chase the wonder

Test Taking as a Genre

2010-06-05T05:01:00.000-07:00

NOTE: This blog is not finished. I will be updating this page throughout the summer.

“. . .if we think about the test as a sort of genre, bizarre though it is, we could teach kids how to negotiate it in much the same way that we teach them how to negotiate any other genre.”
~Donna Santman
POWERPOINT

Last year, the new strategies applied in reading instruction in my classroom focused on helping struggling readers to grow. My research found two resources topics that proved helpful.

1. Fluency: I used DIBELS (requires registration; click on FREE testing materials) and easyCBM to practice and measure fluency on a consistent basis. The DIBELS provided a large number of passages to record words per minute. Also, the narrative format of most of the selections served as models for writing.

2. Visual Vocabulary: I used articles from Highlights, Cricket, Hopscotch and Ranger Rick children's magazines to introduce a wide variety of content as reading material. The difficult words from the passages were introduced and practiced with picture/word flashcards made for the SmartBoard and cloze sentences as homework and testing material. The SmartBoard files were also printed and used as flashcards for students to practice in class and at home. NOTE: Google and Yahoo offer image searches. Simply search for your word and scroll to select an appropriate image.

My students showed high growth and above expected success on the End of Grade tests. However, I see areas that they need to achieve more. This summer, I am going to research and find resources to help me provide better instruction and practice with Content Question Stems- including question/answer relationship and Test Taking Tips.

Research Sites for Test Taking Tips (QAR - Question Answer Relationships and Distractors)

Like to Read

NC EOG Question Stems

Richard Allington

K-8 Visual Reading

BulletRead

Speed Reading for Kids

Self Growth

BackWoods

Rocket Reader

Rocket Reader software

Reading Comprehension software also science and math

Video Teacher Guide Test Taking Tips

Contest Clues

Info on Misconceptions and Student Errors ****

Lesson Plans and Answer Choice Categories

Writing Test Questions and Answer

Teaching Hasty Test Takers to Think

Continued Resources for Vocabulary and Fluency
Learning Vocabulary through song
GREAT example

What about Read Alouds?
"Remember: There are many "band-aids" that can be applied to cover over reading difficulties - from reading books aloud to reluctant readers to using audio tapes, but the only real solution is to give these kids materials they can read and the skills to tackle that reading with success."

http://www.hip-books.com/teachers.php?p=155

Reaching Reluctant Readers by Paul Kropp

For young students, reading aloud is an effective way to foster comprehension of written language, concept development, and oral language development (Bus, van Ijzendoorn and Pellegrini 1995; Dickinson and Smith 1994).

At the same time, classroom observations reveal that a read-aloud session by itself is not sufficient to increase comprehension. To understand a text, students must be able to relate both their existing knowledge to the words and ideas in the text, and to understand how different kinds of text ‘work’.

This can be a challenging task, especially for students with limited oral language vocabularies (Whitehurst et al. 1994). For read-aloud sessions to be most productive, they should be accompanied by a focused teacher-student talk. The value of talk around book reading is in the way it helps students gain experience with abstract and decontextualised language (i.e. the language used in books to represent ideas and concepts) (Beck and McKeown 2001).

ESCAPADE - Educational brainy games, toys, kits, and books for children is our specialty! We provide unique items that engage children and help them think in creative ways. Not only do we sell great products, we also provide many education linksand creative ideas on various ways to use our products — something unique to Escapade Direct! Expect adventures.

READ WRITE THINK - Using pictures for Questioning

Tools to Create:

Interactive Games

Oswego

Gamequarium

2009-11-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ben and his book about Harry Potter

2009-11-07T06:38:00.000-08:00

Find the story on BEN . . . . .
Show how working hard and reading higher level books helped him overcome DYSLEXIA.

He has written a book . . . MY YEAR WITH HARRY POTTER.

Great inspirational video for struggling readers!

Learning Upgrade

2009-11-06T03:33:00.000-08:00

Find reading demos - - - long word chunking, short vowels, great for SMARTBOARD!

Another section for COMPREHENSION!

NOTE: This product is linked to:
Let's Go Learn

Turtle Dash Blend Game

2009-10-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

This game can be played with 4 players. If you have 4 computers in the classroom, (SMARTBOARD counts as 1) . . . . then you can play a game with 3 other students at the same time. HOW EXCITING!

In the lab, assign teams of 4. Assign a leader for each team. The leader creates the game. Each team must have a different password!

Classroom Tools.Net

2009-09-08T05:37:00.000-07:00

Classroom Tools - Build your own custom flash activities and games!

Turn a Page -

Reading Keys Assessment Online

2009-08-23T16:32:00.001-07:00

Use this online assessment to determine level of instruction for Reading Keys Vocabulary.

Learning Today

2009-08-21T03:57:00.000-07:00

Sample Interactive Reading Lessons! Levels K-4

Highly interactive
Large format for SmartBoard
Reads text aloud online
Includes instruction, practice and assessment

Also includes FREE Games online!

Whaddaya Know Quiz Show

2009-08-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

Great Computer Ongoing Activity:

WHADDAYA KNOW QUIZ SHOW - Students can register (FREE but requires E-mail address) and collect points. They earn certificates which can be viewed or e-mailed from a list of games

Teachers can make custom quizzes also.

Story Plant

2009-08-05T07:46:00.001-07:00

Use this BBC site to write a story with your class.

Chicken Stacker

2009-08-03T11:36:00.001-07:00

Child matches vowel sounds.

I Can Read Game

2009-08-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

Build basic reading skills with I CAN READ GAME. Choose NOVICE or INTERMEDIATE level. Online audio support reads the highlighted words in a sentence. Then, child clicks on the word heard.

Brain Sparks

2009-08-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

Register for a FREE 5-day trial.

BrainSpark is a family of interactive learning programs designed to maximize your child's learning potential by building the cognitive skills critical to improving brain fitness: Sequencing, Processing rate, Attention, Recall and memory, and Knowledge.

After completing BrainSpark Learning, participants are prepared to listen, think, learn to read or become better readers and can have the ability to follow directions and take tests better.

Improved Self-esteem, including participation in classroom and group activities as well as enthusiasm about school.
Better Listening and Understanding, including response time to questions, ability to follow the flow of conversation, and humor comprehension.
Clear Communication, including pronunciation, participation in conversation, vocabulary, spontaneity, and ability to stay on topic.
Enhanced Reading Skills, including recollection of details and event sequence, ability to understand complex sentences, and confidence when reading aloud.
Academic Achievement, including sounding out new words and spelling as well as attention span, writing, and math.
Stronger Memory, including better retention and recall of phone numbers, event sequences, and details.

Building Language and Literacy

2009-08-02T07:03:00.000-07:00

Scholastic sponsored activities focused on vocabulary and language development. Each character shares a group of games relating to vocabulary, letter/words, or rhymes.

Roy: Tale of a Singing Zebra

2009-08-02T06:30:00.001-07:00

ROY READING GAMES: Find interactive reading games on this site that are ideal for developing reading skills of emergent readers. The reading games are large format and suitable for SmartBoard, or computer, at school or at home. Registration is requested.

Choose games by word level and sentence level. To find a game quickly please use the 'quick game finder'.

Software is also available for less than $10. (The Long Vowels games are demos and can only be played after downloading the software. Free 5 day trial.

Guided Reading lessons for Roy the Singing Zebra include nine delightful stories about following your dreams, making friends and seeking adventure. The online stories have been developed to make learning to read enjoyable and fun for emerging readers. Use the stories with your interactive whiteboard or computer, at school or at home.

The stories come complete with guided reading discussion sheets that can be used to discuss the story before and after reading each part. In addition, there are also printable literacy worksheets focusing on specific learning objectives (e.g. capital letters, full stops and words that rhyme).

Totlol Video

2009-07-30T05:47:00.000-07:00

Totlol is a video website designed specifically for children. It is community moderated. It is constantly growing. It is powered by YouTube.

