Choral Readings - Halloween Style

http://www.robertpottle.com/poems/halloween-poems.php

Above is a great link to some goofy Halloween poems that would be great for choral readings.  They'd be awesome to use for October and a great way to catch the kids' attention!  I particularly like the poem "Frankenstein bit Duracula".

Practicing Fluency in a New Way

In this week's fluency readings, one quote particularly stood out to me in the article, "Creating Fluent Readers", by Timothy Rasinski.  The quote reads, "I see many teachers converting their classrooms into poetry cafés and readers' theatre festivals on Friday afternoons to give students the opportunity to perform the assigned texts they have diligently practiced during the week."  I see this as being a great way to get children to practice reading aloud, which I learned helps with fluency, and a better option than the normal "sit in your desk and wait to be called on both voluntarily and involuntarily" approach.  This is something children can expect to happen each week and gives them motivation to practice reading aloud!

Below are some pictures of a class who implemented a poetry café setting in their room.  It's a great fun and creative way to encourage young (and old) children!  Here is a link to help you create your own poetry café!  I wonder what else a teacher can do to help children practice fluency in a fun way?

http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/Poetry%20Cafe.htm

Different Kids = Different Books! (IRA Reading)

"...not all children typically come to kindergarten with similar levels of knowledge about printed language." (IRA, 1998).  This quote popped out to me during this week's reading and I think is something very important for kindergarten teachers (and teachers of all subjects) to remember. Teachers' instruction need to account for all of these children's differences, and the way to help this is by giving them a rich print environment!  I think this is a great way to get children interested in reading because each child will have "a book for them", that they can read it as often as they want! And the great thing is when they're ready, they can move onto another great book!  Below are some examples of different print for different reading levels, that all could be included in a kindergarten class.

This book by Mo Williems is great for beginning readers.  There's little text (only text bubbles), but the pictures help display the stories perfectly!

http://www.urbanmoms.ca/mom_without_a_map/2010/04/our-favourite-toddler-books.html

Arthur books, by Marc Brown, are filled with text and are stories kindergartners can relate to.  These books can be looked at by all ages, but more advance learners may find this text more challenging and fun to read.

http://www.k12.nf.ca/perlwin/books.html

McDonald's and Wendy's as Reading Tools?!

Fun in the Classroom and at Home!

http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~tillman/WORD%20WALLS.htm

"Can You Read This?"

http://webserver.nccsc.k12.in.us/perduec/photos.htm

        In all three articles, environmental print was given as a staple tool to use when teaching young readers.  More importantly, this print can help children become "readers" before they can technically read and write words themselves.  The NAEYC uses this as a rational for their position statement (1998) and our textbook says that by using environmental print in the classroom, it can help children see that all kinds of writings are valued (Cunningham & Allington 2011).  An inspiring story of the use of environmental print was told by Donna Bell and Donna Jarvis, as they explained how their environmental print activities helped their students to see THEMSELVES as readers, even before they know all of their letters. Who knew our every day fast food restaurant signs, road signs, etc was educating our children?! I wonder what other creative activities teachers and parents can use to help their young learners?