Seven Ideas for Reading Accurately

I've finished my DIBELS, and my kids are all over the ballpark as far as their needs go. 

I have noticed that several students had high "Words Correct Per Minute", but their accuracy was low. These kids read loads of words but were adding, changing, and omitting lots of words. These same kids also had trouble with punctuation, and retelling the story. They need work on accuracy!

Here are some ideas for working on accuracy.

1.  Tell them that's what they need to work on. Yes, seriously, give them the feedback they need. That's the number one trick to improvement, knowing what you need to work at! If necessary, revisit the "finger-pointing" stage to help them focus on the words that are really there. (But don't stay at the "finger-pointing" stage, of course!)

2.  Partner reading - One partner reads, and the other partner checks to make sure they're reading accurately. This works best if the children are evenly matched at their own reading level.

3. Read with an adult - Grab a spare adult somewhere to read with students! It might be a teacher assistant, a parent volunteer, or maybe even the librarian, Phys. Ed. teacher or music teacher! Anyone that has a few minutes can sit down with a child and listen to them read. (Make sure they are ready to give feedback!)

4. Have them read "out soft" - often!  The more they read so someone can hear, the more accurate they will become. That "sense of an audience" really makes a difference. When my students come to reading group, I have them bring a book they are working on, and they are expected to sit down and start reading it "out soft". That means: loud enough so that I can hear them across the reading table, but not loud enough to be heard from across the room. They find it a little awkward at first, but it doesn't take long for them to feel comfortable reading their book just loud enough to be heard. This trick also gives me a chance to listen to individuals, give a little extra time to some kids, and has the children warmed up and ready for reading group. I notice huge improvements in accuracy and fluency when I start doing this!

5. Readers Theater - As mentioned above, that "sense of an audience" is a big motivator! Plus, Readers Theater can be fun, which is another plus! There are plenty of sources of scripts out there. Just google it! Just beware of the danger of readers theater: after reading it a few times, they memorize the script. Then it isn't real reading anymore! Find some ideas here: Using Reader's Theater to Help Students Learn Kindness.

6.  Reading song lyrics - Music is very closely related to the memory. If they already know the song, they'll be able to read the lyrics. Give out song sheets and have them "finger read". As above, just make sure they are truly reading, not reciting something that they have memorized. (There's nothing wrong with memorization, but that's not the skill we're trying to improve!)

7.  Practice sight words and phrases - In order to read accurately, they've got to know the words! Experts recommend that children learn sight words in context. See the freebie below for several phrases using the Dolch pre-primer list. There are plenty more of these for other levels, too!

What are your ideas for building accuracy?

Camping Theme Week

I've been having another great week with my students! We are celebrating camping this week, and it's been grand fun!

As with any unit of study, I start with plenty of good literature:

      

     

I happen to own some camping gear, so I brought that in to show the kids. I also encouraged the children to bring in flashlights and sleeping bags. They are having a blast during reading time. They crawl right into the sleeping bags and read with their flashlights. Don't you love working with kids with imaginations?

Another thing I found in my cellar: one of these little tents from when my daughter was little.  (Yes, I know, I really need to clean out the little kid toys from my cellar, she's 20!)

It's super easy to set up, and the kids absolutely love it! It set the scene for our camping theme, and it a great place for reading or playing a learning game!

Of course, most of our classwork at this point is review work, so we're working on writing camping stories, squeezing in camping ideas in math, reading, and even science and social studies!  

 

We're learning camping safety and loads about the animals in the woods!

Here's one of my most popular resources, the Buggy Syllables game, which my students absolutely love!  I love it because it's great practice for decoding multiple syllable words!  

The above resource is included in my Camping Learning Bundle! I'm real proud of this one! It has a ton of activities to practice literacy and math skills, and since it has the camping theme, it makes everything more fun! 

 

Looking for digital resources? Here are a few camping themed Boom Learning cards for some fun review! 

