Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Common Core State Standards
NOTE TO PARENTS:
In the upcoming 2013-2014 school year, schools in the state of Alabama will be adopting and implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which are a national set of learning expectations for college and career success that were developed by teachers, parents, school administrators, and education experts. These newly adopted standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn in K-12 math and language arts. While there are many similarities between the existing Alabama course of Study Standards and the CCSS, you might notice changes in what content is emphasized and the grade in which the content is taught. For example, there is an increased emphasis on informational text in elementary school in the new standards.
The purpose of adopting the CCSS is not simply to align with other states, but rather to raise the bar in all grades to ensure that our students are receiving a relevant and rigorous education. The adoption of the CCSS means that your child will be better prepared to meet the demands of college and/or the work place in the 21st century. Today's global economy means that our students need to possess academic standards by the completion of twelfth grade to ensure their success in college and /or workforce. For additional information please go to www.corestandards.org. In addition, the National PTA has organized resources to help parents support their child. Information can be found at www.pta.org/common_core_state_standards.asp
Friday, February 22, 2013
What Does Common Core Mean to Us Teachers?
Here’s another way to think about it.
You’d see:
- Less of teachers lecturing and more of teachers modeling.
- Less of students listening and more of students constructing meaning together.
- Less of teachers turning to the next page in the textbook and more of teachers using formative assessments to determine what’s next.
- Less of students recalling (although sometimes this is necessary) and more of students transferring their learning to new experiences.
- Less of teachers hurrying to cover more content and more of teachers slowing down to insure deep understanding and application.
- Less of students reading from secondary sources and more of students wrestling with primary texts in every subject area.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Igniting a Passion for Reading
Okay....so I had the awesome opportunity to go to a workshop where Dr. Steven Layne presented!! He is the BOMB! Talk about Igniting a Passion! He ignited a FIRE in me! I am so excited and want my entire school to be JUST AS EXCITED. My mind has been into overdrive. So many of his ideas are CHEAP and purposeful. If you don't have a copy of his book, Igniting a Passion for Reading, you should get one!!
"It should be every teacher's aim to give every child a love of reading, a hunger for it that will stay with him through all the years of his life. If a child has that he will acquire the mechanical part without difficulty. " (Mayne ~1915)
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Common Core Standards and Writing
Just recently I have dipped...and when I say dipped...I'm talking about my pinky toe...into checking out the CCS and the impact it will have on 1st and 2nd grade reading and language arts. Writing is one of those areas that I have focused on. Our school uses Scott Foresman-Reading Street. Personally, I really like it. But like with any textbook/series adoption, there are gaps that may not fit the needs of your students. Writing is going to be one of those gaps that we will have to fill. So, I have started researching some literature on writing. Yesterday I researched Lucy Calkins. I would love to hear from anyone that is familiar with her work with Writing Workshop.
“It is terribly important for kids to read and write for the reasons that people the world over read and write, which is to communicate, to be delighted, to laugh.”- Lucy Caulkins
THIS IS HOW I WOULD LOVE FOR OUR CLASSROOMS TO BE:
What does a Writing Workshop classroom look like?
Small groups of students are busy throughout the room. In a corner Carl and Steven are conferencing about Steven’s dinosaur story. Kathy is at the publishing center designing the cover for her personal narrative about the day she broke her arm. Mrs. Lyle, the teacher, is conferencing with Carlos about his mystery story. Gregory is intensively working on his book of animal poetry. An author’s chair is positioned at the front of the room. Posters explaining the steps of the writing process are posted on the walls. Student writing is very visible. Children have easy access to the tools they need such as pencils, paper, thesauruses, and dictionaries.There is energy in the room as children purposefully converse with each other about their writing.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
PIG READING!
Are you looking to increase student fluency this time of year?? Then this is a GREAT way to do just that. PIG read...Partner read- read Independently-and Group read. This packet also includes activities that focus on weekly skills for Unit 6 Reading Street. Check it out my teacherspayteachers store!
