So you completed Fluency Boot Camp… Now what? Fluency is a reading skill that requires maintenance and practice, especially for students who struggle with fluency. After explicitly modeling and teaching the components of oral reading fluency, you should make it a priority to schedule time for practice and reinforcement throughout the school year. Fluency Reinforcement Activities It is important for… View Post
Earlier this month, I shared a mnemonic I use with my 2nd and 3rd graders for teaching story elements. This mnemonic is part of a larger strategy called “Picture It!,” developed by Victoria Naughton (2008). Each letter of S.T.O.R.Y. represents a story element, and students can use the graphic mnemonic for identifying and visualizing the common features of fiction texts…. View Post
S.T.O.R.Y. A few years ago, I was looking for a fun and engaging way to teach Fiction Text Structure to my struggling readers, when I came across Victoria Naughton’s strategy, “Picture It!” (2008), in my copy of The Reading Teacher. Naughton was recognized for her hard work in research and publication with the Shaw Fund for Literacy 2009 award by National… View Post
How will you be celebrating with your students this year? In my experience, students are usually twitching with excitement for Halloween festivities and it’s hard to reign them in or get them to focus on learning. Each year, I try to come up with literacy activities that are fun, effective, and don’t feel like “work;” however, often that means getting… View Post
Do your students get stuck on multi-syllable words? Do they tend to leave off word endings? Do your students take the time to read through the entire word? “Crunch & Munch” is a great strategy for helping students decode challenging words, especially words with tricky prefixes and suffixes. I find that my younger students, who understand and use the basic… View Post
