Fix It Strategies With Beanie Babies Lesson

Before Reading – Teacher Models Thinking
When we read a book, we have to think about how to figure out the words. Some teachers call these words, “the fix-it strategies.” I found the orginal idea on another website. I changed the idea by adding the beanie babies to my posters so that I can have the [...]

Fix It Strategies Posters

Some teachers prefer these squares instead of beanie baby fix it strategies. Email me for the documents. debrennersmith@comcast.net

More Morning Messages

The children are learning the concept of word, letter, and sentence in this chart. The teacher underlines each word. The teacher says one sentence to teach the concept that a complete thought is a sentence. “Can you tell me where start this sentence?” “Can you you tell me how many words are in this [...]

Morning Message is Interactive (Share the Pen)

The teacher stands so that all the children can see the writing. She does not block the children’s sight. She shares the pen. She pulled a name to decide who would write the word, “is.” The teacher has already said the whole sentence outloud so the sentence is not a surprise. Another child is [...]

SSR: oops / wow

Wow! We are really reading during Self-Selected Reading Time!

Sometimes we ‘oops’ forget to read and look around. Oops, sometimes we talk. Oops, sometimes we don’t read. But, most of the time we are “WOW” reading the whole time! Wow our eyes are on the reading. Wow our eyes are looking at the book. Wow our [...]

Writing Wall with Teaching Points

Writing Wall with Teaching Points

The teacher builds the wall as she teachers an idea or concept. For example, the teacher teaches the idea that at the end of writing you end with a sigh or you wrap up your writing with conclusion just like you wrap a present with a ribbon. It connects back [...]

SSR: Read Aloud "Don’t Be A Petunia!"

“Don’t Be A Petunia” is my first read-aloud each year. Petunia is a silly goose who thinks that carrying around a book makes one smart. She gets full of pride by carrying around the book instead of actually reading the words. I use this book to build understanding that the students must read the [...]

High-Frequency Words keep popping up!

The popcorn word “is” pops up by Today is Wednesday, February 6, 2008. The date keeps changing. The high-frequency words “Today” and “is” do not change. During math calendar the students make connections to the literacy block. Students requested the question, “What’s for lunch?” This teacher will help the children notice that “for” can [...]

OWL: Observe, Wonder, Link to your Life

What is the OWL strategy?O=observeW=wonderL=Link
What is Observation in OWL?What do you notice? As the students are looking at the book, they are noticing and observing numerous aspects of the book. They might notice the setting (time of day, constant place setting; or multiple settings). A child might say, “I observe that the child and father [...]

Writing: Spaces between Words

Pose a question to the students: What do you notice? The kids see the difference immediately between the green and the purple writing. The teacher has worked on the concept of letter, word, and sentence. We use spaces to help the reader know the difference between the words. As writers we also put spaces to [...]