 

And last, but not least, here's a nice warm fire for roasting marshmallows!

Yep, the kids love this!  

See THIS POST for more pictures of Camping Week!

Do you have any other great camping ideas?

How Do I Squeeze in Mardi Gras?

I really like to find ways to celebrate all those special days, but it's not easy to squeeze everything in. 

Mardi Gras is just about fun, and it's at a time of the year when the children really need something to lift their spirits, so I find a way to squeeze it in... by having the Mardi Gras theme overlap what I need to teach anyway!  Like Math!

Well, for one, I thought I'd squeeze a little Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day into math time with these math problems:

 

 Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day 2-Digit Addition and Subtraction Story Problems

Here's another fun way to "squeeze in" Mardi Gras without losing time developing important skills: Mardi Gras No Prep Printables! These practice important skills, but have a Mardi Gras theme. These are great if you are going to be out for the day or are so busy you don't have time to plan! 

But first, I'll read them a book on Mardi Gras and let them make some masks on Monday. (That way, the math problems will make a whole lot more sense on Tuesday!)

Each title is an affiliate link to Amazon.

Mardi Gras and Carnival (Celebrations in My World)

Mardi Gras in New Orleans: An Alphabet Book

Mardi Gras

How do you manage to squeeze in the fun stuff this busy time of year?

Sentences, With a Halloween Twist

My students have been learning the four kinds of sentences. 

They're getting pretty good at naming the 4 kinds (Statement, Question, Command, Exclamation) and can easily identify that they all should begin with a capital and end with punctuation. 

However, when I say a sentence (or when they read one) they're still working at figuring out what kind of sentence it is. So I decided to take matters into my own hands, in a fun way, with a Halloween Twist!

I made this activity with lots of sentences of each kind.  Of course, each of the sentences has something to do with Halloween!  I used mostly Dolch words, but I added some of their favorite Halloween words.  (They always remember those, don't they?)

I made some sorting cards, with reminders of each kind of sentence, along with 28 sentences.  I also added a few other activities to do with the same sentences, based on the Common Core for grades 2 and 3 including realistic or fantasy and complete sentence or sentence fragment. I think they're going to love it!  See HERE or any of the images for a link to this resource.

Here's a little movie to give you an idea how it's used!

The children will be having so much fun, they won't even realize they're practicing important reading and sentence skills!

Almost October? Time for Some Deals!

Can it really be almost October already? 

October just happens to be one of my favorite months! And it just so happens I have lots of dollar deals for you!

Brain Breaks are an important part of the day! Here are 12 with an October theme. October Brain Breaks!

 

 

 

October is Fire Safety Month! I've found these "Fire Safety What Ifs" can really get the children talking about some fire problem-solving! Click the image to download these!

 

And of course, it's football season! Be sure to click the image for a football-themed game that practices numbers through 1,000! 

Football Counting to 1,000.

  

Isn't Halloween one of the biggest holidays of the year? Here are two more dollar deals to keep your students interested in classwork during the Halloween Days! 

 

Halloween No Prep Sample

Halloween Sentence Reading

Even if you can't celebrate Halloween, you can certainly celebrate bats! Click the image to download this booklet:  

Bats Informational Mini-book

If you love these dollar deals, you'll love this: 

October Bundle!

 

Isn't October fantastic? 

I love this time of year!

Tools for Learning

I always like to start the year with lots of learning tools for my students. 

I've often bought those fancy name tags for the children's desks that have extra pictures and tools for the children to use. I keep looking for the perfect name tags, and I can't find them. Last year I made name tags with plenty of tools. It was kind of a pain, but I made all the parts and cut them all out and put them on the name tags.  

I've always given the children a 4 1/2 by 8 1/2 card with the Handwriting Without Tears alphabet on one side, and a number grid from 0 - 120 on the other side. Those cards were incredibly handy! I'll make those cards again, but I have also made the ultimate tool kit with just about everything I could think of!  

