JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans. Join now (it's free).
Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.
Blog Posts by Tag
In the past 7 days
Blog Posts by Date
Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: guided reading, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 21 of 21
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: guided reading in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
Check out LEE & LOW BOOKS’ Building Classroom Community Unit for First Grade! The FREE and downloadableunit consists of eight read aloud lesson plans to inspire your best classroom community yet.
The start of first grade is ripe with opportunities for building long-lasting positive school behaviors and attitudes. Time spent building relationships and establishing social and academic expectations can pay dividends all year long.
Using a rich collection of diverse picture books to support this work lays the foundation for a classroom culture of appreciation and acceptance.
The Building Classroom Community Unit for First Gradeconsists of eight read alouds and provides a structured approach for this important work, yet the lessons are flexible enough for you to teach language and behaviors specific to your students’ population, preferences, and goals. Each lesson is intended for multiple days so that from the beginning students are exposed to close reading and the value of multiple readings. We believe the first eight read alouds, or roughly the first two months of school, are critical to setting the tone of your classroom community, read aloud procedures, and expectations for engagement.
review and build on the expectations for listening and discussion participation introduced in kindergarten, with a new emphasis on staying focused on a topic and building on others’ responses
encourage students to learn about one another through discussions of favorite individual and family pastimes and goals for the year ahead
engage in rigorous yet developmentally appropriate discussions about crucial topics such as individual strengths and challenges, managing disagreements kindly, and persevering through mistakes and difficult tasks
Each lesson may be used as a stand alone, but we hope that using these books as a broad unit will help lay the foundation for a strong classroom community with strong learning expectations. We designed the unit to spiral. Additionally, each lesson and book can be adapted for other grades (and we hope you will do this!).
Book extension activities encourage exploration of these topics through writing, drama, and art, as well as lay the foundation for collaborative learning during your year.
It’s finally September, which means back-to-school season has officially begun! Plan out your month with these book recommendations and resources to get you ready for the autumn season:
We at LEE & LOW BOOKS believe that high-quality bilingual books help build a solid foundation to achieve literacy in any language while affirming and validating a child’s identity, culture, and home language. We are so excited and honored to share this one educator’s example of why books featuring characters like her students belong in her classroom and curriculum.
In this guest post, Sandra L. Osorio describes using books that captured her students’ bilingual and bicultural experiences. An elementary bilingual teacher for eight years, Osorio is now an assistant professor at Illinois State University. This article originally appeared in Rethinking Schools magazine, and is cross-posted here with permission. Article is also available in Spanish from Rethinking Schools.
BY SANDRA L. OSORIO
I was sitting around a kidney-shaped table with Alejandra, Juliana, and Lucia, 2nd graders who had chosen to read Del Norte al Sur (From North to South) by René Colato Laínez. I read the book’s introduction out loud, which included the word deportado (deported). I asked my students: “¿Qué es deportar? ¿Ustedes saben qué significa?” (What is deported? Do you know what it means?) Lucia looked straight at me and said, “Como a mi tío lo deportaron”. (Like my uncle, they deported him.)
Our class was part of a developmental bilingual program with all native Spanish speakers. I had introduced literature discussions the previous year when I had the same students in 1st grade, but now I was carefully choosing books with themes I thought would resonate with my students’ lives, including the complexities of being bilingual and bicultural. In Del Norte al Sur, José desperately misses his mother, who has been deported to Tijuana because she doesn’t have the right papers to be in the United States. I knew that some of my students were also missing members of their families. One student’s father had been deported back to Mexico and he had not seen him in years. Another student’s father had separated from her mother and moved to a city more than three hours away. I hoped these two students would connect with José’s problems and begin to talk about their feelings. I soon learned that many other students shared similar feelings and experiences.
Although immigration is passionately debated in the media, it is an issue often ignored in schools, even though it’s central to the lived experiences of Latina/o children—even those born in the United States. This was something I didn’t realize until I created space for students’ lives in the curriculum.
I originally decided to teach bilingual students because of the struggles I had faced as a bilingual child myself. I attended a bilingual (Spanish-English) preschool, but when my parents enrolled me in a private, English-only kindergarten, they were told to immediately stop speaking Spanish to me because it would “confuse me.” This was surprising to my parents—I had not even entered the classroom yet. My parents made the decision to continue to speak Spanish in our household; they wanted me to be able to communicate with our extended family in Colombia. I am grateful for this decision because it allowed me to grow up bilingual and maintain ties to my bicultural heritage.
At school, I don’t remember ever reading a story with a main character who was bilingual or bicultural. Because Latina/o culture and people were invisible in the curriculum, I felt I had to keep my Spanish language knowledge at home and hidden from my teachers and classmates.
I did not want another generation of students to feel like I did. I wanted to help students build and nurture their cultural and linguistic pride. I wanted to make sure that bilingual students were held to the same high expectations as other students. And I wanted them to understand that they did not have to give up their home language to be successful.
So I fulfilled my dream and became a teacher. All of my students were emergent bilinguals who spoke Spanish as their home language and were born in the United States, many in the same town where our school is located. Of my 20 students, 16 were of Mexican descent, three were Guatemalan, and one child had one Guatemalan parent and one Mexican parent.
Bilingual Isn’t Necessarily Bicultural
Our program was supposed to be one of academic enrichment, using both the students’ native language and English for academic instruction. The primary goal was development of biliteracy. In 2nd grade, 70 percent of the school day was to be in Spanish and 30 percent in English. But since 3rd graders in the program were not “making benchmark” on state tests, I was pressured to introduce more English in my 2nd-grade classroom.
For the first couple of years I was a rule follower. I implemented the exact curriculum passed down from the administration without question, including the required language arts curriculum. It was a scripted basal reader program—the exact same one used by the non-bilingual classrooms—only it had been translated into Spanish. Each week we read a story from an anthology and worked on the particular reading skill dictated by the manual.
Diversity Gap in Children’s Books Infographic 2015 – click for larger image
This was convenient for me as a beginning teacher because it is challenging to find quality texts in Spanish. According to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, of an estimated 5,000 children’s books published in the United States in 2014, only 66 were about Latinas/os. At least, I told myself, my students were reading in their native language on a daily basis.
Yet I began noticing that my students were not seeing themselves in the stories we read. The basal reader had more than 20 different stories, but only one that included a Latina/o-looking individual, and nowhere in the story did it talk about any of the complexities of being a bilingual or bicultural child.
My students were learning to read in Spanish that had been translated from the English, with texts that were Latina/o-culture free. The basal reader conveyed a clear message: Diverse experiences don’t matter. Every student was treated the same, given the same story to read, and taught the same skills. There was no differentiation. There was no mirror. There was no joy.
I began to question whether what I was doing was in the best interests of my students. I realized that I had to be the one to advocate for them.
I decided to bring in more literature written by Latina/o authors about Latina/o children. I began to compile a list of books by award-winning authors on such lists as the Pura Belpré, the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, and the Américas Award. I also looked for additional books by authors I already knew: Alma Flor Ada, Gloria Anzaldúa, and René Colato Laínez. In addition to Del Norte al Sur, the books I chose included La superniña del cilantro, by Juan Felipe Herrera; Esperando a Papá, by René Colato Laínez; Prietita y la llorona, by Gloria Anzaldúa; and Pepita habla dos veces, by Ofelia Dumas Lachtman.
The greatest challenge I faced was getting multiple copies of the books I wanted my students to read in small groups. To clear this roadblock, I applied for and received a grant to purchase books. I also borrowed copies from colleagues and scoured the shelves of multiple public libraries around the area. One way or the other, I was able to get four to five copies of each book.
I centered the literature discussion groups around four themes: Family, Cultural Stories, Language, and English. For each theme, I gave students four or five titles to choose from. I started each unit by giving a book talk in which I shared a few passages from each of the book choices. Then I gave students time to browse through the books and fill out a ballot ranking their top choices. Each group of literature discussions was five days long, including two days of preparation and three days of group discussion that I facilitated. Students prepared for discussions by reading the story and marking the book with sticky notes. They used the sticky notes so they would remember what they wanted to say in the discussion group. To help with that process, I gave them a sheet with sentence starters.
When our classroom shifted from basal-based reading instruction to literature-based discussions, I noticed an immediate change in my students. They were more engaged in the stories. Through the personal connections they shared, I learned new things about them and their families. Our literature discussion groups became a place where we came together and shared our joys and the difficulties we were going through. It became a place where we learned that we were not alone, and that the curriculum could be a space for reflecting and holding our own experiences. Students who had been labeled with “low proficiency” in reading on the benchmark test at the beginning of the school year were often the ones talking the most during the discussions. Our conversations helped them feel more comfortable, see themselves in the curriculum, and explore their multiple identities. They were acquiring the tools and space to unpack complex issues in their lives.
Making Space for Students’ Fears
In Del Norte al Sur, one of the books in our Family theme, we read about José going with his father to Tijuana to visit his mother, who is staying in a women’s shelter while she tries to assemble the documents to return to the United States. José, who lives in San Diego, is able to go visit his mother on the weekends and help her with the garden at the shelter; his father pays for a lawyer to process the paperwork. Although the situation is challenging for José and his parents, it is far milder than the reality of most individuals who are deported. Most children are not able to see members of their families who have been deported for extended periods of time. Many who are deported are never able to return to the United States.
Even though the story wasn’t a perfect match to my students’ own experiences, they started making personal connections to the text. When Lucia shared that her uncle had been deported, I asked her to explain what that meant. “Es cuando la policía para a una persona y les toman los fingerprintes y después se fija en una máquina si los deportan o no, pero deportar significa que los van a mandar a México”. (It’s when the police stop someone, take their fingerprints, and look on a machine to see if they will deport them or not, but deporting means they send them to Mexico.)
Although I was excited that my students were discussing this topic and I asked questions to further the conversation, I wanted to make sure I didn’t push them into an uncomfortable or upsetting space. I paid close attention to everyone, looking for cues about how they were feeling. My ultimate goal in the introduction of these literature discussions was to get my students to develop their critical thinking skills, but first I had to make sure they felt safe enough to share their stories. Before we began the literature discussions, we had developed community norms. Two of our norms were “we feel safe” and “we respect and listen to others.” When we created and reviewed the norms, my students and I talked about not making fun of each other, not laughing at individuals who were sharing, and not interrupting.
When Lucia shared her uncle’s story, it opened up a group discussion. Alejandra told us about a time her father was stopped by the police while they were driving to a nearby city. She also told us about a time her family was driving and her mother spotted a police officer. Her mother said, “Bájense porque ahí está la policía y qué tal si nos detiene”. (Get down because the police are there and what if they stop us.) Alejandra demonstrated how she slouched down in her chair. Her mother told Alejandra and her sisters, “No escuchen lo que está diciendo el policía”. (Don’t listen to what the police officer says.) Alejandra said, “Entonces no escuchamos”. (So we didn’t listen.) As Alejandra talked, we just listened. I made sure not to ask questions because I wanted to allow Alejandra the opportunity to share just as much as she wanted to.
Staying silent took lots of practice. I was so accustomed to jumping in and guiding my students in a particular direction. The pressures I felt to cover the curriculum and raise test scores made me want to push my students along at a faster pace. I had to change that mentality. I wanted my students to do most of the talking because I wanted to open up space for their lives. I didn’t want them to feel judged. I wanted our discussions to be a place where they felt safe discussing any topic. Too often, I found my students waiting for me to speak so they could agree and repeat what I said. I wanted to move away from the idea that teachers were the only ones with answers. My students had important things to share. I wanted them to realize that their experiences could help us understand each other and the book.
Alejandra finished her story by saying that the police officer followed them home and talked again to her father when they arrived. She explained that she and her younger sister were born in the United States, so they are allowed to stay, but her parents and older sister don’t have this advantage. If they are stopped again by the police or ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), her family might be split apart. I had never seen her so vulnerable.
I turned to Juliana and asked if she had anything she wanted to share, or if she knew anyone who had been deported. She fidgeted with her hands, staring at the table, before looking up and saying “Sí, mi papá”. (Yes, my dad.) Lucia nodded. “Oh, sí, ella ya nos contó la historia”. (Oh, yes, she already told us the story.)
Taking Time to Listen
At one point in our discussions Lucia announced, “No me gustan los Estados Unidos para nada.” (I don’t like the United States at all.)
This caught me off guard. “¿Por qué?” (Why?)
Lucia said that here in the United Stated she felt enclosed, but in Mexico she was free to go outside every day.
Alejandra added, “Mi mamá dice que no le gusta aquí”. (My mom says she doesn’t like it here.) She told us about a lady who helped her mother fill out some paperwork and told her mom to call her if she ever got stopped by the police. The lady told Alejandra’s mom that the police had gotten harder and that they didn’t want people from Mexico. They wanted to deport everyone.
Lucia jumped in. “Sí, están mostrando mucho de eso en Primer Impacto, que tratan de sacar a los mexicanos”. (Yes, on First Impact, they are showing lots of that, that they are trying to get rid of the Mexicans.) Primer Impacto is a popular Spanish-language, daily news program. My students were watching the media alongside their parents. This is where they were getting a lot of their information about the current political context in the United States, including hostility toward immigrants, harsh deportation policies, and family separations.
Although I felt pressure to keep the students reading and to move things along so that they could answer specific questions about the text, I resisted the temptation and asked, “¿Cómo se sienten ustedes con eso, ustedes siendo mexicanos y americanos?” (How do you feel about this, being both Mexican and American?)
Alejandra answered: “Yo me siento mal ser mexicana y americana porque mi mamá dice que si la van a deportar que no sabe a quién llevarse, porque le toca llevarse a Perla pero puede dejar a mi hermana y a mí. Y dice mi mamá que si llegan a pararla, que puede que ya nunca la veamos”. (I feel bad being Mexican and American because my mom says that if they are going to deport her, she won’t know who to take because she’ll have to take Perla, but can leave my sister and me. And my mom says if they stop her, we might never see her again.)
Hearing Alejandra talk this way made me extremely sad. Why did a child this young have to deal with issues normally reserved for adults? When I was growing up, I didn’t realize my parents were undocumented. They had overstayed the tourist visas they used to enter the United States, but I only learned about it when I was 10 years old and my parents became U.S. citizens. Both of my parents were given amnesty under the Immigrant Reform and Control Act of 1986 signed by President Reagan. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to worry about my parents possibly not coming home.
My students’ narratives shed light on the complex lived experiences they navigate on a daily basis. On the one hand, they want to be in Mexico or Guatemala with their extended families; on the other hand, they know how hard their parents are working to stay here. As a child, I had many of the same contradictory feelings. My entire family, other than my parents and brother, were in Colombia. I felt like I didn’t belong here in the United States. At the end of one trip to Colombia, I cried and begged my father to leave me there to continue school. He said no, that there were more opportunities for me in the United States, but I’m not sure he realized the impact of the fact that none of my teachers or classmates acknowledged the difficulty of being in a learning environment that ignored and devalued my language and culture.
Embracing Complexity
While Lucia, Juliana, and Alejandra were reading Del Norte al Sur, the other literature groups were reading La superniña del cilantro and Esperando a Papá. (So many students wanted to read La superniña del cilantro, we ended up with two groups working with that book.) Both of these books also raised issues of family separation and the border.
Students in the group reading Esperando a Papá told personal stories about family members crossing the border. One day, I explained that, according to the U.S. government, it’s against the law to cross the border without the right documents. I asked them what they thought about that—was it a fair law? Was it OK to break that law? Camila said, “Mi mamá y mi papá nomás cruzaron, porque querían a lo mejor ver lo que estaba aquí, pero si tú matas a alguien y te vas entonces eso es como no seguir la ley”. (My mom and dad only crossed because maybe they wanted to see what was over here, but if you kill someone and then you leave, then that’s not following the law.) Camila was talking back to the dominant discourse that says it is “wrong” to cross the border without papers and expressing a more complex view of the moral issues involved.
When I brought up the same question to the whole class, the children saw both positive and negative aspects to crossing the border illegally. In terms of positive aspects, they knew and retold stories about family members coming over to find a better life or get a better job. But many of them experienced the constant fear of family members being deported, and they had heard stories about hardships in crossing the border. For example, one child said her female cousin had to cut her hair like a boy for fear of being hurt as she tried to cross over. When Eduardo talked about how hard it was for his dad to climb over the fence, Carlos looked confused. I pulled out my iPad and showed the class pictures of the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Together, we read stories about immigrants to the United States from other parts of the world and the difficulties they faced, including In English, of Course, by Josephine Nobisso;I Hate English!, by Ellen Levine; and No English, by Jacqueline Jules. I wanted my students to understand that they shared experiences with people from other cultures, places, and times. I wanted them to see the injustices and prejudice they faced as part of a bigger pattern of power and marginalization. I tried to help them better understand these aspects by connecting them directly to the stories they shared.
For example, one day Camila told us about a conflict she and Lucia had during recess with English-speaking students from another class. Camila and Lucia were playing on top of the play structure when two girls started pushing them and calling them names. Camila said she told them “That’s not right,” but they continued. Then, Camila told us, “Yo le dije a Lucia en español que mejor nos vayamos de ahí y nos fuimos.” (I told Lucia, in Spanish, that it would be better if we left and we did.) After we gave Lucia and Camila support, we talked about the lack of integration between the bilingual students and non-bilingual students at the school. We discussed what they could do to make friends from other classrooms.
Soon these conversations influenced my planning across content areas. I realized I had to make space for students’ stories beyond literature discussions—in writing, math, and social studies. In social studies, for example, students and their parents became experts as we studied their home countries.
My students’ stories were different from my own. Lucia’s, Juliana’s, Alejandra’s, Eduardo’s, and Camila’s stories have similarities, but also differences. I realized the importance of not grouping all Latina/o narratives into one stereotypical box. Giving my students voice and exposing them to a range of multicultural literature gave us the opportunity to dig deeper and see broader vistas.
