Fall Fluency for RTI

Looking for some fall-themed fluency activities for RTI?  Head on over to http://arlenesandberg.blogspot.com/2014/09/building-fluency-with-fall-fluency.html.  They have a free pack of fall-themed fluency activities for you to try with students.  I loved them so much that I bought the entire pack of activities.  It was only $4!!!

Summer is coming!

With the end of the school year quickly approaching, parents are asking "What can we do with the kids over the summer to keep their skills up?"  Scholastic has some great ideas for activities on their website.  Just click on:

 http://www.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=98

and you will find a collection of activities to enjoy over the summer.  Do you know of other websites with activities?

Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions

By: Reading Rockets (2011)

Observations occur when we can see something happening. In contrast, inferences are what we figure out based on an experience. Helping your child understand when information is implied, or not directly stated, will improve her skill in drawing conclusions and making inferences. These skills will be needed for all sorts of school assignments, including reading, science and social studies. Inferential thinking is a complex skill that will develop over time and with experience.

Families can create opportunities to practice inferential thinking. Below are a few ways to help familiarize your child with this way of thinking and learning:

• Explain to your child that we make conclusions about things and draw inferences all the time. Draw a conclusion together and then talk about what clues were used to come to that conclusion. For example, Erin played outside today. How can we tell? Muddy shoes, jump rope on front porch, water bottle out. Dad seems tired tonight. How can we tell? He's rubbing his eyes, he's on the couch, he was yawning at the dinner table.
• Paper bag mystery person: Put a few items into a brown paper bag. Tell your child the bag belongs to a certain type of person. Their job is to tell you something about the person. Then, take out each item one by one and talk about it.
• Example #1: goggles, a swim cap, a swim ribbon, a stop watch
• Example #2: a bookmark, a library card, a stuffed animal, a book
• Wordless picture books provide your child with practice using clues to create meaning. There are no wrong stories with wordless picture books, only variations based on what the "reader" sees and puts together. Rosie's Walk (Hutchins), Good Dog, Carl (Day), and Beaver Is Lost (Cooper) are all interesting and fun wordless picture books to explore.
• Play twenty questions! This familiar word game helps build inference skills. As your child develops skill with the game, encourage him to avoid asking direct questions like, "Is it a dog?" Rather, encourage him to ask broader questions, "Does it walk on four feet?" Then, when your child figures it out, ask him to tell you the clues that lead to the right answer.
• Create scenarios in which your child must use what they already know to predict an outcome. For example, growing seeds. Present your child with various scenarios (a seed will be given water and sunlight, a seed will get no water, a seed will be in a dark room). Ask your child to predict whether the seed will grow. Help your child become aware that she used information she knew about growing seeds, combined with new information, to fill in information about the seeds.

Learning to draw conclusions and inferences is a skill that develops over time. The skill requires children to put together various pieces of information, and relies on good word knowledge. Help your child develop skill by providing experience with inferential information, making implied information more clear, and helping your child draw conclusions based on the evidence.

• Download this article as a PDF document.*
• View this article in Spanish.

*To view this file, you will need a copy of Acrobat Reader. If it is not already installed on your computer, you can download it from the Adobe website.

For more resources on literacy, science, and math, visit:

• Literacy in the Sciences >

Math at home activities

Transitions between activities

I have had several interesting conversations with some teachers in
the last few weeks about how they have children in their classes
having difficulty with transitions. The children either don't want to
leave the activity they are currently engaged in or it becomes a power
struggle with the child wanting to choose what activity to do next.
This leads to frustration on both sides; the teacher and the student.
So here are some things to consider: One, think about using a picture
schedule. This is particularly helpful with children who may not be
reading yet or children who are very visual in nature. Keep the
schedule at child eye level. You would be surprised how many times I
have entered a classroom only to see the picture schedule located way
up on a wall out of the children's reach. Review the schedule with
the children throughout the day to help them see what will be coming
up in their day.
Two, give a five minute warning prior to the transition. I have even
used timers with countdown areas on the clock for children to see the
time elapsing and then used the picture from our picture schedule to
alert the children of the transition that is coming up. That way
children can "gear up" for the change in the routine.
Three, make sure to give simple but clear directions about the
transition. Remember the saying KISS? (Keep It Simple Stupid) It is
the same theory really. Some children have difficulty with multi-step
directions. It isn't that they are upset about the transition, it is
that they don't understand the directions you just gave to them. So
give directions in a simple format and with some children consider
restating the directions to ensure their success.
Those are just three suggestions for helping your transition from one
activity to another in the classroom. There are many others out
there. What have you used with success? Please share in the comments
section!

