Are You Creating Wild Readers?

Motivating readers can be a REAL challenge for teachers, so I'd like to chat about Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller. Several within our group of bloggers have read her books, and as you can probably guess, we loved them both of the books she's written! I will highlight what I've taken from the book, but by all means, if you haven't read it, please put it on your list of must reads after The Book Whisperer. If you'd like to check out the review of The Book Whisperer, you can access Lauren's blog post from February {here}.  

What does a wild reader look like in the classroom?  

Wild Readers Spend Time Reading

Donalyn introduces the book with discussion about how important it is to give students to time read during the school day.  Many teachers assign 20-30 minutes a day of nightly reading as part of homework, but she contends that we need to find time in the school day to hook the kids and help them recognize times when they can get their books out.  She uses a workshop approach to teaching reading and writing.  She offers mini lessons using mentor texts, anchor charts, graphic organizers, and materials common with most classroom reading instruction, and during the application of comprehension strategies, she pulls in independent reading and discussion.  It is through reader notebooks that her students reflect on their reading and practice using the skills taught.  She advises making use of time "on the fringes"  When might that be?  Here's a short list of times I came up with, and I'm sure you can add to the list.

1. When kids are waiting for Library checkout, PE, or Music.
2. During transition minutes between classes if you're departmentalized.
3. After work is completed.
4. While waiting for the bus at the end of the day 
5. Before, during, and after lunch and recess.
6. As students are arriving to school (This is a great way to de-stress and prepare for the day.)
7. During guided reading rotations

Important point...

You must always be prepared for a reading emergency, and we need to help our students recognize the importance of carrying a book everywhere in order for them to open it and read.  To create wild readers, we each need to look at our day and find places where we can give 5-10 minutes blocks of time toward independent reading.

Wild Reader Self Select Reading Materials

Knowing your students' Lexile or guided reading levels has been ingrained in our heads over the past few years, and Donalyn advises that we not adhere exclusively to this.  Rather, we should consider interest and motivation when recommending books to students.  We need to be familiar with what our students are reading and know books well enough to offer options based on our students' interests. We need to remind our students that it's okay to abandon books when they aren't a good match and let book selection develop naturally.  When students make bad choices, they find the book doesn't hold their interest and eventually they'll abandon the book on their own, but if they are persistent in reading it because they are motivated, we certainly want to encourage them to push on. 

Donalyn urges teachers to read to their students high interest books that may lead to other reading options either by genre, theme, or by the same author.  Important point-To become familiar with what your students may enjoy, use websites such as Goodreads.com, make lists of books recommended by your students, and consult your colleagues and librarian for ideas.

Wild Readers Share Books and Reading with Other Readers

One characteristic of young adult readers is that they enjoy talking about their reading, and through these conversations, comprehension improves.  In Donalyn's classroom, students keep (this star chart) and refer to it when they're giving book commercials or sharing with friends.  She also has her students read from all genre types in the 40 book challenge.  This form from Becca at Simply 2nd Resources would work well for students to track their reading genres. 

Another routine Donalyn has implements in her classroom is conferring with students.  She uses this time to take a running record, discuss the book with the students, assist them in planning for future reading, check reader notebooks, and to assess application of comprehension strategies.  At the reading conference I attended recently, Donalyn shared that she found herself feeling frustrated that she wasn't conferring weekly with her students. She advised starting with the top of your class list and working your way down before starting over.  She has been able to meet with each student three times per grading period this way.  She uses Evernote to keep her conference records which allow audio of the child reading, but I haven't had a chance to check that out yet. She mentioned the usefulness of being able to readily access the information for child study meetings or parent teacher conferences. This form (questions created by Regie Routman) can also be used to guide your conferring sessions as well.

Finally, students need to time to talk about their reading with each other.  This builds excitement and can also be used by the teacher for grading purposes.  Donalyn has time set aside each Friday for reading commercials.  Students are asked to prepare reading commercials at the end of their reading and present them to the class. These are brief talks.  She discourages the use of lengthy book reports that bog students down and may keep them from reading.  One idea that Donalyn shared at the conference was to dedicate a bulletin board space to book recommendations.  In Andrea's post about motivating struggling readers, she shared this form you could use for students to recommend books to each other.  Donalyn used index cards...no frills, but when the same book pops up on the board multiple times, students infer that it's a must read.