The learning differences, preferences, and varied backgrounds existent in the classroom present teachers with a challenging task: help every student become a successful learner. How can teachers support all students’ diverse needs? Much confusion and fear have surrounded differentiated instruction and its use in the classroom.
Myth #1: Differentiation = Individualization
Differentiation doesn’t mean individualizing the curriculum for each student. Yes, when teachers meet one-on-one and conference with students, modifying instruction to best suit the student’s needs, both individualization and differentiation are taking place. However, writing an individual lesson plan for every student in the classroom is NOT differentiating (it’s insanity). Instead, differentiation involves using quality and effective instructional practices to strategically address groups of students based on various levels of learning readiness, interests, and learning styles.
Myth #2: Every student should be doing something different
Teachers should consider each student’s strengths and areas that need support, but that does not mean 30 students are engaged in 30 different activities. Instead, teachers use differentiation to provide a range of activities and assignments that challenge and offer variety in students’ learning opportunities. This includes flexible grouping, or organizing students by ability, learning styles, and academic needs. Students may work individually, in pairs, collaborative groups, or as a class based on learning objectives and their individual needs and preferences. For example, one group may be practicing math skill fluency while another group is applying this skill within more challenging settings. Differentiation also involves modifying the content (the what), process (the how), and product (the end result). Using assessment to inform instruction, providing leveled reading books, increasing or decreasing task complexity, and assigning tasks based on visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning preferences all support such differentiated learning opportunities.
Myth #3: Test prep doesn’t allow you to differentiate
Differentiation’s first objective is to help students deeply understand the content. This is essential to encourage the progressive achievement of a desired level of mastery in preparation for students’ successful careers and futures. Differentiated instruction better prepares students for standardized tests through authentic learning experiences that exercise higher-order, critical thinking skills and encourage the development of strong conceptual understanding. Secondly, differentiation aims to prepare students for varied forms of assessment, including group projects and research papers, as well as multiple-choice questions on a standardized test. Therefore, using standardized testing preparation to assess and monitor students’ progress and understanding is important, but it is only one of the many types of assessment teachers use. Undifferentiated or standardized assessments should be provided along with authentic and performance-based assessments.
Myth #4: There is no time to differentiate
Differentiation doesn’t have to be thought of as separate from instruction. The key is to treat differentiation as a core part of the lesson and unit plan, rather than as an afterthought. The best answer is to start small, such as differentiating one subject or unit at a time by modifying the plans and materials you already have. Even though a teacher may feel he/she has little control over the content, differentiating instruction can support how he/she will teach it.
Myth #5: Differentiation is the end-all-be-all solution for academic achievement
Differentiation is one way to help all students of varying abilities, learning styles, interests, and background experiences meet or exceed grade-level expectations. Parent engagement, assessment, reflection, professional development, and content and grade-level collaboration are all part of the toolbox schools and teachers need to proactively anticipate and appropriately respond to students’ continuously changing needs.
What does differentiation look like in action? This is Part 1 of 2 posts about differentiation and how it is used in the classroom.
Cash, R. M. (2011). Advancing differentiation: Thinking and learning for the 21st century. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing, Inc.
Veronicahas a degree from Mount Saint Mary College and joined LEE & LOW in the fall of 2014. She has a background in education and holds a New York State childhood education (1-6) and students with disabilities (1-6) certification. When she’s not wandering around New York City, you can find her hiking with her dog Milo in her hometown in the Hudson Valley, NY.
I’ll admit it: I was looking for a Native American book by a Native American author to write about in light of Thanksgiving and National American Indian Heritage Month as many teachers do this time of year.
This led me to reread and re-experience the Children’s Book Press treasure,This Land is My Land, by artist George Littlechild. As winner of the 1994 Jane Addams Picture Book Award and 1993 National Parenting Publications Gold Medal, This Land is My Land is a notable treat for students and readers of all ages.
The book features 17 of the artist’s mixed media paintings organized to portray Native American history in North America and Littlechild’s own heritage and childhood. As I studied Littlechild’s paintings and read his accompanying essays about each, I felt as if I were on a gallery walk with my own earbud connected to the artist.
Although this picture book would make a great counterpoint to many Thanksgiving books out there, This Land is My Land is valuable beyond the Thanksgiving-relevant content. It is a great example of how art is a powerful medium for critical thinking development and can be integrated into literacy instruction (not just the assigned art block a couple times a week).
Click on the image to read the text
So, what does close reading (or “looking?”) look like with art?
Like a text, a piece of art is another place for students to engage with multiple times and each time diving into another level of meaning and interpretation. Using art in the classroom relates to the reading standard 7 of the Common Core, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. Additionally, many of these questions are questions we would use with students in the close reading of a text.
Below is an example of how students can progress with their observations and thinking. I separated levels of questions into three viewings based on level of complexity, but of course one could (and should) return to a worthwhile painting many, many times.
First look (literal comprehension/understanding)
What is happening?
What patterns do you see? What images, colors, and symbols do you see repeated or used most often in this painting or across paintings?
What materials does Littlechild use?
How does Littlechild use positive or negative space?
How does Littlechild use the foreground and background?
Who is the narrator?
What are some common ideas or events portrayed in his artwork?
What is the central idea of the painting? What is the central idea of the paintings taken altogether? What makes you think so?
Second look (higher level thinking/interpretation of meaning)
What effect do repeated colors, images, patterns, or symbols have on his art and the central idea?
What effect does a specific material, such as shells or sequins, have on his art and the central idea?
What does “Indian” mean to Littlechild?
How does Littlechild’s background (childhood, heritage, identity, family relationships) affect the subjects, themes, and materials of his paintings?
What has Littlechild learned from his elders? What does he want viewers to learn from or think about events in the past and our heritages?
What is the mood of one piece of the artwork or the collective body of artwork? What makes you think so? What colors, patterns, materials, or images does he use to convey mood?
What is the purpose of his art? Why would Littlechild create this painting or assemble these paintings into a collection? Why talk about these events and his heritage and childhood at all?
Who do you think is the intended audience of This Land is My Land? What might Littlechild want them to do with this narrative and perspective?
How does Littlechild demonstrate pride in and appreciation for his heritage? How does he convey pain in Native American history? How does he convey the closeness of his community?
Third look (higher level thinking/analysis of artist’s craft/structure/methods)
Why does Littlechild choose to start the book with a dedication to his ancestors and include their photographs?
How is the collection of paintings organized? How does the chronological structure convey or confirm his central idea? How does this mixed media collection compare to a biography in book form?
Why does Littlechild choose the title and painting for the book cover: This Land is My Land? He doesn’t like the song, “This land is your land, this land is my land,” or its meaning; so, why does it fit as the title and cover painting for the book? What does this choice tell us about the central idea of the book? What message does he want to convey to viewers?
Why does Littlechild use photographs in the painting, instead of just drawing the figures? What effect do the photographs have on the story he is telling and on the painting itself? (Repeat this question for feathers, sequins, shells, and feathers)
Why do you think the artist chooses to use the motif of stars? What do a “star” mean in this context? the number four? horses?
Why does Littlechild choose art/mixed media collage to represent events in his own life and convey his the central idea?
For further reading on integrating the Arts with the Common Core, check out these fantastic resources:
How are you integrating art with the Common Core? What tips do you have for choosing high quality art to teach? What art are you using already? Let us know!
Jill Eisenberg, our Senior Literacy Expert, began her career teaching English as a Foreign Language to second through sixth graders in Yilan, Taiwan as a Fulbright Fellow. She went on to become a literacy teacher for third grade in San Jose, CA as a Teach for America corps member. She is certified in Project Glad instruction to promote English language acquisition and academic achievement. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
In the fall of 2012 a news story emerged that astronomers had discovered a planet largely made out of diamond. Third grade at my school spent the first two quarters studying the solar system; therefore, this news was received with irrepressible glee in my classroom. Although the media nickname “Lucy” was lost on my students (as in the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”), the wonderment and rejuvenated commitment to the content was obvious.
Seeing that scientists were still studying and discovering facts about our solar system and distant others was exciting to my students and made them feel like they were on the frontier learning alongside real astronomers. Pairing the news article with The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System spurred very creative journal entries throughout the unit, including envisioned future discoveries of all sorts of substances for planets: kitten fur, gold, bubbles.
Incorporating current events and news stories into the classroom can engage students with a renewed sense of purpose and interest. Pairing a news article with a book on a similar topic or theme offers students greater context and a sense of relevancy for the content they are learning, and perhaps a jolt to the creeping apathy over a curriculum students had little input in selecting.
So, what does it look like to use paired texts in the classroom?
One example is using the picture book biography, Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story. In May 2014, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced it had discovered the Civil War ship of Robert Smalls. Pairing one of the articles with the picture book biography provides students opportunity to practice comprehension and the third component of the Common Core reading standards: integration of knowledge and ideas.
Standard 9: Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
The following example can be adapted for grades 3–7. Read the picture book, Seven Miles to Freedom, aloud to the whole group or have students read to themselves depending on their reading level. Focus questions may look like this:
How does the picture book describe Robert Smalls?
