Close Reading: What, how, and why {FREEBIES TOO!!}

Hello everyone!

This girl over here {Laura from Where the Magic Happens} has been enjoying the beautiful weather and hanging out with the boys… oh yeah… I have also been crazy busy at school and have had a million things going on! That’s the reason I have not blogged in what it seems like forever. 
Anyhow, I have been reading and reflecting A LOT about how to transform my literacy teaching  in this era of higher standards.  For about a year I have been a close reading groupie enthusiast.  There is so much literature out there and so many materials that, I did not know what to read or where to begin. I am so lucky to have my BFF Marie from The Literacy Spot… she always recommends the best reads.   My Amazon wish-list is about to pop!



So really what in the world is close reading?

According to Fisher and Frey, close reading is:

“an instructional routine in which students are guided in their understanding of complex texts.”  Basically, close reading is a component of dynamic reading instruction where students:

• Read strategically
• Interact with the text
• Reread to uncover layers of meaning that lead to deeper understanding
• Analyze multiple component of the text and illustrations
• Focus on the author’s message

These are some of the most important things that I have learned about close reading:

• Not all texts deserve a close reading
• Close reading is also not necessary when the text is fairly accessible. In other words,  when choosing texts for close reading… you want to pick a text that do not give up their meaning easily or quickly.
• Close reading is MORE than a worksheet!!! Our students need to interact with their peers and their teachers using academic language and  argumentation skills as they discuss the text.
• Close reading is not one-and-done reading! Rather, it is purposeful, careful, and thoughtful.

And honestly, I could go on and on…

I really could give you a million reasons.

Close reading is not to be confused with guided reading. They are two extremely important instructional approaches that must be part of your balanced literacy.  Close reading  is not exclusively about eyes on print or reading accurately. In close reading we seek to explore the comprehension of ideas and structures more deeply. In other words, there will be times (especially during the first read) that my students will read, but some texts demand to be heard  and read aloud – poems are a good example.
These are some of the benefits of close reading:

• It leads students on a cognitive path that begins with discovering the literal meaning of a text and ends with the exploration of deeper meaning and  a plan of what should occur as a result of the reading.
• Close reading will help our students understand the mechanics of a text, especially vocabulary, text structure, and the author’s craft.
• Close reading will require that all students cite textual evidence in their products. {Hello, mCLASS?}

These are some of the differences between close reading in the primary and upper elementary grades:









If you are thinking that a close read is an easy task for the teacher… then you might be like Santa Claus in the month of August.
Close reads are divided into four different phases:

• What does the text say? (general understanding and key details)
• How does the text work? (vocabulary, structure, author’s craft)
• What does the text mean? (author’s purpose)
• What does the text inspire you to do? (extended thinking)

These four phases provide our students to explore, practice, review, and navigate through literary and informational text-dependent questions. {Hello again mCLASS!} Text-dependent questions drive close reading!

You go right ahead and download this evidence based terminology poster to use during your close reading time! {click on picture!!}
 

And just in case you are wondering, this is what Fisher & Frey recommend as the best think marks for close reading based on their research.



Classroom Materials? No problem, I got you covered! Check out these great close reading materials from my TPT store! Click on the pictures to be directed to my store.

Until next time!

Teaching Authors Purpose with Scholastic Order Forms

Hey Ya'll! It's Marcy from Saddle Up For 2nd Grade! 

Classroom teachers always have old Scholastic reader order forms lying around. They either send way to many or you have stacks that just don't ever get sent out. Why not put them to good use?!? They are perfect for teaching and reviewing authors purpose.

After reviewing the three types of stories, I busted out some old scholastic reading order forms. They created a graphic organizer with drawing paper then they had to find 4 examples of each type and sort them onto their paper. 

They did really well with each type except for persuade. This was tricky for them because a lot of the stories in the order form they haven't heard before and I hadn't either. So we brainstormed a list of books that we have read as a class that fall under that category. While they were searching for inform and entertain, I printed off the covers of some of the books we came up with as a class. All of their "P" books are the same but everything else they did on their own. 

This activity was quick, easy, and required NO PREP! Even my lower learners were able to do this without much guidance. It is visual, hands on, and ENGAGING! 

So next time you get extra Scholastic order forms, don't throw them away! 

Interesting CAFE Lessons

Well it finally feels like we are in the swing of things at school. CAFE is an excellent way to help your students become a better reader. Here are some of the lessons I do while we go through the CAFE strategies.

 

Tune in to Interesting Words with Dr. Seuss! Throughout the reading of Oh, The Places You'll Go! students put up their hands when they heard a word they found interesting. After each page we added the words to our anchor chart. This was a fabulous book for the lesson because in typical Dr. Seuss fashion there are a ton of "interesting" words.   

 

One of my favourite CAFE lessons is for Make a Picture With My Mind. I always use the fractured fairy tale Trust Me, Jack's Beanstalk Stinks! 

Students can relate to it because most of them have already heard about Jack and the Beanstalk. 

