I had so many questions after reading one of my student’s stories: “I asked my mom if I could have cake and my sister got mad at me. Mom said it was ok so we had the cake. My dad got the cake for my mom.” After questioning, I learned that Dad had bought a birthday cake for Mom and… Read More
Reading Comprehension
How to Teach Making Inferences: Comprehension Strategy
There are few lessons I love to introduce more than making inferences! Kids love to be detectives so when I come out from behind my desk in my trench coat and detective hat, holding my oversized magnifying lens, and hum the Mission Impossible song as I furtively sneak up to the board, it’s always a big hit! It’s ok that… Read More
Activities to Teach Self-Monitoring Reading Comprehension
In my previous post, I discussed using pictures as a comprehension strategy using Eagle Eye. As I mentioned, the more advanced kids become at reading, the fewer pictures their books will have. So, it’s important to teach other self-monitoring reading comprehension strategies. I’ll share some easy lesson activities you can do to model and teach kids how to make sure… Read More
Using Eagle Eye as a Comprehension Strategy
Can you believe he was picking his nose?? Not what you thought? Pictures are a huge help to beginning readers when monitoring comprehension! Even when decoding accurately, factors such as figures of speech and background experience can affect a student’s comprehension. Some kids can decode an encyclopedia (do they even have those anymore??), but if they aren’t monitoring their reading, they could be completely… Read More
What To Do With Extra Classroom Magazines
Do you have extra Scholastic News Magazines lying around your classroom? I hoard save Scholastic News magazines because I just love them and can’t imagine discarding them. However, we just never get to all of them and I always have a big pile by the end of the year. Well, I finally buckled down and thought of some ways to… Read More
Teaching Main Idea and Details
It’s time for our non-fiction unit! This is one of my favorites because kids just love learning amazing facts. It’s fun to watch them become little “teachers” to their peers, sharing what they learn and have become experts on. One essential skill we cover in this unit is finding the main idea and details. Here I’ve included ideas for helping… Read More
The Why and How of Teaching Comparing and Contrasting
If you ask a student to get you a red coat from the class closet, they will likely find it easily among a sea of black coats. However, if there are 3 red coats, they will need more guidance to find the one you want. This is where comparing and contrasting comes in. It’s a skill we use daily and… Read More