What character trait would best describe Robert Smalls based on what he says, does, thinks, feels and what other characters say and think about him?
Why do you think the author of the picture book wants to share this story with young people?
How does this story help us better understand the events in Robert Smalls’ life?
Read the news article second. If the news article is above students’ reading level, read the article aloud as they follow along with individual copies. The questions for the article will mirror those questions for the picture book:
How does the article describe Robert Smalls?
What character trait would best describe Robert Smalls based on what he says and does and what other people quoted say and think about him in this article?
Why do you think the NOAA’s Maritime Heritage Program wants to find and rescue the ship/signify the ship’s location now after all these years?
How does this news article help us better understand the events in Robert Smalls’ life and the picture book Seven Miles to Freedom?
Follow up questions looking at both texts together:
What events and details do both texts agree on?
Create a timeline of events using both the picture book and news article.
How are these texts both examples of nonfiction? What sub-genres of nonfiction are they? How do they present information similarly and differently?
Resources about Robert Smalls:
Explore a reading guide and learning activities for Seven Miles to Freedom from OurStory, a website created by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to encourage adults and children in grades K–4 to read historical fiction and biography together
Read about Robert Smalls’ ship, Planter, and a report about the discovery from the Voyage to Discovery, a multi-media initiative to highlight African American maritime history from the NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries’ Maritime Heritage Program and the National Association of Black Scuba Divers
Resources for connecting Lee & Low titles with news:
Bonus: A fragment from Amelia Earhart’s airplane was recently identified. What book would you want to pair with this news story for students? Share with us!
Jill Eisenberg, our Senior Literacy Expert, began her career teaching English as a Foreign Language to second through sixth graders in Yilan, Taiwan as a Fulbright Fellow. She went on to become a literacy teacher for third grade in San Jose, CA as a Teach for America corps member. She is certified in Project Glad instruction to promote English language acquisition and academic achievement. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan, of course! :)
jilleisenberg14 said, on 11/3/2014 8:00:00 AM
Hi Miss Amy-
Thank you for recommending the book, Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride, as a book pairing to the article about the discovery of Amelia Earhart’s plane fragment. This is a fantastic story about persistence, courage, and overcoming obstacles. I could see students engaging on additional research projects and personal narratives with this pairing!
What happens if we don’t follow a recipe? Potentially, a disaster. Recipes require careful reading and we can literally taste the consequences of our failure to do so. In this way, a recipe is fantastic for small group instruction, such as guided reading, and for parent-child practice because it is grounded in real world applications and requires multiple re-readings to grasp the information.
For guided reading, there were only a dozen or so book sets that I used with my students because those available to me were dated in content (think: Pluto is still a planet) and image, worn out from being shared across the whole school, and unreliable in student engagement. On one of my monthly trips to a Friends of the Library book sale, where I often scrounged, hunted, and bargained, I discovered a milk crate full of the children’s literary magazine, Cricket. As these were used periodicals, they were available for free. I remember the award-winning magazine as a child myself and quickly discovered that the wide variety of high-quality texts would be perfect for guided reading, including the recipes and craft instructions.
Young readers can use recipes to analyze an author’s choices, such as the order of steps, choice of ingredients, and ingredient amounts. Recipes provide hands-on experience at home while building critical background schema and additional practice with a nonfiction text. Recipes are great for teaching close reading because they:
naturally engage students with the content (yum!)
create real-world connections for why we learn to read and the skill of close reading (look—even adults do it!)
provide a small amount of text which can be read in one sitting but requires several re-readings to understand it fully (perfect for 20-25 min. periods)
allow students to interpret and solve new words in context
require students to visualize and analyze how the individual parts create the final product
As you read and carry out each step of a recipe, students can think about the author’s choices along the way. Why would the author want only ¼ tsp of salt? What would happen if we added 2 tsp instead? Why is salt needed in this recipe in the first place? Why do we need to add the salt before we boil? And so on.
Below is an example of questions for close reading using the recipe included at the end of the story, Sweet Potato Pie.
First reading: (Literal questions to understand the information)
What are we making? What is the central idea of this text?
How much vanilla do we need?
What are the general steps we need to do to make a sweet potato pie?
What do we have to do first? (This is tricky because you have to make the pie crust before you can do the filling even though it is ordered in reverse)
How will we know the pie is finished?
Why do we use a fork to press down around the rim of the pan?
What step is for attractiveness and not necessary?
Second reading: (Higher level/open-ended questions to infer significant ideas)
Why should we cut the potatoes into chunks before boiling? What would happen if we put in the whole potato to boil instead?
Why does the author say only use ¼ tsp of salt? What would happen if we added 1 tsp of salt instead? What would happen if we didn’t add any salt at all?
Why does the author tell us to mash the potatoes AFTER boiling the potatoes and draining the water in, not before?
Why does the author state, “children will need adult help”? Which step should adults do or supervise? Why?
Third reading: (Higher level/open-ended questions to analyze author’s methods, craft, and text structure)
What is the meaning of the word preheat in Step 1 (Preheat the oven to 350 degrees)? What is the meaning of the prefix pre-?
What is the meaning of the world except in Step 4 (Add all remaining ingredients except cinnamon and beat sweet potato mixture until smooth)?
What is the author’s purpose of this text (persuade, explain, entertain, inform)? How do you know?
How is the text organized? Why would the author organize the information as a list of steps? Why would the author separate the steps for the pie crust and filling within the same recipe?
What features shows this text is a recipe? How are this text’s format and features different from other nonfiction texts’ format and features? How does this text compare to the story that precedes it?
What type of sentence is used throughout the recipe (declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamation)? How do you know? Why would the author choose this type of sentence?
Why does the author put the “children will need adult help” note at the beginning of the recipe?
Where can you find child-friendly recipes and craft instructions? Many food-centric books, such as Sweet Potato Pie, Cora Cooks Pancit, and Rainbow Stew, will include the recipe at the end of the book. Children’s magazines, like Cricket and Highlights, have user-submitted recipes and craft ideas with easy to follow steps. Finally, children’s cookbooks are widely available.
How does close reading look in your classroom? Any tricks and tips to share?
Jill Eisenberg, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching English as a Foreign Language to second through sixth graders in Yilan, Taiwan as a Fulbright Fellow. She went on to become a literacy teacher for third grade in San Jose, CA as a Teach for America corps member. She is certified in Project Glad instruction to promote English language acquisition and academic achievement. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Jill Eisenberg, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching English as a Foreign Language to second through sixth graders in Yilan, Taiwan as a Fulbright Fellow. She went on to become a literacy teacher for third grade in San Jose, CA as a Teach for America corps member. She is certified in Project Glad instruction to promote English language acquisition and academic achievement. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Although we cannot explicitly teach all academic and content-specific words our students will need to know in their educations and careers, we can be strategic in how we teach 5-8 words a week so they can apply these word strategies to new words they come across on their own.
Last week I applied the guide’s recommendations on how to choose an appropriate text and vocabulary words for English Language Learners and I modeled it with the Lee & Low informational text, Drumbeat In Our Feet.
I will continue to focus on the guide’s first recommendation: Teach a set of academic vocabulary words intensively across several days using a variety of instructional activities.
Drumbeat In Our Feet
Using Drumbeat In Our Feetand the IES’s process, my target words are origins, vital, ethnically, diverse, unique, vibrant and varied from the “Origins of African Dance” excerpt in Drumbeat In Our Feet. See how I chose these words here.
1. Read the text
IES: Introduce the topic of the text by asking about students understanding of the topic and personal experiences. Read the excerpt aloud at the start of the lesson. (P. 24)
Lee & Low: I would read the text aloud so students who cannot comprehend the text independently can access the text whole group. All students should be able to follow along with their own student copy. Only constant interaction with the print and following along will allow students to connect with what I am saying and how I say it with what they are seeing in the print.
“Origins of African Dance,” excerpt from Drumbeat In Our Feet
2. Introduce the vocabulary
IES: After reading the text and stopping to ask clarifying questions, introduce the target vocabulary words and have students find the words (in their copies). Display a list of the words in the classroom. (P. 24)
3. Teach the vocabulary words in layers
IES: “Teach academic vocabulary in depth using multiple modalities (writing, speaking, listening)” and “teach word-learning strategies to help students independently figure out the meaning of words.” (P. 18-22)
Lee & Low: Over the course of 5-8 days (lesson periods), I would focus on a couple of aspects of each of the new vocabulary words. On a whole class chart where the target words are listed, I would add a new component to each word each day in order to deepen the meaning and foster familiarity with the words for students.
Together we will create a student-friendly definition; write synonyms, antonyms, examples, non-examples; determine parts of speech; draw a picture or create an action/gesture to represent the words; list related word forms and any cognates; break the word down into word parts; and use the word in a meaningful, student-generated sentence.
For example, Monday I would read the excerpt, introduce the target words, find the target words in the text, and come up with a definition for each target word. Tuesday, I would revisit the chart and add synonyms, antonyms, examples, and non-examples for all the vocabulary words to reinforce meaning. Wednesday I would cover part of speech and concrete representations, and so on.
Below is how I would teach my target word, origins, from Drumbeat In Our Feet but I would cover all of the target words each day.
Monday
student-friendly definition: the source where something starts
Tuesday
synonyms: beginnings, birthplace, roots, foundation
antonyms: end, destination, result
examples: beginning of the universe and life, family backgrounds/heritage, word roots, superhero/comic book origin stories
non-examples: death of a star, the youngest person in the family tree, the last book in a comic book series
Wednesday
part of speech: noun
draw a picture to represent the word: I might draw a lake with a river leading up to a mountain and arrow pointing to where the river starts.
create an action/gesture to represent the word: with my left hand held out at hip-level as the “lake,” I would point with my right finger to my left shoulder (the mountain) as the origin of the river. [Tip: Students are great at brainstorming concrete representations of words!]
Thursday
list related word forms: original, originate
list any cognates: origine (French), origen (Spanish)
Friday
affixes: none
use the word in a meaningful, student-generated sentence: We hiked from the lake up to the mountain looking for the origins of the river. The original owner of this house built this house all on her own in 1956.
Remember: This is a process I will repeat each week or every 5-8 lessons with a new text and set of target words. While my students may know only up to 400 new vocabulary words by the end of the year, this repeated process will allow them to tackle new vocabulary words in other content classes and in independent reading.
Next week, we will take a look at how to incorporate the selected vocabulary into activities that support listening, speaking, and writing practice for English Language Learners.
Further reading on supporting English Language Learners in the classroom:
Jill Eisenberg, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching English as a Foreign Language to second through sixth graders in Yilan, Taiwan as a Fulbright Fellow. She went on to become a literacy teacher for third grade in San Jose, CA as a Teach for America corps member. She is certified in Project Glad instruction to promote English language acquisition and academic achievement. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Vanishing Cultures: Mongolia
Last week on the blog we spotlighted the work of Jan Reynolds, an author and explorer who has written nonfiction for young readers about cultures across the globe. If we had read the Vanishing Cultures series when I was a classroom teacher, my students would have been competing with each other over who knew the most outrageous fact. Did you know the Tiwi, an aboriginal tribe from an island off the coast of Australia, eat mangrove worms fresh? Did you know the Inuit from the Hudson Bay build rock piles that are stacked to look like men in order to scare caribou toward the real Inuit hunters?
My students loved to play the “did you know…” game. That became a popular sentence starter in our classroom. Students would scramble for the latest book or periodical on animals, prehistoric times, and exotic locales. The peregrine falcon, megalodon, and the giant panda were unshakable favorites.
Yet, we don’t want students to know “just facts” as if they are mini-encyclopedias. We aspire for our students to wonder and to investigate how our world works, how we are all connected to our environment and other humans halfway around the globe, and how our actions here affect others way over there.
The Common Core brings a refreshed spotlight to the nonfiction genre in children’s books, challenging publishers, educators, librarians, and parents to present children with high interest, high quality texts. What a time to engage students’ senses, sustain their wonder, and teach them geo-literacy!
National Geographic affirms, “with the rapid pace of change in the 21st century, it is more important than ever that young people understand the world around them.” It has adopted the concept of “geo-literacy,” and even gone so far as to create a community to support and cultivate “geo-educators.”
Vanishing Cultures: Himalaya
Enjoyed in classrooms around the nation, Jan Reynolds’ collection on at-risk traditional cultures is even more significant and striking today than when the series was first published. The persistent popularity of the Vanishing Cultures series speaks to its captivating power to make geo-literacy learning personal and tangible. This collection supports geo-literacy learning because each book challenges students to examine:
the characteristics of each culture
what makes this featured culture unique
how this group of people has adapted to survive in its environment
what challenges this group of people faces
the modern human impact (positive and negative) on this traditional culture and the environment
why the author would want to share this story with children and create a whole series on this topic
When we educate children about other cultures and geo-literacy more broadly, we are implanting the idea that we learn in order to make better, more informed decisions. Before our students become adults in positions of power, we want them to have practice in pausing and thinking how their choices to construct their community could disturb the environment of another community or animal species.
The Vanishing Cultures books encourage students to reason and reflect critically and deeply about how humans affect other humans and why we all benefit from diversity. As classrooms around the country can attest, Jan Reynolds’ books will not only spark enthusiasm that we hope ignites into lifelong careers and hobbies, but also conversation on what information we need to make decisions that will shape our and others’ health, environment, and well-being.
Vanishing Cultures: Down Under
Classroom Ideas for Comparing and Contrasting Between Vanishing Cultures Books and Teaching Geo-Literacy
How are these cultures similar and different from each other? What actions do these families take in both books to protect their ways of life?
Compare how the challenges of each culture are similar or different.
Compare how the children in each book demonstrate their pride in their culture. Why is it important for the children to feel proud of who they are and their way of life?
What is the author’s purpose in starting each book with the parents telling their child a story from long ago? How does this affect the tone of and set the mood in the series? How does this opening support the central idea?
After reading two or more of the Vanishing Cultures books, what common features or characteristics does a Vanishing Culture book have? If you were to write a book about your family’s culture, what kinds of things happen in a Vanishing Cultures book? What are some things that will not happen in a Vanishing Cultures book? What central ideas and lessons will be in the book?
Have students create a chart to compare different aspects of life across two or more cultures. Write the name of each cultural group being compared on the top of the chart, and list the topics for points of comparison down the left side. Here are some possible topics: Food, Clothing, Climate, Geography, Important Animals, Homes, How Children Help (Chores), Roles of Men & Women, Family Life, How People Have Fun, Beliefs, Means of Transportation, Challenges Faced Today, Celebrations, Honoring Loved Ones. Have students record appropriate information as they read and re-read the texts.
Jill Eisenberg, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching English as a Foreign Language to second through sixth graders in Yilan, Taiwan as a Fulbright Fellow. She went on to become a literacy teacher for third grade in San Jose, CA as a Teach for America corps member. She is certified in Project Glad instruction to promote English language acquisition and academic achievement. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
First Lady Michelle Obama travels to China this week from March 19-26 and will be focusing on the power and importance of education. In an open letter to American students, the First Lady writes, “During my trip, I’ll be visiting a university and two high schools in Beijing and Chengdu (which are two of China’s largest cities). I’ll be talking with students about their lives in China and telling them about America and the values and traditions we hold dear. I’ll be focusing in particular on the power and importance of education, both in my own life and in the lives of young people in both of our countries.”
We at Lee & Low Books wish we could join the First Lady, but since we can’t this time around, we will be reading the biography of one of China’s greatest statesmen, poets, and humanitarians, Su Dongpo. This scholar is a shining example of how persistence and dedication to one’s studies lead to achievement beyond the classroom and enable one to affect meaningful change.
Su Dongpo, Chinese Genius
This biography presents a rich setting for Standard 3 of the Common Core State Standards: character analysis. We follow Bloom’s Taxonomy to illustrate the range of questions you can use to meet your students’ needs and access their literary strengths. By creating a progression of questions within one standard, we differentiate for students within a class, provide extension opportunities for ready learners, or move the whole class from literal- to higher-level thinking over the course of several readings.
Knowledge:
What are Su Dongpo’s appearance/physical attributes, deeds/actions, thoughts/dialogue, and feelings/emotions?
What are other character’s opinions of and reactions to Su Dongpo?
Can you select sections showing how Su Dongpo relates to other characters?
How would you describe Su Dongpo in a paragraph?
Comprehension:
How would you classify Su Dongpo’s character trait(s) based on these actions, thoughts, and feelings above?
How would you summarize Su Dongpo’s opinion or feelings about Wang Anshi?
How would you describe Su Dongpo’s feelings about being banished from his job and home?
What problems does Su Dongpo face and how does he solve them?
How would you summarize Su Dongpo’s opinion about the purpose of government?
Application:
When Su Dongpo was twenty, he took the official exams and earned status as the First Scholar for his academic achievements. Based on what you know about Su Dongpo’s character traits, how would he have handled the situation differently if he had not earned such high marks the first time?
How would Su Dongpo react if his brother, Su Ziyou, became a corrupt government official?
What would need to happen or change for Su Dongpo to work for Emperor Zhezong?
How would Su Dongpo distinguish a “good” government from a “bad” government?
What would Su Dongpo likely think about our end of the year state assessments or the Common Core State Standards?
What advice do you think Su Dongpo would have for students who take state and national tests today?
If Su Dongpo worked for the U.S. Department of Education, what might Su Dongpo feel and think about the role of education in America today?
Analysis:
How did Su Dongpo’s upbringing prepare him for his career in government?
What inspired Su Dongpo’s beliefs about the purpose of government?
Why did Su Dongpo not care about “instant glory” or “worldly fame” when making a decision?
Compare Su Dongpo and Wang Anshi’s motivations for working in the government.
Synthesis:
Compose and present a speech that will communicate the thoughts and feelings of Su Dongpo to the Chinese people after he is pardoned when Emperor Zhezong dies.
Imagine you are Su Dongpo and write a diary account of your daily thoughts and activities. What would you say about the work that you do, the people you meet in government and in the villages, and the challenges you face?
Rewrite the scene of Su Dongpo hearing he is pardoned after the death of Emperor Zhezong. What would Su Dongpo feel and what would the Chinese people think about him if he were not pardoned?
Evaluation:
Defend whether you would or would not like Su Dongpo to work in your government.
Argue what lessons Su Dongpo learned from his career in and out of government.
How effective is Su Dongpo as a humanitarian?
Determine whether Su Dongpo was or was not disrespectful of government.
Assess whether Su Dongpo changed from the beginning to the end of the book based on his character traits.
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
One aspect of the Common Core that I get asked questions about all the time is thematic text sets. What are they? How do you know which books to use? What types of texts should you be pairing together?
Fear not! I’ve compiled some examples of text sets that cover one topic and span multiple genres and reading levels and over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing these sets with you. Some of the titles you may already have in your classroom library, and others I think you’ll enjoy discovering.
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of meeting with a literacy expert who was SUPER involved with the creation of the Common Core Standards (!!!!!), and she gave me some important feedback about the Appendix B supplement I posted last week. To refresh your memory, what we’ve done is compiled a supplement to Appendix B that includes both contemporary literature and authors/characters of color, and that also meets the criteria (complexity, quality, range) used by the authors of the Common Core. We were lucky enough to have this literacy expert take a look at our supplement, and she gave some great suggestions:
The texts selected for Read Aloud can be outside the text complexity bands for each grade cluster.
Texts that are Read Aloud in lower grades can be read as Independent Reading in upper grades.
We’ve incorporated these ideas into our Appendix B supplement. So, without further ado, click here for a PDF of our new and improved multicultural supplement to the Common Core’s Appendix B.
Know who else is excited about the updated Appendix B list? This guy:
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
When the Common Core Standards were created, the authors included a list of titles in Appendix B that exemplified the level of text complexity (found in Appendix A) and inherent quality for reading materials at each grade level. This list was intended as a comparative tool, as a way for teachers and administrators to measure current libraries against country-wide expectations for rigorous literature and informational text. Since its publication, this list, and the titles included and omitted, have created quite a bit of controversy.
Two things are fairly obvious when considering the texts included in Appendix B:
Most of the titles were first published ages ago.
Most of the titles are by white people. Or about white people. It’s a pretty white list.
Two things are also fairly important when constructing a classroom library and when selecting texts for instruction:
Students should have the opportunity to be exposed to both classic and contemporary literature as well as nonfiction texts.
All students should have the opportunity to see themselves reflected back, as well as to be exposed to cultures and experiences that may differ from their own, in the literature and nonfiction texts we study.
Education Professor Katie Cunningham discussed diversity in Appendix B here on the blog a few weeks ago in her guest post, “What’s in your classroom library? Rethinking Common Core Recommended Texts.” Adding on to her recommendations, I’ve compiled a supplement to Appendix B that includes both contemporary literature and authors/characters of color, but also meets the criteria (complexity, quality, range) used by the authors of the Common Core. Download it here.
If you’re interested in ordering some or all of these titles to supplement your classroom library, please feel free to drop me an email at [email protected]!
Great post! I really appreciate the additions you suggested to Appendix B. I think the two points you make about what to consider when creating a classroom library are essential! So glad that I found your blog–you’ve got some invaluable resources here!
“What does this book have to do with me?” Why said, on 2/4/2013 9:51:00 AM
[...] for links to literacy standards such as the Common Core State Standards Reading Literature Standard 6 across grade levels; this is [...]
UPDATE: A More Multicultural Appendix B « th said, on 2/11/2013 3:03:00 AM
[...] creation of the Common Core Standards (!!!!!), and she gave me some important feedback about the Appendix B supplement I posted last week. To refresh your memory, what we’ve done is compiled a supplement to [...]
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve been modeling how to do a close reading at several different grade levels. To close out the series: Close Reading in Fifth Grade using the X level text Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall.
One way to structure close reading questioning is to use the format laid out by the Institute for Learning of the University of Pittsburgh. Under their framework, students read the text selection four times: first, to get the gist; second, to find significant moments or ideas; third, to interpret the ideas in the text; and finally, to analyze the author’s methods (craft). Here’s an example of how to plan out your questions for close reading of the first poem of Under the Mesquite, entitled ”the story of us.”
1st reading (read to get the gist):
Who is the narrator? What have we learned about her? What can we infer about her so far? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
What is Mami like? What have we learned about her? What can we infer about her so far? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
What happened in the first poem? What was Lupita doing? What was she looking for? What does she find? How does Mami react? What can you infer about their relationship? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
2nd reading (read to find significant moments or ideas):
What is the most important thing you learned or that happened in this section of the text? Why is it significant? What was the purpose of this poem? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
3rd reading (read to interpret ideas):
“No, today I am Eve in the garden, / stealing secretos, / mining for knowledge, / hoping for a taste / of the forbidden fruit.” What is this section of the poem an allusion to? What does this reference reveal about Lupita and her background? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
Why does Mami keep Lupita’s umbilical cord? What does it mean to her? What is the cord a symbol of? What does that tell you about their relationship? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
4th reading (read to analyze the author’s methods/craft):
How is this text organized? How is it different from other novels you’ve read? How is it similar? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
What is the tone of the piece? Formal? Informal? Serious? Light? etc. What effect does the tone have on the way the audience reads the piece? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
What are some of the strongest images Garcia McCall has created so far? How do these images set the mood for the piece? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
By asking students to ground their responses in the text by citing text-based support for their answers, the following Common Core Standard is addressed:
Reading Literature, Grade 5, Key Ideas and Details, Strand 1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
How does close reading look in your classroom? Any tricks and tips to share?
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve been modeling how to do a close reading at several different grade levels. Next up: Close Reading in Fourth Grade using the T level text Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet written and illustrated by Andrea Cheng, out this January!
One way to structure close reading questioning is to use the format laid out by the Institute for Learning of the University of Pittsburgh. Under their framework, students read the text selection four times: first, to get the gist; second, to find significant moments or ideas; third, to interpret the ideas in the text; and finally, to analyze the author’s methods (craft). Here’s an example of how to plan out your questions for close reading of the introduction through the first 13 pages of Etched in Clay:
1st reading (read to get the gist):
Who is Dr. Abner Landrum? What have we learned about him? What can we infer about him so far? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
Who is Harvey Drake? What have we learned about him? What can we infer about him so far? Who is Amos Landrum? How is Harvey different than Amos? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
Who is Dave? What have we learned about him? What can we infer about him so far? How does he feel about the work he’s been given to do? About being renamed “Dave”? About his first pottery lesson? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
What major events have occurred so far? How much time has passed? During what period in history are the events taking place? How do you know? What do you know about this period in American history that can help your reading of the text? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
What was important to Dr. Abner Landrum? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
2nd reading (read to find significant moments or ideas):
What is the most important thing you learned or that happened in this section of the text? Why is it significant? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
3rd reading (read to interpret ideas):
In the poem “Augusta Auction”, how does the auctioneer view Dave? How does Harvey Drake view Dave? What can you infer about how Harvey Drake feels about slavery? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
On page 7 in the poem “Augusta Auction,” Harvey Drake describes the slaves at auction as follows: “The Negro mothers wail/while their children cling to them/like melons to their vines.” Cheng’s passage serves two purposes, one descriptive and one historical/sociological. Discuss the dual meanings of the image she creates. Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
4th reading (read to analyze the author’s methods/craft):
How is this text organized? How is it different than other biographical texts or historical fiction you’ve read? How is it similar? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
Who is the audience for this text? Why does Andrea Cheng consistently shift narrator? What effect does this have on how the story is told and how the information is presented? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
What are some of the strongest images Cheng has created so far? How do these images set the mood for the piece? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
By asking students to ground their responses in the text by citing text-based support for their answers, the following Common Core Standard is addressed:
Reading Literature, Grade 4, Key Ideas and Details, Strand 1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
How does close reading look in your classroom? Any tricks and tips to share?
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve been modeling how to do a close reading at several different grade levels. Next up: Close Reading in Third Grade using the O level text Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki and illustrated by Dom Lee.
One way to structure close reading questioning is to use the format laid out by the Institute for Learning of the University of Pittsburgh. Under their framework, students read the text selection four times: first, to get the gist; second, to find significant moments or ideas; third, to interpret the ideas in the text; and finally, to analyze the author’s methods (craft). Here’s an example of how to plan out your questions for close reading of just the first 8 pages of Baseball Saved Us:
1st reading (read to get the gist):
Which characters have we met so far in the story? What do we know about each character so far? Cite evidence from the text to support your answers.
Where does the story take place? In what country? During what period in history? How do you know? Cite evidence from the text to support your answers.
How did the characters get to the camp? Why are they there? What is the purpose of the camp? What hardships did the main character’s family face at the camp? How is life at the camp similar to or different from life at home? How does life at the camp affect the people in the story? How do you know? Cite evidence from the text to support your answers.
