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Showing posts with label guided reading lessons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guided reading lessons. Show all posts

Friday, October 11, 2019

USING POETRY in the CLASSROOM -- Pt. 4


It's about time, teachers, to explore more possibilities for using poetry in the classroom.  Today's focus is GRAMMAR.

One of the chief reasons I like to use poetry for grammar lessons is that the subject of the lesson is usually quite obvious in the poem.  For example, the following poem practically begs you to teach PUNCTUATION. 



How many punctuation marks you focus on depends entirely on the age and learning stage of your students.  You can see how easy it is to focus on a particular punctuation mark in this poem.  If you are lucky enough to have a smart board, this becomes an interactive lesson.  If, like me, you do not have that resource, you can copy the poem on chart paper and let the students interact with that copy.  Your grammar lesson can be as simple as identifying the punctuation marks, reviewing the role of these marks, or more in-depth instruction about the correct use of less common punctuation such as dashes and semi-colons.

A focus on punctuation in poetry also provides a wonderful opportunity to teach your students to “read the punctuation.”  Modeling the expression that punctuation invokes is an invaluable aid to teaching fluent reading.  In fact, reading poetry is the #1 way to improve fluency!  When you model reading the punctuation, overemphasize the changes in pace, voice, breath, etc.  By teaching your students to "read the punctuation," you will be enhancing comprehension, too!

Poetry can also be used to study PARTS OF SPEECH.  The following poem is one I like to use when studying verbs.  It has a nice variety of action words and I love to point out the verbs the poet chose to use in place of some “tired” ones.


A bonus with this poem is the extensive use of personification.  While you may not think a lesson on personification is appropriate for 1st graders, in order to truly understand the poem, your students will need to realize that the “I” in the poem is the March wind.  Obviously, for older students, personification is an appropriate lesson and is beautifully illustrated in this poem.

Virtually every poem has a grammar lesson hiding in it, just waiting to jump out at you.  All that’s required is to start looking at poems differently.  Try using fresh eyes to identify possible grammar lessons in this poem:


How did you do?  Here some teaching points I found:
1. The importance of using capital letters for months of the year; how hard would it be to understand this poem if it  didn’t have a capital M on the name of the month?
2. Homonyms could be studied, starting with merry/marry/Mary and/or I/eye/aye.
3. The vowel digraph /ay/ is plentiful in this poem.  You may want to make an anchor chart for this digraph.  Extend the learning by including other digraphs for the long a sound.
4. Review punctuation and “reading the punctuation.”  The hyphen may be new to your students.  This is a perfect vehicle for studying it.
5. Identify parts of speech: nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives…


Check back soon for more ideas about using poetry in the classroom. 



You can find more possibilities for teaching with poetry in --

POETRY UNIT 100th Day Poetry Activities Poetry Elements Poetry Forms Writing

POETRY TASK CARDS Poetry Unit Poetry Elements Grammar Literacy Centers

POETRY UNIT Fall Activities Poetry Elements Poetry Forms Writing

Saturday, December 3, 2016

12 Days of Christmas -- Day 3

On the ...


This emergent reader has just been renovated, with new formatting and the addition of sentence strips for rebuilding the text. I have also included suggestions for skill instruction and explanations for teaching techniques. These recommendations have their roots in the training I received for Reading Recovery™.

You can read more about this fun, little book in a previous blog post.  

Be sure to grab this emergent reader while it's free. Just hop on over to my store.


You may also like these emergent readers:

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Christmas Emergent Reader & Teaching Techniques



That means it's time for another holiday, emergent reader.  And here it is...


Green Tree, Green Tree, What Do You See? is perfect for the holiday season. The pictures not only support the text, but are inviting to color. Ask your students to color the pictures, noting the color words in bold print on each page. This will provide additional support for the emerging reader. 


When working with beginning readers, it is advisable to choose 1 strategy and focus on it until your students show mastery. While I will be covering several topics, you should choose the one that best fits the needs of your students at the time. One of the most valuable lessons I learned in Reading Recovery™ was to avoid the shotgun approach. 

High Frequency Word Practice
This Christmas reader emphasizes color words and 14 high frequency words. Some of the HFW may be unknown or partially known. Select 1 word to accentuate as you conduct the book walk. Ask your student to point to that word on each page as you explain the story to him. In this example, the chosen HFW is what.



If the word is troublesome on the first read, provide the initial sound whenever the word is encountered. Resist the temptation to teach ALL or several HFW at the same time.  

Picture Cues
Words such as reindeer and stocking are not HFW, nor should you expect your young learners to know such words in print. The illustrations provide support for these unfamiliar nouns. If a student balks when he comes to these words, remind him to check the picture for a clue. 


