Reading
Keep Teaching
To do test prep or not to do test prep…to keep with my literacy routine or not…those are the questions on most teachers’ minds. The good news is you don’t have to choose. You can keep with your regular routine and teach test prep. Just as you teach fiction, biography, and poetry as different genres,…
Read MoreNurturing the "Cognitive Enterprise" of Reading
Reading has been called a “cognitive enterprise” and it happens as a result of the connection between the reader and the text. – What do I visualize? What connections can I make? Does this make sense? – Successful readers monitor their reading, use strategies for understanding, and evaluate their efforts. To comprehend a text, a reader…
Read MoreFinding Winnie
Who doesn’t love Winnie the Pooh? He has been delighting children for decades, and his sweet nature makes us continue to adore him. However, the story of Pooh doesn’t begin with the A. A. Milne books. This story really begins back during World War I. Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian and soldier in training, sees a…
Read More4 Ways to Encourage Reading
Readers are lucky people. They can travel to new worlds, embark on exciting adventures, learn the latest scientific findings, and glimpse into the past with the turn of a page. What rich opportunities reading gives us! In today’s world being able to comprehend and communicate the written word is imperative, so encouraging our students to…
Read More"Somebody, Wanted, But, So": A Graphic Organizer
Writing summaries is an important skill students need to master. Summaries help students decide main ideas and separate important from less important details. The problem comes with the latter. Most students have a difficult time deciding what to include and what to leave out. One graphic organizer we like which may be used to aid…
Read MoreGood Books, Good Times
Reluctant readers…they can be hard to reach…hard to instill in them a love of reading. You’ve tried introducing them to novels, informational books, magazines, and nothing seems to work. These students read what is assigned, and that’s it. What can we do to inspire these kids? Poetry is not necessarily something you would pick up…
Read MoreWhat Makes a Favorite?
From the tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of children’s picture books, how does someone pick a favorite author or a favorite book? It’s an almost impossible task. Sometimes though it’s fun to reach back in time and find a book that was written 20 plus years ago and had almost been pushed aside, but as it’s…
Read MoreCelebrate the Read Aloud – One ERG Favorite
As ERG celebrates 11 years of growing all learners, we would also like to celebrate the joy of the read aloud. Just as music is said to “soothe the savage beast,” a great read aloud can calm a restless class. It also has the power to strengthen comprehension skills, build retention, boost vocabulary, and create…
Read MoreIt’s All About That “Why”
“As you read today, I want you to list three facts and one opinion in your comprehension journal. Remember, a fact is an indisputable true statement and an opinion is a view or judgement formed not necessarily based on factor knowledge. We are going to transfer these to index cards later and play a game…
Read MoreBook Club Anyone?
From the desk of Carol C. . . I love a book club. Reading the same book and discussing it with my friends brings me such joy. Can our students feel the same way? Some fourth teachers decided to give it a try. Here’s how it went. First, each student in fourth grade was assessed…
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