How Do I Teach Young Kids to Read?

 How Do I Teach Young Kids to Read?

If you're a new teacher or a parent of a struggling reader, you may ask yourself this question, and chances are you Googled this very question. 

Too often teacher education programs are lacking because they certification programs span a wide range of grades or because the course requirements don't spend enough time on this important topic. If you became a teacher via Alternate Route, then you likely know very little about formal reading instruction, except what you've observed (and likely remember little of) in a classroom as a student. 

Luckily, there is much research that has been done on this topic. I'll present some resources from trusted sources, such as the US Department of Education. If you're interviewing for a job and brushing up on best practices, changing grade levels, or doing professional development, I highly recommend reading these guides.

Foundational Skills to SupportReading for Understanding inKindergarten Through 3rd Grade

Teaching Struggling Readers to Tackle Math Word Problems: Effective Strategies and Practice Pages That Help Kids Develop the Skills They Need to Read and Solve Math Word Problems (Grades 3-5)

Assisting StudentsStruggling with Reading:Response to Interventionand Multi-TierIntervention for Readingin the Primary Grades 

Find more reading posts here.

Finding Just-Right Books for Kids

 Are you here because you have no idea what your child(ren) could or should be reading? Do the letters and numbers your child's teacher told you for your child's level mean jibberish or are you a teacher who has switched reading programs or are you new to teaching and starting a library? Have no fear! There are many resources out there to help you. 

This is an old guide from Scholastic that shows some of the paperbacks they've offered in the past. They are ordered by guided reading level. The chart on the first page shows correlation to grade, DRA, and Lexile levels.

Does your child have a favorite reading series that they've finished, but you're looking for something similar? Are you perusing books at the library or bookstore without having a clue what reading level they are? Download the Scholastic Book Wizard app or use the desktop website and watch the video below. 

Lexile has a hub where you can find books, level text, find word lists for grade levels, etc. I especially like the word lists for content areas like science. It helps a lot for students to preview these words to they can read and understand what a question or statement is asking because they are not words that occur frequently in other subject areas.

My classroom books are scanned into the Booksource app / website. Did you know that Fountas & Pinnell suggest that books are arranged by theme and genre instead of level? I write the levels inside the left hand corner of the books, and students see the level only after selecting the book by interest from a genre basket. I have stickers on each book to show which basket they go into, and students slip a paint stirrer with their number on it so they can remember where to put it back after checking it out. 

Remember that websites and apps are updated frequently, so some features shown in images and videos here may be slightly different when you access them. 

In the end, what really matters most is a child's interest in the book they are reading. If they don't like a book, they won't read it or won't read for comprehension. Think about what you read as an adult - recipes, magazines, newspaper articles, documents, etc. It's okay for kids to go read signs or comics or the back of baseball cards! As long as their eyes are on print, they will continue to improve as readers. 

Find more reading posts here.

The Night Before the Snow Day

 Are you or your "kids" (students or your actual children) anticipating or wishing for a snow day? If so, this post is for you! 

My kids and I read The Night Before the Snow Day by Natasha Wing. We talked about superstitions like putting pajamas on backwards, doing snow dances, and even putting ice cubes in the toilet. 

I decided to make some activities that I could see being used by:

• homeschoolers with kids at different levels
• classroom teachers
• substitutes
• teacher candidates for reading demo lessons that showcase differentiation

These lessons can also be done:

• during virtual learning -  independently while asynchronous or as a class or with partners
• on paper - options for writing or cutting

Like all of my Google Doc lessons, there is a linked table of contents that makes navigation easy as well as an answer key and differentiated pages!

Bear Snores On

 

My little guy and I are working on rhyming and reading short, repetitive text. We were given Bear Stays Up for Christmas when he was a baby, and grabbed the rest of these books by Karma Wilson at the library recently. Check out some of the fun stuff we've done after reading them.

As a teacher with a master's degree in special education, I'm constantly thinking about modifications and accommodations to meet learners' needs, so I included some free printables in different output formats, which allow students to show what they know in different ways.

If your class is like mine usually are, there is a wide range of reading and writing performance, so I'm happy to be able to support you and your learner(s) and provide examples of different ways your students can demonstrate what they've learned.

 

This EdWordle is neat and can be used in many ways. Beginning learners can create their own using words they know from the story. Advanced learners can create their own, including only specific parts of speech or whatever you ask them to do, and even put it in a shape related to the story.

Here's another way of meeting standards, using a table to answer a question. You can even edit the Doc to include a row or two to have students add their own answer! 

Watch the read alouds below!

Bear Wants More video

Bear Says Thanks video

Bear Snores On video

Meet biologist Lzzie Daly and watch this video to learn about how she uses technology in the wild to learn about bears!

