Category: Reading

6 Perfect Picture Books For Struggling Readers
Book Corner, Reading

6 Perfect Picture Books For Struggling Readers

For kids out there who struggle with reading, the thought of picking up a book can be daunting.  Reading a book, whether independently or in a group setting, can either: a) cause a great deal of anxiety or, b) cause students to “check out”, leaving them to miss key details for comprehension.  Whether students are struggling to read the words, or struggling to understand them, I’ve got a list of the 6 perfect picture books for struggling readers. 1. Press Here – By: Herve Tullet Press Here is a fun and interactive book that does not follow a traditional narrative format.  Instead it presents readers with a series of instructions, for which the book garners apparentContinue reading

Show your students that retelling a story can be creative and fun, with this story retell package! Use all of them for one story, or read multiple stories for each activity. These also make great center worksheets.
Reading, Teaching Ideas & Inspiration

Story Retell Activities

This week (May 1st-May 7th) is Children’s Book Week!  As an adult, I’m a tad bit obsessed with children’s books, which I know sounds weird.  However, read the right ones and you’ll realize how amazing they can be.  They hold important messages in sweet little packages, and are a key to our children’s future success and learning.  So, how do we equip our young readers with the right strategies to enjoy and comprehend the books intended for them?  One way is through story retelling or summarizing. Retelling a story is an important reading strategy and measure of comprehension.  It lays the foundation for students to be able to summarize effectively, discuss important concepts and overallContinue reading

A wonderful list of steps and lessons for teaching character traits.
Reading, Teaching Ideas & Inspiration

Teaching Character Traits

Often times, when kids read a story, they’ll love a certain character, relate to the character and learn valuable lessons.  But sometimes, the most valuable lessons are buried deep within a story’s framework, which means that kids need reading strategies to best understand a story and character’s full value.  One such reading strategy is determining character traits.  This is important because it allows students to examine characters and their growth, helps them obtain more meaning out of texts and helps them become more conscientious readers.  Here are a list of steps to help with teaching character traits.   Brainstorm Vocabulary for Traits and Emotions There is a long list of adjectives we can use to describeContinue reading

Classroom Organizaion, Reading, Teaching Ideas & Inspiration

Top 5 Classroom Reading Displays

If it’s not already clear, let me just say, I love reading in the classroom!  Kids with an array of interests can get lost in the right book, find inspiration in the right read-aloud and connect with their peers through a harrowing tale.  Join me in bringing a spotlight to our reading programs, whether at home or at school, by highlighting their appeal using creative displays. Here are my picks for some of the best reading classroom displays! 1. Author Studies It’s great for students to learn about and appreciate a variety of authors.  It’s provides wonderful inspiration for their own writing.  What’s more, kids can find common themes or connections between an author’s different texts.Continue reading

Reading, Seasons, Teaching Ideas & Inspiration, Writing

Ideas for Fall Language Activities

There is so much to be described in the Fall season, which means it naturally lends itself to many language activities.  Students can engage in describing, creating, reflecting and reading all about Fall features.  Take a look at the following Fall language activities that link back to curriculum.  Most of these activities can be tweaked to apply to a variety of grades and difficulty levels.       Reading For Meaning Speaking & Writing – Word Choice There are so many special experiences to be had in the Fall season, so it works perfectly to have students practice expanding their word choice and descriptions. Check out the following ideas: Writing – Classifying Ideas Paragraph Writing WhatContinue reading

Reading

Asking Effective Questions – A Reading Strategy

Asking questions is one of the most wonderful strategies to get your students delving deeper into a text.  I’ve stumbled upon a wonderful way to get your students to ask questions that will greatly enhance their understanding, allow them to make deeper connections and potentially create a lifelong love of curios exploration. After you’ve had some lessons aboout questions as a reading strategy, it’s important to talk to your students about the levels of questioning that can occur.  Here is a wonderful example: Oh, wouldn’t it be amazing to have your students asking inventive questions! The joy that will appear on your face when your students asks “if you had a Giving Tree, what would you doContinue reading

End Of The Year, Reading

Encouraging Summer Reading For Kids

*This post contains affiliate links for convenient viewing* Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know that your students were continuing to use the valuable skills they learned in class over the summer?  We can actually help to encourage valuable summer reading for kids! I recently came across “Summer reading is so different than reading for school.  Here are 3 reasons to encourage it for kids”.  It mentions 3 reasons kids should be reading throughout the summer.  The reasons are: 1. it prepares students for the upcoming school year, 2. they’ll enjoy reading more-so than they would in class and 3. kids could actually earn free books! Those are all awesome reasons for students to read over theContinue reading

My Writing, Reading

Crafting Connections – Guest Post

I recently stumbled upon a wonderful blog called Crafting Connections.  Since then I’ve frequently visited it and found wonderful ideas and lesson inspiration.  There are some amazing posts that you must see, such as: Proficiency Scales and Author’s Purpose. Anyways, I enjoyed this blog so much that I requested to do a guest post for it, which was graciously accepted.  I wrote about the importance of asking questions as a reading strategy, as well as how to get your students asking critical thinking questions.  Take a look at the post here, and let me know your thoughts! Here are more ways to check out Crafting Connections: Instagram, Bloglovin, Pinterest, Facebook I hope you all enjoy this blog find andContinue reading