The videos were submitted, screened and rated by parents. The selection is huge and if you like, you can participate too.

Totlol is literally Video-on-Demand. Many educational content titles. Requires subscription. One month = $3 or One year = $18

Reading Ware

2009-07-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

Reading Ware is a subscription based online pre-primer reader collection.

Vocabulary Cartoons

2009-07-23T04:26:00.000-07:00

Vocabulary Cartoons works on the principle of mnemonics. A mnemonic is a device that helps you remember something by associating what you are trying to remember with something you already know. A mnemonic device could be in many different forms like; rhymes, songs, pictures to name a few. For example, "Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen hundred ninety-two" is a classic mnemonic rhyme which helps you remember when Columbus discovered America.

Following the mnemonic principle of association, Vocabulary Cartoons link together an auditory (rhyming) word association and a visual association in the form of a humorous cartoon. These powerful mnemonics help students retain the meanings of words longer and with less effort than trying to memorize definitions straight out of a dictionary.

Headsprout

2009-07-23T04:12:00.000-07:00

Click here for sample lessons from HEADSPROUT! Also, Home Free Trial available for your preview!

Free READY TO READ downloadable stories.

Online Materials
• 80 adaptive online episodes• Ability to repeat or reset episodes• 80 online stories and over 400 printable flash cards• Secure, automated assessment and performance reports• Email and telephone instructional and technical support

Purchase subscription prices:

Home - single copy of lessons 1-40 ($99 with installment plan available)

Into the Book

2009-07-23T03:18:00.000-07:00

http://reading.ecb.org/index.html

This highly interactive site will engage students while teaching them about comprehension strategies. The student pages introduce:

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
MAKING CONNECTIONS
QUESTIONING
VISUALIZING
INFERRING
SUMMARIZING
EVALUATING
SYNTHESIZING
USING STRATEGIES TOGETHER

The teacher pages give lesson ideas (Gradual Release Lesson Plan ), extra demonstration videos, downloads for songs and lyrics, previews of the student interactive activity, and much more.

For example, the lesson plan to introduce PRIOR KNOWLEDGE incorporates a STUDENT VIDEO with a featured text, viewing timing and discussion questions, and a themed song. Program Synopsis: In this episode, Mrs. Pingel teaches the students the strategy of activating prior knowledge. During a read-aloud of The Story of Kate Shelley, Emmet is so engaged that he goes "into the book" and helps Kate. He then uses the strategy to help him with his rock climbing.

Literactive

2009-07-21T05:09:00.001-07:00

LITERACTIVE is the leading provider of reading material for pre-school, kindergarten and grade 1 students available online. The program is comprised of carefully leveled guided readers, comprehensive phonic activities and a wealth of supplemental reading material which gradually develop a child's reading skills in a sequential and enjoyable manner. Developed and approved by teachers and parents across the United States, Literactive is the acknowledged leader in early learning online. All the material is available for FREE from this site but you need to register.

Online read-aloud books with activities are available to view live after registering. (Select GUIDED READING on the left frame!)

Carl's Corner

2009-07-21T04:44:00.001-07:00

CARL'S CORNER MAIN PAGE!

Carl's Corner offers books in PDF suitable for SmartBoard along with many activity sheets focused on vocabulary and phonics. (Click here for 2nd grade Scott Foresman series.)

I enjoyed the layout of the site - - very easy to navigate and large format for SmartBoard of all materials.

Games Boards , certificates, Reading Racers materials, and so much more! \

Check out this site to use with primary reading lessons!

Vocabulary and Pictures

2009-07-21T03:35:00.000-07:00

Santa-Maria Bonita Schools page lists basal titles for the Houghton/Mifflin series with vocabulary matched with pictures for grades 1-6. These tools are suitable for SMARTBOARD use!

Click here for more strategies to teach vocabulary!

Chase's Picks of the Day

2009-07-19T12:36:00.001-07:00

Alfy's Pics for Learning ABC's

2009-07-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

These are links provided by Alfy's Pics for the Theme: Language Arts. Click on the link for ABC's!


