Saturday, June 28, 2014

the "BIG" shift to "reading to learn"...

A shift in the area of reading occurs when students move from grade 2 to grade 3.  Students move from "learning to read" to "reading to learn".  This means that the students will be reading more non-fiction passages and using strategies to find information in the text.  Some girls love reading informational text (or non-fiction) and for others it can be difficult.  As with any area of reading, it is important to read, read, read to expose yourself to new vocabulary and different types of writing.

Here are some links to online resources that are already on my "READING" tab at the top of my blog that I wanted to point out to you (these sites have both articles and activities):

Time for Kids
Highlights
NWF

You may also want to consider checking out some non-fiction books from either our school library on Tuesday mornings this summer or a public library.

Building Reading Oral Fluency

 I can't believe how much has happened since I last posted on this blog - the 2013-14 school year ended, I traveled to Australia with my husband, celebrated a birthday, and began construction on a screened-in back porch!  It has all been wonderful and I will post some pictures another day.

Today I wanted to remind you to remember to read accurately when you read as well as fluidly and quickly.  Several students throughout the year came to the Think Tank and worked on building their oral reading fluency.  They did this by reading short passages aloud and timing and recording them.  They then went back and listened to them marking the words that they either changed or said incorrectly.  The girls then re-read and recorded the passages.  They did this several times and marked their progress on a chart to show their improvement.  Please don't hesitate to email me if you would like additional help with this process.

This is something that can be done easily without marking the errors - just read a page from any book aloud and record it and then go back and listen to it while silently reading along.  Sometimes we read through things so quickly we don't even realize the mistakes we make!