I am drawn to the section in chapter 3 about reading and conferring. Does anyone do this in your class? Please share with me how you have gone about implementing it. I am really interested in the sticky notes, etc, Does this work?
I use sticky notes sometimes during our reading lessons for students to record notes and answer questions. This helps as I can see that the student was able to find the answer in the text. I've also used sticky notes for students to write questions about what they are wondering and thinking as they read to model and discuss the dialogue that should go on in their head as they make sense of what they read.
I like the idea in Chapter 4 about recommending a book for a child by placing a sticky note on a book with a message about why you feel this book would be a good book for them to read. I believe this is another good way to motivate students to read. Do any of you have other ways that you use to motivate children to become interested in a book and to read?
I love reading aloud to my children. Charlotte’s Web has to be my all time favorite (the first time I read it to a class, 100 years ago, I cried with my students). I love to discuss how times were different when this book was written and how so many things have changed (thanks E.B. White for keeping it simple). Anyway, I believe that model reading shows our students how much we love to read and how much we enjoy it. Yolonda, I would love to be able to take it a step further with sticky notes. Does anyone at KES do this?
Enjoying a read-aloud yourself really inspires children to read; lets them know we like it and maybe inspires a few to pick up a book we’ve just left “on a shelf or counter, ACCIDENTALY”. What fun to get excited about a good book or share a book you’ve read!!
Elisha, I also like the sticky note idea for suggesting books for our students. I am definitely going to try it with my students. I also have “Book Blessings.” The students take turns blessing a book.They just tell a little about the book and why it was interesting to them—just enough to motivate someone else to read it. I can’t remember which author suggested this activity. I got it from my Reading Class last year. Mrs. Terry, I have used the notebooks to have mini-conferences during partner reading time using our Anthologies, but as I was rereading the chapter, I thought that it would be awesome to have AR reading time and choose different students to “confer” with about their book. I already have an AR reading time; I just haven’t utilized this strategy. I will also try this during the next week. I’m a little concerned about the money amount to spend for a notebook for each student, but it would be better to have a small one for each student instead of a large one with everyone all mixed up together. Does anyone have ideas for this that would be cost effective?
I agree, it is very important to set the tone for the day in a relaxed, social, “I’m so glad you’re here way”. I feel I am doing a lot of the things discussed in chapter 3. I am just doing them in a different format. Since I have been reading the book I have started talking with students about what they are reading and why. I’ m really looking forward to implementing some of Debbie Miller’s mini-lessons. It’s really interesting to listen to students discuss the books they are reading. Ms. Terry I have a conferring template. You can insert student’s name into each square in the template and add your comments. This way you will have a permanent record of student conferences.
Alison, I like the "Book Blessings" idea, will definitely have to try that. I would love a copy of the conferring template Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Terry use :-)
Sherry I also love to read aloud to my students and have read Charlotte's Web almost every year that I have taught.
In Chapter 3 in the Readers' Workshop, I noticed that Debbie Miller uses partner reading. I also have started to use partner reading with AR this year. I require my students to read their book 3 times and one of those times to a partner. My children love to read to each other and this really helps my strugglers when reading aloud to a higher level partner. =D
I love the part where Debbie Miller felt guilty about reading to her students. I have felt that way about reading to my students before. I also like to share poems with my students. I always choose a book that goes along with our lesson or season we are in. I feel that modeling helps the students to see how to use expression and others love for reading. I also would like to try the sticky note idea. I think students could really benefit.
In the Reading Aloud section of Chapter 3 I liked the idea Debbie Miller shared about writing the words to songs on paper so the students could follow along when they are singing them. When teaching the color words, I use songs to help the students remember how to spell the words. The songs are to familiar tunes such as “Jingle Bells”. The songs name the color, spell it, and name things that are that color. The students love to learn them and sing them. They are having fun and learning at the same time. I have never thought about writing the words to the songs so that each student could follow along while we are singing. I think they would really enjoy that.
