For those of you with access to iPads, you might wish to consider using the following free apps. Reading text online is just as challenging as reading a book if your students struggle with reading. Try Voice Dream Reader Lite. This handy app reads online webpages, documents, pdf, text, powerpoint, ebooks, Pocket, using text- to -speech…
Category: Growing Readers
Activities and lessons for classroom and home support
Sharing Stories…Modeling Strategies…
Sometimes locating just the right book to share or use as a piece of mentor text appears impossible to find. Or have you ever wanted to expand opportunities for your students to read at home? We now have access to TumbleBooks and TumbleBookCloud. [See links under Resources.] These online resources provide a fabulous array of e-texts for all…
Choice Words
Things happen when you return from a conference. New ideas attach with old ones and a host of “how does this all connect” is sifted through a lens of “what if…”. At FETC, keynote speaker Michael Wesch (watch TED talk) talked about the fast rise of the new technologies (Youtube 2005; Twitter 2006) resulting in a new culture of…
Growing Readers
I just finished rereading A Corner of the Universe (A. Martin), an intermediate novel for Literature Circles next term. I was reminded once again how meaning can be taken to a whole new level just by the manipulation of words. What happens when there are monstrous barriers that make words impossible to decipher? Make no…
The Next Steps… Reading Series Bridges Literacy
It’s here! For those of you with students who completed Fast ForWord or with students who may fit into that RTI (tier 2 or 3) group, this may be the connection you’ve been seeking. I’ll be hosting an online webinar to share details of the Reading Series and Fluency Program, who would best fit, as…
Reading Products – Up and Running
Our Reading products are up and running after a bit of a bumpy technical start. (All of our sites are going through a districtwide reimaging process, which has given some of us an opportunity to practice our problem-solving skills.) However, even during the early stages, we are seeing some positives. Both students and classroom teachers…
Words Their Way – Shedding Light on Process
Words Their Way is a program that offers a developmental curriculum for phonics/spelling instruction, reading fluency and vocabulary development. The hands-on activities engage students as they actively categorize their ‘word sorts’ and the assessment inventory provides a clear indicator of where each student is in the process. We’ve been working with a new group of…
It’s All About Reading – Learning Session
Our learning session on the new Reading Series is on Tuesday January 11 (3:30-5:30) at Schou – TLC. Our connecting questions: How does the new Reading exercises help to bridge students to gaining reading skills? What practices provided in the exercises can be shared in larger groups with classroom teachers? What students can best benefit…
January 2011 – Learning on the Calendar
Welcome to 2011. It’s the start of a new year and just the time to check what’s happening in the calendar. Since we moved our Learning Session Registrations online, we’ve had many people say how easy it is to check for events and to register. However, because it is so dynamic, sometimes in our busyness…
Coming Up
Kurzweil 3000 – Part 2: (This is really where the power of this tool takes off – ability to colour-code notes and annotate – making thinking come alive…) Monday Nov 29 (3:30-5:30) at Schou. We have a guest speaker who will take us through ‘going deeper with comprehension’. Destination Success – Using Assessment Features to…
Be An Interventions EXPERT!
Back by popular demand on Monday, November 8th, (8:30-3:00), Tom Chapin has returned from Arkansas to work with our Fast ForWord participant sites. Gain an indepth understanding of what interventions to use and when it is most effective to support our students. As a bonus, we will even explore other literacy strategies that enhance skill transfer…
Kurzweil Journey Update
Hi All, Many of you are trying out the many complexities of the program and doing a great job! Some of you are finding ARC challenging to negotiate – remember that the Main library houses the actual kes files specifically created for you by colleagues across the province. As well this area has many other…
Kurzweil – Learning Session 2 (from here to there..)
Session 2 is Monday May 3rd (3:30-5:30pm) at Schou. Please bring your manual, a flashdrive (if you have one) as well as any questions that you may have during your time of exploration at school. We will start by revisiting some highlights of our first session and then move forward.
Bridging Reading with Kurzweil
So why Kurzweil? While students are exercising their brain with Fast ForWord, the need for practice with reading comprehension continues. This part of literacy is challenging as you need to have the student work within their ‘just right text’ zone. Otherwise, the student ends up expending critical brain energy on decoding and never getting to the…
Support with Destination Success – Reading
I’ve posted about Destination Reading before but it seems like a good time to bring it up again. Especially since most of you are on the home stretch with many of your students completing the first two products and enrolling a new batch. Your students have been involved with an intensive program to retrain those parts of…