Sunday, March 12, 2017

The Reading Strategies Book- Goal 1

 I had a conversation with a parent at Kindergarten orientation several years ago. It was the week before school would start. I was meeting the parents for the first time and introducing myself to the kids. We talked about buses and lunches and homework and all of the typical concerns parents have. I also like to show parents an example of a book kids will be reading independently by the end of the year and a sample of writing from that May. I want parents to know where we are going and why we do all the fun, crazy, interesting, exhausting things that we do every day in Kindergarten. And then I talk about ways parents can support literacy at home- reading and talking about books together, writing cards and grocery lists, telling stories. I pass out the first book club flyers as a way for parents (primarily from a low-income bracket) to acquire inexpensive books for home. And one dad tosses the flyer aside and says "I'll buy him books when he can read books."

That sentence says a lot about why this chapter is important. "I'll buy him books when he can read books." How will he learn to read books if he doesn't have access to them? How will he learn to tell stories? Relay facts? Explore places and times far away and long ago? "Supporting Pre-Emergent and Emergent Readers" is crucial, because that's how kids learn to read and learn to love reading.

There are 20 strategies in this chapter and all of them are fantastic. Even teachers of older readers may find some of these useful for students who are below level or reluctant readers. I am going to focus on three that I have used in my classroom.

Strategy 1.3 Linger Finger

This is the precursor to one-to-one correspondence. The idea is teaching children to use their finger to linger on the page, pointing at words they know and details in the pictures. Children learn to read pictures and tell the story before they learn to read the words. The linger finger helps them slow down and incorporate details and nuances, instead of flipping rapidly through the text. As readers develop to decoding text, the linger finger helps them focus on each word and track the text as opposed to sliding.

Strategy 1.5 Word Treasure Hunt

I love this strategy for students who are ready to start decoding in emergent level texts. I've had many students (and my own 5-year-old!) who were perfectly comfortable reading words in isolation but absolutely refused to read books because it's too hard or intimidating. Like most classrooms, we have 1-3 sight words a week. I put these sight words on cards in a basket in the library. Students put on their reading glasses (dollar store sunglasses with the lenses popped out), choose a card, and choose a book. Their task is to find that word as many times as they can in the text. Children are amazed at how many words they find! And as they learn more words they start reading and pointing out other sight words that they know. Invariably, they are so proud of knowing that they can read words in books! Dr. Seuss books are fantastic for this because they are "real books" that intentionally incorporate a heavy number of sight words although you can use any text of any level.

Strategy 1.6 Characters Do, Characters Say

This strategy is for literary texts. The idea is to use pictures to describe what characters are doing and what they are saying. My students loved this strategy and got really involved. This was also my opportunity to introduce the speech bubble. I put a paper speech bubble on a stick and let students hold it as they spoke for the character. What a hit! That speech bubble stick made it into our partner reading center where students took turns speaking for characters as they read together. This would also be a good introduction to reader's theater for older readers.

I hope you've enjoyed this peek into my classroom to see some strategies for supporting pre-emergent and emergent readers.  There are 17 more in chapter one that I encourage you to check out and try for yourself. Leave a comment about what has worked for you! Follow along with the rest of the book study for Jennifer Serravallo's The Reading Strategies Book at http://croftsclassroom.blogspot.com/ .

22 comments:

  1. I like both of those strategies. I teach older children, but as you said some older readers might benefit from strategies in this chapter. I have grade 2 and grade 3, and I have 1.8 (Express the Emotions) marked for use in my class. I am looking at this chapter now and realizing that some of the strategies match up with things later in the book. 1.8 and 4.3 (use a "This in interesting!" voice) are similar, but are for readers at different places in their development.

    I love your back to school story too. Not having access to literacy experiences really is a barrier for so many kids. Lucky it isn't an insurmountable one!

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    1. Thanks Lisa! You're right, many of threes early strategies match up with later ones. Good reading habits start early!

