Keep Kids Reading during Winter Break

Winter break is upon us! The break allows both teachers and students to renew their spirits and summon the tenacity that will surely be needed to complete the school year. Yet, during the academic down time, it is important to help our students maintain their motivation to read. Consequently, we ask: How do we keep kids reading during winter break when a book is in competition with their favorite toy? Here are a few ideas that could possibly spark their interest and put some fire in their engines during the down time.

• First and foremost, send a book home! What better gift to give than the one that keeps on giving...a book! 
• Encourage students to write a book review that they can bring to school upon their return to share with the class. (Book Review Link (online) or Written format based on an anchor chart)
• Use the book reviews to spark Book Talks! Easing back into the swing of things post winter break can be a challenging task to say the least, so why not plan to have book talks using the students' book reviews. Undoubtedly, the students will be engaged because they have a buy-in.
• Spark a friendly competition with a neighboring class! Challenge the students to read at least 3 or more books over winter break. The given number may sound minimal; however, give them a goal that won't seem too unattainable then they will hopefully strive to surpass it.  Also, remember 3x18 (average number of students in a class) will mean that your class can possibly read 45 books over the break!
• Encourage your students to learn more about 1 topic that they may have interest in. Have them to list the new facts in a fun way. Certainly they will have to read via internet or a book to gather the information. 

Try one or more these helpful tips to help keep your students motivated to read and progressing toward their reading goals during the winter break. 

Writing Small Moment Stories

In an effort to help our students become stronger narrative writers, we often have to provide and create "small" manageable tasks to enable them to reach their writing goals.  Small Moment Stories can be an excellent strategy to help our young writers flourish. Elaboration is the key to small moment stories. When creating or writing a small moment story, the story can exhibit some dialogue (not too much), but should provide vivid details about the actions and the feelings of the writer's moment in time. An effective story will remain on topic and the topic will be one that is relative to the writer. In essence, allow the moment to be their moment and not a prescribed topic. The following link, gives you further insight in helping your students write Small Moment Stories.

Writing a Small Moment Story

Launching Writing Workshop

When students struggle with writing, they often feel frustrated and unsuccessful. Helping students to identify their struggles and meeting them where they are is an excellent way to bridge learning gaps. How do we create a recipe to help stimulate intrinsic motivation and effort to enable our students to become better writers? It is imperative that we consider the messages that students write as "words of value." Understanding the deeper content of student writing depends on how we plan, teach, and engage students in the writing process. Although it maybe easier to concentrate on surface level conventions, concrete strategies must be taught so that students will come to the realization that you value their voices and thoughts in their writing efforts.

In launching writing workshop, do you...

• schedule writing daily?
• create a mini lesson meeting and conferring and small group space
• organize and make writing materials accessible to your students
• have clear directives for procedures by displaying a  classroom writing expectation anchor 
• chart
• 
  
• Use Mentor Texts: http://writingfix.com/about_us/books.htm

Consider the following prescribed steps and reap the benefits of creating engaged writers in your classroom!

Still need help...consider establishing writing partners for your students. This will provide more collaborative learning experiences in your classroom. :)

Helpful Links to Literacy Resources

Reading Engagement Inventories and Comprehension Resources

Just Right Books Bookmarks for your Students' Bag of Books

Genre Labels for your Classroom Library

The Power of a Read Aloud

2015 Children's Choices Reading Lists

Writing Resources Link (includes Step Up to Writing Resources also)

Back to SCHOOL!

Welcome back to a new school year! Each year brings on new challenges and a world of opportunities for our students! As you continue to create a home away from home for your students, it is important to create a classroom environment that promotes and values literacy. Cozy nooks for reading, tables with ample supplies for writing, and learning clubs that facilitate opportunities for speaking and listening are just some of the ways that you can encourage and promote effective literacy practices. 

The following link http://www.readingrockets.org/calendar/backtoschool#welcoming will lead you to great resources that will provide you with a wealth of ideas to creating a literacy rich classroom environment and get you off to a great school year! 

Start with a Book!

Summer reading is the key to alleviate the "summer slide." Research has shown that students who read during the summer gain reading skills and those who don't often loose approximately 2 months or 22 percent of instructional time. Many times teachers are spending at least a month re-teaching material that students have forgotten over the summer. An entire month that could be spent teaching new material for their current grade level. Encouraging reluctant readers to read during the summer can sometimes be a daunting task; however, there are many ways to motivate young readers. The following link will provide teachers and parents with helpful tools to promote continued learning during the summer. http://www.readingrockets.org/calendar/summer

Reaching Every Student by Teaching in Context!

Throughout my teaching, I have observed that many students are often confused, slow to respond or reluctant to participate during math instruction. They appear timid and restrained because they are afraid of taking risks for fear of failure or not being right. Picture books with math concepts are perfect low stress tools for introducing math concepts and helping to build the confidence that students may lack in order to achieve academic success in math.


Students often times need help to build the necessary schema that it takes to solve word problems. Picture books provide a deeper source of distinction than a fixed word problem or isolated computational skills. They also provide a road map for students to monitor their thinking. Follow the link to an excellent article that describes how to teach math using picture books. 


http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2012/11/teaching-math-picture-books-part-1

Three Ways to Use Kid-blogging in ELA

Let's face it, technology is a relevant tool in classrooms today. Teachers are compelled to integrate technology into their lessons. If you are in need of some ideas for technology integration follow the link to "Three Ways to Use Kid-Blogging" for your English Language Arts instruction."

Kid Blog: 
http://kidblog.org/home

Conferring with Readers...Assessment in Action

Many teachers strive to see the importance of independent reading. What are the benefits,
how do I asses my students, how can I fit it into my instructional schedule, are just some of the questions that are tossed around in discussions about the importance of independent reading. Jennifer Serravallo provides teachers with lots of practical strategies to grow their students' reading abilities. I highly recommend the The Literacy Teacher's Playbook ( K-2 and/or 3-5) as a resource for all teachers. Follow the link to some free resources to assess and teach your readers.

Jennifer Serravallo’s 5 Lenses to Assess and Teach Readers: Comprehension 

http://heinemann.com/blog/index.php/5lensestoassessandteachreaderscomprehension/