Wild Readers Have Reading Plans

As previously mentioned, helping students plan for future reading is an important step in the conferring process.  Students should keep a list of what they've read to feel a sense of accomplishment, but they also need a list of what they plan to read in the future.  This expedites the book selection process at library checkout and helps avoid wandering from shelf to shelf the whole period too.  Students have their lists together and can quickly pull together what they're wanting to read and get on with reading.  These plans develop from conversations between students and from the teacher, and like the students, we need to have our list together too.  Donalyn keeps a list of books her students recommend to her, and she reads them.  In our busy lives, we may not read cover to cover, but it is meaningful to students to see that we listen to them and can talk to them about the books later. 

What about the dormant reader?  You know...the child who abandons book after book and often fake reads?  One way to entice him/her is through the sharing of a new book picked especially for him/her that matches his/her interests. Giving students a survey at the start of the year may help you in knowing your students' interests and reading tastes. Donalyn mentioned that she often uses part of the conferring time to visit her classroom library with the child to find a stack to pick from.  If you haven't done an interest inventory, you could use {Donalyn's}.  There are many inventories available online, or I also like this one from Joanne Miller at Head Over Heels for Teaching.

Finally, since I mentioned the classroom library, I'll take a minute to talk about them.  Even if your school has a well stocked library, it is very important that students have access to an attractive and well organized classroom library.  Even if your classroom is small, dedicating space for a cozy reading nook sends the message to your students that you see this as an important component in your instructional routine.  Make the reading area inviting and organize books in a way that students can see them easily.  If maintaining the library is a challenge, put a responsible student in charge of taking in and putting away the books.  You might put together baskets of your recommendations and put on display seasonal books, books that fit a theme your studying, or books from various genres.  

Wild Readers Show Reading Preferences

As the year progresses, you will see that your students have reading preferences.  Their star charts will contain more books from a certain genre for sure, and reader bonds will form between students who gravitate toward the same reading preferences. This is a sign that you've created wild readers. By showing students various genres, we are taking them to the reading buffet.  They may do a taste test only for some genres, or they may discover they have a new favorite food to devour.  The key is for us to show them the buffet and help them develop their tastes. 

Are You Reading in the Wild?

Finally, I'll end with this question.  Are you reading in the wild? We, as professionals, should keep up with our practice.  We need to read professional books in order to keep ourselves abreast of current research.  We also need to read for pleasure.  We, like our students, need to read on the fringes and keep a book on hand for those reading emergencies.  We need to talk about our reading with colleagues and friends.  Aside from these two books, I'd also recommend a few professional books that I have either read or plan to read. Several of us are participating in a book discussion through our blogs for Teach Like a Pirate this summer, and we'll share more details about that later.  Others I'd recommend...

1. Comprehension Connections and Genre Connections by Tanny McGregor
2. Teach Like a Pirate by David Burgess
3. Falling in Love with Close Reading by Chris Lehman
4. Strategies that Work! by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis
5. Daily Five and The Cafe Book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser

What professional books have inspired you?  In the comments below, please give your book recommendations. You may share a professional book, favorite novel, or books you enjoy sharing with your students. If you'd like to encourage your students to write their own book reviews or would like to contribute a review of your favorite books, Donalyn has begun The Nerdy Book Club as a place for book recommendations.  You can also read her blog at [this link].

Now...go out and find a great book!

Pin for Later

Literature Circles in the Middle Grades

Hello Friends! This is Erin from I'm Lovin' Lit. I'm here to share how I run literature circles in my middle school classroom.

I'm going to cheat a little bit here and link up with my own linky party, Thursday Throw Down.

Thursday Throw Down is a link up that I host on the first Thursday of each month. Be sure to come and read about all the ways teachers are making their lessons more interactive. This year's interactive literature circles are about as interactive as it gets!

