Group items tagged

"A Word About Reading Workshop Reading workshop gives students the opportunity to read a wider range of material than might be found in a basal reading series and to respond to the material in a many ways (Atwell, 1989). Teachers have used this rather broadly defined model to create various experiences for their students. Generally, a considerable block of time is set aside each day for reading workshop. During that time students typically engage in the following activities: * reading and responding to literature * having group minilessons on skills and strategies * participating in individual conferences with the teacher to review progress, receive individual instruction, and make plans for future activities * sharing reading responses with the group "

The practice of sustained silent reading (SSR) is based on the belief that motivation, interest, self-selection, modeling, and time spent reading contribute to student reading achievement. This article describes a study designed to ascertain the prevalence of SSR in classrooms in a particular geographic area and the degree to which the program's original goals are being met. Seventh-grade teachers were surveyed regarding participation in SSR, organization of the program, material selection, and methods of evaluation. Findings indicate that silent reading is popular in the classroom in part because of the opportunities for instructional decision making it provides teachers. However, the individual implementation of the program has resulted in many aspects of the actual practice of SSR deviating from the original model. Questions regarding the integrity of current practices as compared to the original model are discussed, and suggestions to teachers who plan to implement or revise SSR programs are offered.

ATN READING LIST Welcome to ATN Reading Lists. ATN Reading Lists was started in 1996 as part of a librarian collaborative project, All Together Now, begun by Dale Copps. The intention was that librarians could not only use this resource but contribute to it as well. At that time, there were several of us who began web sites and hoped that we could use this fairly new technology as a place to share and collaborate. As well intended as the goal was, it soon became apparent that the vision was really not viable at that time. Dale handed the list over to Nancy Keane in 1999."

How can you help students find meaning in informational texts and become independent strategic readers and thinkers? Nonfiction Reading Power gives teachers a wealth of effective strategies for helping students think while they read material in all subject areas. Using the best children's books to motivate students, Adrienne Gear shows teachers how help students zoom-in, question and infer; find the main idea, make connections, and transform what's on the printed page. Key introductory concept lessons for each of the five reading powers provide valuable insight into the purpose of each strategy. The book also explores the particular features of nonfiction and offers lists of key books organized around strategies and subject areas.

""Sustained Silent Reading" Helps Develop Independent Readers (and Writers) Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) -- or DEAR (Drop Everything And Read), as some people call it -- can be one more tool for developing lifelong readers."

Reading and writing workshops are instructional strategies as well as organizational frameworks for language arts instruction.

Reading and Writing Workshop webpage

How To Read a Poem Out Loud Listen to former Poet Laureate Billy Collins talk about reading a poem.

"Inference: Reading Ideas as Well as Words Ideally, speakers mean what they say and say what they mean. Spoken communication is not that simple. Much of what we understand-whether when listening or reading-we understand indirectly, by inference. Listening involves a complex combination of hearing words, analyzing sentence structure, and attempting to find meaning within the context of the given situation."

List of pre-, during and post-reading strategies and activities

One of the main goals of reading is to possess the ability to understand, or comprehend, what you have just read. A great strategy to help children comprehend text is to teach them how to summarize.

When best-selling author James Patterson noticed a few years ago that his 10-year-old son was losing interest in reading, he decided to do something about it. First he started writing books for young readers. Just recently, he launched a new website, ReadKiddoRead.com devoted to helping youngsters develop a love of reading.

"Into the Book is a reading comprehension resource for K-4 students and teachers. We focus on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing. Try the online interactive activities, or click below to find out how to get our engaging 15-minute video programs."

This would be great for grades 6 and 7

Teaching English Language Learners to Read Featuring Diane August, Margarita Calderón, and Fred Genesee discussing best practices for teaching English language learners."

"Making Connections While Reading Text to Text, Text to Self and Text to World Connections "

Finding and selecting a book to read

From Writing Fix: Writing About Reading: Summarizing (not Plagiarizing!)

Summarizing can be highly effective for helping students identify main ideas, generalize, remove redundancy, integrate ideas, and improve memory for what is read. It is especially worthwhile when used with other strategies such as generating questions and answering questions (NRP, 2000). Although sometimes considered similar to synthesizing, it is important to note that summarizing is more of a part of synthesizing. While creating a synthesis lends itself toward the achievement of creating a new perspective or thought out of what one is reading, summarizing provides more of an opportunity to understand and restate the text (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000).

Lesson Plan for book Because of Winn Dixie, a high-interest text at the grade 4 reading level

Reading Level 4.0: Because of Winn Dixie tells the story of ten-year old Opal. She has just moved to Naomi, Florida with her preacher father. On an errand to the grocery store Opal finds a large, ugly, homeless dog. Opal is immediately attached to the dog whom she names Winn Dixie after the grocery store where she finds him. Together they make friends with Otis, an ex-convict who runs the local pet store; Miss Fanny, the librarian who has a desk full of "Litmus Lozenges" a type of candy which her great grandfather invented; and Gloria Dump, the lady the local children think of as a witch because of her jungle-like yard. This book will make you laugh as Opal and Winn Dixie make friends with these very likable characters in this small southern town.

Students compose found and parallel poems based on a descriptive passage they have chosen from a piece of literature they are reading. They pick out words, phrases and lines from the prose passage then arrange and format the excerpts to compose their own poems. This process of recasting the text they are reading in a different genre helps students become more insightful readers and develop creativity in thinking and writing.

Reading Strategies