ABCs Creative Writing Eric Carle Author Study Fairy Tales Harry Potter Poetry & Rhyme Sign Language One of the pics is ALPHABET ACTION hosted on the Learning Planet site.

Great Leaps

2009-07-19T12:11:00.001-07:00

The Great Leaps Fluency Program offers short reading passages highlighting some favorite chapter books for grade levels 3-up.

Download these as PDF's.

Repeated Readings

2009-07-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

Click here for a WORD Document Lesson Plan Template!
Great Leaps Fluency Progress Chart

Brief Overview

The guided repeated oral reading technique consists of three main components:

student practice reading a weekly passage
ongoing teacher feedback
biweekly progress monitoring

Typically, the student practices orally reading a passage for 1 week or until a predetermined criteria is met, such as an improvement in reading rate (Samuels, 1979; Therrien, 2004) or three successive improvements (Weinstein & Cooke, 1992).

Ongoing corrective teacher feedback is provided through teacher modeling, direct instruction, and positive comments or suggestions regarding reading with expression, sentence segmentation, and fluency.

Biweekly progress monitoring involves having students read material one grade level above their current level.

Many students with disabilities require specialized instructional interventions and frequent progress monitoring in reading. The guided repeated oral reading technique promotes oral reading fluency while providing a reliable data-based monitoring system.

This reading technique, an adaptation of repeated readings (Samuels, 1979), typically includes the following steps.

Monday: Conduct the Cold Read . . . .The student is given a new weekly practice passage of about 50 to 200 words at his or her instructional level (level read with about 95% accuracy). The "cold read" is the first time the student views and orally reads the passage. After the student orally reads the passage within 1 minute, the teacher records the number of words read correctly and the number of errors. For example, if James read 54 words in 1 minute with 6 errors, subtract the error amount (6) from the total number of words read in one minute (54) to calculate the number of words he correctly read in one minute (48). Next, the teacher orally reads the passage to the student to provide a model that the student can imitate. Teacher modeling consists of
attending to expression
reading in phrases and clauses
using a finger to follow along if needed
reading at a slightly faster pace than the student
(Meyer & Felton, 1999; National Reading Panel, 2001; Therrien, 2004).

Finally, the student orally rereads the passage with assistance from the teacher. During this read, when the student comes to an unknown word, the teacher encourages the student to apply a known strategy. If the student does not know a word within 3 seconds, the teacher provides the word.

Tuesday: Monitor Progress and Practice Weekly Passage to monitor progress, the student orally reads an unfamiliar passage one grade level above his or her instructional reading level. Therefore, teachers using this approach must have access to reading passages for student weekly practice as well as progress monitoring. For example, the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS; Good & Kaminski, 2005) can be used for biweekly reading and graphing using passages one grade level above the student's instructional level, and the Read Naturally program (Read Naturally, 2005) can be used to record cold and hot reads for passages at the student's instructional level.
Following this read, the teacher records the student's data on a progress monitoring graph, Instructional decision making should include data analysis. Generally, the teacher can estimate one or two words gained for each week of instruction above the baseline (Scott & Weishaar, 2003). Fuchs (1989) recommended that instructional modifications are warranted when the student's performance falls below the aim line on three consecutive points (Mercer & Pullen, 2005).
Also, the student also orally reads the weekly practice passage as a "good reader," with good expression and adequate speed and phrasing, and as a "fast reader" at a slightly faster pace. Repeatedly reading the same passage at a faster pace provides opportunities to embed the faster pace. The student may also chorally read the passage with a group of 3 to 5 students. Students are typically reminded to read along with their finger to avoid losing their place, carefully track the words, and group phrases.
Wednesday: . . . . .Practice. Practice. Practice. The student practices orally reading the new passage at least twice, and the teacher provides immediate and corrective feedback.
Thursday:. . . . Monitor Progress and Practice Weekly Passage. The process from Tuesday is repeated by having the student read a new (unfamiliar) passage from the progress monitoring curriculum. This data are also graphed. The student also orally reads the weekly passage at least twice, as a good reader and as a fast reader.
Friday: . . . .Conduct the "Hot Read" The student reads the weekly passage aloud to the teacher, and the data are again recorded. Teachers should share the difference from the cold and hot read data with the student, as an increase in words per minute on the hot read is very motivating for students.
Many programs, such as the Great Leaps Program (Great Leaps Reading, n.d.) and Jamestown Reading (Jamestown Education, n.d.) suggested graphing the student's reading data to provide a visual of success and to involve the student in noting improvements toward their reading goal (Dudley, 2005).

