Group items tagged

This article provides a seven step approach to spelling instruction that encourages word study based on the words students experience in their daily writing activities. It focuses on shifting spelling instruction from a focus on the number of words spelled correctly to developing an understanding of how words work.

I love this article. Spelling is so much more than memorizing and the author is right when she says that the words the student don't master on Friday are forgotten by Monday. That is why we work on blends, digraphs, onsets, and rimes. I also love the part about how spelling affects self-esteem and vocabulary as well. Awesome information!

This article really got me thinking about spelling and how it affects a students writing confidence. I like how it is an analyzing of words approach rather than just memorization. I think the chart fort student analyzing could be useful but I might change the wording to be more kid friendly.

This article tells about 10 free internet tools that can be used to build vocabulary skills. These tools can be used in a variety of classrooms for any grade level.

I absolutely love the "combine vocabulary learning and social service" part of this article. The website, freerice.com, is an amazing way to motivate the student to practice their vocabulary. Every time the user gets a vocabulary definition correct the website donates 10 grains of rice through the United Nations World Food Programme! I remember using this years ago when someone posted it to a social media site, and I stayed on it until I'd gotten 600 pieces of rice donated. I definitely want to do this as a fun activity with my student. Thanks for posting this!

Excellent choice. Hoping folks use these tips and try them out when they are applicable.

This article explores the use of iPads in teaching literacy, and the importance of aligning the technology to the best teaching practices and the curriculum.

This article shares a strategy that teachers in a preschool, kindergarten or first grade classroom can use. The strategy involves the use of the children's drawing and writing a message on the drawing. There are components such as self-talk and materials like highlighters used to draw lines to create ideas.

emergent writing "emergent writing" "zone of proximal development" "sentences" "word spacing"

This article shows how a school started to include seven literacy strategies to help them improve their academic achievement. The seven strategies include read-alouds, KWL charts, graphic organizers, vocabulary instruction, writing to learn, structured note taking, and reciprocal teaching. The article gives a brief example on how they defined the strategies and examples of the strategies in a classroom.

"How to Act Out a Story" Strategies dealing with the benefits of action out a story

I like this idea of acting out the story. It would be fun for students while also getting them to think about details from the story. I think it would be a great activity to work on comprehension.

I really like this idea! I think it would be a good way to get kids moving around and excited about reading! Also a good alternative to assessing comprehension.

This article discusses a strategy that encourages honest discussion, critical thinking, concept formation, and the use of problem-solving strategy. It also allows the children to make predictions, revising their predictions through reading, and using evidence from the readings to defend their conclusions.

I liked the different strategies that the authors wrote about on page 103. Those strategies seem to be more student-led, which could mean that students are exploring and solving problems with spelling. However, I wonder how the strategies will work if student's aren't used to self-monitoring spelling individually (asking themselves, does it look right, sound right, and make sense)?

This article presents a strategy to use with upper elementary or middle school students to help them use the context of a word to find out the meaning. The authors combined two strategies of using context clues and semantic gradients to help students make the vocabulary-to-comprehension connection explicit.

This is the main website for Read 180. It explains the program, why it is supported, how it involves the Common Core, and

This information is from the What Works Clearing House and this site has an overview of PALS with program information about the scope of use and teaching, research, effectiveness and references associated with the program. 

This article focuses on the different levels of vocabulary and what they mean. Also, the article talks about what effective vocabulary instruction is and how it should be used. It gives many different ideas for strategies that could be used to help teach vocabulary to students such as graphic organizers, academic vocabulary journals and quick writes. The article gives examples for both elementary and secondary students.

You might include the title to pique other students' interests...hard to make a decision about it if the link is all we see. Your description is very helpful.

While this is a book, there is a lot of the book included in this preview. The book discusses strategies to help students create their own writer's notebook. 

This article is about writing in early childhood education. The authors describe four stages of emergent writing and how they fall around the alphabetic principle. They give examples of four children's writing within these stages. There are suggestions for how preschool teachers can scaffold all stages.

writing early "emergent writing" scaffolding "stages of emergent writing" stages

Review for Thursday 11/14

This is really helpful to consider all the components...thanks.

This resource outlines the costs of the program, gives a description of the program and lists outcomes of various studies regarding the program.

This study helped students learn to spell words that they had often misspelled by putting the words that sound the same but are spelled similarly into the same wordlist. They also looked at student writing and worked together in small groups.

Interesting approach to grouping 2nd graders. When targeting both writing and reading instruction, spelling achievement lags far behind reading achievement. Not as important in K-1 groups. Article provided insight on strategy choices I may choose for my student.

This is the matrix for the Leveled Literacy Intervention! Enjoy!

Here is the matrix for the reading program Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies.

This is a great website that gives you a lot of knowledge about Reading Recovery Program. It talks about the background knowledge of it, who it is for, how it helps and even the cost. Great website to learn about this program.

The computer generated report that gives teacher "diagnostic" information for the entire class.

The computer generated report that shows student's ability in a variety of literacy skills, based off the quiz results.