After doing literature circles for a few years and in a few different ways, I decided to do an interactive version this year. Of course, literature circles are, by nature, very interactive. Students are interacting constantly with their classmates and with the literature. But I wanted to throw the “interactive notebook” element in there. I found that, overall, my students took more pride in their weekly role work and did better work to go along with it. I like to give each group a binder or folder that contains all of the handouts they’ll need for the entire unit so that they can be self-sufficient.

How I Manage Literature Circles

1. Book Selection
2. Quizzes (YES, quizzes!)
3. Role Assignments & Work
4. The Actual Reading
5. Group Meetings
6. Student Choice

1 – Book Selection

I’d love to tell you that I pour through books, comparing their literary value and choosing only the best of the best for my literature circles. Unfortunately, I live in the real world. The books you’ll find in my literature circle selection were found

  

     a) as bargains ($1-$2) in the Scholastic Book Clubs brochure

     b) on the clearance shelf at Books-a-Million

     c) in my classroom closet as a former class novel (from a past teacher)

     d) as online specials on eBay, Amazon, etc.

     e) purchased used from thriftbooks.com

Here are some books that have worked well for my literature circles in the past:

6th Grade (3-Week Lit Circles) – Number the Stars, If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, Rules, My Life As a Book, The Cat Ate My Gymsuit

7th Grade (4-Week Lit Circles) – I Am David, The Eleventh Plague, Al Capone Does My Shirts, Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie, Rules of Survival, Trouble

Throughout the year, I keep my eyes open for books I can purchase 8-12 of cheaply for possible literature circle books to expand my choices. When planning a round of literature circles, I try to give students 5-6 different choices with a variety of genres and topics, and I try to keep them all about the same length. I look up their AR point values at arbookfinder.com and try to keep them within a point or two of each other.

Once I select a book, I have to make sure I have enough copies that each student can have his own. This is crucial, because if a student is absent, he’ll need a book to catch up with. I assign certain sections to be read on certain days (more on that in a bit), and to hold the students accountable for this, each student MUST have his own copy of the book. He MUST be able to bring it home at any time. The students also need to be able to use sticky notes throughout their book without interfering with someone else’s notes.

Oh, and of course, it MUST be a book that I have read. This one is non-negotiable. I have seen teachers assign and teach books they haven’t read themselves. Crazy. I can’t even wrap my head around that!

2 – Quizzes (YES, quizzes!)

Let’s be honest here. In everything I’ve ever read about literature circles, be it from the experts or other teachers, I have never seen a quiz component. Never. And I totally don’t get it. But, I trusted it the first time I did literature circles and didn’t quiz the students. I *know* that some students rushed through the book without comprehending half of what they needed to, realizing there wasn’t a real quiz coming up. So, because I can’t stand this sort of thing, I take the hours and hours of time to comb through all of these books and make quizzes for each week of reading. So, this means 3 or 4 quizzes for each book. These quizzes are closed book and literal comprehension only. They’re not higher order thinking for sure, but they’re nearly impossible to pass without reading. I tell my students that if they read the selection, they should make 100 easy. These quizzes are fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, true/false, and typically 8-10 questions. That’s just enough to make them accountable. This raised level of individual accountability makes me feel so much better about the lack of control while the literature circles are going. If you don’t have the upfront time to make all those quizzes, consider “pop-quizzing” one group per week or give one discussion question to each group that requires extensive knowledge of the section to answer.

3 – Role Assignments & Work

I put a lot of thought into my role assignments. First, I had to make up my mind as to how many students I wanted in a group. I typically prefer groups of 2 or 3 that force more participation and I never like to go over 4. So, my literature circles almost never have more than 4 participants. Of course, every now and then I end up with an odd man out, but I try to avoid it. For that reason, I have a back-up role that can be canned when not used or done by the entire group as they read the book. Each week, the students know what their role is, and it's their responsibility to retrieve their role sheets (and cheat sheets, examples, etc.) from their group's binder, read through all of the material, and work on it independently after that week's reading. I'm very explicit about what I expect so that I can expect students to do it right. Every. Time.

