Tikatok - Kids Activities: Publish a Children's Book with Tikatok ToonDoo - World's fastest way to create cartoons! Little Bird Tales - Home The Literacy Block Saturday, 7 July 2012 at 3:47 pm A literacy block should provide a balanced program of literacy instruction including the following teaching/learning approaches to support reading and writing. Essential Reading Components: Modelled Reading occurs when an expert reader reads a difficult text to less experienced readers, enabling the experienced reader to model how effective readers sound, solve and think about texts when readingThe “think aloud” strategy is used strategically by the expert reader to model thinking and problem solving actions. Reading Aloud occurs when an expert reader reads a difficult text to less experienced readers for the purposes of: building a community of readers,creating shared experiences amongst students,exposing students to new ideas, story lines, characters and contexts,exposing students to new vocabulary, text and language structures,building a love of reading. Shared Reading Guided Reading Guided Reading/Reciprocal Teaching Independent Reading Modelled Writing The Aim
Only You Can Prevent Wildfires Writing game Writing games provide skills practice with authentic texts … Simple games can provide opportunities for language experience, explicit teaching, coaching and collaboration. Here’s a simple one I was playing recently. You need 45 minutes for crafting, reviewing, revising, sharing and feedback. Start with two sentences: Jack went up the hill. What to do Organise students into pairs or groups of three and explain: Your task is to work with others to enhance the sentences by improving vocabulary, working on the sequence of words or groups of words and providing detail about your ideas which enable readers to imagine what is happening. Your improved sentence should be interesting and grammatically correct. Walk students through the task, one step at a time and allowing time for small group discussion. Instructions Copy the sentences.Cross out the word ‘went’ and substitute another word. Sharing, reflection and feedback Other examples may include: Here’s an innovation from a Year 5 trio below:
Children Bedtime Stories A List of The Best Free Digital Storytelling Tools for Teachers 1- ZimmerTwins It is all about creative storytelling. ZimmerTwins is a web2.0 tool that allows students to give vent to their imaginative powers and exercise their storytelling skills from early stages to advances ones. 2- Digital Story Telling in The Classroom This section provides resources and materials for teachers to use with their students in storytelling. It helps students personalize their learning and perform better. Students can use these materials to create a movie or interactive slideshow to tell their stories. 3- Story Bird This is an awesome website that allows students and teachers to create short art inspired stories to read, share or print out. 4- Someries Someries is a fantastic storytelling site . 5- PicLits This is another awesome website where students can choose a picture and start drawing or writing a text on it to create a story. 7- Capzles This is where you and your students can create rich multimedia stories with videos, photos, music, blogs and documents.
Literacy » primaryedutech.com Toontastic is a fantastic cartoon creation tool on your iPad. This is a very accessible tool that can be used by children as young as five and be enjoyed just as much by big kids such as myself. Toontastic’s interface is separated into 5 easy steps to create your own cartoon. Step 1: Story Arc In the Story Arc you develop your story structure. Step 2: Setting Once you have chosen a scene to edit from the ‘Story Arc’, it is time to choose a setting for that scene. Step 3: Characters After you have chosen your setting you then need to pick your characters. Step 4: Animation This is the most exciting bit, animating your characters and giving them a voice. Step 5: Music After animating your scene you a brought to the ‘Music’ section. Once you have finished with your cartoon you can sit back and enjoy what you have created. I can see ‘Toontastic’ being used successfully in a classroom to assist students with developing their narrative story telling skills.
2 Apps to Embed Writing into Student’s Life by John Hardison (from gettingsmart.com) I can’t even begin to quantify how many times I have been blessed with the challenge of working with a reluctant writer. During 14 years in the Language Arts classroom, I have heard “I hate writing” a thousand times. Sure, everybody loves those students who scan the writing prompt a couple of times just before their minds and hearts connect with the pens and bleed ink onto the paper in an effortless representation of creativity and mastery of rhetorical strategies. Taking natural writers to the next level is also a daunting task, but I will forever be grateful for those who stare at the paper with confusion and anxiety while hoping words will magically fill up the empty lines. Their apathy for writing shakes me to the core in such a way that leaves me scratching my hairless head and searching for any angle to prove how essential self-expression is to living. How to Ignite Passion Into Reluctant Writers “So, you hate writing, huh?”
Alternatives to Book Reports Being able to consume, critique, and create media is so important for our 21st century students. While I love to write about books in my book reviews, lots of children don't share my enthusiasm. If your kids or students groan at the mere mention of writing a book report, consider some alternative ideas. Instead of a book report, have your kids make a book trailer! If you're not sure where to start, check out this article by Kim Chatel, Making a Digital Story with Kids. Book trailers are a great way to have children focus on summarising plot while also attempting to convey something of the mood or tone of a novel. You can find many examples of downloadable book trailers suitable for children at Book Trailers - Movies for Literacy. Making a book trailer or any short video with your kids/students is a perfect time to discuss copyright with them. Instead of a book report, have your kids design a poster. Instead of a book report, have your kids design an advertisement for the book.
Ten Ways to Cultivate a Love of Reading in Students As a teacher, I was obsessed with cultivating a love of reading in my students. I love to read, loved it as a kid too. I'm equally compelled to ensure that my own child loves reading -- and he does. I well aware that I'm on a mission -- but I also know it's a worthy one! Here are ten suggestions for how any teacher, teaching any subject can participate in this mission, and how parents and administrators can help. Read. There's so much more we can all do -- from the superintendent to the classroom teacher, the custodian to the parent's association. Teaches, how do you cultivate a love of reading?
Using StoryWorks and Edmodo for Debate and Persuasive Writing Tagged with: elementary schoolLanguage Arts This is a guest post from Lindsey Fuller, a 6th grade Elementary School Teacher in Decatur, Illinois. The full version of her post can be found on her blog at 6thgradetales.com. If you are interested in contributing to the Edmodo Blog, please complete this form. Connect with Lindsey on Edmodo or follow her @linlin8! My students really resist writing. Scholastic To The Rescue To teach persuasive writing, I recently shared an article with my students “Should Girls Play on Boys’ Sports Teams?” Taking Sides and Using Edmodo to Foster & Teach Debate In subsequent class periods, I then asked the students to choose a side and divided the class into groups that included people supporting both sides of the argument. Using Edmodo, I polled the class about their opinions. This allowed us to begin the debate on a small scale, and gave us some time to discuss debate etiquette and guidelines. The debate worked very well on Edmodo. Extending the Argument