Think Aloud

Thinking about thinking, or metacognition, helps student to become better readers.  Parents can help students by modeling how they think about reading.  When reading aloud, you can stop from time to time and orally complete sentences like these:

• So far, I've learned...
• This made me think of...
• That didn't make sense.
• I think ___ will happen next.
• I reread that part because...
• I was confused by...
• I think the most important part was...
• That is interesting because...
• I wonder why...
• I just thought of...

Reading Strategies

Here are a few suggestions to help our students become better readers.  These strategies can be used at home when you are reading with your child or helping with homework.

1. Predicting - When you read a story with your child, ask the student to make a guess what the story is about.  Take a "picture walk" by previewing the illustrations.
2. Questioning - Have a conversation.  Ask your student questions about the books they read independenlty or with you.  Why did the character make that decision?  What is going to happen next?  How did the character feel about that?  etc, etc...
3. Oral Reading - Students of all ages love to listen to a good book.  Take special time to read to your students so that he or she can hear what fluent reading sounds like.  Encourage your student to read to you or younger siblings.
4. Comprehension - Many students struggle to understand what they read.  Help your student by "thinking aloud" as you read.  You can show your child how good readers think about reading.  For example, "I wonder why________"  or "I reread that part because_________".
5. Summarizing - Summarizing requires students to determine what is important in what they are reading and to put it into their own words. Summarizing helps students remember what they read.

 Here a link to an article about families reading together.

Engage! Sing a Song

Music and singing are wonderful for language and literacy development.  Here is a favorite to help with vowel sounds:

Apples and Bananas

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas

I like to ate, ate, ate ay-ples and ba-nay-nays
I like to ate, ate, ate ay-ples and ba-nay-nays

I like to eat, eat, eat ee-ples and bee-nee-nees
I like to eat, eat, eat ee-ples and bee-nee-nees

I like to ite, ite, ite i-ples and by-ny-nys
I like to ite, ite, ite i-ples and by-ny-nys

I like to ote, ote, ote oh-ples and bo-no-nos
I like to ote, ote, ote oh-ples and bo-no-nos

I like to oot, oot, oot oo-ples and boo-noo-noos
I like to oot, oot, oot oo-ples and boo-noo-noos

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas

Engage! Write a Poem

                                                             Winter
                                                         Rainy, cold
                                                 Skiing, skating, sledding
                                            Mountains, wind, breeze, ocean
                                            Swimming, surfing, scuba diving
                                                          Sunny, hot
                                                            Summer 

Diamante poems are fun to write, just follow this formula:

Diamantes are poems about opposites: the first and last words have opposite meanings.
A diamante has seven lines that follow this sequence:
Line A: Topic A (must be a noun)
Line B: Two vivid adjectives that describe Topic A
Line C: Three interesting “-ing” action verbs that describe Topic A
Line D: Two concrete nouns about Topic A and two about Topic G
Line E: Three interesting “-ing” action verbs that describe Topic G
Line F: Two vivid adjectives that describe Topic G
Line G: Topic G (must be a noun)

Check out the online Diamante Generator!

Blogging in Classroom 23

Hello students, parents, and community! We have decided to start a blog in order to share students' work, classroom activities, and upcoming school/community literacy events. Please check back regularly as we will update the page frequently.

Best-
Mrs. Nichols