I really loved all of the ideas Debbie Miller shared in Chapter 3. The idea of having a Reading Workshop with your class sounds great. I really liked the idea of rereading books. I believe this helps with student comprehension and makes students fluent readers. I use partner reading during our reading block at my teacher table. This gives me an opportunity to monitor student reading as well as making reading fun for my students. This year my students are trading AR books before returning them to the library. Doing this allows students to read more books and they are getting more AR points. I believe using a bookmark or paper clip will benefit students and enable them to track their reading and keep their place.
I like Debbie's idea with the song books in Chapter 3! I read song books and the children can "sing" along as I read but I have not thought about making copies and letting them follow along that way! that helps with a lot of important skills. Left to right and reading with expression etc. In Chapter 4 I agree about the book selections - they have to be appropriate for the student or else they will not get anything out of it! This year I have tried to explain that to my students it has helped some of them!
I really enjoy reading all of Debbie Miller's classroom ideas. I would love to know how she would do these things in a third grade classroom. Macie, I like your idea of letting the students read their AR book to a partner before they can take a test on them. I think that is a great way to get them to work together. Do you let the "listener" read the book and take the test also? And Alison one day I am going to get you to come in with my class and do a book blessing to get them started, I really liked the one I saw one of your students doing. Mrs. Pate, I also get my students to exchange library books, they have to read theirs and two other student's book before they can go back to the library. This gives them 6 different tests they can take.
Like Elisha, I also have used sticky notes during my reading lesson (when using the Anthology book) to allow my students to write questions about their reading or to write new or vocabulary words. The students seem to enjoy writing on the sticky notes, and it seems to help them to focus on their reading. I usually allow the students to discuss the questions and information from the sticky notes with the entire class, but I would like to be able to talk with each individual student about their reading questions. I think I am going to take Debbie Miller's advice, and only talk with 4 or 5 individual students a day about their questions before everyone shares with the entire class. In Chapter 4, I was interested in how Debbie Miller allows her students to share books they are reading with the entire class. I usually don't allow my students to share books they are reading because I always feel like I don't have enough time, but I am going to try to allow 2 or 3 students a day to share their A.R. books or other books that they are reading with our class. I don't spend enough time allowing my students to share books they are reading with their classmates. I realize that this can be a way to encourage and to motivate other students to read more. Also, teaching the students how to share and how to listen respectfully can be a wonderful experience for everyone in the class.
On the Book Selection part in Chapter 4, I agree that books need to be on their instructional level. I agree with Melissa that children do not get much from a book if it is not on their reading level. I also believe the print must not be too small for them to see. Also for Kindergarten, the children love for their books to have colorful pictures. We want children to become lifelong readers, so we must make sure they have books that are appropriate for their grade level.
How many times did Debbie Miller say model? This year it has really hit home with me that if I don’t show them what I mean, they are not going to know. Like Jessica and Melissa, I love the idea of writing the words to the songs. Several years ago I did a Poetry Journal. They would read their journal over and over. I want to do that again this year! Another simple thing that I want to do is the baskets with books on the tables. I have baskets, but they are not on the tables. I also have books in my station baskets, but why do I take them up after reading? I know my children this year would use them constantly. Kippie and I use to let our children “share” their journal pages daily. It took so much time! This week I started letting mine share and they love it. It makes them accountable, but it also does all those other things that Debbie Miller talked about.
The main thing I took from these chapters, is that our love of reading can evoke a love of reading in our students. I agree with Sherry that getting excited about a book and enjoying a read-aloud can help inspire our students to read. If we are excited about reading, our students will be too!! I also agree with Mrs. Miller that encouraging students to recommend and share books with their peers can spread the love of reading even more. I love the "book blessing" idea, Allison…what a great way for students to get their classmates interested in a book!
