Strategies Students Use While Reading

Hello to everyone!  We are so sorry for the time lapse in writing.  As  many of you know, getting school started can be a time consuming process!  But now things have settled down and we can go back to our weekly postings.  

We have received questions from classroom teachers asking," What are some strategies that students can use while they are reading?".  There are several strategies that students can use while reading.  One strategy is for the student to adjust their reading rate.  The student can adjust their reading rate for the purposes of skimming, reading for pleasure, or reading to recall information.

Another strategy is for a student to predict or confirm information.  They can support their predictions with the text.  Students can also use prior knowledge to confirm information while they are reading. Readers can also raise questions while they are reading.  The student knows that the text may not answer all of the questions.

Students can reread text.  They reread the text to improve recall, revisit favorite parts, and/or to understand confusing parts. Another strategy students can use while reading is to self-correct.  The student knows when a word or phrase doesn't make sense and makes the correction in the reading without help.  

Finally, students can monitor their own understanding.  They can identify parts of a text that are or aren't understood and ask for help when needed.   These are just some of the many strategies that students can use while they are reading.  What are some strategies you have taught your students?

Emotional Outburst: how to defuse

The beginning of the school year can be an emotional time. Younger
students will often express themselves through their actions rather
than words. This is typical of elementary-aged children. So how do
you handle it when your kindergardener begins crying and melting down
because they don't want to share during center time? Check out the
following suggestions:

1. Imagine there is a candle on your palm. Hold the hand with palm
facing toward their face and ask child to blow out the imaginary
flame. Deep breathing will help settle down the child.

2. Hand the child a balloon. Ask them to blow it up.

3. Ask the child to punch a pillow, cushion, or other soft object.
Squeezing a ball or ripping up unimportant paper can also help.

4. Have child pretend that they are holding a remote control in their
hand. As them to press the button that turns down the emotions.

5. Ask child to put hands on a solid wall and push the anger out from
their body into the wall. Keep pushing until the anger has emptied
out of them into the wall.

6. With younger children hand them a drawing of a blank face and ask
them to show how they feel in that moment. They may not have the
words to express their feelings and that can lead to additional
frustration and anger.

What have you used that has been helpful in these emotional
situations? Remember to always follow these actions with a debriefing
time so you can help your student learn to put words to their
feelings. This helps to teacher them another skill to put in their
toolbox.

Cross-Checking & Self Correction Strategies

As a teacher, I was always looking for additional ways to frame questions to students so I wouldn't keep repeating myself over and over. By keeping it fresh, the students tended to pay a tad bit more attention to what I was saying to them. Check out the list below of responses/questions that can be used when working with a student.

1. How did you know it was that word?
2. You stopped for a moment just before you fixed that. What were you thinking?
3. Is there any other way you could know?
4. Can you find two ways to check that word?
5. I noticed that you looked at the picture and used the first sound to read that word. Did you do anything else?
6. That makes sense and sounds right. Now check the letter.
   
7. What are some of your choices now? Which one, do you think, would work best here?
8. Check to find out if what you read makes sense, sounds right, and looks right to you.
9. Why did you stop there? What did you do to fix that part?
10. You decided to reread that part to get a running start to check that word. Did it work?
11. I noticed that you were looking at the pictures to help you change the word that didn't make sense there.
12. Did I need to help you with that? No, you thought about it and corrected yourself.

These are just a few examples. What are some that you use with your students?