My student and I focused on poetry this week. I had her write a poem where she had to play with the use of similes. We went over what similes and other poetic devices are as well as showing her models of poems with usage of similes. I found it interesting that she picked the focus of her poem to be on her cat. I had her really take a "leap" to creating imagery. I asked her to paint a picture in my head with words instead of drawing out what each part of the cat looks like. I found it to be successful with pushing her to think outside the box. I am having her work on articles, but I think this week I'm going to find a short story for our guided reading. Any ideas or suggestions?
I know lots of short stories. what kind are you looking for? funny? sad? thoughtfully serious? On any given topic? off the top of my head, a very good one is 'the ones who walk away from Omelas'
well, my first comment was mean to be a reply. forgive me. I'm sick.
my kids didn't show up, which was very odd since I expected at least one of three to show up. I got to sit in with Rachel though and work on symbolism. I was impressed with the ease her kids picked up reading a graphic novel. And even just reading a few pages, they came up with thoughtful questions that showed good reading.
next week I'm going to introduce tone and theme to my kids and start in the poetry theme. I'm going to compare the tone of Poe's 'The Raven' with another poem of a happier note and then have them write their own tone poems. any happy poems out there that anyone knows about? the more figurative language, the better.
Youtube is always a great resource for students to listen and watch performances of poetry. It may also help them get more into the idea of working with poetry.
My students really enjoyed the book! Shannon really picked up well with the graphic novel and I think that they enjoyed reading the same book and sharing their perspectives! Can you provide any insight on how to help them become better spellers when writing about our thoughts that we came up with reading?
my personal stance on writing, which may or may not be the best, is to have them focus on content. that's always what I'm after. Tell them to focus more on their thoughts. it will likely save time because they won't pause and constantly try to spell a word correctly. Once you get the actual work done, you can focus on spelling. Maybe do a fun activity, like do hangman for one of the their words, then study it and see if one or the other knew how to spell it and how they knew. From seeing your kids, it seemed like they knew how to spell the words, they were just worried about spelling them right so they asked anyways. but I don't know that for sure because I haven't seen their assessments or anything, so I could be wrong.
Hi Kit, Have you heard of the poem, "Jest 'Fore Christmas" by Eugene Field? It's cute, and your kids might enjoy it. Also, poems by Shel Silverstein are always good. They might be a little young for your group, but they'd enjoy them.
I checked out the Eugene Field poem and I like it, but I think it would take a lot of time to explain to my kids, because of the language. But some of the Shel Silverstein poems look encouraging. I want a clear example of tone and one I picked out (hug'o'war) you can tell right off the bat is meant to be funny and sweet. Plus it has an accompanying picture, which helps my study.
Just a reminder to everyone - we will have a high school English teacher as a guest speaker this week. She will be talking about word work and writing. Think about what you might like to ask her about grades 7-12 reading and writing.
Hi all! I am looking forward to the High School teacher this week. This past Tuesday was strange... My student was not in a good mood. Michelle told me that she was upset with her dad, and that they had been fighting. On top of that, we had an incident with a Mt. Dew bottle that left my hand raw and Kit's palm bleeding! But once we settled in it went better.
We read a lot of the Hunger Games. She is really enjoying it. I am going to try to read a little of the book she recommended me called the Saint of Dragons. Has anyone else read it? I downloaded it to my kindle and started it; it seems a little Harry Potter like but all in all seems like an interesting read. Do any of you use any comprehension games for reading? Maybe something that could be used in conjunction with the novel we're using? Annotating works well but it is boring.
I once used thought bubbles with my student while he was reading. It helped him make inferences about the text. He was able to infer what the character was thinking/feeling at that time. After he was done reading for that day, he would put the sticky notes in his journal in the order in which they happened. From there he summarized the character's journey during the pages he read. If there was multiple characters, he would only focus on summarizing one for that day.
Have you tried looking at the Florida Center for Reading Research website? They have a ton of ideas for comprehnension. Comprehension Dice game is always enjoyable for the kids and works for any age! Write a different question on each side of the die and allow your student to roll it, answering the questions each time. I hope this helps!
