Since today is my last day posting on this blog, I thought it would be appropriate to share the idea of popcorn reading. Popcorn reading isn't affective for everyone, but for some it truly is. When you do popcorn reading choose a text that is a little longer and make sure to have a group of four or more students.
WHAT TO DO... One student begins reading the text until they decide to stop. They can stop at the end of a page/paragraph/sentence or even in the middle of any of those. When they stop, they are to call out a name of someone else in the group to begin reading where they left off. It is a fun listening activity and a great way for teachers to see how students are improving in their reading skills. If they do a good job reading, maybe you could reward them with a tea party or something!
Thank you so much for looking at my blog! I have learned a lot this year and hope to some day use all of these ideas. Check out my new blog I have started with my sisters at the following website: http://sevenflakesisters.blogspot.com/ .
Enjoy!
It's time to have fun learning sight words! Go to your local Lakeshore Learning store and invest in Sight Word Tracers. The tracers help children practice writing and recognizing sight words. They include dots to help children know exactly how to write and form each letter. Students write the letters with a dry erase marker, which allows them to write the words over and over again.
I like to lay the tracers out on the table (about ten of them), say a sight word, and then have my student find the correct word. Once they have found the word, they trace it with the dry erase marker. This is a great way to test your student's sight word knowledge and help them practice the spelling of each word. You can find these sight word tracers here. Enjoy!
If your student is a tactile learner, you should invest in some sight word tactile cards. Tactile cards can help your student see, touch, and trace each sight word. Your student will love practicing their sight words with a more hands-on approach.
Lakeshore Learning has a tactile card set that comes with 75 different sight words. There are three levels included in the set. Each level has 25 words. Once your student has mastered the first level of sight words, go on to the next! You can see what the cards look like here. Have fun!
I really enjoyed reading this list about making reading fun for your child. I found it in the Reader's Digest. My favorite ideas were: find a cozy place to read together and talk about the book when you finish it. What great ideas to help promote reading! Sometimes it is the simplest things that can help get our students reading more. Have fun checking out the list. You can find it here.
Looking for more reading opportunities with your student? Try doing a reading pocket. I read about it here. All you do is throughout the day gather random things with written words and slip them in your pocket. It could be a comic strip, a card, a fortune, or even your horoscope. At the end of the day, find a special time to share what you gathered in your pocket throughout the day. Your student will be so excited to read with you what you encountered during the day. Reading was never so much fun!
I just found this really cute idea today on the web called a Passport to Reading. What a fun way to motivate your student to read!
Inside the passport the students write down how many minutes they read each week. Kids can even glue in a self portrait and sign their name, like a real passport.
A fun way to get students to fill in their minutes is to have them only record the books they have read that take place around the world, like they are really traveling! You can check out these really cute Reading Passports here. Happy reading!
Get your student excited to read more with fun incentives. Give your student a chart where they keep track of how many books they have read. At the end of the month, rent a dunk tank and let your student dunk you once for every ten books that they read. You will have kids reading so many books. What a creative way to get kids reading...even if you do get a little wet!
A fun way to get your student excited to read CVC words is to use a magic spoon. Just go to your local party store and buy some plastic gold spoons. Then make a list of words that all begin with the same letter and are on your student's level. You might try the letter m with words like: mat, map, mop, met, mit, mug, etc. Then take off the first letter of each word and print the list. For example my list would then say: at, ap, op, et, it, ug. On the magic spoon write the letter that is found at the beginning of all of the words. Then have your student move the spoon down the paper, reading all of the words. You can check it out here.
Have fun reading!
To make learning word families more fun, try making or buying flip books. As students turn pages in a flip book, they are able to connect a letter or blend with a certain word family ending. On the Lakeshore Learning website you can find 30 ten-page flip books with a total of 300 words! These books are great because each one focuses on a different word family. You can find them here.
Kids love to hear the rhyming in the words and look at the beautiful picture on each page. What a wonderful way to get your student reading more words!
