Posts Tagged ‘Reading’
Since November 2011 has been declared Picture Book Month by a group of authors and illustrators (to learn more about that, see a previous post: What are you doing to celebrate … ), I want to share a few more things I have found related to picture books on some of my favorite sites!
Wonderopolis
ReadWriteThink (I was surprised how many resources I found for middle and high school)
ArtsEdge
- Set a Poem to Music: After exploring a “singable” picture book as a class, each student examines a personally selected poem for rhythm to determine its musical meter. Using previous musical skills, students set the poem to music. As a final reflection, they create a two-page spread of a picture book that contains their “singable” poem.
- Map it Out: Explore how illustrations contribute to the telling of a story by creating illustrations to accompany text, and then creating text to accompany illustrations. Students will explore picture books (without words) and discuss the specific elements of the illustrations that “tell” the story. They will learn to “read” illustrations as they look at the ways in which pictures reveal information about the characters, setting, and plot of a story.
- Animal Habitats: Pre-readers are introduced to animal habitats through story, song, and dramatic play using children’s picture books. Students use chronological ordering and phonics to reinforce beginning literacy skills. Students explore a non-traditional method of book illustration and create their own story page
I was pleasantly delighted with what I was able to find when I went to various instructional resource site and simply searched for “picture books” since there were so many interesting finds! Besides the few sites listed above, here are the search results on Thinkfinity, netTrekker, Shmoop, LEARN NC, and even Learn360!
And remember, on Big Universe Learning, there is a whole category just especially for Picture Books that includes about 290 publisher books and 110 member-created books!
Let’s Celebrate Picture Books this month and all year long!!
*I created the image at the top by copying and pasting a list of picture book title to make a word cloud using Wordle.net (I used a tilde ~ between words to keep the words in the titles together)
Reading has been on the top of my priorities recently; more so than in the past. I’ve been weeding through my classroom library, talking more about books to my students, encouraging good reading habits at home, providing time for them to read in class and on Big Universe and overall, making sure that reading is at the forefront of my classroom.
Just a couple of days ago, there was a #4thchat Twitter chat centered around struggling readers. During that time, Mike McQueen of www.readingontherun.com tweeted to me stating, “Many Struggling Readers prefer nonfiction but are smothered in fiction daily.” That got me thinking about my own students. Do I provide enough balance in my classroom between fiction and non-fiction? Do I provide a variety of genres and texts for my students to read?
I know of one of my students whose parents came to me concerned that he was only reading non-fiction texts. My reply was, “If he is reading on his own and enjoying it, let him. We will be introducing him to a variety of texts in the classroom as well.”
Students come to us with their own interests and their own talents. Our job is to constantly challenge them with what they know and love and push them to experience new things. This is very true with reading. Whether we are using traditional texts: books, magazines, articles, storybooks, or online resources: online articles, searched information, the ebooks on Big Universe or a mixture of the two, our goal should be to get students interested in and reading a variety of texts.
How do you make sure your students are reading a variety of texts?
~EMP
Prereading is a very important step for a good reader. Every year when I get a new group of students and we begin the study of our first story, students are quick to point out that they know they should first take a “picture walk,” but I am quick to modify their thinking and tell them that not only should they be taking a picture walk, but also a “text walk.” That starts a great conversation about prereading a text.
Text Walks – Once the students are reminded of the importance of scanning text, all the different types of text are discussed: titles, subtitles, table of contents, headings, captions, bold words, words in italics, the use of different fonts and font sizes and colors.
Picture Walks – Discussing the various text features to consider also brings up the different types of pictures that can be displayed throughout a text: photographs, illustrations, maps, graphics, diagrams and charts.
Together, the two create an in-depth study of the book or story. This can lead to great discussions about what genre a book is and, of course, allows us to do other things good readers do like make predictions, ask questions, make connections and draw conclusions.
My students and I create a t-chart that contains these text and pictorial features. On one side are the text features and the other side are the pictorial. This quick graphic organizer, drawn in the shape of a t, is created multiple times throughout the year so that we are revisiting this prereading strategy again and again.
So much can happen just at the cracking open of a book whether it’s online or in hand. It’s important to get students into the habit of scanning both pictures and text before they settle in to start reading. Doing so is a great way to get young readers interested and invested in reading before they even begin.
What other picture and text features do you look at before reading?
There are many reasons to read: to gather information, to understand a concept, to complete an assignment, to learn something new, but the most important reason is to read for enjoyment. Whether we are students or teachers, young or old, reading should become a way to enjoy the world around us. Through reading we can explore new places, put ourselves in others’ shoes, discover things otherwise unknown. Reading becomes an avenue for learning and adventure.
When reading becomes just another assignment to students, some of that joy fades away. We’ve all been there. I know I have. As a kid, I was an avid reader, but once reading became more of an assignment than a choice, my enjoyment of reading dwindled. Through the years, teachers here and there in high school and college gave a spark of interest to different types of reading and it started to become more than just something I could enjoy, it truly started to expand my horizons. I discovered new authors, new topics, new reasons to read and that just added to the enjoyment. I guess reading is a life-long journey. Now, time seems to be the only limit to what I want to read.
At Big Universe, reading is balanced between teacher assignment and student choice. My students love putting books on their shelves and sharing book recommendations through the social aspect of the site. The students are also discovering the power behind knowing their own reading levels. I have shown some of my students their levels and how to search for books that are just right. A couple of boys in particular are finding this to be empowering and, in turn, are enjoying their reading experience even more.
With all the reading students are required to do, it’s important to remember to make reading enjoyable. Sometimes I have to pause myself and remember this. We’re building life-long learners and therefore, life-long readers and the key to that is to make reading an enjoyable and rewarding task.
It has always fascinated me to think of all the connections music has with reading. In fact, last year, I remember looking over my district’s literacy curriculum, thinking how nearly everything stated on those pages about reading and literacy could be paralleled to music study.
In my book, Inspired by Listening, I explore all the ways we can integrate music listening experiences into our teaching: sharing music with our students and then using those experiences to build community and inspire great writing.
So let’s consider music listening with reading. A while back, I wrote an article entitled “Listen Like you Read” and in it I explored the parallels of reading and active listening to music. For example, when someone reads, there are things they do before, during and after the experience. In fact when we teach reading, our lessons are structured around this format.
The same applies to listening to music. Before you listen, you must know some background about the genre, composer or piece. While you listen, you are concentrating on the experience by becoming familiar with the music as you listen to it many times. After you listen, you interpret what you have just experienced by making judgments about the music.
Knowing the background of the music we listen to can be beneficial. We can learn about the composer, the time in which he/she lived or the style of the piece. Learning about and playing some of the instruments that are used can also provide students with some good vocabulary to use later as well as using vocabulary words learned in music class.
As soon as we begin to read a story we are experiencing it. The same goes for listening. The more we listen to a piece of music, the more we remember main themes, hear the detailed layers of the instruments, anticipate familiar or favorite parts and even pick up on new surprises. Listening to good music has the same effect as reading a good story: we want to listen over and over to continue enjoying the experience.
After we have experienced a piece, we are open to interpretation. We think about and discuss what the piece means to us, making judgments about it, the instruments and even the composer. It is in this stage that integration takes place. Your objective for your students will determine what activity your students may do after they listen. You may want them to write, draw, create something, or practice their speaking skills. The sky is the limit.
So, how can this help our teaching of reading? By making parallels between the two skills (listening and reading) students are able to understand a concept more deeply. When I listen to music each day with my students, we take the time to really delve into a piece. We discuss it, we listen and we discuss again. What’s more, is that I verbalize the parallels between listening to music and reading a book or story. I know that by making these connections, some kids seem to “get it” more.
Understanding how they (the students) listen to music is a step in the direction of understanding how they read. And when those processes are brought to their attention, the students can practice them and get better at them. For example, a student who listens to any popular music on the radio (especially one that seems to be repeated many times throughout the day) will immediately think about the performer(s) as the first notes sound, enjoy the music as it plays and may even think about the song after it is done. Even a quick, “I love that song,” counts as a reflection of one’s experience.
Music can be a motivating factor in how you get students to understand the process of reading.
For more information about how to bring musical listening experiences into your classroom, see Inspired by Listening.
~EMP
Image from http://www.krisbattles.com/Drawing.html.
Using visualization strategies while listening to music is very beneficial to students who are learning to read and write. When students close their eyes, they can describe what they imagine when they listen to music. These experiences can be used to draw their attention to how visualization with music parallels with reading. Some students may see abstract lines and colors, they may see a story unfold, or they may visualize the video that goes with that particular song. Because visualization is a huge key to comprehension, practicing this skill with music can be very powerful.
Music is not necessarily a visual activity, unlike reading words on a page. Therefore, it is easier to bring this abstract concept to students’ attention through music. I think that’s what helped one of my students. It had been unclear if “Sarah” was visualizing what she read. Her comprehension was low and her written output was weak. In class, during our Active Listening snack time, she would listen to the music and produce good insights to what was going on musically. But more impressively, she was able to verbally express the images that she saw in her head. In fact, she was one of the best visualizers in the class. (Maybe because the words weren’t getting in her way?) It was with that knowledge that I could assure Sarah’s parents and other support teachers that she was capable of visualization and was understanding what it meant to “see the story” in her head.
Drawing those parallels between the listening and reading strategy was very helpful. I was able to remind Sarah how she used visualization with the music and that prompted her to discuss what she was seeing as she read. Slowly but surely I saw her develop her verbalization of what she visualized as she read.
Think about how you can use the power of music visualization in your classroom. You may be surprised at how much students can “see” in the music.
~EMP
A few years ago I started interviewing each of my students at the beginning of the year to get an inside look to their relationship with reading. As with many reading teachers, I find it important to get the learner’s perspective on their own progress and learning in literacy. I find it interesting how most of my fourth graders are able to give me an accurate gage on their needs.
I spend about 5-10 minutes with each student and ask them a series of simple questions:
1. Do you think reading is important? Why? Nearly all students say yes, but it’s interesting to hear how they say it. Some exclaim it with a bright face, others mumble, “uh, ha.” Then comes the why. Many students say it’s because reading makes them smarter. I always like to hear when students say the practical things like, “If you couldn’t read, then you wouldn’t be able to go grocery shopping and read the labels or read the signs to drive.”
2. Do you like to read? Why? This question if the first one where some students may show their signs of struggling with reading by answering no, or not really. Again, some exclaim their love of reading. This is also a question where students are able to show their level of love of reading. Some read because they’re bored, others show me they have good visualization. One boy this year told me he loved to read because it was like he could, “play TV in his head.”
3. What do you like to read? Of course this gives me a chance to take inventory of students’ interests. I also like to write down book titles and have a little book chat about books we have both read or get recommendations from students on books I should read up on. This question can lead to great conversation. I also take this opportunity to point out the boxes of books we have in our classroom library that contain books in a genre the student enjoys and make sure they have had a chance to look through them.
4. Do you think you are a good reader? Why? Here, again, students surprise me with their honesty. Some students start to compare themselves to others, pointing out what reading group they have been in in the past. I try to emphasize that they should only be working on improving themselves and not worrying about where they are in relation to others. We all learn at our own pace, after all!
5. How would you know if you were a better reader? Most often the answer is, “when I can read faster.” This reminds me of the post Melissa wrote last week on speed reading. I often take a moment to discuss that sometimes reading fast doesn’t mean you are a better reader. I also tell them that I am a slow reader, but I make sure I understand what I read. Another popular answer is, “when I can read harder words,” or “when I can read words more easily.” This is a good reminder to me that, even though these students are in fourth grade, it’s still important to work on words.
The time it takes to conduct these interviews is well worth it, and once I get into a groove of calling students up, time does seem to fly. The best part, though is that it does give me a depth of perception that the data from their baseline tests don’t, helping me to start their reading instruction off on the right foot.
Please share! Do you conduct reading interviews?
~EMP
Take a step back and then move forward. As with so much at the beginning of the school year, we need to heed this advice with literacy too. I was reminded of that yesterday, the first day back to school with my students. Sure, they were excited to start back at school and start their fourth grade year, but they were rusty. It’s at this point that I need to remind myself that these students aren’t the fourth graders I left in June, but the third graders that just finished their summer vacation.
To some, writing their name multiple times to label their new books was a challenge and still others had read multiple books through the summer. There is always a diverse group of learners. At the beginning of the school year, though, it’s important to meet students where they are in their literacy and maybe even cut them a little slack as the year gets underway, knowing that they will be challenged as they progress. When we are getting things started back up, however, there is a definite need for review and renewal of reading skills and strategies.
Later this week, I hope to introduce my students to Big Universe by letting them browse their accounts and complete their first assignment. For that purpose, I chose a short, easy picture book for the students to read. Being a new online format, I think it’s appropriate for students to learn with a less difficult text. Along those lines, it will also give us a chance to discuss various reading skills and strategies such as making predictions, drawing conclusion and finding the main idea as well as reviewing story structure. With all the variety on Big Universe and the easy to navigate leveling tools, it was easy to find a book that fit my purpose for this week.
I’m looking forward to using all my resources, including my new one, Big Universe to motivate my students to get back into the swing of things and become stronger readers.
Do you know the benefits of reading TO children?
Read Alouds can ...
- help to internalize sentence structure and ”book language” concepts,
- provide motivation to learn to read,
- develop a sense of story structure,
- encourage vocabulary concepts,
- build prediction skills, and
- provide a proficient reader model
How can you use material from Big Universe Learning for Read Alouds?
Do you know the benefits of reading WITH children?
- develop comprehension skills
- reinforce language and rhyming
- focus on plot and story elements
- develop and review high frequency words as well as known phonics
- provide teacher models for language use
- develop print concepts
- encourage early reading strategies
- promote the use of good reader strategies
- support comprehension
How can you use material from Big Universe Learning for Shared Reading?
Do you know the benefits of reading BY children?
Guided Reading and Independent Reading can ….
- reinforce reading strategies in context of story
- promote children’s effective use of cueing sources, prediction, and monitoring
- reinforce the development of print concepts and early reading strategies
- encourage student self-correction
- provide practice in applying reading strategies
- build self-confidence, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies
How can you use material from Big Universe Learning for Guided Reading and Independent Reading?
Balanced Literacy involves reading TO children, WITH children, and BY children!
Building literacy, for me, involves doing something with the materials that are read or written.
I am a fan of students completing projects to go along with book they have read or are currently reading. On ReadWriteThink, I found a project for creating Character Trading Cards. Although this type of project could be done not using technology, I think the interactivity of the project on ReadWriteThink makes it much more engaging for students.
The directions are clearly outlined on the site to create Character Trading Cards. This may seem to students like just a fun activity, but the pieces of information the student has to enter for the creation of the card will give the teacher key insights to the ability of the student to comprehend, synthesize, and pay attention to detail. One starts a card simply by typing their name, the name of the main character, and the title of the story.
After submitting that information, the students gets to see the creation of the trading card. Each time questions are answered providing new information, the card being created changes (immediate feedback?).
There are 5 sections (or types of information) used to create this card: description, insights, development, statements/actions, and impressions. The questions for each of these sections require students to think about what they have read and not just copy an answer straight for the book. Part of reading and understanding and story is being about to think about it and not just be able to recall basic facts.
Depending on the amount of guided practice, group work, and ability level, I think this is a project that could be adjusted to use with students from a wide variety of age and reading levels.
Here are some books on Big Universe Learning with interesting main characters that might work well with a Character Trading Card project:
