Reading Strategies Book - Goals 5 &6

This week I'm linking up with Teaching Little Miracles again for the summer book study, The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo.

I have so been looking forward to this part of the study. Goals 5 and 6 begin to focus on comprehension. As a middle-to-upper elementary teacher, comprehension strategies are what I NEED. So, let's begin!

Goal 5: Supporting Comprehension in Fiction - Understanding Plot and Setting

I loved so many strategies from this goal that I cannot include them all in my blog post ( I don't have the time and you don't want to read a novel). So here are a few that I really took note of.

I love the visual included with Strategy 5.4 Uh-oh...Phew and will definitely be replicating it for my classroom.

I think it would be great to have this as an anchor chart that stays up on the wall. Then we can use sticky notes to jot down parts from the read aloud we are doing and stick them on to the Plot map.

Another great strategy from this goal is 5.14 Chapter-End Stop Signs. Having students stop and jot at the end of a chapter is a great way to help them focus on the main events of that chapter and see how they tie into the bigger story.

I think this would be great for students to keep in a reading notebook. Then they could refer back to it in book club to guide their discussion.

Goal 6: Supporting Comprehension in Fiction - Thinking about Characters

There were really two strategies that jumped out at me from this goal. The first one was 6.5 Ready, Set, Action! I know she says this strategy was for lower levels of reading (F-M) but I can see it being helpful (and so much fun!) at any reading level. I love the idea of having students taking turns being the "director" that guides the student reading aloud to read with the right tone/ inflection/ emotion.

The other strategy that stood out in this goal was 6.18 Complex Characters. I think I will have a list of character traits displayed in my room this year for students to refer to, or have a smaller handout that students can paste into their readers notebooks like this free download from Mrs. R. This is another great strategy that can be used with read alouds, as Serravallo suggests "Consider creating a wall in your classroom where you hang photocopied covers of past read alouds with character webs or a list of traits below." I can see me reading aloud to the class, and us stopping to discuss and add to our character traits web as we do. I can't wait to get started with this strategy!

Y'all, I get so excited every time I stop and think about how I'm going to use these strategies in my classroom! I am especially looking forward to being in a regular class this year, where I can do daily read alouds with my littles! These two goals seemed to bring up read-alouds a lot as I was thinking through them, so tell me: what are your favorite read alouds for third or fourth grade?

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.

The Reading Strategies Book - Goals 1 and 2

Crystal, over at Teaching Little Miracles, mentioned how she seems like a hermit during the summer. All I can say is girl, I am with you! It takes SO MUCH EFFORT to make myself look decent and leave the house during the summer. I really do cherish these "hazy, lazy days of summer."

Anyway, on to the book! Goal 1 was interesting to me, but as an upper elementary teacher, it doesn't help me much. However, as a lead teacher of lower grades I did file these ideas away to mention as needed to those who have emergent or pre-emergent readers.

Goal 2: Focus, Stamina, Building a Reading Life

OH MY WORD! There were so many strategies that I found myself nodding my head to and saying "Yes!" as I read. So many of the strategies are things that I do myself as a reader, but would never have thought to explicitly teach to my students.

Three strategies that I plan on definitely using this year are:

2.20 Reflect on the Past, Plan for the Future - I think I will use this idea with an "in class only" reading log. This way, students will be more likely to accurately record what they read. I'm always suspicious of reading logs that are done at home. Did they REALLY read that many pages in that amount of time?

2.23 Set Page Goals - I love the simplicity of this strategy. My thought is to have students jot directly onto the sticky notes as they come to them and later add them to their reader's notebooks.

2.27 Hear the Story - This one really got to me. Again, it's something I do as a reader that I would have NEVER thought to teach as a strategy. Helping students to not just SEE what they are reading but to HEAR it through the narrator/ characters voices is a great way to get them engaged and keep them reading.

Something else that stuck out to me in Goal 2 was from the introduction. I love the idea of using an "engagement inventory" to track how well students are engaging with their reading. I am SO grateful that the author offers this and other files mentioned in this goal for free too! They are located on a blog post by the author found here Jennifer Serravallo: Focusing on Engagement

I plan on using the engagement inventory on the very first day of school.

So far I am really enjoying this book. I absolutely cannot wait to see how these strategies help my students focus on their reading, build stamina, and develop a reading lifestyle.