Reading Strategies Goal 4: Teaching Fluency

Welcome to our book study of The Reading Strategies Book:  Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo! I am joining forces with some other fabulous teacher bloggers to discuss the reading strategies we come across in this AMAZING professional text!  If you missed my first post about this book study, you can find it here, along with a suggested way to set up your book for easy reference.

You can also find my thoughts and ideas on other goals in this book below:

Goal 1: Supporting Pre-Emergent and Emergent Readers   
Goal 2: Reading Engagement   
Goal 3: Supporting Print Work

This goal is all about fluency. Have you ever read with a child and had them read word by word with no change in tone or inflection in their voice?  Or, do you have a student who reads every word fluently, but then when you ask them the most basic comprehension question they act as if they've never read the passage?  This goal is for both of those students.

Within this goal are the following parts:

phrasing or parsing - putting the words together into meaningful groups within the sentence.

expression, intonation, or prosody - matching the feeling of the piece as they read, and paying attention to ending punctuation and dialogue marks.

emphasis - emphasizing certain words in a sentence to match author's meanings.

automaticity - reading known words automatically

pace - reading at a rate that matches how we talk.

Focus Strategy 1: Say Good-Bye to Robot Reading

Sometimes students get hung up on reading a passage one word at a time sounding very robotic.  This strategy helps to break this habit.  You might say to the student, "Instead of reading word by word like a robot, it is important to read words in phrases or groups of words together.  To do this, you might want to slide your finger under the sentence and 'scoop' a few words out together."  

You can give the child an example of what you mean.  "Instead of saying, 'She. Does. Her. Homework. After. School.'  It should sound like, ' She Does... Her Homework... After School.'"

(A possible mini-anchor chart you could leave with your students)

Focus Strategy 2: Punctuation Inside a Sentence

This strategy is for students who are reading levels E and above, where they are more likely to run into complex punctuation such as commas, dashes, and semi-colons. Using this strategy, you explain to the student that just like punctuation at the end of a sentence that tells them when to pause, or read with an inflection, punctuation in the middle of the sentence also can help tell you how to read a sentence.  

Focus Strategy 3: Partners Help To Smooth It Out

I love this strategy because I am always looking for ways to help my students to be better partners to each other.  This strategy suggests becoming a "ghost partner" where you whisper into one child's ear what you want them to say to the other child as coaching.  You might whisper, "That sounded a little choppy, right?" or "Go back and try that again."

Remember, we are only picking and choosing some of the strategies to share with you - there are so many more great ones in this section as well as the rest of the book!

If you would like to purchase the book mentioned above, you can find it here.




Other books by this author that I LOVE!





This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. 


Carol from The Chocolate Teacher is officially hosting goal 4 over at her blog, so make sure you head over there to see which strategies she chose to share!  While you are there, be sure to leave some comment love!

If you would like to link up your own blog posts about this book, feel free to do so in the linky below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Product Giveaways For Back To School

Several of my blogging friends have been super generous and are giving you the chance to win a few of their best selling products!  You can enter as many of the giveaways as you want!  There will be one winner chosen for each giveaway for a total of 4 winners!

I am giving away one of my math journals in your choice of grade level.

I love being able to give my students a model for writing about math that they can easily internalize and use on their own!  These math journals are so much more than a collection of word problems.  The journal prompts included ask students to defend their answers, using the MESS method (Model, Equation, Solve, Sentence).  Students are asked to draw a picture, write the equation, solve the problem, and then write a sentence answering the problem.  Writing about their math thinking helps students to prepare for standardized testing and show a true understanding of the math concepts.  

You can see how I use math journals in my classroom here.

You can enter to win here:   

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Katie from Resources by Mrs. Roltgen has got you covered if you are teaching Kindergarten this year!  She is giving away her Welcome to Kindergarten - Back To School Kindergarten Activities.

This pack included back-to-school activities that you can use during the first few days of Kindergarten. 

This resource includes tons of activities that will save you tons of prep and planning time during that busy first week!  Included are: 


* No prep printables that cover basic skills (such as cutting gluing, colors, letters, and numbers).

* Three fun mini-books

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* Quick Assessments 

* First Day of Kindergarten Award

* And more!

