Summer Reading

If Readers Don’t Read with Volume, Stamina, and Fluency; they won’t make progress.  With summer vacation starting this week, we can encourage our children and students to read, read, read over the summer break.

Reading is a skill that requires practice.  Just as practice is required to learn how to swim, play baseball, play an instrument, and ride a bike.  Children need to read in order to get better as readers.

There is a tremendous volume of research that shows a very strong relationship between the amount of time spent reading and a child’s progress as a reader.  This research suggests that in order to maintain grade-level progress, a child needs to be engaged in reading for two hours a day.  A child who needs to “catch-up” in the area of reading, requires even more time for reading practice.   

The following sites provide nice book lists and reading information.  

The first site is a LiveBinder (great web tool).

http://livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=16082

http://www.education.com/seasonal/summer-reading/

Feel free to share these ideas with your students and their parents. 

Happy Summer Reading!

Common Core Standards

The Common Core State Standards were developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, and experts, to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.

The goal is to provide teachers and parents with a common understanding of what students are expected to learn. 

The standards:

Are aligned with college and work expectations;

Are clear, understandable and consistent;

Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills;

Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards;

Are informed by other top performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; and

Are evidence-based.

The Mission Statement

The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.

Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education comments on Common Core Standards:

http://bcove.me/1f19docn

The End of the Year

Can you believe the end of the school year is almost here?  It has gone by so quickly.  Your hard work has paid off and your students are heading on to the next grade!  

I ran across some fun ways to finish out and celebrate the year.  I hope you find an idea or two you can use in your classroom to make the end of the year more memorable.

Congratulations, you have almost completed another school year!  

I know you and your students have worked hard!

End of the year ideas:

http://www.vickiblackwell.com/endofyear.html

Award ideas:

http://www.proteacher.org/a/136020_End_of_the_Year_Awards.html

Award templates:

http://www.123certificates.com/

http://www.mcsdk12.org/curr/awardsandcertificates.htm

Working on Writing

During Work on Writing, student work on writing of their choice individually or with a partner.  Working on writing provides students with time to write about something that really matters to them.  This is different from Writer’s Workshop, as writing work shop may focus on a strategy or genre.

According to Ralph Fletcher:  “You don’t learn to write by going through a series of preset writing exercises.  You learn to write by grappling with a real subject that truly matters to you."

The following websites provide students with writing ideas and activities:

http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/

http://jc-schools.net/write/create.htm 

http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html

http://www.thewritesource.com/writing_topics 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/55697/501-Writing-Prompts

http://www.theteacherscorner.net/daily-writing-prompts/ 

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/writing/writing_prompts/

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/journal-prompts.html 

http://www.timesaversforteachers.com/index_page0010.htm

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/language_arts/ideasforwriters_preview/gr4/prompts/prompts_pictures.html

Word Work

"Expanded vocabulary and correct spelling allow for more fluent reading and writing thus speeding up the ability to comprehend what is read and get thinking down on the paper."


Word study and spelling enhance students' reading fluency, writing fluency, correctness in pronunciation, and vocabulary.  Since spelling is important, it makes sense that some focus on spelling and word study be part of students' everyday activity.
Spelling instruction should be ongoing, daily, and purposeful.  Instruction should be interrelated and interconnected with all strands of language.  The primary focus of instruction should be on teaching a variety of effective spelling strategies, rather than on just memorizing lists of words.  Students must be given opportunities to work with words, to proofread their own writing, and to study regular spelling patterns.  The key to spelling development is the understanding and application of spelling strategies that enable students to become independent and competent spellers.


The following sites support word work:
http://www.spellingcity.com/
http://www.kidsspell.com 
http://www.candlelightstories.com/games/stellar-speller/
http://www.primarygames.com/see-n-spell/see-n-spell.htm
http://www.funbrain.com/plurals/index.html
http://www.manythings.org/cts/
http://eslus.com/LESSONS/SPELL/SPELL.HTM
http://www.funbrain.com/spellroo/index.html
http://www.funbrain.com/spell/index.html
http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/Safari/safari.htm
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmsv/smg/
http://www.spinandspell.com/game.swf
http://www.funbrain.com/whichword/index.html

Is spelling important?

Yes, spelling is important for literacy.  The two kinds of knowledge that predict reading success are knowledge of the alphabet and phonemic awareness.  This means focusing instructionally on spelling is important.  Spelling and word study cut across the curriculum to make important contributions to reading, writing, and spoken language development, as well as vocabulary and concept development in the content areas.

Realities of Spelling Instruction:

• Children need opportunities to experiment with words during word work and writing.
• Copying words and focusing on mechanics don’t ensure the development of correct spelling.
• Expert spellers develop a memory capacity for visual images of words.
• Purposeful writing is the key to learning to spell.
• Spelling proficiency develops within progressive steps.
• Learning to spell is a conceptual process that involves thinking about and making connections with words, not rote memorization.
• Children initially learn to spell by inventing spelling.

"Inventing a spelling for an unfamiliar word --also frequently referred to as temporary spelling, sound spelling, constructed spelling, phonic spelling, or developmental spelling --is natural. We all do it. And kids do it all the time. However, contrary to what a lot of people think, invented spelling doesn't hurt kids; our failure to teach word-specific knowledge and correct spelling does..." ~Richard Gentry

Good spellers:

• Look for patterns
• Look for word parts
• Try several ways to write a word
• Write sounds in words
• Write a vowel in each word and in each syllable
• Think about words that sound the same
• Think about words that look the same
• Check to see if words look right
• Think about what words mean
• Practice words
• Use a dictionary to check
• Use a computer spell check
• Look for words in the classroom

Learn more about spelling at:  http://www.teacher2teacherhelp.com/spelling/

Coming soon:  Word Work and Working on Writing

Tapping into Digital Media

A colleague was sharing that her students didn’t know how to use a dictionary to determine how to spell a word or find a definition.  I wasn’t surprised!  Our students prefer finding what they need to know with the click of a mouse.  

Have you thought about tapping into the power of digital media and technology for teaching and learning?  The variety of information resources available online is simply staggering. Explore how digital media can promote students' active engagement, critical thinking, literacy skills and abilities to creatively show understanding.

Here are few sites for you and your students to check out!

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/index.htm

http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/me5l/html/math5.html#

http://video.kidzui.com/

http://photopeach.com/

http://www.qwiki.com

http://tagul.com/gallery

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

http://www.onelook.com/

http://classtools.net/

http://www.watchknow.org/