Back To School Reading Jackpot!

It's back to school time again! As we classroom teachers and literacy leaders are preparing to begin a new school year, we spend a lot of our own money. Agreed? Who couldn't use a post with links to free materials? Today's post is for you. Anyone that has followed me for awhile on Facebook knows how much I love sharing reading jackpots.

What is a Reading Jackpot? Here's my criteria:

1. Found online.
2. Must be mostly free.
3. Has to have so many valuable reading resources for parents and educators, that there's too many to count. You feel like you hit the jackpot , because it's too good to be true.
Trust me. You WILL want to bookmark these hidden (or not so hidden) gems, and share them with friends and work colleagues. Enjoy!

1. Readworks.org
Read Works is filled with comprehension lessons organized by grade level, skill and strategy. There's a large collection of high interest printable passages and questions, also organized by grade level, skill and strategy. All you need to do is sign up for free and you're ready to go.

2. FCRR
The Florida Center for Reading Research has created an enormous database of lessons, and games organized by grade level and skill. Every lesson includes the printables you'll need, so there's no recreating anything! I love how the font on every printable is kid-friendly.

3. Carl's Corner
This is a little hidden gem I found during my OG training. I love Cherry Carl's printable board games for spelling and phonics practice, and have used many of them, but there's so much more. Go into the website directory and you'll find it all. If you teach Scott Forseman Reading or need a SMARTBOARD lesson, there's activities for those too. All of her resources are free!

4. The Literacy Shed
One word for this site: AMAZING. When I first posted about The Literacy Shed over the summer, I was blown away. So much talent has gone into created these videos and lessons for visual literacy. I watched The Flying Book Shed, and literally shed a tear. The site is dedicated to providing high quality, award-winning Literacy lessons, videos, and book suggestions for teachers.

Watch The Lighthouse by clicking the link below.

http://www.literacyshed.com/the-lighthouse.html

5. Reading Resource
Steve Griffin and Kathy Appel strive to provide excellent dyslexia resources for parents and/or teachers. MANY of the resources are free, but they have some products and apps for purchase that are well worth checking out. The site is well organized, and easy to navigate I've recently been using their new app, Sight Word Flip It and highly recommend it.

6. Reading Rockets
This is my old fav! If you haven't been to Reading Rockets before, prepare to get lost for several hours. This is a great go-to site for anything literacy related. Years ago, I first used it with my students to show author videos. Now I include their widgets on my blog (on the right sidebar, btw) and check their page regularly for new articles and resources. The site provides a nice balance of parent and/teacher resources. Their summer activities and book suggestions were fabulous. You'll find plenty of freebies on this site too!

Finally, I invite you all to enjoy Keepers Of The Flame, an inspirational video for educators. Click the link below to view it. Have a wonderful year, teachers. You truly are the keepers of the flame. :)

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/161988917820799790/

Do you have a reading jackpot?  Please comment below. Thank you!

Teaching English Language Learners: SEI

Hi everyone! It is Bex here from Reading and Writing Redhead! This summer, I have been engrossed in studying Sheltered English Immersion. In Massachusetts all non-English speaking students need to be enrolled in mainstream English-speaking classrooms (with a few exceptions). ESL instruction might be done in a pull-out setting but the majority of an ELL student's day is spent in the classroom. The state realized that we teachers needed to learn more about effective strategies to meet the needs of those English Language Learners, so all of us have to either take a  course or pass an SEI exam. Since I have been thinking so much about SEI lately, I realized many of you have English speaking students in your classroom and it might be the right topic for a post!

So if you are new to this, you may need to start at the beginning - what is SEI? In Massachusetts, SEI is Sheltered English Instruction. I know in other states, it stands for Structured English Immersion and has slightly different characteristics, but I will tell you what I know. By no means am I an expert- if you want to know more I will give you some resources at the end but if you want to learn more about teaching ELL students in your own state check resources at your school and your state Department of Education Website. Let us know what you learn and comment below.