I really enjoyed reading both chapters. Mrs. Terry, I was particularly interested in the section about reading and conferring, too. Alison, I think I’ll try this with AR books. Maybe the student will be more thoughtful in their book selections. This could help with the issue we discussed today. I loved the idea of the recommendation chart. I’m always making recommendations or choices for them, but hadn’t really thought of a good way for students to make suggestions to their classmates. I will definitely try this. I’ve done book sharing before, but time was always an issue. Ginger, you could try letting your kids do this. Let them put a book in a “sharing basket” with a sticky note that says “I read this book and it was ___________________. I’ll tell you a little about it.” They sign their name. Then you can choose a book or two and let the individual share or you can let the student share with another student that would like to read the shared book. I found this worked better and was less time consuming. Reading books and working with books was a thought provoking statement. It really made me think about what I am really doing in my reading instruction.
It seems as if I am more often than I want having to stop and present mini-lessons. I establish classroom rules and procedures early in the year but some years more than others you just seem to have distractions that consistently interfere with teaching and learning. I was impressed with the author's comments about her procedural mini-lessons. It makes me feel stronger as an educator to know that others have the same situations. I use sticky notes during reading. Third grade has many opportunities for the students to have questions about the material they are reading. We use sticky notes to write questions about what we are reading and what we would like to find out more about. We also use them when they are reading and have vocabulary words that they are not sure what they mean. We use the words on the sticky notes to have a Language lesson on dictionary skills from Guide Words to locating words in the dictionary.Sticky Notes can become expensive and my class is very familiar with non-stick sticky notes.I cut about same size notes from colored paper and they enjoy the non-stick as well as the sticky. I am going to spend more time with my upper level students and confer with several each day about the books they are reading. This could make up for not timing each one every week. They certainly could not feel left out and would benefit more. I liked the author's points of teaching sharing,listening and learning responsibilities.
I use sticky notes like Elisha does. I learned that last year when Mrs. Sabra came in and did a lesson one time. The kids do love it and I like for them to write questions they want to ask so that they don’t have to interrupt the lesson they can ask when we are at a stopping point for questions. This helps them from forgetting what they wanted to ask. I am very interested in the “sharing basket” Ms. Sharron was talking about. If a student brings up a book and I loved it I always tell them so I just don’t always remember to do that so I love this idea. It gives them another reason to want to read it. When I was in K I always read out loud and I don’t get to do it as often in third because the children read on their own but every chance I get to read them a good book I do and I love it. I have seen Ms. Davis many times sitting in her chair reading Charlotte’s Web.
I really liked the section on Motivation. I really feel like that is one of the most important things that we can do for a child. If they are motivated the sky is the limit. She said that her message was clear. I love reading. I know you will, too. Somehow, Somewhere I missed out on that when I was a student. I was a struggling reader as a child and didn't enjoy reading at all- I still to this day had rather do something else. So I have a soft spot for those children that just don't get it or like to read. One reason I love K so much is we get to set the foundation and love for reading. We get them excited to read! When I taught 2nd grade I tried very hard to get my kids excited and keep them excited about reading. I really pushed A.R. and read books to them as often as I could. I remember reading Shiloh to them and they begged every afternoon to read another chapter. We laughed and cried through the book and I know they really enjoyed it!
Although I don't usually share, y'all have excited me so about this book, well, I just had to do so! The idea (Sharron's --- she's a genius!) about putting stickies on books that say, "I read this & you should b/c _______" reminds me of when I go in the bookstore, they almost always have "Our Staff Recommends" w/little stickies under some books. Invariably these are the books I buy! I love all your ideas.
I also understand that this book is actually creating conversation about practice among you. WOW! Remember this is a place where we celebrate it all so if something doesn't work, you can talk about why it didn't or if you need some help, we are here to help each other learn. We are here to celebrate together success and embrace another opportunity to learn (that was "pc" for failure!). It's okay to learn from our mistakes.
I am drawn to the section in chapter 3 about reading and conferring. Does anyone do this in your class? Please share with me how you have gone about implementing it. I am really interested in the sticky notes, etc, Does this work?
