Wordless Books?

 

 

Many adults and children are surprised to find books without words. Yes! Without words! As many of us knew as children, books are for reading. How can you "read" a book that does not have any words? What's the purpose of them?

 

Wordless books have been around a while in libraries and book stores. They do have purpose.

 

 

First, they are a good way to start beginning readers to focus on picture clues and talk about what does the picture tell you. This is also teaching children how to "predict" what is, may or could happen in the story.

 

Second, for the more skilled reader or struggling writer, wordless books are a great way to get a child to write. They have the power, to create their own story using the pictures. Children are creative creatures and want to be challenged and explore their skills. Giving a child a wordless book is a perfect way to do that. When a child writes his/her own story for the wordless book, they have the freedom to write what they see or feel. The world is theirs!

Here's some wordless books to enjoy:

Bow-Wow Bugs          by, Mark Newgarden                          Good Dog Carl    by, Alexandra Day
                

Owly     by, Andy Ruton                 Museum Trip by Barbara Lehman
                             




Something GREAT to share

thanks to Tammy Lee Morris

5 Great Winter Stories for Kids

Picture Books and Chapter Books to Enjoy on a Winter Night

Tammy Lee Morris, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Dec 3, 2010

Winter is coming, bringing cold days and nights and blustery weather. When you don't want to leave the house one a chilly wintry day, how about curling up with a good book? Here are some great winter books to share with your kids on a dark winter night or perhaps a snow day when everyone is stuck at home."The Mitten" by Jan Brett is probably my favorite winter book for kids. It is the story of a mitten that gets dropped in the woods and becomes a warm and snuggly resting place for the woodland creatures that find it. Each critter squeezes itself into the mitten until it is simply about to burst from all the occupants. All is well until the big fuzzy bear has to sneeze!
"The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder is great for reading aloud during long winter days and nights. I read this book to my children last winter and they looked forward to our nightly reading until we finished the story. The based-upon-truth tale of a family surviving a long and treacherous winter on the brutal prairie of South Dakota draws you in. I read this one when I was a little girl and my own kids loved comparing the events in the story with how we wait out the winter today. This book is better for older attention spans (my youngest was eight when I read this to them).
"The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats is a simply beautiful picture book that is great for very young children. It is perfect to curl up in a warm lap and look through the pictures that tell the story of a little boy who wakes up to discover that it has snowed! The story follows his adventures on such a snowy day.
"Snow" by Uri Shulevitz is a sweet story for younger children. When it looks like snow is coming, it is usually the kids who get excited, not the grumpy grownups (that's exactly how it works in my house!). When a little boy spies one snowflake, he gets excited because one snowflake means more--and that's exactly what happens in this classic winter tale.
"Owl Moon" by Jane Yolen captures the excitement of a nighttime walk in the woods on a winter evening. This is a beautiful story about a young girl who bundles up and go out with her father on an owling adventure. The story follows their walk through the snowy woods and the other curious critters that follow their progress.

FAVORITE BOOKS

 

 

As we become readers, even when we were first exposed to reading, we hold dear a book or two. Something about the story, the pictures or the message that stays with us. This week, I wanted to touch on our favorite books! If you are reading this blog, PLEASE post a comment telling us (me and my students) what your favorite childhood book was and why. I think this is a great opportunity for my students to see how adults were once beginning readers also!

Thanks!



 

 

Ms. Pod's favorite childhood book was Clifford Books. I loved this big red dog and his adventures. But I especially held dear the love he had for Emily Elizabeth!


Here's some of my students favorite books:
                                                                   

 

                                        
Armand - Loves the adventure!                    Brandon - Thinks Mudge is funny!             


                             

Yalisa loves this book because                                 Adrian read a book about harvest
a special teacher, Mrs. Bohne,                                mice and fell in love with them! He
gave it to her! What a special memory!                   loved learning about them!


                                  
                
Gloria loves this book because it's filled                  Aidan loves this "comfy" Lightening
with sparkles and it's inspirational!                        McQueen pillow book! It's one of his
                                                                                  favorite books and character!

Thanks for checking us out and please send a comment to share your favorite book with my students!

What happens during a reading lesson?

Many parents may wonder what exactly happens during a reading lesson with Ms. Pod. The model that we use is called Early Literacy Intervention. There are steps we follow every day and the students learn the model/routine quickly!

Here's what we do:

1. Reread a familiar book - typically we review the book that the student just took home and talk about their parents favorite part.

2. Practice reading a book - I also tell students they are "warming up". This will be the next book going home.

3. Ms. Pod takes a running record - this is taking notes while a student reads. This is an ongoing assessment to see what words, vowels, punctuation or area in reading they need more instruction and practice.  This book was the new book yesterday.

 

4. Letter or Word Work - Students have specific letters, letter blends or words to work on daily. The word work is determined from the running record.


    


5. Write in the journal - each student has a journal that they write at least one sentence in every day. Ms. Pod may cut up the sentence on another sheet of paper for students to rearrange in the correct order, may work on shared writing or shared spelling of words within the sentences.