Monday, March 19, 2012
SWBS Chart
Great strategy to use with students to increase comprehension and help with plot. Several of our teachers are now using this and have seen it make an impact in student learning. After having modeled this activity whole group several times, this can be copied onto card stock and laminated. Then, teachers can place in a center for groups to work on together. Students can write on post it notes and place in the boxes.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Second Grade Unit 5 Quick Writes
A Quick Write is short (3-5 minutes)! This activity gets the kids thinking about writing and allows them to focus on a lesson or idea! I created these based on Unit 5 Reading Street selection stories. Teachers will be able to evaluate student background knowledge before teaching the concept.
Exit Card
Similar to my ticket out the door! But here students jot what they didn't get from the lesson and what they did get. This will help determine next steps to guide your instruction.
Today You Can Write Your Own Ticket!
This is an activity I use at the end of the day. It is similar to a student work log. I usually encourage students to base this on essential questions. Before dismissal, they write what we worked on that day, what they needed help with, and what they learned.
Friday, March 16, 2012
This is an example of a reading comprehension strategy I have been creating for our Second Grade Reading Street Unit Stories. I am so new at this whole blogging/Teachers Pay Teachers stuff...so forgive me! :) I'm learning! This strategy helps to incorporate thinking, speaking, listening, writing, and reading. I love it!!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
AR GOAL SETTING!
*Log into your teacher AR account.
Click on Resources-Forms and Charts-Goal Setting Chart
You can use this chart to help you get started based on each child's ZPD. Decide how many minutes you propose the child will be reading a day and use the suggestion given.
OR....
*You can utilize the AR Goal Calculator- argoals.renlearn.com (Wonderful, quick and easy tool!) This will not save so make sure you print out your form before exiting.
*To help you monitor each child's goal: go to Class Record Books-Reading Practice Goals.
Enter the Selected Marking Periods. Click Create under Actions and complete the blanks for each of your students.
*Reports that many of us use are under the Reports Heading...
Under Reading Practice you may decide to use the Diagnostic or Student Points or Goal History.
Setting attainable goals for each child is a great way to make each child feel successful! It provides a great opportunity for student conferencing as well. Each 9 weeks marking period we acknowledge each child who met their goal by placing their name on the AR Wall of Fame. A special AR Field Trip is awarded for each child that reaches their End of the Year AR Goal.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Great Writing Strategy for ELs!
We know that when teaching EL students we need to provide them with learning strategies. One writing strategy that has worked for me throughout the years is Hamburger Writing. It provides students with cues and visuals. They will be writing 5 sentence paragraphs (in primary grades) or 5 paragraph essays (for upper grades) in no time!
Top Bun: Write 1 sentence. State your topic. Color Code Brown.
Lettuce: Write 1 sentence that supports your topic sentence. This is detail sentence #1. Color Code Green.
Cheese: Write 1 more sentence that supports your topic sentence. This is detail sentence #2. Color Code Yellow.
Meat: Write another sentence that supports your topic. This is detail sentence #3. Color Code Black
Bottom Bun: Rewrite the sentence from your top bun. Color Code Brown
It has ALWAYS worked for me! I hope your students enjoy it, grasp it, and “take off” with their writing skills! When introducing Hamburger Writing, I would create a HUGE hamburger with butcher paper. We would model this technique several times before letting students work independently on their own hamburger. Color coding each condiment helps too.
FOUR PLANNING QUESTIONS
Four Planning Questions
~When planning for your lessons, ALWAYS ask yourself these questions:
1. What are the outcomes?
(What is my purpose?)
2. What steps will I take?
(How will I set up my lesson? I, We, They? Wait Time? Pacing? Will I give multiple opportunities to respond? How will I keep students engaged?)
3. How will I know if the learning
has occurred? (What will learning look like?)
4. What will I do if learning doesn’t happen? (Who/What/How/When will I explicitly and intensively reteach?)
~When planning for your lessons, ALWAYS ask yourself these questions:
1. What are the outcomes?
(What is my purpose?)