Practice sight words with your student by writing the words in the air or on your student's back. Once you finish writing a word, see if your student can tell you the sight word you wrote. Then switch places so your student has a turn writing. This is a fun way to get your student to concentrate and focus on learning words! I found this idea here. Have fun!
Kids love to be read to. The next time you read to your student,try this simple activity:
1. Have your student choose a picture book for you to read aloud.
2. Let your student know that when you say the word Beep! it means that you forgot to read a word in the book.
3. The student is to figure out what the word is that you left out by following along in the story.
4. Try reading the story again and have your student read the sight words they know.
Have fun reading together! I found this fun idea here.
Are you looking for an engaging way to practice sight words with your students? Well, you should try Phonics Chants. On the I Love 2 Teach website there is a free printable of sixteen chant cards. Some of the chants include: Read each word in your baby voice, cheer each word like you're cheering on your favorite team, read each word in your best British accent, sing each word like an opera singer, do a jumping jack as you read each word, and more!
All you need to do is write the sight words on a poster or chalkboard. Then print off these chant cards. Have students take turns drawing a chant card and reading the sight words the way the card says. If your student is particularly shy, try doing the chants together as a class.
Have fun getting your students out of their comfort zone!
A great way to help your student learn how to read is to sound out the words on your fingers. For example, if your student is trying to sound out the word jump, your student would make the j sound as they touch their index finger to their thumb, then make the u sound as they touch their middle finger to their thumb, then make the m sound as they touch their ring finger to their thumb, and then the p sound as they touch their pinky to their thumb. You can see how this is done by viewing the video above.
As a teacher I found this method really effective for some of my students. I used this technique mainly with sight words. As the school year progressed, students would use this method when they had a difficult time reading a word and had to sound it out. I hope you enjoy trying it out with your student!
In order to motivate your student to read more, take him/her on a field trip to your local library. Most libraries have leveled books for your student to check out, knowledgeable librarians, story times, and various weekly educational activities. Not only are there hundreds of books to choose from, but best of all everything is FREE.
Try taking your student to the library once a week. Let your student choose books on their level and books that are of interest to them. When your student feels comfortable at the library, your student will want to go more. Take advantage of the wonderful resources available in your own community!
An effective way to figure out exactly what your reader is struggling with is to take a Running Record. Running Records are effective and easy to learn how to use. All that is done is your student reads a benchmark book to you while you fill out the Running Record. The record will help you figure out what reading level is best for your student. There are options for your student to read a non-fiction or fiction text. There are even comprehension questions, if you chose to use them. Read more about them here. Have fun discovering this great way to test your student!
A fun way to motivate your student to learn to read more words quickly is to time their reading. Simply select a passage that is on their level and is a little lengthy. Tell them to read as much of it as they can in one minute. Then have them read that particular passage every day for one minute for an entire week. See how many more words they are able to read each day. You can even graph it to show the progression.
The following week choose a different passage that is a little more difficult. Have them read it to you for a minute each day. Then continue finding passages a little more difficult each week for your student to read to you.
This simple concept can help your student not only feel more confident in their reading skills, but also help them grow into a more fluent reader.
In order to help your student learn how to read, make sure you are giving them plenty of opportunities to do so. Make sure there are books your student can read (or attempt to read) in every room. Your student will quickly be reminded of how important it is for them to learn how to read. You may be surprised that you already have books in each room. For example:
Kitchen--- recipe book
Living Room--- Photo album (with captions)
Family Room--- DVDs (words are found on the cover)
Bathroom-- Magazines
Bedroom-- Novels
Try putting these books out as opportunities for your student to read. It will be exciting to see how much they can read already.
There are so many ways your student can practice writing and reading sight words. Try using unifix cubes. Write a letter on each cube with permanent marker and then have your student put the blocks together to build sight words. The nice thing about unifix cubes is that they stick together, so your student can build the word and then read them to you. Students will love this hands-on activity. Check out unifix cubes here. Have fun building words!