ReplyDeleteI use sticky notes sometimes during our reading lessons for students to record notes and answer questions. This helps as I can see that the student was able to find the answer in the text. I've also used sticky notes for students to write questions about what they are wondering and thinking as they read to model and discuss the dialogue that should go on in their head as they make sense of what they read.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea in Chapter 4 about recommending a book for a child by placing a sticky note on a book with a message about why you feel this book would be a good book for them to read. I believe this is another good way to motivate students to read. Do any of you have other ways that you use to motivate children to become interested in a book and to read?
I love reading aloud to my children. Charlotte’s Web has to be my all time favorite (the first time I read it to a class, 100 years ago, I cried with my students). I love to discuss how times were different when this book was written and how so many things have changed (thanks E.B. White for keeping it simple). Anyway, I believe that model reading shows our students how much we love to read and how much we enjoy it. Yolonda, I would love to be able to take it a step further with sticky notes. Does anyone at KES do this?
ReplyDeleteEnjoying a read-aloud yourself really inspires children to read; lets them know we like it and maybe inspires a few to pick up a book we’ve just left “on a shelf or counter, ACCIDENTALY”. What fun to get excited about a good book or share a book you’ve read!!
Elisha, I also like the sticky note idea for suggesting books for our students. I am definitely going to try it with my students. I also have “Book Blessings.” The students take turns blessing a book.They just tell a little about the book and why it was interesting to them—just enough to motivate someone else to read it. I can’t remember which author suggested this activity. I got it from my Reading Class last year. Mrs. Terry, I have used the notebooks to have mini-conferences during partner reading time using our Anthologies, but as I was rereading the chapter, I thought that it would be awesome to have AR reading time and choose different students to “confer” with about their book. I already have an AR reading time; I just haven’t utilized this strategy. I will also try this during the next week. I’m a little concerned about the money amount to spend for a notebook for each student, but it would be better to have a small one for each student instead of a large one with everyone all mixed up together. Does anyone have ideas for this that would be cost effective?
ReplyDeleteI agree, it is very important to set the tone for the day in a relaxed, social, “I’m so glad you’re here way”. I feel I am doing a lot of the things discussed in chapter 3. I am just doing them in a different format. Since I have been reading the book I have started talking with students about what they are reading and why. I’ m really looking forward to implementing some of Debbie Miller’s mini-lessons. It’s really interesting to listen to students discuss the books they are reading. Ms. Terry I have a conferring template. You can insert student’s name into each square in the template and add your comments. This way you will have a permanent record of student conferences.
ReplyDeleteAlison, I like the "Book Blessings" idea, will definitely have to try that. I would love a copy of the conferring template Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Terry use :-)
ReplyDeleteSherry I also love to read aloud to my students and have read Charlotte's Web almost every year that I have taught.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 3 in the Readers' Workshop, I noticed that Debbie Miller uses partner reading. I also have started to use partner reading with AR this year. I require my students to read their book 3 times and one of those times to a partner. My children love to read to each other and this really helps my strugglers when reading aloud to a higher level partner. =D
I love the part where Debbie Miller felt guilty about reading to her students. I have felt that way about reading to my students before. I also like to share poems with my students. I always choose a book that goes along with our lesson or season we are in. I feel that modeling helps the students to see how to use expression and others love for reading.
ReplyDeleteI also would like to try the sticky note idea. I think students could really benefit.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn the Reading Aloud section of Chapter 3 I liked the idea Debbie Miller shared about writing the words to songs on paper so the students could follow along when they are singing them. When teaching the color words, I use songs to help the students remember how to spell the words. The songs are to familiar tunes such as “Jingle Bells”. The songs name the color, spell it, and name things that are that color. The students love to learn them and sing them. They are having fun and learning at the same time. I have never thought about writing the words to the songs so that each student could follow along while we are singing. I think they would really enjoy that.