To prepare my students for Kit's conversation about Symbolism (Deeper Thinking) and Metacognition activity (Thinking questions about our Thinking...I wonder, I'm feeling...) I asked the students to write down the five senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, sound). Then using their five senses we described Survival (theme in their 7th grade class). What it tastes like (air), smells like (fear), sounds like (someone struggling in the water)... The students really got into deeper thinking and found that they were able to really get into Symbolism! It was great to be able to have Kit's insight and review of graphic novels using Symbolism. The girls really enjoyed focusing on the graphic novel as the text and the layout of the graphic novel really helped one of my students with comprehending the higher level text.
I had one of my students look through the story I was reading with him and we came up with questions he might have about the story. I know it's not a game but he was eager to answer his questions while he read. It helped with his comprehension. You could give that a try with Hunger Games. I think it's awesome you're reading Hunger Games, I love that series!!!
I only had one of my three students show up for tutoring. An activity I did with him regarding comprehension was I had him come up with questions he might have about the reading before we started. He enjoyed this activity and it really seemed to help him with him comprehension. He remembered so many facts that were in the story. This week I am going to start my students on reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Out of all of their interests I think they will all enjoy this novel. I would like to mix up my word study work, does anyone have any interesting games for word study?
I found a really cool Jepardy game in the new Words Their Way book. the catagories could be things like long vowels, short vowels, different vowel patterns, etc. The clue will be on the card, and the student will write the correct answer, spelled correctly. I am making one myself, but probably wont have it done for tonight. I think it is a good way to address different spelling stages, and the student can choose.
I too only had one student show up for tutoring this week. However, it was nice because it was my lowest student so I could really focus on him and give him individualized instruction. He seems to really enjoy when we do sight words in the hall when he is able to jump from word to word. I don't think I'll do this every week because it will depend on much we have planned that day. That student has actually been removed from my group because he was much lower than the other two that I have. It was be a disadvantage to him because I wouldn't be able to give him what he needed while working with the other two, who are 2-3 levels higher.
For this week coming up I am using a Read A-Z book but I want to use real books. Is there a website I can use that gives me a list of printed books (fiction and/or nonfiction) at different levels? I guess the only other issue would be getting two of the same book. For those who have had multiple students previously, what were some resources you used to find books (other than Reading A-Z)?
Hey Mary! Last semester I had 3 students that were all at different levels and I used Reading A-Z too. But I also used the book wizard to find books of their interest at their level. Then the books that I did find I went to a public library by me to take these books out. Even if the books were not on the same topic or same genres, I focused their instruction on the same strategies and skills. (If a focus for you is comprehension, then you can focus on inferencing with all students after they read the story. If any student finishes early they can reread or you can have a small discussion about the story while waiting for the rest of the students.)
Unfortunately this past week my student was not at tutoring sessions. Her mother called me right before class to tell me Hannah had a fever and did not feel good at all. So hopefully she is feeling better next session!! I was able to get some things done for capstone and future possible activities with Hannah, which was nice! Hope everyone's week went well!
This week was interesting. I had a hectic start to the session, one student was late again and I left all of the guided reading books in my car. Once I got myself together, it went more smoothly. I have to talk to one student’s parents about starting on time. As far as time management goes, I am sticking to an agenda and keeping track of time on tasks and it is working well. I introduced vocabulary word(s) using a vocabulary web graphic organizer. I intended to teach three words, but only got through one. It took a while because the students needed a quick refresher on parts of speech, synonym, antonym, and shades of meaning. Going forward, this will go much quicker and will be a good tool. What is nice is that this graphic organizer can be modified, adding or changing categories for students to consider.
I listened to the students read and was able to collected one running record. I have a student that reads beautifully, but when reading aloud, he adds the word “um” in areas where he is identifying a word, or I think, processing for comprehension. This seems to happen quite a bit and he is aware that he does this. Is this a big deal? Any ideas on how to correct this without affecting his fluency and increasing frustration?
My student and I focused on poetry this week. I had her write a poem where she had to play with the use of similes. We went over what similes and other poetic devices are as well as showing her models of poems with usage of similes. I found it interesting that she picked the focus of her poem to be on her cat. I had her really take a "leap" to creating imagery. I asked her to paint a picture in my head with words instead of drawing out what each part of the cat looks like. I found it to be successful with pushing her to think outside the box.