The short answer is that every classroom in Massachusetts that has at least one ELL student is a SEI classroom. Each SEI classroom must have a Highly Qualified Teacher of English Language Learners- that means the teacher must be certified in ELL, taken and passed the required state SEI course or taken and passed the state teaching exam for SEI.  Basically, classroom teachers and school staff who interact with ELL students in any way are learning what are the best practices for teaching these students in the English speaking classroom.

I'd love to share with you some of the strategies I learned about being a teacher in an SEI classroom. There was a lot of information I had to learn about levels of English Proficiency and how to assess what level students were and a LOT of information on setting both content and language lessons for every lessons, plus differentiating lessons for students at  different levels of proficiency- too much for one blog post.  Here are a few tips I picked up on.

  

 I had done some reading and taken a course in teaching ELL students last spring, and combined with the materials I studied the summer, I picked up on some vocabulary strategies to try when working with ELL students.  There are a ton of effective strategies and each works best in different situations depending on the word, the content area, the age of the student, and their level of English proficiency.

Word Wheels are great to try. You write the word you are learning in the center and then it is flexible - you can write synonyms, antonyms, word forms, or semantic connections around the outside. Here are a couple examples with detailed directions on Word Wheels: Primary Education Oasis' Blog Post and Widgit.com's preteaching vocabulary brochure pdf.

A word form chart was another suggested strategy for teaching vocabulary to ELL students. I couldn't find a good example of it online but, basically you chart a vocabulary word that has different forms (great for verbs - you can do past tense, present tense, etc) and discuss how the meaning changes and how to use each form. A goal of vocabulary instruction is giving students the tools to unlock word meaning on their own and this is a good way to start!

Focusing on cognates is a solid strategy to use with ELL students. Cognates are words in different languages that are derived from the same original word or root (for example family - familia and conversation and conversacion). There are tons of words in Spanish, for example, that are cognates with words in English.

There are many more great strategies. I will provide links below so you can check more out!

  

There are many writing strategies that will support your ELL student. One that would be useful for students with lower English proficiency is sentence frames. Sentence frames are sentences the teacher writes, then removes one or more word from . A word bank can be provided for students with content specific words, for example. So a student who has limited writing skills in English can complete sentences such as: Plants need, ________, air, and light to grow.  The _______ of the plant take in water from the soil. The ______ of the plant carries the water to the leaves" and so on instead of having to write an open response stating what they know about plants. 

Here are a couple places where you can find more information on sentence frames:

Fairfax County Schools' First Grade Team Post on Sentence Frames

Positive Engagement Project's Sentence Frames Information

For students who are early in their English language development and need a lot of assistance with literacy skills you can try the language experience approach. A student would verbally tell you their story and you write it down, word for word as he tells you. Then you read it back and discuss how the story sounds, if the message was communicated, and so on. Then you and he can edit it a little together. I am not an expert on this one, as I have never tried it myself but you can learn more here:

Professional Learning Board

Literacy Connections

One more strategy that came up a lot as I was reading about teaching ELLs in the SEI classroom was graphic organizers. Graphic organizers have endless possibilities in the classroom anyway, and are so beneficial to ELL students to organize their thoughts and get their ideas written down. There are so many graphic organizers for skills like sequencing, cause and effect, etc. that can be use in writing assignments. Check out these ideas in detail:

Color in Colorado Project

ESL Partyland

BusyTeacher.org

I have even more ideas for strategies on teaching reading to ELL students and assessment but I am going to save them for a future post! For now here are some great resources from around the web if you are interested in learning more. Thanks and please comment below and let us know your thoughts and strategies for meeting the needs of ELL students in your classroom!

Mrs. Dailey's blog post on vocabulary
Color in Colorado
Adventures in TESOL
Sharing Learning- Teaching English with Technology 
Ed.gov Blog
Everything ESL

And a thank you to Ashley Hughes for the beautiful frames and Dollar Photo Club!

