideas.  As much as possible, I'd like to let our students take on a leadership role. I have a few ideas of my own to get us started.  

1. Book reviews-What a great way for students to discuss their reading and learn from each other!  I think having students read with an analytic eye helps students identify their preferences, but may also offer students other options that they may not otherwise check out.
2. Literacy Projects-Many students love hands-on learning and creating.  Literacy projects also offer a cross curricular opportunity where reading teachers can partner with art teachers to explore authors, illustrators, and create.  Projects can be easily photographed and described on a blog.
3. Literacy Events within the School-Communication is very important, and using the blog to publicize literacy events improves the home/school connection.  Students can increase the motivation to participate through their posts about such events.
4. Showcasing Written Work-I am really looking forward to uploading my students' work. They work hard at writing.  Even though we're still learning, I think knowing their work will be published and read will cause students to polish sentences and improve work quality.
5. Current Events-Students can write about grade level field trips, school functions, share thank you notes with the community, and other school or grade level events.
6. Interviews with Visitors or Authors-Students can share interview questions and responses that happen with visitors to our building in a news reporter fashion.  
7. Fun Photos-Kids love taking pictures, and why not have them write about them.  They can write clues for readers to follow to determine what the mystery picture is, describe how the object they photograph is made (artwork, food), or just photos of nature.
8. How-To Writing-Cooking in the classroom, group building projects, or crafts can be demonstrated (and videotaped) for sharing.  

As you can tell, I am very excited about this adventure, and I can not wait to write up a sequel in a few months telling you how our project is going.  If you have experience with blogging in the classroom, please share your experiences in the comments below.  I look forward to reading and learning from you too. 

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Developing a Concept of Word with Emergent Readers

Hello from Comprehension Connection!  Today's post is aimed at the Emergent Reader and will hopefully provide some help and guidance for the Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten teacher.  The specific topic is how to develop a concept of word (COW) in young readers. I chose this topic after requesting input from my Facebook readers on the types of activities that are used in the regular classroom to work on this skill and how much time is devoted to it.  Interestingly, there were misunderstandings on exactly what Concept of Word meant.  Many understood it to be matching speech to print or being able to track.  However, Concept of Word is a bit more than this, and it is *the* sign that an emergent reader has become a beginning reader.  

What is a Concept of Word?

A Concept of Word (COW) is the culmination of a student's automatic knowledge of letter sounds, his/her ability to isolate the beginning consonant sound, match spoken word to the print and realizing that words are separated by space, and remember words in isolation that have been previously taught. A student's COW develops in stages.  

Developing Concept of Word

The student shows following at each stage:
1.  Has left to right directionality, but no word awareness. Writing looks like squiggles across page.
2.  Points along with stressed units (syllables or words, but does not differentiate).  Writing begins to include some letters, but they are random.
3.  Points to words and says syllables. Writing begins to include beginning sounds of words.

Rudimentary Concept of Word Development

The student is approaching the beginning reader stage when he/she:
4.  Points to words and begins to self correct when he/she gets off track. Writing now includes beginning and ending sounds, but may not include vowels.

Firm Development of a Concept of Word

The student has reached the beginning reader stage when he/she
5.  Demonstrates accurate tracking of print.  Writing includes space between words and short vowel words include beginning, middle, and ending sounds. The reader in the video below is not completely  firm, but very close.

How Can Teachers Work to Develop COW With Students?

The first step with Concept of Word Instruction is to teach the poem to the students.  They need to have the poem memorized, so that they can accurately match the memorized words to the print they see. Teachers can use pictures that represent the text or hand motions with common nursery rhymes and finger plays.

What follows is the fun part for me!  The best way to develop COW is by playing with words, sentences, and a large assortment of pointers.  I mean really...don't we all love swinging around a light saber once in a while??  The pointers in the greatest demand in my room are most definitely my light sabers, but magic wands are very popular too. I also recommend flyswatters of various designs. They are perfect for boxing individual letters or for finding sightwords.

When working with my kinders on pointing, I place a touch point under each word.  I discovered this tip when I downloaded freebies from Sparklebox.co.uk .  I downloaded short vowel word cards for a game that included a dot under each sound.  (perfect for blending, but that's for another post).  Anyway, I transferred that technique to developing COW.  As we continue to develop COW, I put my students more and more into leveled books.  I continue to use this strategy with projected books on Reading A to Z and with other powerpoint resources I've made.  If you are a primary teacher, Reading A to Z is a subscription that is well worth the price.   The projectable feature has been very beneficial to my students for modeling and practice, but there are many other resources for beginning readers available on the site.  You can explore that further {here}.


