Group items tagged

What is Important1. W's (who, what, when, where, why, how)2. Main Points 3. Ideas that relate to the gist What is Not1. Supporting Details2. Examples3. Interesting Stories or Opinions4. Most Adverbs and AdjectivesBut remember anything that helps you understand what you are reading is ALWAYS IMPORTANT! Strategies for Reading Nonfiction 1.Skim 2.Adjust your reading speed/slow down when needed 3.Read and highlight only the essential information 4.Substitute easy words for more difficult ones. 5.Think about the writer and the writer's purpose6.Connect to prior knowledge7.List W’s8.List facts

My school rewards kids that read 20 minutes per night for a month with an assembly. It's your average chaotic school event: Ice cream, raffles, cheap useless prizes, etc.A student returned from his first reading reward party last Thursday, beaming. His eyes were just about popping out of his sockets and the creases in his forehead were cavernous. He cornered me and rambled for some time about what he was going to read next, and how there's no way he'll miss the next party, and other such "And then...and then...and then..." fourth grader speak.On the way out the door, shortly after, he said to me, "You know, I'm not in it for the prizes." I smiled, thinking what was coming would be a brownie-point winning, "I'm in it for the enjoyment of reading," or "I just like to read."Instead, he finished, "I'm in it for the ice cream."Sigh. Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss.

States score a significant portion of Race to the Top points by opening up charter schools and pegging teacher pay to student performance—two features that are common in New York and D.C., but are virtually nonexistent in Iowa.