2. What steps will I take?
(How will I set up my lesson? I, We, They? Wait Time? Pacing? Will I give multiple opportunities to respond? How will I keep students engaged?)
3. How will I know if the learning
has occurred? (What will learning look like?)
4. What will I do if learning doesn’t happen? (Who/What/How/When will I explicitly and intensively reteach?)
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Remarkable Retellings, Super Summaries
A Path to Comprehension
When you let students know that they'll be asked to tell you or their classmates—orally or in writing—“what happened in the story” or “what were the big ideas,” you'll help them connect with text and focus on making meaning. Plus, what they say or write gives you a quick way of assessing their developing comprehension skills.
Even your youngest students can participate. Ask emergent readers to tell you about items or events from a story, and then talk about putting the events in order. As they grow as readers and writers, children can be asked to retell a story first in pictures, then in writing, and then in their own words. By the middle or upper elementary grades, they can move on to summarizing.
Make a Map
During shared reading and read-alouds with your preschoolers and kindergartners, introduce the idea of sequence. When you reread a familiar book, pause every now and then, and say something like “Do you remember what comes next?” After reading, ask “Who can tell me how the story started? And then what happened?”
Now, create picture cards that correspond with the main events in the story. Hand a card to each of several children, and ask them to line up in the order that matches the story. You can also make multiple card sets so children can work in groups to lay them out in order.
Once children get used to the idea of sequence, it's time for them to dive in themselves. An Event Map will get them actively involved in shared reading, reinforce ideas of main events and sequence, and let them show you what they know through pictures and emergent writing.
Give a copy of the Event Map (page 63) to each student. After sharing a book several times, ask them to complete the map. At first, young learners can use pictures to show the events. Once they gain some experience, they can label the pictures (as shown in the illustration) and then move on to completing the map in writing.
(These ideas are adapted from Jill Hansen's book “Tell Me a Story”.)
A Marvelous Modification
Summarizing is a more complex task than retelling. Creating a formal summary usually involves reducing a text by about a third, writing a topic statement, eliminating redundant and unimportant details, and more. You can help students make the transition from retelling to summarizing by encouraging them to paraphrase.
In a retelling, students often rely on the author's words. With paraphrasing, they use their own words to tell or write about what happens in a text.
Model paraphrasing by reading aloud a portion of text and then launching into your own paraphrase with “OK, so here's what is going on in this part….” At some point, highlight a “word I don't think I know” or “something that doesn't seem quite right”—and show students how to go back to the text to figure things out.
In this way, students put things into words that they understand (thereby deepening their comprehension of the text) and begin to concentrate on monitoring their reading and taking action when things are unclear.
(See Sharon Kletzien's “Paraphrasing” in The Reading Teacher, September 2009, for more about this strategy, along with the related ReadWriteThink.org lesson plan.)
TEACHER TALK
Get them in a retelling/summarizing frame of mind by saying things like this:
If you thought the book was great and want your best friend to read it, how would you describe what it's about?
Who's the most important person in the story? What does the aughor say to make you know that?
Are there important words that jump out at you? What are they? Why are they important? What do they mean?
What's the main idea of this paragraph? On this page? In this book?
Moving to Main Ideas
To help your upper primary and intermediate students continue on the path toward summarizing and growing comprehension, try Somebody/Wanted/But/So (described in Valerie Ellery's Creating Strategic Readers).
Have each student fold a piece of paper in quarters. After reopening the folded paper, ask them to write the following headings in each of the four sections: Somebody, Wanted, But, So.
Using a story that they have read, students complete their charts by writing a statement under each heading:
Somebody—identify the main character
Wanted—describe the character's goal or motivation
But—describe a conflict that impedes the character
So—describe the conflict's resolution
Extend the activity by asking “How can you use these key ideas to give me a condensed version of the story?” Students can respond orally or in writing—and they'll be well on the way to becoming successful summarizers!
