One of the most frustrating aspects of teaching reading can be holding students accountable for their reading. Some times, the stars align and you get a class of readers with only a few reluctant ones. However, what do you do if you have a whole class or majority of reluctant readers? You have to hold them accountable for their reading to get them to become skilled ... Read More
Rigorous Paired Passage Instruction : Step by Step Breakdown
Paired passage analysis and comprehension is a tricky skill for most of my readers, but definitely for my readers who are not proficient. I have found that the more exposure and practice they have with paired passages, the more confident and successful they are. However, I have found that many of my 5th graders come to me with limited practice, which as you can imagine ... Read More
4th and 5th Grade Reading Center {Low Prep and FREE!}
One thing that I have discovered teaching 5th graders is that sometimes you need to gamify a task or activity (even in the smallest way) to get student buy-in. For math, I did this easily with my roll and answer math centers and my students really enjoyed the slightly different way of practicing computation skills. For quite some time, I have wanted to create similar roll ... Read More
Word Study in Upper Elementary
Word study and spelling instruction in the upper elementary grades has definitely changed since I was in school. This post will share a basic overview of how I teach Word Study and Spelling in my 5th grade classroom. Word Study: Where Do I Get the Rules, Patterns, Words, ETC.? First, I always begin with a spelling rule or principle. I get my principles from all over, ... Read More
Reading Is Thinking: Using Thinkmarks with Reading Strategies
Teaching readers who struggle to construct meaning during reading is a challenge. It is a challenge for the students because they struggle connecting to and getting immersed in books. Teachers are challenged with making complex texts comprehensible and engaging, while teaching grade-level reading skills. One way that I help with this is to teach my students to mark their ... Read More
Reading Strategies: “Work” the Text
"Your students are not engaged with the texts they are reading." I will never forget when my administration said that to me after an observation my first year teaching. I remember thinking "They were reading the text. That is enough, right?" However, it wasn't and my students' comprehension suffered because they were not actively engaged with the texts they were ... Read More
Struggling Readers Take Home Book for Reading Strategies
Do you find that your struggling readers often need a little extra push to help them apply reading strategies while they are reading at home? I often find that my below grade level readers don't naturally apply the different reading strategies that have been taught while they are reading. To help, I created this free Reading Take Home Book specifically to help my students ... Read More
Daily Three Reading Stations
If you are considering implementing reading stations in your 4th or 5th grade reading classroom, Daily 3 or Daily 5 reading stations are a great option. If you are not familiar with Daily 3 reading, it is a variation of the Daily 5 reading which you can read more about here. Daily 3 reading is how I structure my literacy block to allow my students to complete daily ... Read More
FREE Sentence Stems for Reading Strategies
Each year, I begin my reading instruction with the focus on having my students discuss and record their thoughts while reading using think marks and in reader's response letters and other write about reading activities. I implement strategies and instruction for this type of reading before we even get into 5th grade level reading instruction. Since the majority of my ... Read More
