This link comes from Frank Serafini's website. He is the author of many professional development books for teachers on reading. I like these book lists because they are recommended from someone who knows good children's literature, and sometimes I just don't know what to read with my students. There is even a list of books boys might enjoy-which I find helpful!

This is another teacher's website that I learned of last year when taking the district's guided reading class. I linked you to the genre page, where it gives fun ideas you can try to teach kids genre. However, take some time to look around her whole site-there are lots of good ideas and resources!

Look at the links on the left to get good teaching strategies to try. I like the Mathematics link for ieas to try.

This is an online tutorial on basic paragraph writing. I think students could go through it on their own or with an adult. It is easy to follow and the graphics make it fun!

I hope this helps some of you!

I hear ya-I have some 5th graders who really need mega support too-one thing I saw the fourth grade (I think it was them) doing in the hallway was an oral practice. It was a yellow (I think) card with math facts listed- a bunch of facts on one card, and then there was a second card with all of the answers. The students was reading the problems aloud orally and giving the answer they thought was correct, while another individual was checking their oral response. So, it sounded like "one times two is two" and the adult checked. They seemed to be timed, but I don't know how it all works. I am thinking the oral and visual combo would help to get it stuck in their head. They could also record data about how they are doing. An adult could check, or I am thinking another buddy who needs the facts could check and then they could switch. I don't know how the whole thing works, but that is what I gathered from watching it while I was making copies. I am going to email LeBar and see what she says. What do you think?

Tina

Caitlin Wisemiller wrote:
> What are you using for students who need extra practice with math facts? Have you found any good interventions? Many of the websites have good ideas to collect data, but lack quick and easy ways (besides flashcards) to practice those automatic math facts? I have some 6th grades that need support...thanks!

Hello group members! I just wanted to try this forum thing. I also want to say thanks for coming up with this idea. I think it is great, and I am super excited about it. I know it is already helpful to me. I'm sorry I haven't bookmarked anything yet, but I will. Again, thanks for such hard work for everyone!

Tina

Good question-I don't think the site is too tricky. I see what you mean about figuring out some of the features-I haven't played around it too much yet, but like you said, its great that many ideas are in one place so you don't have to search the whole internet-and I'll have to try using Diigo as a search engine. I think many people on the staff would like it. I guess those who would be overwhelmed would just ignore it, but I think it would be valuable for all. I guess staff members could choose whether or not to join. What do you think about that? It might open a can of worms for you...people getting confused and wanting you to now solve any Diigo problems for them, but maybe not...have you decided whether or not to share it with the school? I don't think I helped much. Sorry! =)

Caitlin Wisemiller wrote:
> I'm glad you are enjoying it! I think it's great, but it takes a little time to figure out a few of the features. I'm curious...do you think that the rest of the staff would enjoy having this resource??? Or would it be overwhelming??? I just think it's really nice to have a bunch of website already gathered and not having to search for them. I don't know if you guys have tried it, but you can search for sites on diigo and it finds some really great ones. I like it as a search engine as well :) Enjoy!
> Tina Noll wrote:
> > Hello group members! I just wanted to try this forum thing. I also want to say thanks for coming up with this idea. I think it is great, and I am super excited about it. I know it is already helpful to me. I'm sorry I haven't bookmarked anything yet, but I will. Again, thanks for such hard work for everyone!
> >
> > Tina