Cute Little Chick Book

           Here's an easy book to cut out and write in. 

Simply print the chick shape pages; then have your kids color, cut and write.

Spring Chicks Egg-stra Writing Patterns Prompts Shape 

Spring into Action with this Free Frame!

Hello!

     Here's a new and pretty lotus patterned frame that you can save to your desktop and print. I found this cute pattern and then decided to turn it into a frame!

It's yours for the taking, too. Once you download it, you can play around with the contrast if you want to do some formatting. You can also add another solid color border to complement it. I love this frame, and hope you do, too. 

Feel free to click on the link below for the set of 8 free frames available in my store!  Thanks for stopping by!

**Right click on this frame and "save image" to your computer. 
You may also want to go to the link below for this and more frames!

 FREE FLOWER FRAMES

Spring is Around the Corner!

Stop by and see what's new!

Close Reading = Questioning for Deeper Understanding

I've been wanting to write about close reading for awhile now. I'm fascinated about how it is such a hot topic, when I thought I was doing close reading all along for 20 years. How is it new, or is it? I've also been dealing with the nagging question of whether I WAS actually doing it.

So what is new about it? It's all about the shift in how we teach, and how we can teach it better. It's how we emphasize our lessons...and due to the new shifts in the Common Core, we need to look at how we teach from a different angle...a more rigorous one.

Like so many teachers I know, I have always aimed at getting kids to dig into the why's and how's in reading; not just the what's. But it seems that even the how's and why's are not the kind of targeted questions we need to be asking....they are merely open-ended questions, which are wonderful--but they aren't enough. It is easy to get into those questions that encourage kids to rely too heavily on their own experiences, and not enough about the text. (Text-to-self responses are important too, but there's a tendency to over-rely on them.) So the author suggests that teachers create questions more specific to the text. Get away from the ho-hum questions.

Another point Boyles discusses is how we should use shorter texts for close reads...Do we really need long passages to teach our students how to read for deeper meaning?

We need to get kids trained to ask questions about their own reading. So, close reading is more than just the teacher asking good questions. Most of us have been doing that all along. But according to Boyles, it's time to teach our kids how to create their own questions. I think that I've made valiant attempts at close reading, but I have not taught them well enough so that they are proficient at generating their own questions about the text. So, I've got some work ahead... Maybe I'll start with an anchor chart as a springboard for questioning text. For a closer look at this topic, check out the article by Nancy Boyles here: Closing in on Close Reading from ASCD.org

Here's a great video of a close reading. Note how engaged the kids are as they do a read-aloud from Gorillas, by Seymour Simon. See the youtube clip below, or click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nznO1BMtahw

March Madness

How is everyone doing with March Madness? We've had such a tough winter, that I am wondering why I haven't gone mad yet.  I subscribe to Choice Literacy and came across this fun article, which then led me to an entertaining post by Teddy Steinkellner, author of Trash Can Days: A Middle School Saga. in this post, he ranks book characters against each other. Find out who wins out! Below, is the link to his guest post at Bookriot.com. 

Middle Grade Madness

Also, be sure to check out www.choiceliteracy.com, where you'll find a trove of resources for teachers. In case you don't know much about choice literacy, I recommend that you take advantage of their free newsletter, "The Big Fresh".

Making the Most of Winter Break

Yay! It's vacation--and I'm not going anywhere! I'm just happy to relax and have no commitments this week. Of course, I have a huge list that I compiled weeks before, with grossly unrealistic expectations of all the school work and house work I'm going to do to catch up this week. Well, the truth is, I haven't started anything yet, and here it is Tuesday!

My second cup of coffee should do it! Then, I'll get going with my list of to-do's! Well, at least I'll attempt it....

Meanwhile, if you are a teacher and have this week off for winter break, I hope you get rejuvenated, and have a chance to go to some place warm. If you are a parent with kids at home....enjoy this time with every ounce of love and might!  My kids are all grown, and boy!---do I miss those laid back vacation days. I miss the spontaneous field trips to the local museums and library--or just watching them hang out with their friends in the kitchen eating pizza. Sorry. I'm a little sentimental--but I'll get over it. Got some shoveling to do!

Best!
Karen

Kids Love Nonfiction

Penguins Nonfiction Text Fluency and Cloze Writing Activities

          This is a single reading passage with a fluency oral record of reading page for scoring fluency. It also includes a cloze writing passage (Yes, that's cloze, not close!) for comprehension. This focuses on a topic with details about why penguins are tough birds. By narrowing this down, and not writing "all about penguins", it exemplifies how topics have supporting details that stick to the topic.

Hopefully, this model helps with students' writing in which they need to be more specific about their reasons for an opinion (in this case, why they are tough birds). This resource can provide you with evidence of grade level fluency (grade 2), based on Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell's text leveling. I used some of their resources for determining the grade level for this, estimating it to be at an L/M level. 

You'll find that kids really do love nonfiction text. Well, at least most kids like most nonfiction!  Teachers and parents, you may find this helpful for repeated and timed readings. This can serve as a progress monitoring tool in that sense. I hope you will check this out, and provide feedback as it will give me an opportunity to step back and reevaluate the effectiveness of this kind of resource!

Thanks!

If you have trouble viewing the youtube video, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eqKzHSjQqnc