More Classroom Libraries!

Last month, I shared with you how to organize a great library.  I shared with you how to sort your books, label them, and make it student friendly.  You can check out that post here!

Today, I am showing you the (almost) finished product!

  

Doesn't it look so organized and pretty??  I am sure that it will not stay this way for long.

So, as you can see, I have my baskets sorted by interest.  I put picture labels on the outside of the tubs so that students can easily see what is inside of the basket.  Each book also contains the same picture label inside the front cover.  This way students can easily put away the books in the correct basket.

 

 I have two dark blue baskets on top of my bookshelf.  One holds my whisper phones, always available for students to use.  The other is a return basket.  This is where students will return their books.  Then the ONE person that is the class librarian helper will return them to the correct basket at the end of the day.

The white book boxes came from IKEA.  This is my first time ordering them, but for as inexpensive as they were, I would definitely say they are worth it!!  Each student will have a book box.  They get to choose 3 books per week to keep in their box to read.  Students may NOT choose books from the library throughout the rest of the week.  This saves on time and organization!  Of the three books that students choose, two of those books must be within their assigned reading level.  You can check out the reading level stickers that I use on the previous post.  The third book is purely for their interest!

See my fun reading tree?  It was easily made with a carpet roll (any carpet store will give you an empty one!) and an umbrella that I pulled the fabric off of.  I folded my big green leaves over the skeleton of the umbrella and glued it.  Easy Peasy!  As we do read alouds together, we like to hang images of the book cover from the "vines" and leaves!

Plus, every great reading corner needs to be welcoming and comfortable!  It needs to be appealing to students so that they will WANT to read there.  Pillows, rugs, colors....all of it makes it comfy and homey!

Now it is your turn!  Share with us pictures of your great library and link up below!  We want to see them!

An InLinkz Link-up

Starting Points for Readers

Hi ! This is Wendy from Ms. D's Literacy Lab joining you in a discussion on grouping students for Daily 5 and Guided Reading Groups at the beginning of the year.

When I first began teaching reading around 2000, I used to group students simply by DRA levels for Guided Reading groups. As the years have gone on, and I have learned from others and observing students within my groups, I realize that the data is just the tip of the iceberg.

In this data-driven atmosphere, administrators might put a heavy emphasis on just the data. The reality is that the skills a child needs and uses to become a successful reader goes way beyond that basic information.

Rodney is a first grade student. He is from Haiti and speaks French Creole at home. His mother works hard to provide for him. His older brothers help Rodney play alphabet games and more to make up for his lack of preschool skills. He has a lively, happy spirit but gets frustrated easily when he doesn't feel successful from a task. He loves music and rhythms. He had reading services 4 days a week for a half an hour during Kindergarten. He entered Kindergarten in late fall when most of his peers had already mastered the alphabet. His DRA shows a score of O which tells us that he has little awareness of books or print. In addition, his DIBELS scores show that he is still mastering the alphabet, continuing to learn phonemic segmentation, and has no understanding of nonsense words.

To start off:

• Observation Survey-- I would choose Concepts of Print by Marie Clay (part of the observation survey), Letter ID, and see what words he can write within 5 minutes.
• Administer an informal assessment on Phonemic and Phonological Awareness
• Review and Reinforce on Kindergarten skills like : Letter Fluency, Rhyming, Phoneme Blending and Segmentation eventually leading to practice with nonsense words.
• Love of Music and Rhythm-- Rodney is a student that will enjoy sing-along books (include a copy he can read and take home), nursery rhymes, and spelling words using tapping (neurological impress method).  Music may strengthen his memory as well as using a reading program with consistent repetitive tasks such as Wilson Fundations.
• New skills... the reading teacher should be reinforcing that skill during his/her time.
• Kinesthetic games for Rodney will help his need to move and learn. As he manipulates alphabet letters and tiles, makes letters using snap cubes, and uses playdoh to write CVC words, his brain is using novelty (new ways of learning) to help him retain the skills.
• Superhero fan...so weave those Superheroes into the most mundane of tasks. Learning to blend nonsense words may be fun with Iron Man or Thor !
• Book bag to take home easy books to read and it also acts as a resource for reading during Daily 5 and Literacy Center time.