ReplyDeleteI really loved all of the ideas Debbie Miller shared in Chapter 3. The idea of having a Reading Workshop with your class sounds great. I really liked the idea of rereading books. I
ReplyDeletebelieve this
helps with student comprehension and makes students fluent readers.
I use partner reading during our reading block at my teacher table. This gives me an opportunity to monitor student reading as well as making reading fun for my students.
This year my students are trading AR books before returning them to the library. Doing this allows students to read more books and they are getting more AR points. I believe using a bookmark or paper clip will benefit students and enable them to track their reading and keep their place.
I like Debbie's idea with the song books in Chapter 3! I read song books and the children can "sing" along as I read but I have not thought about making copies and letting them follow along that way! that helps with a lot of important skills. Left to right and reading with expression etc.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 4 I agree about the book selections - they have to be appropriate for the student or else they will not get anything out of it! This year I have tried to explain that to my students it has helped some of them!
I really enjoy reading all of Debbie Miller's classroom ideas. I would love to know how she would do these things in a third grade classroom. Macie, I like your idea of letting the students read their AR book to a partner before they can take a test on them. I think that is a great way to get them to work together. Do you let the "listener" read the book and take the test also? And Alison one day I am going to get you to come in with my class and do a book blessing to get them started, I really liked the one I saw one of your students doing. Mrs. Pate, I also get my students to exchange library books, they have to read theirs and two other student's book before they can go back to the library. This gives them 6 different tests they can take.
ReplyDeleteLike Elisha, I also have used sticky notes during my reading lesson (when using the Anthology book) to allow my students to write questions about their reading or to write new or vocabulary words. The students seem to enjoy writing on the sticky notes, and it seems to help them to focus on their reading. I usually allow the students to discuss the questions and information from the sticky notes with the entire class, but I would like to be able to talk with each individual student about their reading questions. I think I am going to take Debbie Miller's advice, and only talk with 4 or 5 individual students a day about their questions before everyone shares with the entire class.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 4, I was interested in how Debbie Miller allows her students to share books they are reading with the entire class. I usually don't allow my students to share books they are reading because I always feel like I don't have enough time, but I am going to try to allow 2 or 3 students a day to share their A.R. books or other books that they are reading with our class. I don't spend enough time allowing my students to share books they are reading with their classmates. I realize that this can be a way to encourage and to motivate other students to read more. Also, teaching the students how to share and how to listen respectfully can be a wonderful experience for everyone in the class.
On the Book Selection part in Chapter 4, I agree that books need to be on their instructional level. I agree with Melissa that children do not get much from a book if it is not on their reading level. I also believe the print must not be too small for them to see. Also for Kindergarten, the children love for their books to have colorful pictures. We want children to become lifelong readers, so we must make sure they have books that are appropriate for their grade level.
ReplyDeleteHow many times did Debbie Miller say model? This year it has really hit home with me that if I don’t show them what I mean, they are not going to know. Like Jessica and Melissa, I love the idea of writing the words to the songs. Several years ago I did a Poetry Journal. They would read their journal over and over. I want to do that again this year! Another simple thing that I want to do is the baskets with books on the tables. I have baskets, but they are not on the tables. I also have books in my station baskets, but why do I take them up after reading? I know my children this year would use them constantly. Kippie and I use to let our children “share” their journal pages daily. It took so much time! This week I started letting mine share and they love it. It makes them accountable, but it also does all those other things that Debbie Miller talked about.
ReplyDeleteThe main thing I took from these chapters, is that our love of reading can evoke a love of reading in our students. I agree with Sherry that getting excited about a book and enjoying a read-aloud can help inspire our students to read. If we are excited about reading, our students will be too!!
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Mrs. Miller that encouraging students to recommend and share books with their peers can spread the love of reading even more. I love the "book blessing" idea, Allison…what a great way for students to get their classmates interested in a book!
