The Reading Strategies Book - Goals 3 &4

This has been a BUSY week! It was my first week trying to implement an organized to-do list from the 40 hour teacher work week (more info here), so of course there was something that popped up EVERY DAY that required my attention before I could even start on my list. You know, like the day I heard "Honey, why are the garbage bags all wet? Is the kitchen sink leaking?" Why yes, yes it was. And yes, I spent 45 minutes cleaning out from under it before I could tackle my to-do list. Oh the joys.

On top of that, I only have one week of summer left before pre-planning starts. EEEEK! I am super excited that I get to teach fourth grade this year. I already know most of my kiddos (and have taught them Bible/ History for the past two years), so I know they're going to be an awesome group. But as excited as I am, there's always that feeling that I should have done "more" during the summer to prepare, and I'm left cramming in as much as I can at the last hour. Regardless, I know it's going to be an awesome year!

Ok, on to the book study.

Goal 3 : Supporting Print Work

I have to say, I was pretty happy to see so many familiar strategies in this section. I was a second grade teacher for 6 years, so I have spent a lot of time working with students in this area.

One strategy that stood out to me was 3.5 Be a Coach to Your Partner. I love the idea of having students coach each other as they take turns reading aloud. With the teacher as  a "ghost partner" (whispering prompts to the listening partner when they need help) I can see this strategy being a hit. It would definitely need modeling and class discussion, but I think it could help all students.

Something else that stood out in this section was strategy 3.6 Try, Try, Try Again. I like how Serravallo refers to these strategies as a "Reader's Toolbox" that students can draw from when they are having difficulty with a certain word or passage. I think someone with more time/ creativity than me could take that idea and run with it. I'm thinking cute cut-outs that represent different strategies: a hammer to represent strategies that help "hammer out" difficult words; sandpaper for smoothing our fluency, etc. It could work, right?

Now, on to my favorite goal from this week:

Goal 4: Teaching Fluency

I found so many things in this goal that I think will be useful to my up-coming fourth graders. In strategy 4.5 Say Goodbye to Robot Reading, Serravallo uses the phrase "scoop up a few words" to help students read phrases rather than word for word. To me this is like sprinkles on ice cream. If you have a bowl of sprinkles, you don't pick one up at a time. You get a whole scoop of them, and sprinkle them on. In the same way, students can "scoop up" a few words at a time as they are reading.

Another great strategy (and a way for me to actually use all those lower level books I have) is 4.7 Warm up and Transfer. Just as you have to walk before you can run, or stretch before exercising, this strategy has students start with a book that is below their level. This way they can practice reading fluently with words they already know, then transfer those confident skills to an at-level book. Genius!

One more strategy that stood out was 4.15 Warm-Up Phrases. This is one I had never heard of before, but it makes total sense. If students spend time practicing sight words, why not spend time practicing phrases that appear regularly in reading? Again, genius! I will definitely be practicing these Fry Instant Phrases with my students this year.

So what did you think of these two goals? Any favorites? Any surprises? Let me know in the comments below.