When delving into a new topic, be it science or social studies, sometimes the hardest part can be the vocabulary. Academic vocabulary can be difficult, because these are words we don’t use every day and are often large and complicated. But what if I told you there was a strategy that not only activates students’ prior knowledge on the content area, but also engages and develops their ability to utilize context clues, root words and affixes, as well as their knowledge about parts of speech and sentence structure to predict the meaning of words? Not only this, but students can also become more engaged while learning these vocabulary words, as they are eager to see if their predictions are correct. All of this is possible with a strategy called Possible Sentences, in which students will attempt to construct sentences utilizing vocabulary they are likely unfamiliar with.
Getting Creative With Word Walls
Most primary classes include word walls. One of the great things about word walls is that they are so diverse. You can make them with sight words/high-frequency words to academic vocabulary or stationary word walls to interactive and portable word walls. This video is going to demonstrate and showcase some unique and interesting word walls to inspire you to create your own or to model one of them in your own home or classroom. Just remember, a good word wall is one that is part of daily instruction and a tool that can be used by students. They can be themed, evolve over time, or there can be multiple word walls in a classroom. To get your mind going, do not limit your word wall to English Language Arts; can you think about how to use one for maths or the sciences?
The “Process Drama” Strategy
Process Drama is the technical term for dramatizing written prose when it meets the following criteria: the text must be spontaneously role-played out, the teacher creates the dramatic ‘hook,’ and the students have specific roles that are found within the text. For example, in the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, students could take on the roles of Ponyboy and Johnny during and after major events: before the rumble, after the rumble, in the abandoned church, and in the hospital, for example. Students would ask the characters questions after the scene and learn more about context and subtext: motivations, feelings, perspective, and dramatic irony. This activity works well for students of all age levels from Pre-Kindergarten through to Grade Twelve and can be used with English Language Learners. It is best used to get a deep perspective into specific, pivotal, or rememberable plot points within the text. It requires students to understand the text in order to ask appropriate question, so it is best used in Novel Studies or Social Studies where students have prerequisite knowledge of the material. It is a good tool for instruction on Oral Language, Comprehension, and Content Areas. For tips and pointers see the workshop video.
How to Muster Some Clusters!
The strategy that our workshop is based on is clusters, which is a web-like diagram that can be used to brainstorm and organize ideas. This strategy is great for grades ranging from 3 to 12, as it can be adjusted for different learning levels. There are two types of clusters, organized and unorganized. Organized clusters contain a few big ideas branching off of a main idea that is in the center, with more information branching off of those big ideas. An unorganized cluster involves a main idea in the center with numerous ideas branching off of the main idea. These clusters can be used individually, in groups, or as a whole class and are an effective strategy because they help students visualize their ideas in a fun, engaging way. This strategy also allows students to practice their vocabulary, writing, and thinking skills. In order to find out how to implement this strategy in your own classroom, watch our engaging and informative video!
Guided Reading
The Guided Reading Strategy is a highly engaging activity for students PreK to Grade 2. Guided Reading is a strategy where small groups of children sit with a teacher and read a book to themselves. This strategy is only used for small groups of children as it requires special attention to each member of the group. The teacher selects the appropriate books and before starting the activity will talk about the book with the group. This is an individual activity and not an activity that has students share their reading. The teachers role is to help the students decode words, deal with sentence structure and comprehend ideas presented in the text if they are struggling. This strategy helps create an interactive lesson as teachers tend to create 3 to 4 different groups completing different activities while the one group is completing the guided reading. Guided Reading is a great way to provide one on one skill building with your students and assess their reading and comprehension levels.
ALPHABET BOOKS!
Words are structured by letters like how teaching lessons are structured by the basics, as the basics are what make up everything we learn. With that being said, wouldn’t it be easy to wrap up that thematic unit with something simple as just using the basics? That’s where Alphabet Books come into play. The Alphabet Book strategy is as simple as getting your students to choose a letter and make a connection to the theme with a word that starts with that letter. This activity gets the brain thinking and making connections by expanding their vocabulary and using their writing skills and more. It is great for students grades 3-8 and has so many options for ways to teach it. This strategy is a project that uses a collection of words and pictures representing each letter; this can then be made simple for a younger grade like using small phrases to explain the words, or can be more complex for older grades and challenge students to expand their vocabulary and write dense sentences and/ or paragraphs to explain their thought process. Overall it gives students multiple, meaningful experiences with the topic words that are used to make this alphabet book. If this is something that interests you, it is suggested to take a look at this video as it explains all that the alphabet books has to offer and more about when and where to use them!
QtA: Questioning the Author
Hi everyone! Questioning the Author, (or QtA), is about getting students to think more critically. This reading strategy focuses on creating meaning in the text students read by asking questions about the author. These questions include:
- What is the author’s purpose with this text?
- Is there a link between what the author said here and what they said before
- What is the author really trying to say?
Essentially, open ended questions about the author and their purpose with sections of the text, or even the text as a whole, are asked and discussed as a class to gain a deeper meaning about the text. Additionally, and equally as important to fostering critical thinking, students also learn that authors can make mistakes with this method. With the help of critical thinking, they do not take the author’s text at face value and can acknowledge the fallibility of an author’s work. This is important because students can get discouraged if they do not understand a text and question their own intelligence, but it could be because the author made an error, such as structurally in the text, that causes the confusion. For more information on this fantastic strategy, have a look at my rundown video below!
Make Great Readers by Making Words!
The making words strategy allows for teachers to introduce a group of words in order for students to be able to recognize other words that use those same phonological sounds. This learning strategy teaches students about word and sound patterns to therefore make and connect words. Because this is a hands-on strategy, it allows the teacher to see if the students are identifying and understanding different phonological patterns.
Storyboards are FUN!
Storyboards are a fun and engaging way to get students thinking about important concepts such as identifying the theme of the text, characters, setting and illustrations. These concepts will help students identify the main elements of story structure. When there are only a few copies of picture books available, storyboards provide an excellent opportunity to teach reading comprehension skills. Storyboards also create an amazing learning opportunity for english language learners! Pictures will help strengthen students’ understanding and will also help them sequence main events in stories. Storyboards are a wonderful addition to the classroom and can be a great learning opportunity for the whole class or smaller groups of students. Find out how you can use storyboards as a fun and effective reading strategy in your own classroom in the video link below. Enjoy! 🙂
Anticipation Guides: Guide Your Readers to Greatness!
The reading strategy of “Anticipation Guides” is a comprehensive strategy that provides statements before students reading to get the children thinking about what they may be reading about, activating prior knowledge, and encourages the students to build curiosity about the new subject matter. Teachers prepare a list of statements, the students must than decided if they agree with the statement, or disagree with it. Students then move on to the reading. After the reading, students are given the list of statements again, and they can then decide to stick with their original statement answer or they can choose to agree or disagree with it. It is common that students change their opinions on some of the statements after the reading, and they often realize they have refined their understanding of the subject through this activity. This reading strategy is beneficial because it allows for students to use prior knowledge to relate to the text, and it also can be a lesson taught to encourage discussion based off of more complex issues.