Practice may make perfect, but repeated practice gets old quickly. How do we keep our kids and students reading day after day? Teachers have lots of strategies for keeping reading fresh. One way is to encourage kids to have some fun when choosing a PLACE to read. At school, we fill our classrooms with props for comfortable reading–pillows, bean bags, camping chairs. Students can choose silly places to read (underneath the teacher’s desk is a favorite). All of this helps break up the monotony that comes with any daily task. Here are some ideas, kids can read… Under a tree. Next to an open window. In the kitchen, while something…
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Use This Hand Drawn Chart to Make Distance Learning Easier
In elementary school, the first six weeks of school are all about building routines. In reading class, this means teaching students to read a book each day, for a sustained period of time. Over the last couple months, all of our routines have been upended. Students have lost the reliable reading routines their teachers worked hard to build, and parents have seen their own routines turned upside down. How can parents manage their child’s schooling while juggling everything else? Here’s a teacher trick… The “I Can” chart. An “I Can” chart lists things students CAN DO during a given part of the day. Kids respond well to positive commands (“read…
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3 Creative Writing Prompts to Brighten A Child’s Day
Writers (both student and professional) look to other writers for solace and inspiration. In writing workshop, students sometimes use a published book as a springboard for their own writing. They may emulate the organization, concept, or borrow characters from the book. This allows them to develop a story without starting from scratch. The other day, as I was reading the Magic School Bus to my son for the umpteenth time, I wondered–How would Ms. Frizzle handle school closures? How would Mama Bear explain a Bear Country Quarantine to Sister Bear? What would Gerald do if he couldn’t see Piggie for weeks on end? I began to answer these questions in…