Or, upon turning to a page with a problematic noun, simply point to the picture cue. 

The last sentence on each page presents a noun that does not have picture support.  Either supply the initial sound or simply tell your student what the word is if he stumbles or hesitates.

1 – 1  Correspondence / Self-Checking
The print is large enough to allow easy pointing to the words as the children read aloud.  If your students no longer need to point, require them to point on a few chosen pages.  This practice leads the children to self-checking.  After reading a selected page, whether correctly or incorrectly, ask the child to read it again while pointing to each word as she reads.  Upon finishing that reading, ask her if she had enough words, i.e. was there 1 word for every time she pointed?  If the pointing did not match, help her reread with correct pointing.  It is important to ask her to check her 1 – 1 correspondence when she is correct at least as often as when her pointing did not match.  Otherwise, YOU are the one who has learned to self-check.

While the text is highly predictable, there are enough exceptions to require your students to truly attend to it.   It is not unusual, however, for polysyllabic words to be problematic.  For example, snowman or reindeer may entice your student to double point or get lost in the pointing if she moved on to the next word, but realizes it does not match what she is saying.  This is the perfect opportunity to explain that some words have 2 or more beats but still get just one finger point.  Again, ask your child to check the accuracy of her pointing both when she is correct and incorrect.

Inflections
Several of the HFW have inflections in this text. If your student is ready for this skill, draw his attention to the word by repeating what the student said. You may wish to leave your finger on the inflected word as you ask him if what he read sound right.





You are leading the child to reflect upon whether his reading sounds like standard English. If the inflection was incorrectly read or skipped, use finger masking to help him focus on and recognize it. It is important to ask the child to assess the accuracy of his reading both when he is correct and incorrect.


Punctuation and Fluency
The lilt of the story encourages fluent reading.  However, this book provides ample opportunities for learning to “read the punctuation.”  The frequency of commas, question marks, and periods make them obvious choices for “reading the punctuation.”  Resist the temptation to “read” all of the punctuation.  Choose 1 type to focus on with this book.  Introduce the other punctuation with subsequent texts.  If, for instance, you decide to work on question marks, model reading the sentence and punctuation correctly.  Emphasize the change in pitch that the question mark requires.  Then call for the student to use the same pitch whenever she encounters a question mark.  


If she reads past the punctuation, point to the question mark, leaving your finger there until she rereads and “reads” the punctuation. Learning to “read the punctuation” is crucial to comprehension and fluency.

Since this book is intended for the children to keep, be sure to send it home prior to the winter break. Encourage them to read it to everyone at their home.


[This is a revised version of this reader. If you have purchased it in the past, you can download the new file for FREE!]





TPT's annual Cyber Sale is 11/28-11/29. Everything in my store is on sale for 20% off. If you enter the code: CYBER2016, you will get an additional 10% off, for a total of 28%. *My store is on sale from 11/27 - 11/30.  The extra 10% is only available 11/28 & 11/29.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014


It's about time, teachers, for Halloween.  For your emergent readers, my original book, What the Little Ghost Saw on Halloween, is available on TPT and TN 












The simple text is predictable, following this pattern:
He saw a/an [adjective] [Halloween object supported by the picture]. 


The last page breaks the pattern, allowing the teacher to determine if the student is attending to the text or reciting a memorized pattern. 


High frequency words include he, saw, a/an, his, it, & wasBecause the last page has was in the same position as saw on the previous pages, this book is useful for addressing saw/was confusions.  Do this by drawing the student's attention to the first letter of was on that last page. Without confirming whether the child read the word correctly or not, ask her what sound that letter makes.  Assuming she replies correctly, ask her if that is what she would expect to see at the beginning of was.  By drawing her attention to this detail of the text, you are giving her the ability to self-check.

The book is offered in black and white line art.  I encourage you to let your students color the pictures, especially the pages that employ the color words.  





You may also like these Halloween products: 


   

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

A Poem for Veterans' Day

It's about time for Veterans' Day, teachers! That means it's about time for a poem.  And, of course, some activities to go with it.





You could also challenge your students' detective skills.  Since this poem is replete with polysyllabic words, ask them to find all the 3 syllable words, 4 syllable words, etc.  Put this poem in a literacy center and direct your students to find and list all the homophones and their alternate spellings.


The poem and possibilities are found in my unit, Poetry Possibilities -- Fall.

Thank you, Veterans!


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Where is the Thanksgiving Turkey?




It's almost turkey time, teachers!  In response to requests by some of my wonderful followers, I have created an emergent reader book for the time leading up to Thanksgiving.



