Literature Circle Models After experimenting for many years, I discovered an approach that's easy, fun, and effective. I refer to it as Classroom Book Clubs because it's a more relaxed method of doing Literature Circles that doesn't involve roles. You can view a narrated slidecast to this model by scrolling down to the Classroom Book Clubs section. On this page you can also learn about different types of Literature Circles. Ways to Structure Literature Circles Classroom Book Clubs - My favorite method at the moment is a flexible approach to Literature Circles that does not require the use of extensive handouts and assignment booklets. Classroom Book Clubs I love this model because it's a very flexible and fun approach. Mini Literature Circles (Using Leveled Readers) Are you required to use a basal reading program in your classroom? Assign 3 or 4 students to a leveled reader based on their reading level. Literature Circles with Roles Some students enjoy having roles within their Literature Circles.
Reading and Wriitng Notebook FAQ I just started reading The Cafe Book yesterday by The Sisters and I am already so excited to make some changes in my classroom because of it. You can bet that I will be doing some serious posting about it during the next month as I begin to launch it in my classroom. I got a really great email from Lindsay today and thought I would answer her questions on the blog about my reading and writing notebooks. The first question she asked was, "Do your kids have both reading and writing notebooks?" The notebook that I use in my classroom is a combined reading and writing notebook. The second question was, "Are they responsible for bringing the notebooks to class each day or do you house them in your room? I am lucky enough to have the capabilities to store the notebooks in my classroom. I do a mixture of both. As we rebuild our notebooks, I am planning on sharing more details about them with you all.
Reading and Writing Lessons Using Visual Art 37 Ways Teachers Can Use Pinterest In The Classroom 37 Ways Teachers Can Use Pinterest In The Classroom There are a lot of great technology tools out there for teachers that can make it easier to connect with other educators, get ideas for classroom activities, and find inspiration. One of the newest and best of these online tools is Pinterest, which has quickly become a favorite among educators. Using online “pinboards” teachers can save everything from photos to blog posts in one easily accessible and usable place. Educators who are curious about Pinterest should sign up for an invitation today (it’s still invite only, but it doesn’t take long to get an invitation) and start creating their own amazing collections of pins. Not sure where to start? Pinterest is ideal for getting inspired on a wide range of topics. Get inspiration for decorating your classroom. You’ll find a wealth of lessons and ideas on Pinterest to look through. Swap lesson plans. Collaborate with other teachers and educators. Pinterest doesn’t have to be all business.
Inferencing Mini Lessons These lessons were modified and modeled from ideas in Strategies that Work by Harvey and Goudvis and Reading With Meaning by Miller. I am currently working on my Masters. One of my projects for a class was to create this HUGE unit using the Understanding By Design Backward Planning Model. I decided to create a unit about inferencing because this is an area I struggled with last year and was not really pleased with how I pulled it all together. Well, this project became a MONSTER. I had no idea how big the unit would become. Click here to see a content map of all the objectives taught in this unit. Books Used in the Unit Mini Lesson Plans Printable Copy of Plans Printable and Activities Used in This Unit Other Links and Resources Books Used In This Unit: A Study of Eve Bunting: Train to Somewhere Smoky Night The Blue and the Gray Fly Away Home Books for the Browsing Box: A Day's Work The Wednesday Day Surprise Gleam and Glow How Many Days to America: A Thanksgiving Story Dandelions Red Fox Running The Wall
Reader's Workshop This website is designed and maintained by Karen A. McDavid © 2004. Ideas, content, activities, and documents for this website are copyrighted by Karen A. McDavid and should not be copied or downloaded without permission. All graphics seen throughout this website should not be removed, copied, or downloaded. You may download the banner below with a link back to this site. Graphics by Great Infographics for Language Teachers Part 1 Infographics are great learning materials. The colourful graphics, clear text and their size make them ideal for classroom integration. I have been posting some of the ones I deem educationl to help teachers leverage this resource to create engaging, relevant and personalized learning experiences in their classes. Due to their size we could not embed all the infographics in one post instead we distributed them on four posts with each one of them containing links to other posts to make it easy for you to navigate the four posts without having to move away. Teachers can print them out and pin them on the class wall for students to access throughout the whole year. Part One ( scroll down to read the content of this part) Definite and indefinite articlesAll about AdjectivesPunctuation Passive VoiceWhen to use e.g and i.e Part 2 : ( Click Here to access this part ) Part 3 : ( Click Here to access this part ) Part 4 : ( Click Here to access this part ) Part One 1- Definite and indefinte article
Comprehension Strategies - Making connections, questioning, inferring, determining importance, and more from Strategies That Work, Mosaic of Thought, and Reading with Meaning, this page gives you information on the six comprehension strategies known as making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring, determining importance, and synthesizing.
Synthesize Strategy lessons: Synthesize Students stop often while reading to synthesize the information gained from texts to form opinions, cite evidence to support their conclusions, change perspectives, develop new ideas, and, in general, enhance a personal understanding of the concepts presented in a text. Learning targets I can explain the difference between retelling, summarizing, and synthesizing. I can read independently and determine my opinion. Getting started: Are we retelling, summarizing, synthesizing? Below is a silly story I heard on the radio. There once was a squirrel who went into an ice cream shop and asked the clerk, "Do you have walnuts?" "No. The squirrel went away, but came back an hour later and said, "Have you got any walnuts?" The clerk looked at the squirrel angrily. The squirrel went out the door, but in an hour came back again. "I told you we don't have any walnuts. The squirrel went out again but, sure enough, an hour later he was back. The clerk looked surprised. "Great!"
I.N.K. Blooming Orange: Bloom's Taxonomy Helpful Verbs Poster Here’s another poster to help get you thinking about how you can apply Bloom’s higher-order thinking skills with your children. This poster shows the segments of an orange with each segment relating to a thinking skill and some helpful verbs to serve as prompts. While there are many more verbs that we could have added, we felt that including just seven in each segment would make them easier to remember (For more information, see Miller’s paper “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information.” We thought it would be interesting to depict the verbs in a circular form as opposed to a hierarchical list, given that these skills don’t often occur in isolation and are interconnected. For those of you who prefer it, we’ve also created a grayscale version of the poster. Let us know what you think – you know we’re always listening! Download the pdf’s here:
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