 

  

I started with Math. I made a color coded chart from 0 - 120, number lines, tens frames, a place value grid, references for money, clocks, and shapes, key words and tables for addition and subtraction facts. See the image or see here: Math Tools for Learning

 

There are 5 pages of Writing tools: An overview of the 6 Traits of Writing, a word bank, a writing poster, short and long vowel references, and a proofreading guide. See the image or see here: Writing Tools for Learning.

 

For Reading, there is a reference for long and short vowels, a list of reading genres, a list of questions to ask while reading a selection, a list of reading skills, a list of reading strategies, suggestions on choosing books and reading fluently. See the image or see here: Reading Tools for Learning

 

For Social Studies, there's a map of North America, directional symbols, lists for days of the week, months of the year, continents, and oceans. See the image or see here: Social Studies Tools for Learning

 

 There are 7 pages of Science tools: 2 pages of Science Vocabulary, a list of science skills, the 5 senses, the planets, Science and Engineering Practices, the Engineering Design Process, Typical S.T.E.M. elements,and a list of healthy habits. See the image or see here: Science Tools for Learning

 

 I've put together a sampling of these materials as a freebie.You can download this freebie (as shown above) through the image or here: The Learning Tool Kit Sampler

 

It took forever to complete all these parts, but it's going to be soooooo worth it! I'm going to have the children cut out the parts and paste them onto individual folders, one for each subject, then I'll laminate them so they can use these tools all year. 

I want the children to put them together themselves so they'll be more familiar with the materials and will have some ownership on how they are designed. 

I'm thinking I'll color code the folders, so it will be easy to find the tool they need. For example, when they're working on writing, they'll pull out the red folder.  

These tools are available individually, but are also available as a bundle. (Save HUGE with the bundle!) The Learning Tool Kit Bundle

 

I hope you're as excited about these tools as I am.  

I'll bet you can think of plenty of ways to use these learning tools!

 

 

Let the Games Begin!

We had the first day of our Academic Olympics today, and we all had a great time!

We started with our Opening Ceremony first thing in the morning. The children were dressed in their country's color, and carried their banners and flags. I also had my teacher assistant carry the Olympic Torch and an Olympic flag. The countries lined up in alphabetical order, just like they will in July in London. I carried the American flag at the end of our parade, after all, that's where the "host nation" always goes. We marched up and down all the hallways. Many of the other students and teachers peeked out of their classrooms to wish us well.

When we got back to the room, we made a big circle with all the countries. Each academic athlete touched the Olympic flag while they recited the Olympic Oath and the Olympic Creed. (I copied these almost word for word from what they use at the Olympics, with a few slight changes. I added the word "academic" in front of sports, and I left out the part about performance-enhancing drugs.)

After the Oath and the Creed, I had all academic athletes shake hands with each other and say the words: Let the games begin!

We held several contests today! The team events we had:

• brainstorming
• math puzzle 
• banner design
• reading endurance (they earned points for the team if they were focused on reading when I checked)
• Group phonics scoot

Then we also had a couple of individual events:

• reading with expression (Judged in 4 categories... volume, expression, clarity, and presentation)
• math facts (both addition and subtraction)

Then we had medal ceremonies! I let the first-place winners stand on chairs, and as that country's national anthem played, I placed medals around their necks. I still get all goosebumpy when I think of their faces as I placed the ribbons around their necks... they even did that little "head dip" to allow me to get the ribbon around them, and they picked it up and looked at it proudly, just as I've seen Olympic athletes do! (I'm a sucker for ritual, and the kids really loved it!)

Well, it was a VERY busy day, and we still have more tomorrow! I wanted to share a couple of papers I made up for my Olympics, just in case you get any inspiration for end-of-the-year activities or summer fun! Explore the image or HERE for this resource!

For a more complete resource, explore HERE.

Looking for a little more Academic/ Olympic fun? Try these No Prep activities with a Summer Games theme!

How do you keep the excitement going while keeping academics in focus?