Planning for Winter Projects... and a Freebie!

Hi, Teaching Friends on Vacation! (Woohoo!)

I hope you've begun to relax and enjoy your vacation! Well, I hope at least you've had the time to get your shopping done! (and wrapping, and baking, and decorating, oh my!) It's all wonderful fun and worth every bit of the work, but, boy, it's all a mighty big project, isn't it? :)

Here's a little freebie to add to your post-vacation stash of literacy center ideas. It's a set of 19 sight word phrases for building fluent phrasing and expression and for automaticity with sight words. The set also includes a student recording sheet and a "Beat the Clock" activity which my students loved!

Click on the picture to get it free at my TPT store! {{Updated 12/15!!}}

The sight word phrase cards are part of "Wonderful Winter Literacy", a set of more than 15 literacy center activities at my TPT store. Please click on the cover picture to see it! 

Here's a peek at some of the other resources in this set.

Well, my friends, that's definitely it until after Christmas! Check back next week for another post... and quite possibly another freebie!

My best wishes to all of you and your families for a Christmas blessed with the knowledge of the true meaning of the day.

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."





Sincerely,





Free Autumn Sight Word Phrases

           Once upon a time in the primary grades, comprehension skills were "taught" only after foundational reading skills like decoding and sight words had been mastered. Now research has shown us that comprehension instruction needs to begin even before a child reads - with listening comprehension, as children listen to stories and even in conversations! What seems so obvious now would have been a wild and crazy thought. Once upon a time.

Now we also know that the reading skill/strategy of fluency plays a critical role in comprehension. Now we nip that word-by-word reading in the bud - hooray!! Fluent reading, in terms of appropriate rate, phrasing, and expression, have a direct effect on comprehension.

Here's a set of 19 free autumn sight word phrase cards that you can put in a literacy center for independent or partner practice. The theme is fall, so your students will also be increasing their familiarity with basic fall seasonal words like apple, pumpkin, rake, and leaves. Click here to download your copy!

Hover on the picture & click the Pinterest button to save this to use later!

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You'll also like this set of fall riddles, a fun way to build autumn vocabulary and to model comprehension skills like identifying key details, inferring, and drawing conclusions! Includes riddle/picture/word matching cards for 24 autumn words, a board game, a writing activity, and more! Click here or on the cover to see this set.

Happy Teaching!



Fluency Activity for Your Literacy Centers

 
Hi, Everyone!
The increased emphasis on fluency instruction is making such a difference for our young readers, both in the way their text reading sounds and their level of comprehension. Can you remember how   a poor little struggler would be stumbling along and couldn't possibly remember the beginning of a sentence by the time he got to the end of it? Who knew that focused instruction and practice with phrasing, expression, and intonation could make such a difference ?!?

I can remember as a Reading Recovery teacher when I would prompt a child to "Read it faster", but honestly was thinking that the child was probably reading as quickly as he could. But it turns out that the specific prompting, practice, and expectation really do work! As in lots of other areas, we just can't assume that our struggling learners will "get it" unless we intervene with very specific and explicit  instruction!

Here's a bit of what the Panel had to say about fluency:

"Fluent readers are able to read orally with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. Fluency is one of several critical factors necessary for reading comprehension. Despite its importance as a component of skilled reading, fluency is often neglected in the classroom. This is unfortunate. If text is read in a laborious and inefficient manner, it will be difficult for the child to remember what has been read and to relate the ideas expressed in the text to his or her background knowledge. Recent research on the efficacy of certain approaches to teaching fluency has led to increased recognition of its importance in the classroom and to changes in instructional practices."

 Most of your work with fluency will probably be during reading conferences, but here's a way to add fluency practice, specifically fluent phrasing, to your literacy centers.

Your students can use this set of cards independently or with a partner. You might even want to use a stopwatch or the second hand on your classroom clock (aha! some sneaky practice with time!:) for your students to play beat the clock with the phrase cards.

Click on the picture to download your copy at my Teachers Notebook shop.

 

Happy Teaching!