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    2. I love the idea of having the children find the words on the cards in a book. What a great way to show them that they can read. So many times it is just about building up their confidence and being able to see that they can read. It takes baby steps.

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    3. Thanks Cindy! I started with fancy cards that looked like gold coins (because treasure). Turns out the kids liked it just as well with plain index cards!

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    4. Thanks for noticing this Lisa. Now, I will be on the lookout for these kinds of pairings.

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  2. Will you buy him a basketball when he can dunk? Will you buy him a football when he can throw a perfect spiral? Then why wait to buy him a book until he can read.

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    1. Thanks Ms M! I agree. Young readers need even more support!

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    2. Good point, MsM! Also, we need to educate parents about what "reading" means. Kids are reading (labels, icons, billboards, etc) when they start school. We can capitalize on this learning in Kinder!

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  3. What a great idea of giving the parents the book order form at the getting to know you meeting. #bookambassador

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    1. My school is 92% FRL. Most parents are single and working multiple jobs. They like bargains! Showing them a way to get books for $1 without making a shopping trip is usually a big hit!

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  4. I LOVE how you have kids find the sight in books using the glasses. This is brilliant!

    It is so sad how some people don't value reading at early ages. As a teacher, we can definitely tell which students have literature rich environments at home. I just wish all my students had that opportunity.

    One of my favorite strategies in this section is Characters Do, Characters Say as well. As a 4th grade teacher, I use this one a lot with all levels of readers.

    Amazing insights Kit! Thanks for giving me some stuff to think about implementing into my classroom.

    Tina
    Crofts' Classroom

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    1. Thanks Tina! The kids still ask about getting the speech bubble out during reading lessons and center time. They really hold on to it!

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  5. 1.6 "Characters Do, Characters Say" would be a good writing strategy too. Goal 1 in the Writing Strategies Book is called "Composing With Pictures". This would make a nice tie-in lesson. Students could tell the story with someone else's drawings, then tell a story with their own.

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    1. That's an awesome idea, Lisa! I did see speech bubbles pop up in writing after this lesson. I never thought of expanding it into partner work. I'm definitely using that!

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    2. I'm also thinking about it for writing groups. Looking at the pictures in a wordless picture book and using that to tell the story, then write the story might be good for some people who have trouble with structure and organization or keep them writing when they have no idea what to write about.

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    3. Great ideas, Lisa Corbett. I just wrote them down to explore them further.

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  6. Wow Kit! I love how you prefaced your favorite strategies from Goal 1 with a personal story. Really? You'll buy your kid a book when they can read? I agree here...Goal 1 is all about exposing your students to print...and why this is important right out of the gate! And to those who have responded for modifications that upper grade teachers can apply to these strategies...THANK YOU! I'm loving this book study already!

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  7. I really liked the idea of showing parents examples of end of the year writing and reading. I teach 4th but I still think it would be greatly beneficial to show parents what we are working towards.
    Thanks fot sharing that!

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    1. I completely agree with you! At our B2S night next year I am going to show the parents examples of end of year reading and writing. Such a great idea! I also like the idea of handing out the book club flyers. Thank you Kit~

      Tina
      Crofts' Classroom

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    2. Yes, Jgotreaux! I liked this idea, too. It gives parents a sense of what we're aiming for.

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  8. I have had this book a few weeks now, but admittedly have not looked at it or used it much yet. But I'm loving hearing all the ideas and this book club is going to be great in motivating me to do more!
    I really love your own classroom examples for both strategies 1.5 and 1.6! I'm going to try them out in my own classroom! Thank you so much!!

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  9. I like your description of the word treasure hunt. I can see Kinders and first graders really loving to do this. I used to do "read across the classroom" when I taught first grade. The kids would walk around the classroom and read what was up on the walls. Hunting for specific words in books sounds like a fun activity that will help kids cement words automatically in their brains. Although I teach 5th grade, I can see that I might be able to do a variation of this activity with some of my challenged readers.

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