I really enjoyed reading both chapters. Mrs. Terry, I was particularly interested in the section about reading and conferring, too. Alison, I think I’ll try this with AR books. Maybe the student will be more thoughtful in their book selections. This could help with the issue we discussed today.
ReplyDeleteI loved the idea of the recommendation chart. I’m always making recommendations or choices for them, but hadn’t really thought of a good way for students to make suggestions to their classmates. I will definitely try this.
I’ve done book sharing before, but time was always an issue. Ginger, you could try letting your kids do this. Let them put a book in a “sharing basket” with a sticky note that says “I read this book and it was ___________________. I’ll tell you a little about it.” They sign their name. Then you can choose a book or two and let the individual share or you can let the student share with another student that would like to read the shared book. I found this worked better and was less time consuming.
Reading books and working with books was a thought provoking statement. It really made me think about what I am really doing in my reading instruction.
It seems as if I am more often than I want having to stop and present mini-lessons. I establish classroom rules and procedures early in the year but some years more than others you just seem to have distractions that consistently interfere with teaching and learning. I was impressed with the author's comments about her procedural mini-lessons. It makes me feel stronger as an educator to know that others have the same situations.
ReplyDeleteI use sticky notes during reading. Third grade has many opportunities for the students to have questions about the material they are reading. We use sticky notes to write questions about what we are reading and what we would like to find out more about. We also use them when they are reading and have vocabulary words that they are not sure what they mean. We use the words on the sticky notes to have a Language lesson on dictionary skills from Guide Words to locating words in the dictionary.Sticky Notes can become expensive and my class is very familiar with non-stick sticky notes.I cut about same size notes from colored paper and they enjoy the non-stick as well as the sticky.
I am going to spend more time with my upper level students and confer with several each day about the books they are reading. This could make up for not timing each one every week. They certainly could not feel left out and would benefit more. I liked the author's points of teaching sharing,listening and learning responsibilities.
I use sticky notes like Elisha does. I learned that last year when Mrs. Sabra came in and did a lesson one time. The kids do love it and I like for them to write questions they want to ask so that they don’t have to interrupt the lesson they can ask when we are at a stopping point for questions. This helps them from forgetting what they wanted to ask. I am very interested in the “sharing basket” Ms. Sharron was talking about. If a student brings up a book and I loved it I always tell them so I just don’t always remember to do that so I love this idea. It gives them another reason to want to read it. When I was in K I always read out loud and I don’t get to do it as often in third because the children read on their own but every chance I get to read them a good book I do and I love it. I have seen Ms. Davis many times sitting in her chair reading Charlotte’s Web.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the section on Motivation. I really feel like that is one of the most important things that we can do for a child. If they are motivated the sky is the limit. She said that her message was clear. I love reading. I know you will, too. Somehow, Somewhere I missed out on that when I was a student. I was a struggling reader as a child and didn't enjoy reading at all- I still to this day had rather do something else. So I have a soft spot for those children that just don't get it or like to read. One reason I love K so much is we get to set the foundation and love for reading. We get them excited to read! When I taught 2nd grade I tried very hard to get my kids excited and keep them excited about reading. I really pushed A.R. and read books to them as often as I could. I remember reading Shiloh to them and they begged every afternoon to read another chapter. We laughed and cried through the book and I know they really enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't usually share, y'all have excited me so about this book, well, I just had to do so! The idea (Sharron's --- she's a genius!) about putting stickies on books that say, "I read this & you should b/c _______" reminds me of when I go in the bookstore, they almost always have "Our Staff Recommends" w/little stickies under some books. Invariably these are the books I buy! I love all your ideas.
ReplyDeleteI also understand that this book is actually creating conversation about practice among you. WOW! Remember this is a place where we celebrate it all so if something doesn't work, you can talk about why it didn't or if you need some help, we are here to help each other learn. We are here to celebrate together success and embrace another opportunity to learn (that was "pc" for failure!). It's okay to learn from our mistakes.