Nathan is a third grade student. His family is a gypsy family from Eastern Europe. He entered Kindergarten in the middle of the year with no previous preschool or daycare experience. He struggled through Kindergarten to learn his letters. In first and second grade, he was placed with 2 experienced teachers that gave him as many 1-1 experiences in reading as possible. His reading intervention was daily and his classroom teacher did reading with him 4-5 times a week. Nathan's personal motivation to learn to read was high even though there were no books in his home. In addition, both the classroom teachers and I were aware that Nathan forgets things quickly. He is reading at a level I-J in the fall. His Primary Spelling Inventory reflects where he is in his phonics instruction as well.

To start off:

• Easy Reader Series- Make sure there are extra copies of books in the classroom, school library, or reading teacher's library that he can borrow.
• Kinesthetic Word Work Activities-- Consider using the Quick Phonics Screener from Read Naturally to start and see where his strengths and areas of support are. He may need reinforcement on r-controlled words, vowel teams, other long vowel patterns and more.
• Guided Reading Books which are age and grade appropriate with minimal words, vocabulary, and familiar events with straightforward plot lines. Focus on keeping books in the 93-95% accuracy level so he will make rapid progress. 
• Graphic organizers should be simple, easy to use, and use the same ones in multiple settings (classroom, special education, reading, homework, specials)
• Reader's Theater, Buddy Reading, and Rereading Texts several times should increase Nathan;s fluency and confidence.

Charise is a fifth grade student. Her family consists of a single mother and older siblings. She had significant behavior issues in Kindergarten and Grade 1. She came to her current school at Grade 2. She has been making significant success each year and is know at a Guided Reading Level M entering 5th grade. There are no books in her home, yet her mother and siblings will listen to her read if books are sent home. The mother is hesitant to attend teacher conferences. She will be receiving reading, learning center support, and classroom support this year.
 
To start off:

• Age Appropriate Books- Anything that looks "babyish" will get abandoned and then she will pick up harder texts which will reduce her progress. Choose books in multiple areas that will appeal to her. Take time to find out her interests using a book or interest inventory. Consider purchasing high interest-low readability books from a publisher using grant, PTO, or other teacher funds.
• Phonics/Decoding Support- she needs support with vowel teams, long vowel patterns, r controlled vowels, and other patterns which eventually lead to prefixes, suffixes, and root words.  Word sorts, sorting syllables, and other kinesthetic games are important to aid in her instruction.
• Social Studies and Science textbooks-purchase a set of CDs for the classroom teacher. This way she can follow along, hear the text and learn the information for classroom projects, discussions and more. She may be able to be an expert in one area of the chapter and fill in a simple graphic organizer as she reads and listens to the text.
• Graphic organizers for comprehension and writing are important. The classroom teacher, special education teacher, and reading specialist should have the same ones for her. This way, when she encounters standardized tests or homework, she can easily begin it on her own.
• Guided Reading Texts in Science and Social Studies --will expand her understanding at the independent reading level.
• Teamwork--Monitor her decoding, comprehension, and oral reading skills frequently and share with the team. For a student who needs extra support, the communication between team members is very important and keeps the learning goals synthesized.

 

 

 

Tackling Text Complexity

Hi Literacy Land Readers!  This is Wendy here from Read With Me ABC.  

I recently attended a literacy workshop where we discussed text complexity.  I had a few "ah-ha" moments during the session that I'd like to share with you today.  

Text complexity is something many teachers struggle with when selecting reading material for their students.  We want a "just right" fit, a book that will engage students and provide the appropriate amount of challenge.