Country Research Project

Are you and your students working from home and suffering from wanderlust? Do you want to get your students researching other countries and cultures as well as improving their geography knowledge? This Google Slide presentation research project will help students work on their technology skills as well.

This 10 slide project can be completed independently or collaboratively via Google Slides and Google Classroom.

Download it here.

Looking for other digital projects and lessons? Check these out: 

-Bitmoji Bookmark Projects

-Digital Memory Book

-Digital Escape Rooms

-Concrete Poems

-Meet an Author Opinion Writing

-Digital ABC Research Book

Digital ABC Book Research

Are your students hesitant to research? Do they struggle with learning about new topics? This project is a hit every year! Students also can draw or upload pictures, depending on whether your print or have them work digitally.

Choice is one way to differentiate your instruction. Students will be fully engaged and can work independently or remotely.

Download this product here.

Looking for other digital projects and lessons? Check these out: 

-Bitmoji Bookmark Projects

-Digital Memory Book

-Digital Escape Rooms

-Concrete Poems

-Meet an Author Opinion Writing

-Country Research Reports

Using highlighters to create independent learners

Do you find yourself spending a lot of time with students who can't seem to write reading responses, read maps, or solve word problems? I have found something that really works for my students - color coding.

Close reading is a big thing in the Common Core. Deciding what is important to highlight is an important and hard skill for students. I teach my kids by going through questions first and kicking out unusual or important words. They get a good idea of the story's plot before even reading. It also improves their comprehension because they know the questions they are going to answer ahead of time. It helps them find answers much more easily, too!

Next, they read the story. Then they answer the questions, highlighting answers in the text. Some kids  "just don't get" what to do when the answer isn't obvious. I have them highlight clues that helped them make an inference or draw a conclusion.

This is a Deepen Comprehension question from Journeys Grade 4 Lesson 5. We were working with the story Stormalong and analyzing characters. 

I projected this on the Promethean Board and we worked together to show the process of turning prewriting into writing. I used colored text and the highlighting tool to show where the information came from. Some students really do need modeling of this!!

Here we used crayons and symbols to answer questions on this Common Core sheets page.

Some of my students really aren't strong readers and typically ignore graphic features. My higher learners can color code themselves. I do it ahead of time for the couple of kids who struggle and over time they learn to do it by themselves.

Now you see another way to use highlighters to draw attention to map features.

Believe it or not, some of your struggling learners don't actually realize that they need to use the picture / map to answer the question. You can do some of the highlighting for them or with them. Eventually they will become independent at it.

How do you use highlighters and color coding to help your children?

Proofreading Paragraphs

Do you find that your students have difficulty proofreading their writing? It's a common problem!

Here's what I've done in the past:

1. Students complete Wake Up Brain right after they unpack and write down their homework. I photocopy it as two sided each day. That means they edit two sentences, do a language exercise, complete a spelling / phonics activity, answer 1-2 geography questions, and do 2-3 math problems. It should take 5-10 minutes.

Wake Up Brain

Depending on the grade I am teaching, I start with the one previous in September. We are on grade level after a few months and then we are above grade level by the last third of the year. It makes a huge difference! (That means in grade 3, we do the second grade, third grade, and fourth grade books.) The great thing is you can find them for grades 1-6.

2. Students proofread sentences using the week's grammar skills. Here are sentences from Harcourt Houghton Mifflin Journeys Grade 3.

3. Students read each other's written work out loud. If you pair them up and have them switch papers, they are more likely to notice mistakes they've made when they are listening to someone else read it! We use A Star and a Wish to give feedback. You can download it for free by clicking the picture or the link.

4. English for Everyone has posted free printables at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. Perfect for differentiation! I have found that my kids can usually find mistakes in isolated sentences, but it becomes much more difficult when they have to do it in a paragraph. What makes it easier is these worksheets are multiple choice, so you shouldn't get any blank stares. They are good for assessment.

5. Finally, for those of you who have kids that need to practice that actual process of editing, SuperTeacherWorksheets has some cool printables. You may need a subscription to the website for some of them.

What do you do to help your kids proofread?

Words their Way

 

As I was getting ready for the upcoming school year and looking for videos to show my student teacher how Words Their Way works, I came across this:


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/BUNDLE-Automatic-Spelling-Inventory-Templates-1092641

Now I'm not a fan of sitting there and highlighting every single letter that a student got correct - it's a waste of time when you've got 25 to correct. I typically circle or highlight what they got wrong instead to save ink and my sanity. Plus, I often have a wide range of spellers and need to use at least 2-3 of the inventories throughout each of the 3 benchmark assessments we give during the year. That's why I like this product. It pretty much does it for you once you enter the words as your students spelled them. Check it out!

If you aren't familiar with Words Their Way and want to see what it's all about so you can challenge your kids and differentiate their spelling, head over to the videos on my class website!