What to do over the summer????

If your district is like ours, you are winding up for the year about now. The countdown has begun for teachers and students in a happy way and sadly for parents! The question we hear most from parents is "What do we do over the summer to keep my child's skills fresh?". Usually parents are looking for something inexpensive and easy to access. I don't blame them.

Teachers are the kings and queens of finding items and activities on the cheap. Typically I like to recommend our public library as a resource. They usually will have some type of a reading program for the children to encourage reading over the summer. Our public library even offers the children incentives of prizes for a certain number of books read over the summer. Barnes & Nobel has a similar summer reading program available nation-wide.

The next question we hear is "What should my child read?". Luckily our district has what we call Championship Playbooks for each grade level. Within each playbook is a recommended reading list for the summer. I am posting our list for first grade going to second.

Suggested Summer Reading List for First Graders

Moving Up to Second Grade

Level Name of Book

E All By Myself by Mercer Mayer

O Bats by Gail Gibbons

M Berenstain Bears by Jan and Stan Berenstain

I Big Dog, Little Dog by PD Eastman

G Carrot Seed by Robert Kraus

G Curious George by H.A. Rey

J Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff

K Franklin and the Tooth Fairy by Paulette Bourgeois

K Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel

K Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crock Johnson

G Just Grandpa and Me by Mercer Mayer

L Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes

J Little Bear (series) by Elise Minarik

P Magic School Bus (series) by Joanna Cole

M Mitten, The by Jan Brett

O Moon Book, the by Gail Gibbons

J Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel

J Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel

J Mr. Putter and Tabby (series) by Cynthia Rylant

K Nate the Great... (series) by Marjorie Sharmat

J One Fish, Two Fish by Dr. Seuss

G Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel

J Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert

J There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer

I There's An Alligator Under My Bed by Mercer Mayer

M Three Names by Patricia McLaughlin

M Thunder Cake by Patricia Pollaco

J Very Hungry Catapillar by Eric Carle

H We Are Best Friends by Aliki

M When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

F Who Will Be My Friends? By Syd Hoff

We use the Rigby reading levels to rank books from A-Z (easy to more difficult). This list gives a variety of levels to choose from for your child. You can find our Championship Playbooks at : http://www.cityschools.net/instruction/instruction_news/championship_playbook.php. You can find the first grade list on page 26 of the first grade playbook.

Remember: if you ask the children what they need to do over the summer they will tell you that they need to be swimming in the pool. But children cannot live by chlorinated water alone! They need to stretch those brains and continue reading over the summer. So check out your local library and see what type of summer program they offer.

See you in August!

Visual Perception Activities

What is visual perception? Some students have difficulty with focusing their eyes. This can impact them in the classroom in a variety of ways. Below is a list of activities that can be done with a student to strengthen their developing visual skills.

1. Mazes: have the student work a variety of mazes. This will have the added benefit of strengthening fine motor skills also.
2. Matching, sorting, and labeling objects based on color, shape, size, function, etc.
3. Sorting and labeling pictures.
4. Hidden pictures: have students find objects hidden in a picture, like the Where's Waldo photos.
   
5. Matching objects to outlines drawn.
6. Memory games using a small selection of picture cards, and finding pairs.
7. Spot the Difference: find differences between two photos
8. What Did You See?: Show 2-5 objects for 15 seconds, cover them or take them away, and have the student recall what they saw.
9. I Spy: Play the I Spy game. Have the student point to the item that you have named.
10. Dot-to-dot exercises

This is just a partial list of many activities that can be done to strengthen a student's visual skills. Remember: vision is not just a matter of can they see or not, it also includes tracking skills, focusing from near to far, and many other skills.