Matching words in isolation to words in context is another activity that fosters an understanding of print. Teachers can use different fonts with the word cards.  Using Dolch words with various games helps students to identify them in context too and helps students recognize when their tracking is off.

Marie Clay refers to Concept of Word as "Reading the White Space", and this activity has helped my students recognize this.  I model how to separate words by cutting between them like pulling apart puzzle pieces.  In fact, we often take the pieces, mix them up, and reorganize them to make the individual words become the line of the poem.

After we have worked a few days with the sentences strips and words in isolation, I transfer my students to the book form.  With the book form of the poems, I spend time on letter identification, sighword identification, using picture clues, and even comprehension.  The children enjoy highlighting, boxing, underlining, and marking with mini stickies features I ask.  In the pictures below, you can see where we highlighted sightwords (I normally call it, "I Spy" which means it's a game).  We also mark by boxing around the letters by name and sound.

Even though comprehension is the focus with instructional readers, emergent and beginning readers need modeling of comprehension skills too.  After all, as students begin to read, they need to understand the meaning in order to cross check their accuracy.  For beginning readers, the picture clues provide a support to this understanding.  Teachers can have students "read" the text and decide what is missing in the picture. Above, you can see the apple before coloring and after.  The apple in the picture needed to be colored in order to accurately match the print.  

For this picture, teachers might ask,
 "How can you tell she loves to eat apples?"

For this picture, the teacher might ask students
 to connect the picture to the words that describe it.

With my students, I typically work with a poem for a 3-5 days depending on the poem's difficulty. The last thing I do with my students is give them the poem on a single sheet.  We practice reading without the aid of touch points, highlights, boxes, etc.  I have them prepare the poetry page for their keepsake book, and as the year goes, the poems we use increase in difficulty.  Our kindergarten teachers use thematic teaching, so the poems I choose to use with my groups typically parallel what is happening in the regular classroom.  I do not use the same poems in my room though because I try to provide them with new experiences to build upon skills that are developing in the classroom.  Plus, new poems keep the learning fresh and fun.

If you'd like to add this poem to your COW collection, feel free to download your own copy using the image below which shows what is included.  I also have a yearly bundle for $20.00 that includes 39 COW sets.

Pin for Later:

Now, readers, it is your turn.  Please share the clever ways you work on these skills or any observations you have made with your students.  Have a great start to the school year, and thanks for visiting today.

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Meet Bob, the Sound Munching Man

So readers...have you met Bob?  You haven't?  Well, I'm Carla from Comprehension Connection, and I thought I'd introduce you to one guy you need to invite into your classroom, and I sure do not want you to miss an opportunity like this!  Bob is one polite guy who just loves to listen quietly. He never has a mean thing to say, and he's easy to please.  He's nice looking, and guess what? He doesn't eat much either.  His only requirement is that kids feed him letters and sounds to keep his belly full.

Bob has quite a few fashionable looks.  Here he is visiting from Pinterest (Dr. Jean) in a tuxedo ready for the class party. 

Here is Bob on Crazy Hair Day in Sunflower Lily's classroom.  He is such a popular guy. If you think his hair is funny, you should have seen the boys and girls in this classroom. 

In this picture, Bob (from Marcia's Lesson Links) definitely look distinguished, but his mustache is thinning. (Sh!)  At least the sound cards can get in his mouth easily!

As you can see, Bob has lots of variety, and he is very easy to make.  All you need is a plastic trashcan from the Dollar Tree, a glue gun, a variety of crafting materials such as felt, pom-poms, buttons, or whatever fits the look you like. Simply glue on the body parts, use a Sharpie pen to add details, and Bam!  You have a Sound Munchin' Man.

So just what does Bob do?  Well, as I mentioned, Bob is a Sound Munching Man, and nothing makes him happier than to be fed sounds that children know.  Bob is choosy though.  If sounds are shaky, they are left out for more practice.  