Digging Deeper
For more about retelling, paraphrasing, summarizing, and comprehension, including lots of additional activities, see these resources:
Valerie Ellery, Creating Strategic Readers: Techniques for Developing Competency in Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension, International Reading Association
Jill Hansen, “Tell Me a Story”: Developmentally Appropriate Retelling Strategies, International Reading Association
Sharon Kletzien, “Paraphrasing: An Effective Comprehension Strategy,” The Reading Teacher, September 2009
Sharon Kletzien, “I Used My Own Words! Paraphrasing Informational Texts,” ReadWriteThink.org (www readwritethink org classroom-resources lesson-plans used-wordsparaphrasing-informational-1177 html)
When you let students know that they'll be asked to tell you or their classmates—orally or in writing—“what happened in the story” or “what were the big ideas,” you'll help them connect with text and focus on making meaning. Plus, what they say or write gives you a quick way of assessing their developing comprehension skills.
Even your youngest students can participate. Ask emergent readers to tell you about items or events from a story, and then talk about putting the events in order. As they grow as readers and writers, children can be asked to retell a story first in pictures, then in writing, and then in their own words. By the middle or upper elementary grades, they can move on to summarizing.
Make a Map
During shared reading and read-alouds with your preschoolers and kindergartners, introduce the idea of sequence. When you reread a familiar book, pause every now and then, and say something like “Do you remember what comes next?” After reading, ask “Who can tell me how the story started? And then what happened?”
Now, create picture cards that correspond with the main events in the story. Hand a card to each of several children, and ask them to line up in the order that matches the story. You can also make multiple card sets so children can work in groups to lay them out in order.
Once children get used to the idea of sequence, it's time for them to dive in themselves. An Event Map will get them actively involved in shared reading, reinforce ideas of main events and sequence, and let them show you what they know through pictures and emergent writing.
Give a copy of the Event Map (page 63) to each student. After sharing a book several times, ask them to complete the map. At first, young learners can use pictures to show the events. Once they gain some experience, they can label the pictures (as shown in the illustration) and then move on to completing the map in writing.
(These ideas are adapted from Jill Hansen's book “Tell Me a Story”.)
A Marvelous Modification
Summarizing is a more complex task than retelling. Creating a formal summary usually involves reducing a text by about a third, writing a topic statement, eliminating redundant and unimportant details, and more. You can help students make the transition from retelling to summarizing by encouraging them to paraphrase.
In a retelling, students often rely on the author's words. With paraphrasing, they use their own words to tell or write about what happens in a text.
Model paraphrasing by reading aloud a portion of text and then launching into your own paraphrase with “OK, so here's what is going on in this part….” At some point, highlight a “word I don't think I know” or “something that doesn't seem quite right”—and show students how to go back to the text to figure things out.
In this way, students put things into words that they understand (thereby deepening their comprehension of the text) and begin to concentrate on monitoring their reading and taking action when things are unclear.
(See Sharon Kletzien's “Paraphrasing” in The Reading Teacher, September 2009, for more about this strategy, along with the related ReadWriteThink.org lesson plan.)
TEACHER TALK
Get them in a retelling/summarizing frame of mind by saying things like this:
If you thought the book was great and want your best friend to read it, how would you describe what it's about?
Who's the most important person in the story? What does the aughor say to make you know that?
Are there important words that jump out at you? What are they? Why are they important? What do they mean?
What's the main idea of this paragraph? On this page? In this book?
Moving to Main Ideas
To help your upper primary and intermediate students continue on the path toward summarizing and growing comprehension, try Somebody/Wanted/But/So (described in Valerie Ellery's Creating Strategic Readers).
Have each student fold a piece of paper in quarters. After reopening the folded paper, ask them to write the following headings in each of the four sections: Somebody, Wanted, But, So.
Using a story that they have read, students complete their charts by writing a statement under each heading:
Somebody—identify the main character
Wanted—describe the character's goal or motivation
But—describe a conflict that impedes the character
So—describe the conflict's resolution
Extend the activity by asking “How can you use these key ideas to give me a condensed version of the story?” Students can respond orally or in writing—and they'll be well on the way to becoming successful summarizers!