Here are the roles I use:

Discussion Director

Word Wizard

Passage Picker

Character Sketcher

Figurative Language Finder (extra optional one for the odd man out)

Each student has his own bookmark that I make and distribute. The front of the bookmark (below) contains a schedule that details what is done on what days, including which page numbers to read, when work is due, when quizzes are and over which chapters, and when the group meetings are held. The back of the bookmark (right) contains the students role schedule. I decide who is what role for each week, in advance. I do this so that I can assign stronger leaders to be the Discussion Director first, and weaker leaders to go after they’ve been comfortable with their groups and can fall back on other students’ examples.

Next up is what I call “Role Sheets.” Students pull these out of their group’s binder or folder at the start of each new week so that they know what their assignment is before they begin their reading. I’m VERY specific as to what I want, and I include cheat sheets or examples for the students so that  I can expect the work to be done correctly and independently every time.

4 – The Actual Reading

When we first start literature circles, I require that students read aloud with their groups. They don’t all have to read aloud if they don’t want to – I tell them to work it out amongst themselves and I’ve never had a problem with that. They read together and I notice them pausing to discuss when needed. I ALWAYS start off reading out loud for those students who have a really hard time getting started with a book. Once they’ve read about ¼ of the book, or during week 2, I’ll make at least one day’s section silent independent reading. After I’ve done a little bit of both, usually by week 3, each group can choose their method of reading. Some choose to read out loud and others choose to read independently. Occasionally, two members of a group will read aloud together while the other two read silently. The students like this aspect of the freedom that they earn. They can sit in desks facing each other, on the floor, or a combination of the two, as long as they are facing each other. To each his own, right?

Also, I dictate which pages are read on what days. If a group doesn’t finish their section for the day, it’s homework. If a student is absent, he is expected to catch up to his group. The bookmark students keep with the schedule indicates the days and page numbers. I plan all of this out ahead of time. Basically, if I’m running a 4-week literature circle, I’ll divide the book into quarters and try to end each week’s reading with the end of a chapter.

5 – Group Meetings

Again, one of the things I learned the hard way was that group meetings need to be very structured, almost to the point of being scripted. So, I went ahead and wrote a basic script for the discussion leader to follow and put it right on his role sheet. You see, this is the way I can do literature circles and still maintain my sanity. Group meetings are once per week and typically on Fridays. Only after the group meetings do I collect the students’ work for the week and grade it. The students have rubrics for all of the roles ahead of time.

6 – Student Choice

Student choice is one of the most important aspects of literature circles. I try to give my students 5-6 books to choose from. One day, a few weeks before we start literature circles, I’ll book talk all of the books and ask students to write down their top 3 choices. Then, I’ll also ask them to write down any books that they’ve already read AND which book from the list they hope they NEVER read. I’ve always been able to group them according to one of their three choices. Sometimes I make decisions and give a kid his second choice because I know him as a reader and think he’d prefer it, especially if it works for grouping. Sometimes I’ll give a kid his second or third choice if the first choice is really too difficult or really not challenging enough. And, I make sure to get their choices well in advance so that I have time to organize the groups, make the bookmarks, and find additional copies of books if needed.

The way I run literature circles takes some planning time in advance, but once they start in class, it’s beautiful to see how they run themselves! I love how the students are so much more active in their learning, how the directors just seem to take control when they are supposed to, and how the students get to choose which aspects of the book to emphasize and discuss with their groups. And doing it my way, I’m still in control. I like to plan literature circles to follow testing and Spring Break and time them so that they end right when it’s final review time. This keeps me from doing my traditional “pay attention to me!” lessons right up to the very end. It’s the perfect time for ALL of us.

If you're interested, check out Interactive Literature Circles on TpT.

Be sure to stop by I'm Lovin' Lit and link up for Thursday Throw Down!

Syllable Style:Closed Syllable Words

Hi! This is Wendy from Ms. D's Literacy Lab! I am beginning my first post in a series on syllable types to help your students decode and become fluent readers and spellers! 

 Knowing how to decode multisyllabic words is essential for 2nd-5th grade students because most of the words they will encounter in print are "unfamiliar and big" words.

Benefits of Syllable Instruction

Research shows that when good readers see an unfamiliar multisyllabic word, they look for smaller units like consonant blends and digraphs, vowel patterns, prefixes, suffixes, and syllables. After looking at it closely, they begin to pronounce it based on their word knowledge.