If you want to use Bob during your guided reading time, here are a few suggestions of how:

First of all, print these letter and phoneme cards on the recommended colored paper.  The colors help children identify spelling patterns when making words.  Once printed, laminate before cutting, and store them in a small tackle box for easy access and organization during guided reading.

Next, flash the sound cards to the students.  Those that are correct go in Bob's mouth.  Those that are incorrect are set aside.  

Once you've completed the stack, you are ready to empty Bob's belly.  You pull them out one at a time without students seeing, give students a word containing the phoneme, and have them write all the possible ways the word can be spelled on a dry erase board.  Once students finish, you ask them to circle the one they've seen in print.  If correct, students earn a point.  If no one is correct, the sound goes back to Bob.  

To practice the remaining sounds, teachers can use the first part of the file to model various word families and spelling patterns.  When we do this part of the intervention, I often use nonsense words and have students sort real versus nonsense.  

Another option for kindergarten is to review alphabet letters and sounds.  You can use picture cards, letter cards, or even small objects if you like.  

The whole lesson goes at a quick pace, and works beautifully if a student needs intervention with decoding or a review of sounds previously taught.  

If you don't like Bob, you may prefer these cute critters too.  

Remember, all the supplies you need are at the Dollar Tree.  On Friday, I'll be back to share a few Word Study DIY activities you can make from Dollar Tree goodies.  Until then, have a fantastic week.

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Linking Student Learning with Genre Connections

Comprehension Connections and Genre Connections by Tanny McGregor are two books every teacher needs to purchase, read, and keep for reference later.  Both of these books are filled with lesson ideas to help your students become active thinkers in the reading process. Many kids just scratch the surface as they read often missing the subtleties that authors weave into their texts.

Today's post by Carla at Comprehension Connection will explain how these books can be used and add spark to your teaching and your students' learning experience. Read on to get more information...

When Adventures in Literacy Land kicked off, my co-bloggers, Emily at Curious Firsties and Andrea from Reading Toward the Stars, wrote up posts related to Tanny McGregor's book, Comprehension Connections.  They talked about lesson ideas they'd used from her book.  I loved them, and decided I had to have my own copy of the book.  I am really glad to have discovered it as Tanny's hands-on approach and higher level thinking skills help students who need just a little more in depth explanation of skills get what they need.  

The premise with Tanny's lessons is to take a big concept and introduce it with concrete objects. By using concrete objects, students have a visual image to attach to their learning. Simple things like a glass jar, a magnifying glass, or a broken necklace chain can inspire thinking as students try to figure out how they relate to the lesson.

Another important concept from Comprehension Connections is using a launching sequence similar to the gradual release model.  The added benefit of the launching sequence is that it includes the use of various sensory stimuli such as music, wordless picture books, and art to scaffold the important points of the lesson and to reach those learners who prefer a hands-on approach. I particularly love Tanny’s ideas because we need our students to think critically about their reading, and as the launching sequence is implemented, students analyze, question, and connect.  

In Comprehension Connections, the chapters each focus on a different comprehension skill. This is very helpful as teachers can quickly skim each chapter for a quick idea or to spark one of their own.  Certainly, all of the ideas can be applied to different books and learning levels, and in fact, we know multiple opportunities for students to practice a skill is essential for students to transfer that learning into independent practice. Therefore, multiple lessons are required for mastery.

Now, before I transition to Genre Connections, I have a question for our readers.  

I find that my students (who are typically below level) grab onto key words or bits of a concept and want to apply it to the wrong genre or every genre.  For example, I may work with my students on plot development, and several days later as new guided reading books of a different genre are introduced, they may not connect that different comprehension skills may be required to grasp the big ideas of the book well. This is why I think using the ideas shared in Genre Connections may provide my students with a firmer understanding of when to use comprehension skills we've learned.


Like the launching sequence in Comprehension Connections, students begin these lessons with a concrete object.  The concrete objects are chosen to help the student realize purpose for the learning and categorize information to more firmly differentiate genres. Tanny calls this process, “Noticing and Naming the Genre.” She uses simple objects that are readily available such as clothespins, prisms (in your science kits), mirrors, and one of my favorites, seed packets. 

In the section about informational text, she uses seed packets to get students to notice information we can learn from small bits of text if we're observant. Just look for a minute at this image and think about all the information you can gather...price, what vegetable will look like, name of the produce, how and when to plant it (notice the headings), who produced the seeds, and even the year the seeds were made for. We need our students to read informational text like a gardener reads seed packets.  We need them to realize that informational text includes certain features not found in other genres.  

