TEMS520

Journal Writing Every Day: Teachers Say It Really Works! This article lists benefits for journal writing with special education students.

The disclaimer below the title is exactly what you will find - even though I want to teach secondary, this blog has a ton of resources for teaching math and science through literature.  I never knew cute books existed that combined reading and math for young kids.  I have fun scrolling through the math and earth science tabs on the right side of the page.  I even wrote down a few titles to purchase for my daughter and me at home - after all, I really need a break from Umizoomi!

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The National Archives Digital Classroom: Primary Sources, Activities and Training for Educators and Students. This site is very helpful for social studies teachers, however the part that I think would be helpful for teachers of most subjects is the worksheet analysis documents. The documents help students analyze documents, cartoons, films, etc. I thought it was a great way to assist students in interpreting and helping them understand different documents that they will encounter in various courses.

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This website was helpful in looking at different strategies for getting students to comprehend what they are reading. This tends to be a problem for students, especially those who favor skim and scan strategy for reading. I use a lot of these strategies for my US History class.

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As I found this article on reflective journaling, I thought what a great idea for an English middle or high school classroom. The point is to have students sit and reflect about their learning for that day, week, month, and even the entire school year. By thinking back on their learning process students and even adults can begin to understand how their knowledge has grown over a specific period of time. The article quotes the following, "you don't know what you know till you've written it down." What is a reflective journal? A reflective journal - often called a learning journal - is a steadily growing document that you (the learner) write, to record the progress of your learning. You can keep a learning journal for any course that you undertake, or even for your daily work.

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This teacher's blog is all about Shakespeare and since this is one of my very favorite areas to study, I thought this to be the perfect link to share. This teacher to get his/her students more involved with the plays they were reading decided to type a line or a few lines of speech from a certain character from that play. Students then competed against one another to see who could correctly answer the questions on the online blog.

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This blog written by Maria Salvadore is very encouraging for adults that have young children or work with young children on a daily basis. This blog points out the facts that when young children are engaged with their reading, they are more likely to always remember the books they read at a young age. Parents and other adults will see what books become the child's favorite ones. These favorite books will be the ones that the child wants to read over and over again without skipping any parts of it. Teaching children the benefits of reading at a young age will most likely make them avid readers when they grow up. Reading Rockets' children's literature expert, Maria Salvadore, brings you into her world as she explores the best ways to use kids' books inside - and outside - of the classroom. Books entertain, educate, inform, engage, and more - more than we may realize. Readers meet others and see themselves in them.

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A neat website that has premade packets that are ready to go. Includes flash cards with specific letters, worksheets, picture cards, and different games. Helpful to very young students learning their alphabet and looking to improve their reading as they are starting out. 26 Alphabet Packets Download, Print, and Assemble--Anytime, Anywhere Build a foundation for successful reading and writing with these research-based alphabet materials. Alphabet resources are one part of a comprehensive reading tutor/mentor program targeting essential reading strategies.

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I came across this article and thought I would share it with everyone. It's a short article about the importance of guided learning in every classroom.

I just wanted to share some great teaching tips for dealing with At-Risk students.

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Resources for teachers from Scholastic

This fantastic site has famous people reading aloud children's books. My students loved when I would use this site on the smartboard and have them listen to the story and look at the pictures. Each story also includes an activity guide and related activities that have comprehension questions about the story. If used in a whole group situation, you can either pause the story and ask the questions along the way or have them answer the questions at the end. There are many stories to choose from and students really seem to enjoy listening to someone else read to them once it awhile.

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I love peer response to writing in classrooms, especially in secondary education classrooms. It build relationships in the classroom, gets the students focused on more than just the teacher's opinion of writing, and allows for students to strengthen their editing. This article points out an important component of peer editing, which is making students comfortable in the classroom. This means allowing them to sit on the floor, go out in the hall, etc. If we expect students to share something personal, like their writing, then we should allow them to be as comfortable (physically and mentally), as possible.

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Reading Comprehension Strategies Based on Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Reading With Meaning by Debbie Miller Book Report Forms. I love this site and have used it often in my teaching career. My favorite section of this site is the reading section. The reading section has resources on early, emergent and transitional readers, book reports, story maps, reading checklists, task cards and discussion cards and much more. This site is certainly worth checking out.

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For teachers who are looking for new activities to get students more involved in reading and writing at home, here are a handful of suggestions.

This site lists a lot of resources for special education teachers ... for help with reading and writing and more.

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Suggested activities for engaging students in historical narrative.

Our topic next week is read-alouds and shared reading. This page has some activities dealing more with oral language, but the skills of summarizing, determining importance, sequencing and more are also in play.

just an article I stumbled across...additionally, the page contains a platform for a bevy of opinions on this "hot topic".  Poke around if you get a chance. 

Cool Book on Reading Comprehension

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