I had the pleasure of seeing Lori Jamison Rog present at the Literacy Summit this past weekend.  She has some practical suggestions as to how to support our struggling readers.

Struggling readers need to read MORE than other readers. 

Our strugglers have GREAT avoidance skills, such as taking a long time to choose a book, going to the bathroom during silent reading, acting out to avoid work, just to name a few.

Struggling readers need to practice sight words, as this will help with fluency when it comes to connected text.

These kids need CHOICE over their reading. 

They need time to read books that are not too difficult, AND they need tiptoe books – books that are a bit difficult, but someone is helping them with the text. 

They need to hear a lot of read alouds (all kids do!) and building their background knowledge is key. 

Here is a booklet from Lori’s workshop.  Her ideas come from her book “Struggling Readers:  Why Band-Aids Don’t Stick and Worksheets Don’t Work”.

Really, these are just great tips for ALL our students!

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There are a lot of resources that will help you teach  growth mindset that are free on Teachers Pay Teachers!  Check out this link!

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Thank you to the teachers who are participating in our “Mindset for Learning”  Book Club.  Last night was our first session.  We had great discussions, and everyone shared wonderful ideas, that inspired so many people.     Click here for Growth Mindset Book List

Check out these great lists of chapter books and picture books from Heart-Mind Online!

Heart-Mind Online Picture Book List

Heart Mind Online Chapter Book List

Adrienne Gear has a great list of  beginning chapter books and early readers on her blog.  Enjoy!

Thanks Adrienne!

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Thank you to all who turned out last night for our first of three book club sessions, exploring Daily 5/Daily 3.  

Here is the powerpoint from the presentation:

daily 5 session 1 powerpoint

What happens when a young boy picks up a single piece of litter?  He doesn’t know it, but his tiny act has big consequences.  What Matters gently explores nature’s connections, from the minuscule to the monumental, and traces the ripple effects of one child’s good deed to show how we can all make a big difference

Thank you to Faye Brownlie who shared this great analogy, comparing deeper thinking with scuba diving!  

Below are the slides for the heart map presentation I gave this afternoon!

heart maps

Thank you to Nicole Wilson, at Capitol Hill Elementary, for sharing the rubric she uses to assess her students on letter writing.  This is something she discussed at our Grades 4-7 book club.  Nicole has her grades 4 and 5 students engaged in reading workshop.  When they have finished a book, one of the activities they can do is write a letter about the book.  The criteria is co-created, and Nicole explicitly teaches letter writing.  Once students are comfortable with the assignment, Nicole conferences with the students while others are reading.  Attached is the criteria sheet she and the students have created, that guide their conversations.

Click here for a copy.  3 point Reading Letter Rubric-revised