Summarize what you have learned about the narrator. How does he see himself? How do others view him? How do you know? Cite evidence from the text to support your answers.
2nd reading (read to find significant moments or ideas):
What is the most important thing you learned or that happened in this section of the story? Why is it significant? Cite evidence from the text to support your answers.
3rd reading (read to interpret ideas):
The characters in Baseball Saved Us were Japanese Americans who lived on the West Coast at a time when the United States was fighting a war with Japan. Do you think it was fair for the government to take them from their homes and make them move into an internment camp? Why do you think the government made this decision? Do you agree with the decision? What does it mean to be an American? Do you think the author would agree with you? Do you think the character of Dad would agree with you? Why or why not? Cite evidence from the text to support your answers.
4th reading (read to analyze the author’s methods/craft):
Based on what you have read so far, how do you think author Ken Mochizuki feels about Japanese internment during World War II? How does he want you to feel about internment camps, specifically about the camp in the story? How do you know? What details does he choose to include in order to influence the reader? Cite evidence from the text to support your answers.
What is the mood of the story so far? How does illustrator Dom Lee create this mood in his illustrations? Cite evidence from the text to support your answers.
By asking students to ground their responses in the text by citing text-based support for their answers, the following Common Core Standard is addressed:
Reading Literature, Grade 3, Key Ideas and Details, Strand 1: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
How does close reading look in your classroom? Any tricks and tips to share?
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Before I start discussing close reading in the second grade classroom, I want to take a minute to acknowledge educators and students across the Northeast, who over the past two weeks have dealt with not just superstorm Sandy, but a Nor’easter! Some schools sustained significant flooding and damage, or have classrooms without heat or power. And in some areas, even though the children are back in the classrooms, after a long day teachers and students head home to clean and repair damage sustained to their own homes and communities. And last week, they did that in the wind and snow. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is. My thoughts are with everyone who continues to be affected by this awful streak of weather.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. Over the next several weeks, I’ll be modeling how to do a close reading at several different grade levels. Last week, I wrote about close reading in first grade. Next up: Close Reading in Second Grade using the L level text Under the Lemon Moon by Edith Hope Fine and illustrated by Rene King Moreno.
In terms of student questioning, start general and move up Bloom’s Taxonomy by gradually increasing the rigor. For example, say you want to focus your close reading of Under the Lemon Moon on author’s craft, specifically focusing on language and word choice in just the first six pages of the story (2nd grade reading standard for literature, Craft and Structure, strand 4, AND 2nd grade language standards, Vocabulary Acquisition and Use, strands 4-6 from the Common Core Standards). Here are the questions I would ask:
Question 1 (Knowledge): Can you list several examples of onomatopoeia in the story so far? Why do authors use onomatopoeia?
Question 2 (Comprehension & Analysis): How would you rephrase the meaning of “mi arbolito”? What clues does the author give you as to the meaning of that phrase? What language is that phrase? How do you know? What clues does the author give you? Why do you think the author chose to include Spanish words and phrases in this story?
Question 3 (Comprehension): What details does Edith Hope Fine include on the first page to set the scene for the story? Why does she choose to include these details?
Question 4 (Application): Edith Hope Fine has chosen strong, specific verbs so far. For example, on page 5, she uses the strong, specific verb “crooned” instead of the everyday verb “sang.” What are some other examples of strong, specific verbs that Edith Hope Fine used to describe characters’ actions?
Question 5 (Analysis): In the beginning of the story, instead of telling us Rosalinda scared the Night Man away, Edith Hope Fine described what Rosalinda and Blanca did that caused the Night Man to cry out and run away. Can you identify other parts in the story where the author used that same “show not tell” strategy?
Question 6 (Synthesis): What words or images did the author use to build suspense? What other words or details would you add to the story to further build suspense?
Question 7 (Evaluation): Edith Hope Fine chooses to name the stranger in the garden “Night Man.” Why do you think she made the choice to give him a name? Do you agree with her choice of name? What would you have called the stranger in the garden if you were writing the story?
Additional questions to ask:
Make a list of words that were unfamiliar to you before you read this story. How did you figure out what these words meant?
Choose the most important sentence from the story so far. Why did you choose this sentence? Why do you feel it is so important?
Choose a word that you learned or particularly liked from the beginning of the story. Write the meaning of the word in your own words, then draw a picture that shows what the word means.
Choose a word that best represents the story so far. Is there a time in your life when this word applied to or was important to you? Is there a time when this word was important in another text you read?
List some descriptive words Edith Hope Fine uses to set the scene or to show characters thoughts, actions and feelings.
What techniques did the author use to hook you into the story? To make the story suspenseful? To make the writing lively?
So far, what word best describes Rosalinda? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
What words or phrases from the story helped you visualize the story?
What are your favorite questions to ask when doing a close reading focused on author’s craft, language and word choice?
As a great-grandmother, which means I can remember my own reading instruction, as well as that of my children, grandchildren, and now that of my great-grandchildren, I was perplexed when I heard that “close reading” is now to be taught to school children from the very start of their reading life. Wanting to educate myself, I have read all four of Jaclyn Deforge’s well-conceived and well-phrased posts on the subject. And now all I can conclude is that trying to meet this “standard” is going to be disastrous for both children and teachers. We are talking about very young children–say ages five to eight–who have just heard or read a short, illustrated text. Some of them liked it, some of them loved it, and some of them waited patiently for a change in activity so that they could move around the classroom instead of being required to sit and absorb the story. Very well, it has ever been thus in public schools. But now…now they are expected to stay focused on the story, to decide why the author wrote it the way he did, why he used certain words, why he chose to set the story in, say, another country instead of this one. It’s not a story any more, it’s a lesson. If the child was in the group that loved the story, whom the story transported to another world, he will now have to acknowledge that it wasn’t a real world at all, but another adult construct he has to study. If he merely liked it, he will like it less and less the longer he is asked to focus on it, and if he was waiting for a change in activity..well, you know how he feels. (And I haven’t even mentioned how frustrated the teacher becomes as she tries to interest her charges in questions they are not willing or able to keep thinking about.) This is how a teacher is supposed to foster a love of reading in young children? My conclusion, which I devoutly hope someone will prove mistaken, is that this common core standard is counterproductive in every respect. I pity the teachers. I pity the children.
_____
Edith Hope Fine said, on 11/13/2012 10:55:00 AM
Jaclyn, thanks so much for turning the spotlight on my Under the Lemon Moon in this post. I love the comments I get about this book and am glad it’s available from Lee & Low in both English and Spanish. All teachers and visiting authors (I’ve been both) adjust books to their audience or grade level. When I’m with younger children at schools, I read some parts of Lemon Moon and tell other parts, with lots of interaction throughout for the students. We say the first line together (“Deep in the night Rosalinda heard noises”), moving our hands to the rhythm of the words. We brawk and flap like chickens. “Three times only,” I say, brawking, and 98% of the time we get just three brawks when we do in en masse). On my signal, they say “Gracias” where it comes in the text. My approach also depends on whether the group has heard or read the book already . . . We talk about how Rene King Moreno made the dragonflies and butterflies huge to match the magical tone of the tale, then we make butterflies with our hands. I say the last line (“Rosalinda’s cart was empty, but her heart was as big as a lemon moon”), then we repeat it together with gestures, making a rectangle in the air for “cart,” shrugging with hands up for “empty,” touching our hearts for “heart,” and forming a big old lemon moon with arms high, hands clasped above our heads. This active word play keeps even the wiggliest of listeners engaged. At this point they’ve sat on their bottoms long enough, so they become growing lemon trees, standing slowly without a word (after all, trees don’t talk) and waving their arms slowly like branches, then sitting down for a few more minutes to talk about the book and ask questions. Skilled teachers know how to get to the heart of the story and those all-important higher levels of thinking while keeping the experience light, intriguing, joyful. Discussion of the book, exploration of the ideas may take place over over several readings. Pulling students into books—letting young readers dive deep and wide—is one of the warmest, most important, and most rewarding parts of teaching. The same goes for writing for children, of course.
Jaclyn DeForge said, on 11/13/2012 12:59:00 PM
Thank you both for your thought-provoking comments!!! I have some thoughts to share, but they’re a bit lengthy to post in the comments section, so be sure to check back for my post on Monday I’ll post the link here when its live.
Close Reading in the Lower Elementary Classroom: c said, on 11/19/2012 6:33:00 AM
[...] Monday, my post on close reading in the second grade classroom inspired some great discussion in the comments section from Lee & Low authors Sally (Derby) [...]
What does close reading look like in Third Grade? said, on 12/3/2012 3:03:00 AM
[...] What does close reading look like in Second Grade? [...]
What does close reading look like in First Grade? said, on 12/5/2012 7:52:00 AM
[...] What does close reading look like in second grade? [...]
What does close reading look like in Kindergarten? said, on 12/5/2012 7:52:00 AM
[...] What does close reading look like in second grade? [...]