There are three aspects of text complexity we should consider:

Quantitative Measures

Quantitative measures look at the readability of the text based on syllables per word, words per sentence, and so forth.

When determining how difficult a text is, most teachers use a book leveling system of one sort or another.  Quantitative measures, like Lexile scores, are a great starting place.  However, they may not accurately represent the complexity and deeper meaning of the text.

Qualitative Measures

Qualitative Measures consider the quality of the text by evaluating the text structure, language, complexity of the ideas in the text, and knowledge demands on the reader.
Here are a few examples:

• single plot v. multiple plot lines
• one narrator v. multiple narrators or perspectives
• sequential order v. non-sequential
• literal v. figurative language

A text's qualitative measures rely on our professional expertise.

Reader and Task Considerations

When determining a text's complexity we have to think about the Reader and the Task.  The reader's motivation, knowledge of the topic, and experiences all factor into the text's complexity.  Each reader transacts with a text differently.  Features that one reader may handle with ease, another might stumble upon.  Here are some questions to ask as you consider the reader and task:

• What do I want students to learn while reading this text?
• Will this text keep students engaged?
• How will students' past experiences influence their responses to the text?
• Do students have the knowledge needed to comprehend the text?

Reader and Task is also based on our professional expertise and common sense.

Student interest is critical to their motivation to learn.  We must get to know our students well, in order to match them with books that will engage and entice them to persevere through the most challenging tasks.

I loved this video explanation by Carol Jago.

Graphics in this post were courtesy of Ashley Hughes and Oodles of Doodles.  Check them out!

5 Engaging Picture Books for Back to School

Hello, all!  It's Andrea from Reading Toward the Stars, and I am back to school already!  I can't believe summer is already over!  My son went back to school today, ready for fifth grade ~ his last year in elementary school.

Our students come back on Thursday, and I am ready.  I usually start my year off reading books aloud to my students to get them back into the swing of things.  Here are five of my favorites!

  I love this book because it helps students and teachers realize that school cannot be everything.  In this book, the principal continues to add time onto the school days and year so that students can learn more and more.  What he doesn't realize is that kids need to be kids.  We all need to learn so much more than what is in textbooks.  Go out and enjoy life during and after school!

The first time I read this book, I was completely surprised, and I think students will be too.  In the book, the "father" is getting someone up for the first day of school.  Of course, she doesn't want to get up, much like our own children.  In the end, students are excited to see who really has "first day jitters".

Of course, this school year will be the best!  I love using this book to help students create their own goals for the year.  The book highlights a class of students and their goals for the year.  Last year I used this book with a fifth grade group, and they had some wonderful goals, both realistic and silly.

The Night Before series are perfect for getting students ready for their next year at school.  My little girl started preschool last year, and we enjoyed reading this book as she got ready for her first day.  Each year the books focus on the struggles a student may have that first day to help alleviate any fears.

Who doesn't love Curious George?  Though this isn't the original Curious George, children are entertained by his antics.  He is a special helper in Mr. Apple's class when his curiosity peaks.  Children understand that school can be a place of fun and excitement.

What are some of your favorite books to help students get ready for back to school?

Parent Tips and Tricks

Hi everyone, it's Jennie from JD's Rockin' Readers with you today!  With a new school year upon many of us I decided to update my Parent Tips and Tricks FREEBIE.  This was one of the first things that I made and put on TPT.  It definitely needed a "facelift".  

Basically, this freebie has "newsletters" that can be sent home to parents of beginning readers.  The reason I made it is because many parents want to help at home but they just aren't sure how to help.  Most of the materials that I have to give to parents can be very overwhelming.  There is usually a lot of information packed into a small booklet so I wanted to make something that could be shared over time.

Each newsletter can be sent home at your discretion.  I usually send them when I am teaching those skills in class.  Click on the picture to get this product.