ReplyDeleteI am having her work on articles, but I think this week I'm going to find a short story for our guided reading. Any ideas or suggestions?
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAny particular topic for the short story?
DeleteI've chosen "Charles" by Shirley Jackson. Always a fun one.
DeleteI know lots of short stories. what kind are you looking for? funny? sad? thoughtfully serious? On any given topic? off the top of my head, a very good one is 'the ones who walk away from Omelas'
ReplyDeletewell, my first comment was mean to be a reply. forgive me. I'm sick.
ReplyDeletemy kids didn't show up, which was very odd since I expected at least one of three to show up. I got to sit in with Rachel though and work on symbolism. I was impressed with the ease her kids picked up reading a graphic novel. And even just reading a few pages, they came up with thoughtful questions that showed good reading.
next week I'm going to introduce tone and theme to my kids and start in the poetry theme. I'm going to compare the tone of Poe's 'The Raven' with another poem of a happier note and then have them write their own tone poems. any happy poems out there that anyone knows about? the more figurative language, the better.
Youtube is always a great resource for students to listen and watch performances of poetry. It may also help them get more into the idea of working with poetry.
DeleteMy students really enjoyed the book! Shannon really picked up well with the graphic novel and I think that they enjoyed reading the same book and sharing their perspectives! Can you provide any insight on how to help them become better spellers when writing about our thoughts that we came up with reading?
Deletemy personal stance on writing, which may or may not be the best, is to have them focus on content. that's always what I'm after. Tell them to focus more on their thoughts. it will likely save time because they won't pause and constantly try to spell a word correctly. Once you get the actual work done, you can focus on spelling. Maybe do a fun activity, like do hangman for one of the their words, then study it and see if one or the other knew how to spell it and how they knew. From seeing your kids, it seemed like they knew how to spell the words, they were just worried about spelling them right so they asked anyways. but I don't know that for sure because I haven't seen their assessments or anything, so I could be wrong.
DeleteHi Kit,
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of the poem, "Jest 'Fore Christmas" by Eugene Field? It's cute, and your kids might enjoy it. Also, poems by Shel Silverstein are always good. They might be a little young for your group, but they'd enjoy them.
Hi Lauren,
DeleteI checked out the Eugene Field poem and I like it, but I think it would take a lot of time to explain to my kids, because of the language. But some of the Shel Silverstein poems look encouraging. I want a clear example of tone and one I picked out (hug'o'war) you can tell right off the bat is meant to be funny and sweet. Plus it has an accompanying picture, which helps my study.
Thank you for the suggestion!
You're welcome! :)
DeleteJust a reminder to everyone - we will have a high school English teacher as a guest speaker this week. She will be talking about word work and writing. Think about what you might like to ask her about grades 7-12 reading and writing.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought would be Word Study...How does she approach this in High School?
DeleteI agree with Rachel I think it would be interesting to see how she approaches word study!
DeleteI would also like to know what she does with her students for writing in regards to poetry.
DeleteI agree with Ashley, that would be wonderful to learn some new poetry resources.
DeleteHi all! I am looking forward to the High School teacher this week. This past Tuesday was strange... My student was not in a good mood. Michelle told me that she was upset with her dad, and that they had been fighting. On top of that, we had an incident with a Mt. Dew bottle that left my hand raw and Kit's palm bleeding! But once we settled in it went better.
ReplyDeleteWe read a lot of the Hunger Games. She is really enjoying it. I am going to try to read a little of the book she recommended me called the Saint of Dragons. Has anyone else read it?
I downloaded it to my kindle and started it; it seems a little Harry Potter like but all in all seems like an interesting read.
Do any of you use any comprehension games for reading? Maybe something that could be used in conjunction with the novel we're using? Annotating works well but it is boring.
I once used thought bubbles with my student while he was reading. It helped him make inferences about the text. He was able to infer what the character was thinking/feeling at that time. After he was done reading for that day, he would put the sticky notes in his journal in the order in which they happened. From there he summarized the character's journey during the pages he read. If there was multiple characters, he would only focus on summarizing one for that day.
DeleteHi Jess,
DeleteHave you tried looking at the Florida Center for Reading Research website? They have a ton of ideas for comprehnension. Comprehension Dice game is always enjoyable for the kids and works for any age! Write a different question on each side of the die and allow your student to roll it, answering the questions each time. I hope this helps!