  I am working with my 3rd-5th graders who are struggling readers on syllable types and patterns.  Although there are exceptions in many English words and how they are pronounced,  struggling readers will greatly benefit from learning syllable types and patterns.  As students begin to notice the patterns in the English language, like they see patterns in math, their reading becomes more fluent and their attention adjusts to comprehending the story and deeper understandings.

What is a closed syllable?

A closed syllable is a vowel followed by at least one consonant.  The final consonant closes in the vowel so it makes a short vowel sound.   Another effective phrase is, "The consonant closes the door on the vowel".   Knowing that the "door" stops the vowel from saying its long sound has helped many of my intermediate students who are English Language Learners. 
   

 Words with closed syllables are introduced in kindergarten -second grade classrooms through shared reading, word work, word walls and literacy centers.  At the primary level, they are known as "short vowel words" or "CVC" words.  Words with closed syllables include many high frequency sight words and words featured in emergent and early readers. 

Closed syllables have 12 different patterns:

 Knowledge of syllable patterns helps students know where to divide the word into syllables in order to decode and read it easily. 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas on this post. Do you have any questions about closed syllable words ?

 

 

** Clipart courtesy of Monster Wrangler Mike and Font by Luckeyfrog--TpT

** Close the door idea comes from Ms. Hazelton--The Wise Owl Teacher on TpT



Increase Student Engagement during Testing Season

There is an illness going around my school right now.  I think more than 1/2 of the teachers caught it.  Some of the symptoms include insomnia, headaches, and some of them have had stomach aches.  Yes, they have "testing fever"!  The kids?  The kids have droopy eyes, blank stares and are feeling sluggish.  You guessed right...the kids have hit the wall with "test prep boredom".  

Hello Literacy Land Friends!  I'm Deniece from This Little Piggy Reads.  Today I'm going to relieve some of the stress that comes along with state testing by sharing a few tips to engage students during test prep.

I'm very competitive and so are most children.  They love playing games, so incorporate learning games. Create heterogeneous groups and let them use white boards (yes, it does increase engagement).  

ClassTools is a great website that allows you to create a QR Code Scavenger Hunt.  

SCOOT is a fun game that gets kids up & moving.  You can put test prep Q's (eg: task cards) at each desk in the classroom.  Give students an answer sheet and have them move every 2 minutes.  ClassTools also has a huge timer that would work for this game!

If you're at a school where you have to use test prep workbook days, then I would suggest using testing buddies.  I would make the students work alone and then after they are finished allow them to collaborate with their buddy.  Just be sure to set ground rules that students can't simply tell each other the answer/s.    

Finally, I would highly suggest little breaks.  Last year, I tried using Minute to Win It games and they were a hit!!  Kids won peppermints and they were super psyched! Shhh....peppermints help get the brain going.  

Now that we've taken care of the kids, let's move on to you, the teacher.  I would suggest to keep Excedrin in your purse during testing season, keep track of your data and make your copies early (just in case the copy machine gets overloaded & stops working).  Personally, I would highly suggest a pedicure, a new haircut and making sure you keep a plug-in with a pleasant smell in your classroom!  The last one might sound strange, but it does make a difference when you feel like you live in your classroom. 

Five {Freebies} for Friday

If you visited Literacy Land yesterday, then you already had a sneak peek at today's topic.  In yesterday's {post}, we discussed the differences in phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics.  I promised to be back again today with a follow-up post to share five fabulous freebies.

Freebie #1 is being offered by Em from Curious Firsties.  She wrote a guest blog post for Reading Toward the Stars describing how she makes the most out of the phonological awareness portion of her guided reading lesson.  Em has 3-5 precious minutes to develop PA, so her instruction must be meaningful and effective.  You can read all about the fun her students have with nursery rhymes and pick up this rhyming {freebie} while you're at it.  

Sound Boxes can be a great tool to use for teaching phonemic segmentation. Freebie #2 is being offered by Lori from Conversations in Literacy.  This set has four different monster themed sound boxes.  As you say a word, students slide tokens into a sound box for each sound they hear. Click on the picture to download.