Digging Deeper
For more about retelling, paraphrasing, summarizing, and comprehension, including lots of additional activities, see these resources:
Valerie Ellery, Creating Strategic Readers: Techniques for Developing Competency in Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension, International Reading Association
Jill Hansen, “Tell Me a Story”: Developmentally Appropriate Retelling Strategies, International Reading Association
Sharon Kletzien, “Paraphrasing: An Effective Comprehension Strategy,” The Reading Teacher, September 2009
Sharon Kletzien, “I Used My Own Words! Paraphrasing Informational Texts,” ReadWriteThink.org (www readwritethink org classroom-resources lesson-plans used-wordsparaphrasing-informational-1177 html)
Thursday, June 10, 2010
What is Concept Mapping ?
Concept mapping is a technique for representing knowledge in graphs. Knowledge graphs are networks of concepts.Concept mapping can be done for for several purposes:
- to generate ideas (brain storming, etc.);
- to design a complex structure (long texts, hypermedia, large web sites, etc.);
- to communicate complex ideas;
- to aid learning by explicitly integrating new and old knowledge;
- to assess understanding or diagnose misunderstanding.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Reading Kits are something really cool and easy that you can make for your kids. Even if your kids are good readers, these kits can really enhance your literacy instruction while making it lots of fun for your child! They can be used to boost vocabulary instruction, make note of clues during reading, help kids visualize things, and much more!
Reading Kits can include:
highlighters and highlighting tape
sticky notes
bookmarks
color markers
pens and pencils
index cards
highlighters and highlighting tape
sticky notes
bookmarks
color markers
pens and pencils
index cards
Here are some quick ideas on how to use the reading kits:
Color Coded Highlighters can be used by your child to highlight words they don’t know or interesting passages that he/she likes. You can use a different color to go through and highlight vocab words you want your child to focus on, interesting characters, or sections of a chapter book that you’d like to discuss later. You can also do this with colored sticky notes if you don’t want to write in the book.
Sticky Notes can be used by your child to write questions or thoughts about what they are reading. These can be used for discussion later. You can use them to write down your own questions or pointers that you want your child to think about while they read certain sections of a book – just write them ahead of time and place them on the pages throughout the book.
Index Cards have lots of uses! Have your child write short sentences, phrases, or even pictures on the cards to summarize a paragraph or page. You can assign sections of a book for your child to write retells or reactions to something in the story (an event, character analyzation, a prediction, etc.).
Time Lines can also be made using index cards and sticky notes. Have your child make a time line of the events in a story/book (either with words or pictures or both). This really helps them with the comprehension skill of sequencing!
Reading Kits are really easy to put together, yet they can really make a difference in the way your child understands a book or text. Plus, they love to have their little “tools” while reading their book!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Reading Comprehension Strategies for English Language Learners
Lydia Breiseth
Comprehension is the goal of reading, but it can be the most difficult skill to master, especially for English language learners (ELLs). ELLs often have problems mastering science, math, or social studies concepts, for example, because they cannot comprehend the textbooks for these subjects.
ELLs at all levels of English proficiency and literacy development will benefit from improved comprehension skills, which allow them to
Read more accurately.
Follow a text or story more closely.
Identify important events and concepts in a text.
Master new concepts in their content-area classes.
Complete assignments and assessments.
Feel motivated to read in school and for pleasure.
There are a number of ways to build ELLs' comprehension skills. Often, standard strategies that teachers use in mainstream classrooms are a good starting point—they just need to be tweaked with ELLs' language and academic needs in mind. This article focuses on strategies that are part of three main approaches: building background knowledge, teaching vocabulary explicitly, and checking comprehension frequently.
1. Build background knowledge.
Draw on students' existing knowledge.
Students may already possess content knowledge that they cannot yet demonstrate in English. Look for opportunities to make associations between students' experiences and new content. Allow students to use their native language with peers for a quick brainstorm to discover what they know about a topic before presenting their ideas to the whole class.
Build students' background knowledge.
Students with limited or interrupted schooling may not have the same level of knowledge as their peers, especially when it comes to historical or cultural topics. When starting a new lesson, look for references that you may need to explicitly explain.