Before the lesson, I chose 6 spots in the story to stop and have students sketch what image is in their head. At the start of the lesson we talk about what a sketch looks like (no colors, quick drawing, very little details) and I demonstrate on the board for them. I hand out the papers for the activity (see below for a free copy) and tell students they will only have 1 minute to draw each sketch and then we will move on. This is key. Don't give them too much time or they will get hung up on the details and be upset when you have to move on. 
It always amazes me how silent the student are while I am reading. They don't get to see the pictures in the book so they have to listen closely. When I give them the signal to start sketching, EVERY student quickly goes to work. Yup, EVERY student. When I signal all pencils down, that happens too because they don't want to miss out on the next part of the story.
Here are  a few examples of what I got from my students last year :) 

Last year's class was pretty excited about the wedding at the end, hence the kissing pictures. Most years I have had pictures of the giant looking through the clouds at Jack and his mother.

Click on the image here to get your free copy of the graphic organizer. 

I hope your students enjoy this as much as mine did.

Cheers,

 

Tips for Guided Reading in Kindergarten

Hello!  I'm Hannah from 21st Century K and this month I'm sharing a couple of pointers about guided reading groups.

Reading and writing have always been my favorites!  At the end of a school day I feel most successful when we have had focused time in flexible guided reading groups, quality core reading experiences, and productive writing sessions.  With five years as a first grade teacher and five years as a reading intervention teacher under my belt I came amply prepared to teach Kindergarten reading.  I quickly developed a daily schedule that involved guided reading groups with my assistant, skills-specific reading groups with myself, and time for word work and/or independent reading for my students.  When my students' needs necessitate it, I have also found a way to provide independent or small group book studies for my well above average readers.  Here is my daily schedule:

Time	Group 1  Below Average 4 students	Group 2 Low Average 4 students	Group 3 Mid Average 4 students	Group 4 High Average 7 students	Group 5 Above Average 5 students
9:00-9:15 a.m.	Independent Practice	Guided Reading w/ Assistant	Independent Practice	Skill Group w/ Teacher	Chapter Book Study Group
9:15-9:30 a.m.	Independent Reading	Skill Group w/ Teacher	Guided Reading w/ Assistant	Independent Practice	Chapter Book Study Group
9:30-9:45 a.m.	Skill Group w/ Teacher	Independent Practice	Independent Reading	Guided Reading w/ Assistant	Independent Reading
9:45-10:00 a.m.	Guided Reading w/ Assistant	Independent Reading	Skill Group w/ Teacher	Independent Reading	Accelerated Reader

I felt confident in my abilities to plan for reading instruction, but I wasn't always successful at the execution.  Groups easily ran long, ended too soon, left students with idle time, or were otherwise inappropriate causing behavior issues or wasted instructional time.It was with great anticipation that I participated in a book study over Boushay and Moser's (or the 2 Sisters') The Daily Five last summer.  I LOVE the "3 Ways to Read" concept and designed a well-coordinated poster set for my classroom and taught the concepts within the first two days of school.  For the first time I do NOT hear students say that they cannot read, because they understand there are different ways to read and they BELIEVE they CAN!   To provide my young students access to appropriately-leveled books for read-to-self times, every 2 weeks we have a "book swap" during reading groups.  I display all the books for a particular reading group and students choose which titles they would like to add to their collections.  Book selections are kept in students' chair pouches... an investment I made with school funds this year that was SO worth the money!

Check out my awesome chair pouches at School Specialty!

Additionally, I designed a PowerPoint to help my time management and organization.  Each slide shows which students participate in which activity during every rotation.  These slides are set to change with a chime after twelve minutes.  Alternating slides provide time for transition between activities and change with a drum roll after one minute.  Playing the PowerPoint on the Smart Board helps me stay on track with time without posting a timer by which students could be distracted.  It has been a wonderful addition to our daily reader's workshop!

Check out my poster set at TPT for FREE!

You can try out the completely editable PowerPoint FREE on TPT!

If you want to know more about The Daily Five visit the 2 Sisters' website at http://www.thedailycafe.com/.

Interactive Notebooks

Hi it's Allison Stuckey from Stuckey in Second!

I've started using interactive notebooks in my classroom and I love them! I started using Angela Olson's Lucky Little Learners math notebooks last year with my second graders, about halfway through the year. I decided that this year I had to scoop up all of her units and start them from the beginning! Here are some activities that we have worked on so far with our addition strategies unit.

I just love them and would recommend them over and over again. In fact, I HAVE recommended them over and over again. I'm always posting the fun stuff we are doing on my Instagram page @stuckeyinsecond

Here is the Teachers Pay Teachers story for the math interactive notebooks I use. She even has some free samples, so check those out! Visit her blog here:

This year, I've also decided to do Interactive notebooks for reading! I'm super excited! I purchased Nicole Shelby's second grade set and I'm loving it so far. Also, I have been finding other activities that I might normally make into an anchor chart (and still will for the classroom) but I can print it and have them add it to their notebooks for an instant resource at their fingertips! Here are the few things we have done in our reading notebooks so far! 

Nicole's awesome set printed and in a binder for me to pull and copy anytime I need it! 

Here are some of Nicole's other pages that I can't wait to do!!! 

Here is Nicole Shelby's 2nd grade Reading Journal (She also has language ones and different grade levels!)

Visit her blog here: