Word Wednesday - Reading Vocabulary

Sorry for the absence.  My mother and Princess' grandmother had a cataract removed and wouldn't you know it, she is the 1 in 1000th person who developed complications.  We are now helping her with eye drops every 30 minutes...around the clock! 

Today;'s post is about vocabulary.  As an SLP, one of the things I have tweaked and retweaked and retweaked and retweaked year after year is vocabulary work.  I have no problem with the activities, but I  question myself, have internal debates, research and debate some more when it comes to what words to teach.  I have looked at academic word lists, Marzano's Vocabulary Project  (which is incredibly overwhelming) and used commercial products.  What I want is vocabulary that makes a difference to my students in the classroom.   One of my fellow teachers suggested I check out Jan Richardson's book The Next Step in Guided Reading. She has a list of words commonly found in texts for reading levels A through H.  Lady A and I looked over the list and liked it.  There is always this assumption that if a student can read or decode the word, they comprehend it.  Surprisingly not always the case.

Lady A and I created vocabulary cards for these words using Boardmaker.  It was quite laborious.

We made sets with pictures and text, sets with pictures only and sets with text only.  I thought we would never finish,

 

They aren't perfect because by the time we finished, our eyes were permanently crossed and we were convinced we teach kids to read using vocabulary that could not be pictured.  However, if you would like to use them, here they are:

Reading Level B & C Vowel A

Reading Level B & C Vowel E

Reading Level B & C Vowel I

Reading Level B & C Vowel O

Reading Level B & C Vowel U

Reading Level D Diagraphs

Reading Level E Initial

Reading Level E Blends

Reading Level F Final Blends

Reading Level G & H Initial Blends

Reading Level G & H Final Blends

Reading Level G & H Silent e Rule

By the way, Jan Richardson has a website with a ton of guided reading resources.  You can explore it here.

 

Monday Musings: The Big Fresh Newletter

About three years ago, a literacy coach recommended this site Choice Literacy for resources.

It is a wonderful site.  It has a ton of free resources and even more for members.  I never joined the site, but I did subscribe to their weekly newsletter.  Its arrival is the one the highlight of my week.

It starts of with a great editorial and a quote.  I am constantly sending the quote home to my husband who loves them.  Each week has a general theme and they provide a ton of links to some great sites, blogs and resources.  They do book lists, digital resources, and a ton of other great ideas.  I also love how they take on the issues that crop up in the world of literacy education.  They always do a great job of presenting both sides of an issue, by finding real people who are passionate about each side.

I love the newsletter so much that I have a folder in my email account for my Big Fresh newsletters.  You know those weeks when the only email that gets opened are the ones marked urgent (or from your principal.)  The Big Fresh newsletter is one that I don't want to miss.

Check it out, I am sure you will agree.

Thumbnail Thursday

Today's thumbnails are a bit random.  Princess always accuses me of taking a theme too far.  Well, today I am all over the place.  As I was planning this post, I started thinking about sites that tend to be my "go to" sites.  Today's thumbnails are from sites that are chock full of useful ideas, images and resources.

Kizclub Story Props

KizClub is a wonderful site with resources for beginning readers.  They have a whole section of story props for all your favorite picture books.  The free printables come in color and black and white.  I use them for story retelling activities and whenever I am making centers with a theme.

Florida Reading Research Center Student Activities

If you only visit one website this year, you need to go here.  FRRC has developed literacy activities by grade level for each of the five pillars of reading.  They didn't just create one or two per pillar or per grade level.  They have pages and pages of activities for each element at each grade level.  Each activity has an instruction page as well as all the printables you need.  They are great for centers.  Print, laminate and get those wonderful mom volunteers to start cutting.

 Technology Integration Matrix

This year I was in charge in a special ed innovation grant involving iPad technology.  What I found out was that our teachers really did not have a lot of ideas for their use beyond drill and practice apps.  Princess piloted 1:1 with iPads in her classroom for a portion of the day.  She was determined to integrate the tablets rather than just use apps for drill and kill.  Both of us did a huge amount of research.  This site has an interactive matrix that identifies the levels of true integration.  It has great resources, suggestions and tools for each level and activity.

Random....maybe.  Useful....definitely.

Technology Tuesday- Padlet

Happy Tuesday everyone! It's Princess Kay here...Queen Pea is on a much needed vacation.  Today for technology Tuesday I want to share one of the websites my third grade class loved to use this past year....Padlet.

Basically, this web based program allows you to make an interactive, collaborative wall.  There are endless possibilities for how to use this in a classroom. It is super easy for students to use.  I would set up a wall and then Padlet gives you a QR code that links to the wall's URL.  I would print off the QR code and my students could just scan it and add their response to the question at the top of the wall.  It was in real time so the students could see each others' responses and I could even put it up on the smartboard.

I used it to informally assess what they were reading during read to self.  The kids loved doing this because they got to see what others were reading.

  

 

I also used it as a way to have them assess their own literature circles.  M kids are very honest when assessing themselves as you can tell.  I have had them record their lit circles as well and those are also every enlightening!

 Check out just a few resources on padlet....or google it like I do! (my third graders would tell you that google is my best friend!):

This website is full of awesome tech ideas and is worth checking out for more than his ideas on how to use padlet!

 Here is a handout that Queen Pea came up with for our school's Technology Show and Share:

NWCS Tech Show and Share-Padlet

There are endless ways to use Padlet in the classroom and I am excited to come up with more ways to use it in the upcoming school year.  The possibilities are endless!

We would love for you to share ideas of how you use Padlet in your room or get a chance to see how it works! Head on over to the Padlet we set up to share your ideas!

Thumbnail Thursday

   Hasn't Pinterest and teaching blogs just completely changed your life?!  I began teaching back in the days when a copy machine was simply high tech.  I hand drew verb cards when I was back in college and painstakingly colored each one.  Newbies like the princess have no idea how good they have it.
   Thursdays are the day I share others' wonderful ideas with you.  There are so many great ideas out there.  Once you start clicking, hours will fly by.

InTech Insights Blog

 
 I came across this blog when I was looking for ideas for our teachers to move beyond using technology just for practice and drill.  She has a ton of great ideas for real teachers and they range from tablet to web based technology.  She hasn't posted since March, but what she has on there will get your brain humming.

Picture of the Day - Science Notebooking Blog

 I saw this idea and loved it.  On the blog, she describes a science class where a teacher warms up with a picture such as this.  He has the students make five observations. Then he makes the students make five inferences. Finally he has the students make five predictions.  We turned it into a bulletin board outside the speech room.  We did a weekly picture.  Our students made five observation, five inferences and five connections.  It was great fun...although Lady A (my trusty assistant said finding the pictures to fit all grades was sometimes a challenge.  Since she is my lifeline most of the time, I let her whine now and then.)

Rockabye Butterfly Blog

 
    Rockabye Butterfly is an awesome blog that has great workbox ideas.  In the summer with my wee special ones, I do work baskets (TEACCH style.)  I made the pre-writing practice books like seen above.  I laminated them and had my kids dry erase markers with them.  They were wonderful.

  I know these are three somewhat unrelated thumbnails, but that is what's great about the digital age...there is something for everyone!