Take students on a tour of the text.
Each time you hand out a new textbook, take students on a "virtual tour." Show them different elements of the text, such as the table of contents and the glossary, and discuss how these sections can be helpful. Explain how the text is organized, pointing out bold print, chapter headings, and chapter summaries. Once students learn how to recognize these elements, they will be able to preview the text independently. Remember that students need to know how to use a tool in order for it to be helpful.
Use a "picture-walk."
You can use this strategy for fiction or nonfiction books. Walk through the book with the students, pointing out photographs, illustrations, and other graphic elements. Ask them what they notice about the pictures and how they think those details may relate to the story or content.
Use outlines to scaffold comprehension.
Provide a brief, simple outline of a reading assignment or an oral discussion in advance of a new lesson. This will help ELLs pick out the important information as they listen or read.
2. Teach vocabulary explicitly.
Focus on key vocabulary:
Choose the vocabulary that your students need to know in order to support their reading development and content-area learning. Provide student-friendly definitions for key vocabulary.
Include signal and directional words:
Remember that students may also need explicit instruction in signal or directional words ("because" and "explain"), in addition to key content vocabulary ("photosynthesis" and "evolution").
Use a "picture-walk" for vocabulary:
Once students know a new word's definition, ask them to connect those new words to the pictures they see in the text.
Teach students to actively engage with vocabulary:
Teach students to underline, highlight, make notes, and list unknown vocabulary words as they read.
Give students practice with new words:
Ensure that your students can
Define a word.
Recognize when to use that word.
Understand multiple meanings (such as the word "party").
Decode and spell that word.
Incorporate new words into discussions and activities.
For students to really know a word, they must use it—or they will lose it. Use new words in class discussions or outside of class, in other contexts such as on field trips. Give the students as many opportunities to use and master the new vocabulary as possible.
3. Check comprehension frequently.
Use informal comprehension checks:
To test students' ability to put materials in sequence, for example, print sentences from a section of the text on paper strips, mix the strips, and have students put them in order.
Test comprehension with student-friendly questions:
After reading, test students' comprehension with carefully crafted questions, using simple sentences and key vocabulary from the text. These questions can be at the:
Literal level (Why do the leaves turn red and yellow in the fall?)
Interpretive level (Why do you think it needs water?)
Applied level (How much water are you going to give it? Why?)
No matter what the students' proficiency level, ask questions that require higher-level thinking:
To probe for true comprehension, ask questions that require students to analyze, interpret, or explain what they have read, such as the following:
What ideas can you add to...?
Do you agree? Why or why not?
What might happen if...?
How do you think she felt...?
Use graphic organizers:
Graphic organizers allow ELLs to organize information and ideas efficiently without using much language. Different types include Venn diagrams, K-W-L charts, story maps, cause-and-effect charts, and time lines.
Provide students with many different ways to show what they know:
Drawings, graphs, oral interviews, posters, and portfolios are just a few ways that students can demonstrate understanding as they are beginning to develop their reading and writing skills in English.
Summarize:
Ask students to use the following strategies to summarize, orally or in writing, what they have read:
Retell what you read, but keep it short.
Include only important information.
Leave out less important details.
Use key words from the text.
It may be challenging to improve ELLs' comprehension skills, but it is well worth the extra effort to put them on the path to becoming successful readers.
Lydia Breiseth
Comprehension is the goal of reading, but it can be the most difficult skill to master, especially for English language learners (ELLs). ELLs often have problems mastering science, math, or social studies concepts, for example, because they cannot comprehend the textbooks for these subjects.
ELLs at all levels of English proficiency and literacy development will benefit from improved comprehension skills, which allow them to
Read more accurately.
Follow a text or story more closely.
Identify important events and concepts in a text.
Master new concepts in their content-area classes.
Complete assignments and assessments.
Feel motivated to read in school and for pleasure.