Also, this article describes a repeated reading/fluency lesson plan. It details how to make activities function with different levels within the classroom.

Here is a portion of the article:

Educators value the importance of reading fluency practice. High fluency scores are positively correlated with high comprehension scores. However, practicing repetitive reading passages with one-size fits all fluency recordings does not meet the diverse needs of your students. Instead, save some money on expensive fluency programs and truly differentiate your fluency instruction.

First of all, find multiple reading level fluency passages on the web or from your favorite educational bookstore. Assess fluency rates of your students at their instructional reading level (85-95% word accuracy). I suggest two-minute timings to insure accurate assessment. Then, form ability groups of 4–7 students based upon their reading levels and fluency scores on these assessments. Separate students who can’t cooperate or who will disrupt the class. (click here to read entire article!)

Smart Tutor

2009-07-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Time 4 Learning

2009-07-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

Time 4 Learning gives students practice with math, language arts, science, and more!

http://www.time4learning.com/seo/elementary-games.shtml

Letter Launch is one of the FREE GAME ACTIVITIES on the Time 4 Learning Site. Click the graphic to play.

This is an example of a FREE LESSON (Click the link to view more choices.) offered by Time 4 Learning. Click the graphic to play the activity.

Time 4 Learning offers a FREE 14-day trial. The regular subscription for HOME is $19.91 per month with no long-term contracts.

Older Students with Reading Difficulties

2009-07-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

What do you do when older students have reading difficulties. This article on the LD online site offers suggestions and teaching ideas. (Click here for entire article!)

Here's a portion of the article:

Most reading scientists agree that a core linguistic deficit underlies poor reading at all ages (Catts et al., 1999; Shaywitz et al., 1999). At any age, poor readers as a group exhibit weaknesses in phonological processing and word recognition speed and accuracy, as do younger poor readers (Stanovich & Siegel, 1994; Shankweiler et al., 1995). At any age, when an individual's reading comprehension is more impaired than his or her listening comprehension, inaccurate and slow word recognition is the most likely cause (Shankweiler et al., 1999).

Here are some more research sites with lesson ideas:

This article describes lesson ideas and activities to teach vocabulary and phonics.
Read here for a portion of the article on DICK AND JANE reading theory!

So, although I learned to read with the Dick and Jane series, the problem is that this approach does not seem to be as successful when students come from less literate households. In sum, the “Look-Say Method” probably would work for 80% of our population, but systematic phonics instruction seems to work to some degree for everyone.

My practical experience validates this conclusion. Teaching reading intervention students from fourth grade up through community college has helped me identify one common denominator of students who struggle with reading: they don’t know and can’t apply the alphabetic code. Diagnostic assessments almost always lead to this conclusion.

(Click here to read entire article and much more from the Penning Publishing Blog!)

Ticket to Read

2009-07-19T10:17:00.001-07:00

Ticket to Read gives students instruction in Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension. Click here to find out more and watch a VIDEO.

*****I have previewed this online subscription and found it contains several favorable attributes.

Students are not allowed to "fly" through the reading passages. If a student goes too quickly, the program forces them to "reread."
Each passage activity gives the student a fluency rate.
The program is accessible from school or home.
The price is reasonable. ($269 for a class of 30 students, or $29 per individual child.)

Click here for information on STIMULUS FUNDING!