You can enter to win here:
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Traci Bender from The Bender Bunch is giving away her Sequencing Mats which are perfect for teaching sequencing skills. 

This is what Traci has to say about them:

"My Sequencing Mats quickly rose to the very top of my best-selling resources within months and are one of my most pinned resources on Pinterest! With almost 400 perfect star ratings now, these mats continue to thrill teachers!  I love that these mats provide students practice with not only sequencing skills, but also with transitional words, following directions, and language skills.  I designed these sequencing mats as a fun way to help my students practice sequencing 4-5 step tasks.

There are a total of 12 mats; 4 which involve 4-step sequencing and 8 which involve 5-step sequencing.    I've included step-by-step sentences on each page to assist those students that need extra support.  Other students may not need the sentences and will be able to sequence the events by simply looking at the pictures.  Sentences also include basic transitional words to assist students.  You might also love my Life Cycle Sequencing Mats and my Sequencing Mats Set 2."

You can enter to win her Sequencing Mats here:  

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Allison from The Literacy Garden is giving away her Identifying Character Traits Lessons and Lists.    This is such a big skill in the Common Core Standards - and I love that she has made this adaptable for grades 1- 4 so you can differentiate as needed!

This is what Alison has to say about them:

"Readers learn about a character through actions and words.  Rarely does an author directly say the character is curious or hardworking. Instead, the reader is actually using the skill of making inferences to figure this out.  For developing readers, identifying character traits can be a challenge.

When I introduce this skill, I like to read aloud a story that has very strong character such as the little wolf in The Wolf Who Cried Boy.

After reading and discussing the story, I ask the children to come up with a few words to describe how the young wolf acted.  Often they suggest sneaky or dishonest.  Then I ask them to explain which actions in the story support this.  It is important that the students don't just choose random words, but rather can give concrete examples to support their conclusion.

To anchor this lesson into our learning, I print a copy of the book's cover and add the character traits words to a bulletin board display.  

It is a great reference for future stories.  We can compare characters, connect similar traits, and the children refer to the spelling of words when they are writing their answers.  Other times, the words we are trying to come up with seem elusive.  That is when I have my students refer to their character traits list.  I've organized 135 character traits in alphabetical order.  The students keep them in their Reading Notebook for handy reference.

In order to provide several opportunities for the students to practice, I wrote several mini-stories.  Each one requires the student to identify a character trait as well as evidence to support that conclusion.

Throughout the year, we continue to identify character traits, expand their vocabulary, and add to our bulletin board."

If you would like to win a copy of this character traits list and mini-lessons, please enter the contest below!
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Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!

Explore Like a Pirate Book Study Ch. 6

Today I am linking up with Sweet Sweet Primary for our book study of Michael Matera's book Explore Like a Pirate.  Join us each Tuesday as we share our takeaways from this book that is all about engaging your students.  If you missed my previous posts you can find them here:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

This is the chapter where we finally begin our journey towards gaming our classrooms.  Matera says the first step is to choose a theme.  This theme can be for a single lesson, a unit, or the whole year. He gives several possible theme ideas to get you started including: space, high seas adventures, and super heroes.

Once you have determined your theme, you can begin putting other elements in place including: setting, characters, and action.

Matera gives several questions for each element to help you brainstorm the possibilities.  For example, you might ask yourself, "within your theme, what worlds, lands, and environments could exist?"

This chapter really is one where you need to sit down with a pen and paper to really brainstorm and plan out the possibilities that could exist in your classroom.

I have a pirate themed classroom after reading Teach Like a Pirate and Learn Like a Pirate last summer. Now my wheels are spinning with ways to add this element to them as well!  

Do you have any ideas?  I'd love to hear them!  

If you are reading along with us, please be sure to link up with Sweet Sweet Primary!

And... don't forget to enter to win a $25 TpT gift card!  

$25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card

Co-hosts:  Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher), 

Giveaway Organized by:  An Apple for the Teacher, Mrs. Humphries Class, Debora Marines TeachMagically, Dee Bibb - Teaching at the Beach, Ms. K, Kamp Kindergarten, SillyOMusic,  Sarah Griffin, and Creme de la Classroom.

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. Giveaway ends 7/16/16 and is open worldwide.

Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Reading Strategies Goal 3: Supporting Print Work

Welcome to our book study of The Reading Strategies Book:  Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo! I am joining forces with some other fabulous teacher bloggers to discuss the reading strategies we come across in this AMAZING professional text!  If you missed my first post about this book study, you can find it here, along with a suggested way to set up your book for easy reference.

You can also find my thoughts and ideas on other goals in this book below:

Goal 1: Supporting Pre-Emergent and Emergent Readers   
Goal 2: Reading Engagement

This goal is all about increasing accuracy as students read.  In order to construct accurate meaning from a text, students use three sources of information: meaning, syntax, and visual.  Sometimes when children learn to read, they may not use all of these systems together, or they may over rely on one or two of them.  This will affect their accuracy and ultimately their comprehension.

Meaning is what the reader thinks about as they read, and what makes sense based on the picture, and/or what's happening so far in the text.

Syntax is when readers use their prior knowlege of sentence structure, grammar, and parts of speech as they read.

Visual is when the reader looks at the letters in the word and uses what they know about how words work to read a word they see in print.

Serravallo says that the best way to know if a child needs to work on this goal is by using a running record.  You can take a record of a child reading any text on a blank piece of paper or use a form like this one from Mindy at Kindergarten Kidlets.

If you aren't familiar with using running records, or you need a refresher, Scholastic has an easy to read guide to help you out.  You can download it here.

Focus Strategy 1: Use A Word You Know

In this strategy, students use words they already know to help them read a word they're having trouble with.  You have the student look at the word to find a part that looks like a word they already know.  

In the Lesson Language section, she gives the example of reading the word "grown".  She says that she "... might notice that the gr is the beginning of another word that I know how to read:green.  And then I may notice that ow is just like in the word slow.  And I know "n". /n/."  She has the student put together the word using the parts.

I think this is a great strategy for your older readers as they come across those multi-syllabic words such as uncomfortable, important,  and information.  

In one of her prompts she offers, "Let me show you a word that will help." and suggests that your write a word with the same part on whiteboard and underline the similar part.  Have the child read the word they know first, and then read the word in the text they are struggling with.

Focus Strategy 2: Be A Coach To Your Partner

Partner reading is a great cooperative learning strategy where students can work together to read a shared text.  Although the technique is great, sometimes students need a little instruction in how to be a good partner.  That is why I LOVE this strategy.  I always have students who either play around or stare blankly at each other when they are asked to partner read.  The problem is not them, the problem is that they need more direction.

In this strategy, you teach the students how to coach each other by asking themselves, "What would my teacher say to me to help me fix up my mistake?"

She gives several prompts to give the students including:

Tell your partner, "Check the first letter!"

Tell your partner. "Think about what makes sense."

When I use this lesson in the fall, I am going to provide my students with a bookmark they can use with the strategies listed on them.  I will sit with the students the first few times to help coach them through the process.

Focus Strategy 3: Words Across A Line Break

I chose this strategy because in 4th grade, students are really beginning to read chapter books primarily and they often run across this predicament in their books and aren't quite sure what to do.  Many students naturally figure it out, but I always have those few who come up to me during independent reading with perplexed looks on their faces.

In this strategy, Jennifer Serravallo suggests having them write the word out when they see a broken word.

If their text says:

She started to feel more power-

ful.

The students would write out powerful (without the hyphen), and then read it.  Then they go back and re-read the sentence.

Remember, we are only picking and choosing some of the strategies to share with you - there are so many more great ones in this section as well as the rest of the book!

If you would like to purchase the book mentioned above, you can find it here.




Other books by this author that I LOVE!





This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. 

Carol from The Chocolate Teacher is officially hosting goal 3 over at her blog, so make sure you head over there to see which strategies she chose to share!  While you are there, be sure to leave some comment love!

But before you go, make sure you enter to win a $75 TpT gift card if you have't already!