There are a number of ways to build ELLs' comprehension skills. Often, standard strategies that teachers use in mainstream classrooms are a good starting point—they just need to be tweaked with ELLs' language and academic needs in mind. This article focuses on strategies that are part of three main approaches: building background knowledge, teaching vocabulary explicitly, and checking comprehension frequently.
1. Build background knowledge.
Draw on students' existing knowledge.
Students may already possess content knowledge that they cannot yet demonstrate in English. Look for opportunities to make associations between students' experiences and new content. Allow students to use their native language with peers for a quick brainstorm to discover what they know about a topic before presenting their ideas to the whole class.
Build students' background knowledge.
Students with limited or interrupted schooling may not have the same level of knowledge as their peers, especially when it comes to historical or cultural topics. When starting a new lesson, look for references that you may need to explicitly explain.
Take students on a tour of the text.
Each time you hand out a new textbook, take students on a "virtual tour." Show them different elements of the text, such as the table of contents and the glossary, and discuss how these sections can be helpful. Explain how the text is organized, pointing out bold print, chapter headings, and chapter summaries. Once students learn how to recognize these elements, they will be able to preview the text independently. Remember that students need to know how to use a tool in order for it to be helpful.
Use a "picture-walk."
You can use this strategy for fiction or nonfiction books. Walk through the book with the students, pointing out photographs, illustrations, and other graphic elements. Ask them what they notice about the pictures and how they think those details may relate to the story or content.
Use outlines to scaffold comprehension.
Provide a brief, simple outline of a reading assignment or an oral discussion in advance of a new lesson. This will help ELLs pick out the important information as they listen or read.
2. Teach vocabulary explicitly.
Focus on key vocabulary:
Choose the vocabulary that your students need to know in order to support their reading development and content-area learning. Provide student-friendly definitions for key vocabulary.
Include signal and directional words:
Remember that students may also need explicit instruction in signal or directional words ("because" and "explain"), in addition to key content vocabulary ("photosynthesis" and "evolution").
Use a "picture-walk" for vocabulary:
Once students know a new word's definition, ask them to connect those new words to the pictures they see in the text.
Teach students to actively engage with vocabulary:
Teach students to underline, highlight, make notes, and list unknown vocabulary words as they read.
Give students practice with new words:
Ensure that your students can
Define a word.
Recognize when to use that word.
Understand multiple meanings (such as the word "party").
Decode and spell that word.
Incorporate new words into discussions and activities.
For students to really know a word, they must use it—or they will lose it. Use new words in class discussions or outside of class, in other contexts such as on field trips. Give the students as many opportunities to use and master the new vocabulary as possible.
3. Check comprehension frequently.
Use informal comprehension checks:
To test students' ability to put materials in sequence, for example, print sentences from a section of the text on paper strips, mix the strips, and have students put them in order.
Test comprehension with student-friendly questions:
After reading, test students' comprehension with carefully crafted questions, using simple sentences and key vocabulary from the text. These questions can be at the:
Literal level (Why do the leaves turn red and yellow in the fall?)
Interpretive level (Why do you think it needs water?)
Applied level (How much water are you going to give it? Why?)
No matter what the students' proficiency level, ask questions that require higher-level thinking:
To probe for true comprehension, ask questions that require students to analyze, interpret, or explain what they have read, such as the following:
What ideas can you add to...?
Do you agree? Why or why not?
What might happen if...?
How do you think she felt...?
Use graphic organizers:
Graphic organizers allow ELLs to organize information and ideas efficiently without using much language. Different types include Venn diagrams, K-W-L charts, story maps, cause-and-effect charts, and time lines.
Provide students with many different ways to show what they know:
Drawings, graphs, oral interviews, posters, and portfolios are just a few ways that students can demonstrate understanding as they are beginning to develop their reading and writing skills in English.
Summarize:
Ask students to use the following strategies to summarize, orally or in writing, what they have read:
Retell what you read, but keep it short.
Include only important information.
Leave out less important details.
Use key words from the text.
It may be challenging to improve ELLs' comprehension skills, but it is well worth the extra effort to put them on the path to becoming successful readers.
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