The text is simple, predictable, and supported by the pictures.  Each page follows this pattern:
The turkey is [preposition or prepositional phrase] the [object].


The prepositions may not be familiar to your students.  However, they should be decodable, using the finger masking technique described in my last blog post.  That is, use finger masking to help your students find a recognizable chunk.  For example, on the following page, inside may be unfamiliar to your students.


However, in should be a familiar word.  By covering the rest of the word, you help your student focus on something known.  


Remind your student to quickly check the picture for a clue.  Then direct her to start the sentence again, drawing your finger back as she reaches the masked word.  Repeat this procedure, as necessary, with the other prepositions she encounters.

Where is the Thanksgiving Turkey? also provides the opportunity to work on phrasing and fluency.  Through both direct instruction and modeling, teach your students to phrase as follows:
/The turkey is/   /inside the barn./
/The turkey is/   /in the leaves./

The pattern lends itself perfectly to 3 word phrases, with one exception:  
/The turkey is/     /on top of/     /the pumpkin./

I think it is always wise to put something in that is a little unexpected.  After all, we do want our students attending to the text.

Now is the time to hop over to my TpT store to get your copy of Where is the Thanksgiving Turkey?  It is copy ready in black & white.  Your students will enjoy adding color to the pictures.  It is currently selling for just $1.


There are some great linky parties that you should check out:

  • Margaret @ iHeartLiteracy is hosting a linky party for FREE Literacy Resources.  Hurry over there!  Who doesn't love FREE Literacy Resources??

  • Linda @ Primary Inspirations is hosting a Turkey Time linky.  There are scores of resources there for you to peruse.  I bet you'll gobble them up!




Until next time...

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Word Work, the Reading Recovery Way -- Pt. 9


In the course of your word work, teachers, it’s now time to introduce flexibility for spelling patterns that change sounds.  To this end, make 3 words with the same spelling pattern, but differences in sounds, e.g. come, some, home.  


Say the words for your student, pointing out that the spelling pattern is the same.

Now, make 3 more words with a spelling pattern that changes its sounds, e.g. bear, wear, near.  


It’s time to put the task on the child.  Ask her to say the words.  Then ask her if they are words she has heard before.  If she is able to correctly pronounce all of these words, she is demonstrating flexibility.  If, however, she struggles with this, demonstrate for her how readers try different sounds until the word is familiar.  

If the student struggles with flexibility, you can also address the issue in text reading. For example, Marianne Berkes' book, Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef, is a counting book that rhymes.  Such a book is great for flexibility because it give your student inherent clues for using flexibility.  On the following page, two is a tricky word with an unusual spelling pattern.

When your student pauses at two, quickly cover the text with your hand and ask her what would make sense there.  


If you receive a blank stare, ask her to reread from the beginning of the page.  When she reaches two, insert the /t/ sound for her and wait for two to pop out of her mouth.  Most often it will pop out.  If, however, it doesn't, remind her that this book is a counting story (there is even the numeral 2 on the page) that also rhymes.  Reread with her from the top of the page, thereby pushing her to read more fluently.  When you reach two, again give the initial sound.  Now it should pop out of her mouth.  If, by chance, she still does not produce two, point to the numeral on the page.  Then, have her reread from the top yet again.  

After she reads it correctly, draw her attention to the word two, and ask her if two makes sense there.  Then ask her if the word looks like it could be two.  Assuming she answers affirmatively to both questions, reassure her that, indeed, it does say two, even if it doesn't look like to or too with which she is familiar.  If she still struggles with this text, it may simply be too difficult for her.  Toss it aside and choose another book.

As always, stay with this task until you are confident she understands it.

The time has come to end this series about Word Work. Hopefully, it has been helpful to those of you working with emergent readers.  The complete text, including points not covered in this blog, is available in my TpT store.






Now that we are in the holiday season, everyone tends to feel a time crunch.  In an effort to ease the stress, Melissa at Mrs. Bushnell's 4th grade blogspot is hosting a holiday linky party. Check it out!  It just might save you lots of planning time.

While you are blog hopping, be sure to check out 3 fabulous giveaways.  Stop by Teacher's Toolkit where Wendy is having a huge giveaway to celebrate 200 followers.  (I'm donating a product of the winner's choice.)


Jennifer at Live. Teach. Create. is having a giveaway, too.  (I'm donating Poetry Possibilities - Fall.) Take a minute to enter.



Nicole at One, Two, Three: Math Time is hosting a monthly giveaway.  Her November giveaway has more than 40 teachers donating products.  (I'm also offering Poetry Possibilities - Fall for this giveaway.)



Until next time...