If you would like to link up your own blog posts about this book, feel free to do so in the linky below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Monthly $75 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway

I absolutely love being able to spoil my readers with great giveaways like this one!  A special thanks to my blogging friends below for helping me out with this!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Prize: $75 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card

Co-hosts: Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher),  Peas in a Pod,  KB3Teach,The Bender Bunch,   Teaching Ideas For Those Who Love Teaching, The Chocolate Teacher, Ms. K, Knowledge Mobile, The Education Diva, Mrs. Roltgen, Samson's Shoppe, A Plus Kids,  Simone's Math Resources, Evil Math Wizard, Mickey's Place, Love Believe Teach with Jo-Ellen Foody, Minute Mommy, Kamp Kindergarten, Planet Happy Smiles, Sara Rucker, Jackie Crews, The Literacy Garden, Karmen, Teachers Are Terrific, and  Paula's Preschool and Kindergarten on TpT

Giveaway organized by: An Apple for the Teacher

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter form to enter.  Giveaway ends 7/13/16 and is open worldwide.

Are you a blogger who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your blog?  Click here to find out how you can join a totally awesome group of bloggers!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Explore Like a Pirate Book Study Ch. 5

Today I am linking up with Sweet Sweet Primary for our book study of Michael Matera's book Explore Like a Pirate.  Join us each Tuesday as we share our takeaways from this book that is all about engaging your students.   If you missed my previous posts you can find them here:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3
Chapter 4

This chapter is all about getting to know your crew (A.K.A. your students).  Just as it is crucial for a captain of a ship to know all about his crew in order to have a successful voyage or expedition, it is also crucial for a teacher to know all about his/her students in order to have a successful school year.  

Player Type Theory

Matera provides several tools in this chapter to help you get to know your students better.  The first tool is an introduction to player type theory.  I'll be honest, when I first read this paragraph my eyes wanted to glaze over a bit - you know the way they do when a student chats incessantly about Minecraft for hours on end?  But, I re-framed it and thought of it more like personality types since I am so not a gamer myself.

There are 4 basic gamer types:

Achievers

Socializers

Explorers

Killers (or griefers) - yeah I'm not a fan of this name either.

I found this chart at Hooptap that really explained it well.  I like that it explains that killers aren't necessarily out to kill, but they LOVE competition.  I have definitely had a few kiddos who fit into this category!  

Elements of Game-Inspired Course Design

The next tool isn't exactly about knowing your students per se, but is rather about the elements that can be used in game based learning. Matera uses Jin Radoff's four key components of gaming. These are:

Immersion

Achievement 

Cooperation

Competition

Immersion is all about setting the stage for the students to learn. What is the story you are telling them? What problem are they going to solve.  This is where you engage them into your lesson.

Achievement This category is all about mastery, and giving students the opportunity to learn and practice new skills.  In the classroom we want to encourage repeated attempts, thereby giving the student opportunity to master a skill. However, we don't want to be punitive in the process.

Cooperation is self-explanatory and probably something you are already doing in your classroom.  When students work in partners or groups, they are learning skills beyond the curriculum content including: communication, planning, negotiation, and empathy. Matera says that cooperative learning experiences appeal to both your socializers and your explorers.

Competition on the other hand appeals to your achievers and your killers.  Matera says that competition can be a great way to help your students bond as a group and give way for more authentic collaboration.  Just like a school sports team, students bond over their competitive experience and help each other at the same time.

SAPS Model

Matera introduces another gaming model, this one developed by Gabe Zichermann.  SAPS stands for Status, Access, Power, and Stuff.

Status
Matera says that as teachers, we have gotten into a habit of stomping out all displays of status in the classroom.  We want everyone to feel good about themselves and feel like winners instead of losers.  While this has good intent behind it, Matera says he has seen students stretch and surprise themselves when they are acknowledged in front of their peers.

I definitely agree with this premise.  I have seen it in my own classroom with my Kicking It Math Facts program - my students LOVE the challenge of moving up levels and never seem upset when other students move ahead of them.  In fact, they cheer each other on and ask if they can practice during the day to help their classmates move levels.

Access
People love feeling as if they are part of something special, particularly when that access is based on conditions or accomplishments. What special items or privileges could you give students as they master tasks?

Power
All game players want to have some sort of power or strength they can use within a game.  Choice (of partner or task) can be a great way to incorporate gaming into your lessons.

Stuff
This doesn't have to be tangible.  Students love collecting items that can be used in their challenges.  Think of ways your students can earn power cards, or cheat codes.

Although this chapter was definitely filled with lots of gamer speak, I definitely feel like it has my wheels turning in my brain trying to think of ways to incorporate all of the elements!  

I would love to hear what ideas you have if you are reading this book as well!