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Over the next several weeks, I’ll be modeling how to do a close reading at several different grade levels. First up: Close Reading in Kindergarten using the D level text Bedtime Fun by Barbara J. Newkirk and illustrated by Laura Freeman.
In terms of student questioning, start general and move up Bloom’s Taxonomy by gradually increasing the rigor. For example, say you want to focus your close reading of Bedtime Fun on character development. Here are the questions I would ask:
Question 1 (Knowledge): Who is the main character in the story? Who is the story mostly about? Who are the other characters in the story? How do you know?
Question 2 (Comprehension): What was the big thing that the entire story was about? How do you know?
Question 3 (Comprehension): Can you explain what is happening on page 3? On page 4? On page 6? How does the little boy change over the course of the story? What clues does the illustrator give us that show that the little boy is changing? How do you know?
Question 4 (Application): What would have happened if the little boy had tried to lay down and go to sleep after page 4? What makes you think that?
Question 5 (Analysis): Why do you think the little boy chose to play with his bear, jump on his bed, stand on his head, etc? What makes you think that? Make a connection to your own life or to another book you’ve read to support your answer.
Question 6 (Analysis): How would you describe the little boy? What is he like? How does he behave? How do you know?
Question 7 (Synthesis): Can you think of another thing the little boy could have done so he could stay up later?
Question 8 (Evaluation): What did you think of the little boy? Did you agree with the choices he made? Think about the author. Did you like the choices she made for the main character? Did you like the way the author ended the story? Why or why not?
Additional questions to ask:
How does the main character remind you of yourself or of a character in another book you’ve read?
Why do you think the author included Mama and Papa in the story?
How do you think the little boy probably behaves when it’s time to get up and get ready for school? What makes you think that?
What is important to the little boy? How do you know?
What did the author do to make the little boy realistic?
Even an 8 page book can serve as the foundation for some rigorous student discussions when read closely!
What are your favorite questions to ask when doing a close reading focused on character development?
What does close reading look like in First Grade? said, on 10/22/2012 7:55:00 AM
[...] be modeling how to do a close reading at several different grade levels. Last week, I wrote about close reading in Kindergarten. Next up: Close Reading in First Grade using the H level text Pop Pop and Grandpa by Mary Dixon [...]
What does close reading look like in Second Grade? said, on 11/12/2012 3:09:00 AM
[...] What does close reading look like in Kindergarten? [...]
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
One of the most critical elements of the new Common Core Standards is the emphasis placed on close reading. In the anchor standards for reading for grades K-12, the first item under the heading Key Ideas and Details states that students should be able to:
“Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.” (pages 10, 35, 60)
In the past, some curricula spent a huge amount of time on the accuracy and speed at which a student was able to read, and stopped there. This emphasis on fluency isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as the teacher recognizes that just because students sound fluent, it doesn’t automatically mean they’ve fully understood what they’ve read. Making meaning from text is a process and should be explicitly taught during every Read Aloud and Guided Reading.
The Common Core’s mention of close reading shifts the collective focus back to meaning. It asks teachers to spend time with rigorous, complex texts, reading and rereading a text, moving from the big ideas to paragraphs to sentences to individual word choice, focusing on meaning and craft in a thorough way. Time is still spent on retelling the story and basic comprehension questions, but the bulk of the discussions focus on meatier topics such as word choice, author’s purpose, character development, mood, etc. In my opinion, those lessons are incredibly interesting to plan and a lot of fun to teach because the student discussions that result (after sustained practice at this slow, deliberate reading) are really insightful!
But what does close reading look like in practice? Over the next few weeks, I’m going to walk you through how to do a close reading using several of our titles. Hopefully this modeling will demystify the process and help you as you plan more Read Alouds centered on close reading!
DETERMINING AND DELIVERING STRONG “MAGIC THREE” QUESTIONS
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In this series for teachers, educators, and literacy coaches, Jaclyn discusses different strategies for ensuring students hit end-of-year benchmarks in reading.
I pull them from a few different places: guided reading notes, struggles I’ve noticed during the most recent running record assessment, and sometimes, from my most recent Read Aloud mini-lessons. I limit the questions to three, because I’ve found it’s a manageable number for even the youngest of readers, and it eliminates questions of fairness and builds a sense of the learning community within the classroom, as every student walks away from their running record conference with the same number of next steps.
When selecting which strategies to highlight for each student, I want to keep the following guidelines for myself in mind:
Is this a strategy I’ve worked on with them before or introduced to the class?
Is this something I feel confident they can try on their own? Can they somewhat monitor their own success in implementing this strategy?
When delivering the “Magic Three” to each student, I’m a fan of the infamous “compliment sandwich” technique. It’s easier to hear where we need to improve after hearing how awesome we are! Here’s how a hypothetical post-conference “Magic Three” talk might go with one of my former second graders:
“Erika, I just wanted to tell you that I have been so impressed with you lately during Guided Reading time. I’ve noticed you taking some really thoughtful notes as you read, and I like that you always go back to the text to support your answer. That’s a strategy really thoughtful readers use and I’m excited to see how your careful attention to detail helps you as we start working on level L books. Now for our “Magic Three” until we sit again: the first thing I want you to think about when you read a fiction book is character. It’s really important that every time you read a book, you ask yourself:
How would I describe each character to someone who had never met them?
You’re so good at helping your classmates come up with support for the adjectives they come up with to describe the characters we’ve read about, but I would love to see you start coming up with the describing words, and let your classmates come up with the support, since that’s already something you’re good at. So what are you going to focus on when you think about the characters?
The other thing I want you to focus on is unfamiliar or confusing words: even as an adult, I come across words in my reading that I’ve never seen before, but I can’t let that scare me and stop me from understanding what’s going on in the text. I’ve noticed, and a lot of your friends do this too, that when you come to a word you don’t know, you’ll skip it and keep going. As the books we read start to get a bit more challenging, those words we skip over might be important to understanding what’s going on, so it’s really important that if you come to a word you don’t know right away, that you try to figure out what the word is and what the word means. So the two questions I want you to ask yourself when you come to a word you don’t know are:
Did I try to sound it out or look for other words and word parts I already know to help me figure out what the word is?
Did I read around the word (the sentence before and the sentence after) to try to figure out what the word means?
Those are your “Magic Three.” So what are the three things you’re focusing on this month?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read with me today. I’ve noticed how you’ve been speaking up and answering questions a lot more during Read Aloud. You’ve shared some pretty spectacular insights and I think your careful listening is really contributing some great thoughts and questions to our discussions, so thank you for that!”
How do you communicate next steps to your students? Drop me an email at[email protected]or share yours in the comments!
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In this series for teachers, educators, and literacy coaches, Jaclyn discusses different strategies for ensuring students hit end-of-year benchmarks in reading.
The first part of my assessment time with each individual student is the assessment itself. Once I’ve determined the student’s independent reading level (each assessment program differs in terms of what a student needs to score to be considered independent), I take out a secondary assessment kit and read with the student on their instructional level to determine each student’s “Magic Three.” The “Magic Three” are the three reading comprehension skills and strategies I’m going to send that student off with to focus on during their independent reading time between now and the next assessment.
When reading with a student on their instructional reading level, I consider the following:
“The word reading has two senses, often confusingly lumped together. The first means the process of turning printed marks into sounds and these sounds into words. But the second sense means the very different process of understanding those words. Learning how to read in the first sense—decoding through phonics—does not guarantee learning how to read in the second sense—comprehending the meaning of what is read…[c]hildren who lag in comprehension in early grades tend to fall even further behind in later years.”
E.D. Hirsch, Jr. The Knowledge Deficit
Different running record assessment systems have different accuracy benchmarks, but when I do running record with a student, only a small percentage of what I’m looking for has to do with decoding. On the whole, I’ve found students can decode at a far higher level than they can comprehend, so this usually isn’t a factor when dealing with a student’s instructional level. What I look for is: a) do they comprehend the story on a BASIC level? and b) how much of the story were they able to EXTEND to comprehend on a deeper level? Most students, when they’re reading at their instructional level, may have a few minor problems with the basic comprehension, but really tend to st
0 Comments on Goal Setting for Reading Success, Part 3 as of 1/1/1900
Check out LEE & LOW BOOKS’ Building Classroom Community Unit for First Grade! The FREE and downloadable unit consists of eight read aloud lesson plans to inspire your best classroom community yet.
During this unit you will:
Although immigration is passionately debated in the media, it is an issue often ignored in schools, even though it’s central to the lived experiences of Latina/o children—even those born in the United States. This was something I didn’t realize until I created space for students’ lives in the curriculum.
task: help every student become a successful learner. How can teachers support all students’ diverse needs? Much confusion and fear have surrounded differentiated instruction and its use in the classroom.
Myth #2: Every student should be doing something different
This led me to reread and re-experience the Children’s Book Press treasure, 
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
I’ll post the link here when its live.
Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan, of course! :)
Hi Miss Amy-
Thank you for recommending the book, Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride, as a book pairing to the article about the discovery of Amelia Earhart’s plane fragment. This is a fantastic story about persistence, courage, and overcoming obstacles. I could see students engaging on additional research projects and personal narratives with this pairing!