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If rotten to the core
Means damned for evermore
Then redemption can’t be found
Not above nor on the ground
Ever? Never?
Dualistic thinking:
You float or else you’re sinking
Please rise above the fray
Visualize the shades of gray
If you’re pure down to the bone
Go ahead and throw that stone
Otherwise…
Now it is time for the first graders- How do you end an opinion paragraph? Here I offer three possibilities.
One of my 4th graders asked me for ideas on how to start a story. We had a great conversation and looked at some wonderful examples. Here is what we ended up with:
Ways to Start a Story
Once upon a time there was…
“Mom! Help me! I can’t…” I shouted to my mom as I fell out of the tree.
———————-
“But you promised to take me to the movies today! You promised! You promised! You promised!” I started crying.
My brother slammed the door just as the rain started. This time he did not get caught in the rain. This time he did not get struck by the lightning.
———————-
I watched from behind the bookshelf as the thief snuck into the living room and opened the top drawer of the desk. He did not know I was there.
4a. Description (what does the setting look like? sound like?)
The spring flowers bloomed and the honeybees buzzed along the banks of the river. The sleepy town woke up to the sounds of the roaring river flowing down from the dark mountains. Something floated in the water, trapped by an old tree branch.
4b. Description (what does the character(s) look like?)
Jaime was only 4 feet, 2 inches tall but he was the best goalie the team had ever had. He could jump higher than kids who were 5 feet tall. But he never bragged about it. He did not have to.
Recently, I was reminded of the power of theater in education. Thinking about students who are new to English… but not completely new… I have been looking at improvisational theater exercises to get students talking. This is not a strategy to teach new vocabulary but to build fluency, spontaneity and confidence while speaking.
Imagine having two students create a skit where someone is lost and the other has to help the first person find his or her way. Imagine adding a third person who says that the first person is wrong. What would you say? What would you do? Can they ask for an additional person to assist?
Make it a little bit harder and open ended: Imagine students creating a skit based off of three nouns- pencil, stove, rake. Throw in a verb and shake things up a bit.
There are a million scenes that you can have students improvise based on anything that students need to practice. Try it; see what happens!
Need ideas for books to read? Books for you or for someone you know? Try Booklist Online published by the ALA. As they say, “over 170,000 book reviews!” Try it! You’ll like it!
If you have not seen these please take a look: Graphic Organizers. Estas ayudas gráficas están disponibles en español también.
Any time we can help students organize their thinking, plan their learning, make their learning visible, we are helping them build connections and increase the number of synapses– that is learning! With graphic organizers we can increase literacy, too.
Literacy Creates Justice!
You are right- I never explained this!
In a guided reading group one of the goals is to have students read text while supported by you, the teacher. Remember the idea of gradual release of responsibility:
Using staggered-start can be both of the last two bullets; the key is that the student is ‘doing’ while you watch or help:
Did that make sense? The idea is that each student starts and continues reading through to the end. Because each student begins at a different time, each one has to appropriately-struggle with the whole text. No one is getting nervous about everyone listening; no one is counting ahead and pre-reading his or her paragraph. This is not round-robin reading!
As coach, you cue students as they are reading and take notes about their struggles. I always ask students to use their finger or a ruler while they are stagger reading so that I, the teacher, know where they are on the page and I can match the text with their speech as I quickly check in with each student.
Remember, this is one step in a whole process; it is one way to have students practice their reading in a guided reading group. Staggered reading will mean nothing if students do not understand what they are reading. Reading= comprehension.
Literacy Creates Justice (and it’s fun!).
Here is a group of teachers practicing staggered reading:
Thank you for the question about Modified Guided Reading. Let me start with the link to the original article and a link to an article that explains the original article.
Now that you have read those, I have a copy of my Modified Guided Reading-Plan for you to look at and use.
The results are amazing when done carefully. In order for this to work, though, we have to think about our students and what they know and what they need to learn. When I use this format I pre-teach the aspects that my students will struggle with (you need to know your students!) and work on building oral language around those ideas. By the time they get to the text they will be in that wonderful Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky) and understand most of what they are reading. I try to leave appropriate challenges along the way so that their reading is in the Goldilocks-Zone.
Try it and let me know what you think. If you want some additional coaching please let me know. Remember: Literacy Creates Justice (and it’s fun!).
This is worth looking at- “NASA’s Earth Observatory has tracked down images resembling all 26 letters of the English alphabet using only NASA satellite imagery and astronaut photography.”
Here is the link on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/_5QLUVIaHq/
Here is the link to the whole alphabet: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/ABC/
Wonder at the marvels of the earth as we near the new year!
Merry Christmas!
Here is a link to my favorite Christmas movie- It’s a Wonderful Life…Enjoy!
https://archive.org/details/FilmeAFelicidadeNoSeCompra-ItsAWonderfulLife1946
S. T. Fleming 