To prepare my students for Kit's conversation about Symbolism (Deeper Thinking) and Metacognition activity (Thinking questions about our Thinking...I wonder, I'm feeling...) I asked the students to write down the five senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, sound). Then using their five senses we described Survival (theme in their 7th grade class). What it tastes like (air), smells like (fear), sounds like (someone struggling in the water)... The students really got into deeper thinking and found that they were able to really get into Symbolism! It was great to be able to have Kit's insight and review of graphic novels using Symbolism. The girls really enjoyed focusing on the graphic novel as the text and the layout of the graphic novel really helped one of my students with comprehending the higher level text.
ReplyDeleteI had one of my students look through the story I was reading with him and we came up with questions he might have about the story. I know it's not a game but he was eager to answer his questions while he read. It helped with his comprehension. You could give that a try with Hunger Games. I think it's awesome you're reading Hunger Games, I love that series!!!
ReplyDeleteI only had one of my three students show up for tutoring. An activity I did with him regarding comprehension was I had him come up with questions he might have about the reading before we started. He enjoyed this activity and it really seemed to help him with him comprehension. He remembered so many facts that were in the story. This week I am going to start my students on reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Out of all of their interests I think they will all enjoy this novel. I would like to mix up my word study work, does anyone have any interesting games for word study?
ReplyDeleteI found a really cool Jepardy game in the new Words Their Way book. the catagories could be things like long vowels, short vowels, different vowel patterns, etc. The clue will be on the card, and the student will write the correct answer, spelled correctly. I am making one myself, but probably wont have it done for tonight. I think it is a good way to address different spelling stages, and the student can choose.
DeleteI too only had one student show up for tutoring this week. However, it was nice because it was my lowest student so I could really focus on him and give him individualized instruction. He seems to really enjoy when we do sight words in the hall when he is able to jump from word to word. I don't think I'll do this every week because it will depend on much we have planned that day. That student has actually been removed from my group because he was much lower than the other two that I have. It was be a disadvantage to him because I wouldn't be able to give him what he needed while working with the other two, who are 2-3 levels higher.
ReplyDeleteFor this week coming up I am using a Read A-Z book but I want to use real books. Is there a website I can use that gives me a list of printed books (fiction and/or nonfiction) at different levels? I guess the only other issue would be getting two of the same book. For those who have had multiple students previously, what were some resources you used to find books (other than Reading A-Z)?
Hey Mary! Last semester I had 3 students that were all at different levels and I used Reading A-Z too. But I also used the book wizard to find books of their interest at their level. Then the books that I did find I went to a public library by me to take these books out. Even if the books were not on the same topic or same genres, I focused their instruction on the same strategies and skills. (If a focus for you is comprehension, then you can focus on inferencing with all students after they read the story. If any student finishes early they can reread or you can have a small discussion about the story while waiting for the rest of the students.)
DeleteUnfortunately this past week my student was not at tutoring sessions. Her mother called me right before class to tell me Hannah had a fever and did not feel good at all. So hopefully she is feeling better next session!! I was able to get some things done for capstone and future possible activities with Hannah, which was nice! Hope everyone's week went well!
ReplyDeleteThis week was interesting. I had a hectic start to the session, one student was late again and I left all of the guided reading books in my car. Once I got myself together, it went more smoothly. I have to talk to one student’s parents about starting on time. As far as time management goes, I am sticking to an agenda and keeping track of time on tasks and it is working well. I introduced vocabulary word(s) using a vocabulary web graphic organizer. I intended to teach three words, but only got through one. It took a while because the students needed a quick refresher on parts of speech, synonym, antonym, and shades of meaning. Going forward, this will go much quicker and will be a good tool. What is nice is that this graphic organizer can be modified, adding or changing categories for students to consider.
ReplyDeleteI listened to the students read and was able to collected one running record. I have a student that reads beautifully, but when reading aloud, he adds the word “um” in areas where he is identifying a word, or I think, processing for comprehension. This seems to happen quite a bit and he is aware that he does this. Is this a big deal? Any ideas on how to correct this without affecting his fluency and increasing frustration?