Renaissance Learning Vocabulary Labels

2009-07-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

Vocabulary instruction reigns as my research project this year. Students with reading difficulty need explicit instruction on phonics, prefixes, suffixes and core reading components - - - even in the upper grades! The classroom library is an important resource to increase vocabulary with independent reading. But, how does a teacher ensure that students actually READ the books? Poor readers simply flip through the pages and then take the AR test! The reward seems to be "How many can I guess correctly?"
One idea is to give students vocabulary words to find in the text while they are reading. Then, they can copy the sentence from the book that uses the word. This activity gives independent reading a student-based product. Both handwriting and grammar can be strengthened by requiring an exact, readable copy.

Renaissance Learning offers vocabulary labels for all book quizzes saving the teacher time required to find the chosen words. To order the label, simply find the quiz number, select the book, and order labels. The labels currently costs 10 cents each! As an assessment, students can then take the vocabulary quiz after taking the AR reading quiz!

Here's a graphic for the Checked Label. Just right click to save. Insert the graphic into a page of labels to print. IDEA: A student could be assigned to check the vocabulary sentences. Checker would place a label on the sentence sheet and give to back to reader allowing them to take the test. The reader places the AR score on the sheet. The vocabulary sentence sheet with score could be sent home for parent signature.

Let's Go Learn

2009-07-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

Let's Go Learn is the online product of Curriculum Associates!

These online tools are pricey, (ORDER INFORMATION) but available to individuals as well as classrooms. They offer opportunities to access individual student needs, such as SSMT data modifications, etc.

Literacy Launcher

2009-07-19T05:56:00.001-07:00

Literacy Launcher is part of SRA Technology, a unit of the McGraw-Hill Education Group, the largest pre-K through grade 12 educational publisher in the nation, and a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies. SRA Technology develops and delivers literacy activities and assessments over the Internet to children, pre-kindergarten through grade six.

The Literacy Launcher series is based on approaches that are consistent with the developmental stage of children who are emergent readers and mathematicians. The curriculum content in Literacy Launcher supports children's development of fluency with key concepts in language and mathematics as they move from pre-kindergarten through grade three.

How does it work? The learning activities and assessments use vivid photography, brilliant animation, voice instruction from children, and real-life situations that children can relate to. These involve students in a multi-sensory learning experience. Because children bring a broad spectrum of knowledge into the classroom, Literacy Launcher curriculum content is divided into levels, rather than grades. Below is a description of each level followed by a sample Curriculum Object.

Samples for your to try!
Click on the pictures on this link to launch a learning activity or assessment demo.

Reading Eggs

2009-07-19T05:36:00.000-07:00

http://readingeggs.com/home

Chase and I will be using this site for the next two weeks. Look for REVIEW following our experience.

ABC Reading Eggs is a new website designed to teach children how to read. Level 1 is now available.

The further levels of the ABC Reading Eggs website – levels 2, 3 and 4 are still under construction and will be added to the site as they become available. Level 2 – The Playground – will begin to be available online in September and will be finished late 2008.

There are two ways that you can continue to be a ABC Reading Eggs Eggsplorer after your 14 day Free trial is over. You can continue your subscription by using access codes found in every ABC Reading Eggs bookpack or you can buy a subscription to the site online using our secure payment facilities. You can purchase a six month subscription to the ABC Reading Eggs website for the special opening offer of $49.95

There are currently 80 online lessons in ABC Reading Eggs that take students from the very basics of recognizing letter sounds through to reading short interesting books. By mid 2009, there will be 120 lessons that will take children up to a third year of school reading and writing level.

They Might Be Giants

2009-07-16T04:32:00.000-07:00

Wonder Award #1

They Might Be Giants (The band just won a Grammy for Best Children's album for "Here Come the 123s")

Podcast link: These videos show creative images making connections to rich vocabulary - - - - Just click on the episode - - - click DOWNLOAD VIDEO. (Real Player will save the video!)

Lyric link on the left of the Podcast screen.

Official Site of TMBG

Also, check out GiantKid.Net with video and book.

AND

This might be a WIKI - They Might Be Giants Knowledge Base.