Who doesn't love coloring Easter eggs?  These Dippin' Eggs take sound boxes to the next level.  Students will learn to segment and write words in a super fun way!  Freebie #3 comes to you from Jennie @ JD's Rockin' Readers.  If you like this activity, be sure to pick up Jennie's other free holiday themed sound boxes.

Update: This freebie has expired.

Emily from The Reading Tutor OG is offering her Phoneme Segmentation Cards as a freebie for a limited time only.  

Build and strengthen phonemic awareness with this awesome product, but hurry...it's only free through Sunday. 

Update: This freebie has expired.

Phonemic awareness is essential in the development of spelling and phonics skills.  It's important for teachers to make the connection between phonemes and graphemes.  Carla from Comprehension Connection is offering our final freebie of the day.  This making words activity pack has color-coded letter tiles for students to manipulate.  Students can sound-stretch words, spell them with tiles, and write them on white boards.  It's yours free only through Sunday.


Over the course of the last two days, I hope I've offered you a few ideas that you can add to your teacher's toolbox.

If you download a freebie and love what you see, please leave the author some friendly feedback as a token of your appreciation.  :)

Have a fabulous Friday!

Phonemic Awareness

Hello out there in Literacy Land!  This is Wendy from Read With Me ABC here to talk with you about Phonemic Awareness.  

Phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, and phonics are closely related and often misunderstood.  Let's sort it all out...

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds, or phonemes, in spoken words.  Phonemic awareness is a subcategory of phonological awareness.

Phonological awareness has a broader focus.  It is the ability to identify and manipulate larger units of spoken language, such as words, syllables, and rhymes as well as phonemes.

Phonemic awareness is not phonics.  Phonemic awareness is the ability to understand that the sounds of spoken language work together to make words.  Phonics is the ability to understand the relationship between letters (graphemes) of written language and the sounds of spoken language.

According to the National Reading Panel, phonemic awareness is an important component of effective reading instruction.

Children who have phonemic awareness skills are likely to have an easier time learning to read, comprehend, and spell than students who lack phonemic awareness skills.
Most children develop phonemic awareness naturally through experiences with poems and nursery rhymes.  Phonemic awareness can also be taught.  Children can learn to notice, think about, and work with sounds in spoken language.  

The most effective instruction occurs in a small group setting and takes just a few minutes each day.  Teachers use a variety of activities to build phonemic awareness skills.

• Identifying phonemes - What sound is the same in all three words: bat, ball, bun? /b/
• Categorizing phonemes - Which word does not belong: map, mat, bag?  bag
• Blending phonemes to form words - What word is /b/ /u/ /s/?  bus
• Segmenting words into phonemes - Say each sound in frog.  /f/ /r/ /o/ /g/ 
• Deleting or adding phonemes to form new words - What word is star without the /s/? tar  What word do you have if you add  /b/ to the beginning of lock?  block
• Substituting phonemes to make new words - The word is bun.  Change the /b/ to /s/.  What word do you have? sun

Teaching students one or two types of phoneme manipulation - specifically blending and segmenting words - is likely to have greater impact on students' reading.

Sometimes my students and I play oral word games like the examples above.  Other times we manipulate pictures or tokens when working with a particular skill.

In this photo, I scattered picture cards out on the table.  Students sort the pictures into two groups by their beginning blends /cr/ and /fr/.  

The student in this picture is sliding a bear into a box for each sound he hears in a word.  We use a variety of themed sorting mats and buttons, glass beads, legos, etc. as the tokens.  

Pictured above are two of my favorite books for teaching phonemic awareness with engaging, meaningful activities.

These are just two of the many great CDs from Jack Hartmann and Heidi Songs to reinforce phonemic awareness skills.

Do you have a favorite activity for teaching phonemic awareness? Please leave a comment below and share your idea with the Literacy Land followers.  We love reading your comments!

Stop back tomorrow for Five for Friday...as a follow-up to today's post, I'll be featuring five freebies for you to use as part of your phonemic awareness instruction.

Source: National Reading Panel Report and Put Reading First

Special thanks to EduClips, Lovin' Lit, Ashley Hughes and KG Fonts for the graphics used in this post.