The launching sequence then moves on to the sensory exercises.  With informational text, you might include a Schoolhouse Rocks video from Youtube like this one about electricity and discuss how informational text is organized.

Another option is to use artwork that explains such as the examples in this Prezi file.

Once students have explored various sensory media and inferred how we read informational text and what features we expect to find, then an anchor chart similar to this one would provide students with the opportunity to think how reading the seed packet relates to future reading of informational text. I also loved [this handout] from Dana Herzog which would be very helpful for interactive notebooks or future mini lessons.

Now, it's your turn.  What concrete objects would you choose to launch genre studies or improve reading comprehension?

Please share what's worked well for you.

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Anchoring Our Learning

Hello Readers!  It's Carla from Comprehension Connection here with you today to share a little information on one of our favorite teaching tools, Anchor Charts.  Many of us use them, but it is important to know what our literacy leaders recommend as best practices with using them.

  

Anchor Charts have become a staple in many classrooms, and their use helps increase student engagement, provide visual cues/aids for instruction, serve as evidence of learning, and give students a frame for the learning during the lesson and after. 

The term anchor chart came about as these charts hold learning firmly in place. Just think about the purpose of an anchor for a moment. Without an anchor, boats move freely making it difficult to stay in one place. Like the anchor of a boat, anchor charts focus students on the important concepts of a lesson and keep it grounded. 

Not all anchor charts are equal though.  Sure it's convenient to make charts ahead of time, but according to Wendy Seger at Cornerstone Literacy, anchor charts need the following features to be the most effective for students.

First of all, the chart needs to focus on just one key point of a lesson.  If your objective is broad, narrow the focus of the anchor chart in order to provide a concrete model for your students.  If you have too many concepts on the chart, the student will lose focus. Break the objective down for your students to help them learn each subskill.  As skill knowledge builds, students will be equipped to fully meet the broader objective.

One goal with anchor charts is to increase student engagement and make learning come from the student.  When students generate the information for the chart, they have a vested interest in the content. The information is evidence of their learning, and by showcasing their thinking, we are reinforcing  that we value their thinking and their work. Plus, when they are displayed in the classroom, students can show them off to other school personnel, parent visitors, and their friends.

Let's face it.  We all love to have our work look polished and pretty. This may seem difficult to do when creating charts with students, but it is possible.  Teachers can certainly add borders and "pretty it up" before or after creating the chart with students.  The more important point with organizing the information though is for student learning.  By organizing the information, we are helping our students organize their thinking.  One very effective teaching strategy is Think Aloud, and when we create charts with our students, we can use this strategy AND help our students categorize the information more easily through the anchor chart.  

Just like we match our objectives to the needs of our students, our anchor charts need to fit the developmental stage of our readers too. When you think about skills such as main idea, it's important to keep the language at the level of the reader.  We should use their language to make the chart.  Using leading questions to guide the discussion will help elicit student responses you can record.  When there are misconceptions, we see it through the responses and can clarify errors. One added benefit to questioning is that it allows the kids to talk.  They are social little beings and enjoy giving their opinions for sure!

As students learn new skills, anchor charts from prior lessons can provide students with the background information and skills they need for the new content.  Many students need multiple exposures in order to master a skill. Having your anchor charts to refer to during remediation or for work stations can give students that extra reminder they may need in order to master the content.

As we know, anchor charts can be very, very helpful to students.  They can be made on chart paper or electronically, and with new applications being added all the time, students even have the ability to compose anchor charts with teammates in cooperative groups through programs like Popplet, the Notes App on the I-Pad, or for longer notes, students can use the Page App.  Anchor charts can also be photographed and kept in a photo gallery for times that students need the information, but it's hard to see or put away. For my groups, I enjoy using these printable charts for reference after we've made one as a class.

Here is my board for anchor charts on Pinterest.  I love that they stimulate discussion as the charts are made, but also provide cues for deeper thinking after. This board is always growing, so follow along if you love anchor charts too.

I don't know about you, but I am always on the look out for new and clever ways to present information to my students.  If you have favorite anchor charts you'd like to share, we'd love to see them.  Feel free to post them in your comments or share a pin address with us.
Have a great week, and until next time...happy reading!

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