6. New book introduced - Every day the student gets a new book in their book bin. Before reading the book, we take a picture walk to look at the pictures and make predictions about the book. This book is tomorrow running record book. The new book may be a the same level of the book before or one level up from the book before!

7. New book attempted - The student will attempt to read the new book with help from Ms. Pod.

Have a Nice Break!

I love this time of year! It helps me to realize all the GREAT blessings I have in my life!

One of those blessings are YOUR children that I get to work with on a daily basis! There is NO greater

career than being a teacher....and a teacher at JEFFERSON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!!!

 

I would like to THANK the special students I work with, along with their families! As families, you continue

to help me teach your children to read!

 

 

My students that I am thankful for are:

 

* Caryn R.                         * Ortheis H.                          *Matthew W.

* Gloria G.                         * Elizabeth B.                       * Corey G.

*Aidan M.                          * Jacob S.                              * Elisha S.

* Lashon R.                        * Brandon V.                       * Ahlon B.

* Gavin G.                           * Deuce H.                          * Josiah M.

 

Keep reading over this 5 day break! One thing I LOVE to read are comics! Therefore, get a Sunday paper and have

a blast reading the comics together as a family!

 

 

 





There's a Break Ahead!

There will not be school on Wednesday, November 21st through Friday, November 23rd. therefore, this is a time to rest, relax and catch up on reading for enjoyment!

Remember there are many books at the local library to check out and read for FREE, along with many book stores in our area! So, grab a book, a magazine or read an online article! Whatever you do, use these days off from school to read!

In addition to reading, WRITE! Write to a family member or friend telling them how thankful you are for them to be a part of your life, write a funny Thanksgivings story or poem, or take pictures of your family and make a "Family Time Together" book.

Enjoy these tips with friends and family!

Enjoy our  break!

How do reading and writing go hand in hand?

Students often hear from their teachers,  "You can become a better writer by reading, and a better reader by writing." But, many students and adults say, "How does that happen?"

When children read or are read to, they are exposed to language. Language is vocabulary. Therefore, children are exposed to vocabulary and modeled how vocabulary creates meaningful language. In turn, when children are exposed to vocabulary, it allows them to practice vocabulary words through their own writings.

The Wisconsin Education Association Council (www.weac.org) promotes reading, writing, math and promotes great learning environments. In their brochure, Writing, they pinpoint suggestions to help your child become a writer. They suggest:

* Fill your home with talk - talk with your children, listen to what they have to say, and encourage wordplay (rhyming, role playing, and making up stories).

* Support reading - Read to your children, take them to the library, and be a reading model!

* Provide a writing place - Furnish an area in your home for writing - a table or desk, writing tools (paper, pencils, crayons, markers) and set up a daily silent writing time.

* Communicate in writing at home - Organize a chalkboard or bulletin board for communications, allow your child to be involved in family operations, such as helping to write the shopping lists.

* Offer to help - Take time to work with your child on school writing when they ask for help, be patient, let your child know what you like about their writings, and don't overcriticize.

*Work with the school - Teachers need the partnership of parents. Your knowledge and support of the school program will be a major factor in your child's success.

What Good Reader Do

Typically when you ask a child (at any age) "What is a good reader?" They will normally reply with, "They read fast." Well, that is the perceived answer, however good readers are skilled readers! Skilled readers use strategies to decode and comprehend written text.

Beginning Skilled Readers will: (from Dolores Hudson 2007)

1. Look at the pictures ~ pictures help beginning readers, so let your child look at the pictures!
2. Get their mouth ready to make the first sound of the word
3. Slide through the whole word ~ this is how we think of "sounding out"
4. Reread the sentence ~ and ask the questions Does it LOOK right? Does it SOUND right? or Does it MAKE SENSE?
5. Spell the word they are working on
6. SKIP the hard words and then go back and reread the sentence ~ sometimes hearing the rest of the sentence helps put the correct word in the "blank" spot
7. Try a different vowel ~ many children struggle with the correct vowel/letter relationship. Therefore, the word "coat" (with a long /o/) might be read as "cot" (with a short /o/ sound).
8. Think of a rhyming word ~ sometimes we call this reading by alliteration. This means if I know cat, then I can read rat, mat, pat, sat, etc.
9. "Chunk it" ~ look for smaller words within the word being read. For example, the word "into". I may know how to read "in" and then I need to use my letter/sounds relationships to read "to".

Posters of these skills are posted in each classroom here at Jefferson Elementary School. Talk with your child about these skills and demonstrate the skills by modeling while you are reading!

Raising a Reader

Raising a Reader

 

From the PBS's "Between The Lions"

 

Below you will find some tips to help children develop a love of reading!

 

1. Visit the local library!

Not only does the library carry books and movies to borrow FREE of charge, they also carry puzzles, books with puppets, magazines, newspapers and offer lots of special FREE events that are family friendly!

 

2. Let your child see YOU read!

Whether it's the newspaper, a book, or an online article. Children watch their parents to see what skills are valuable in life. YOU are their role model, so go ahead and dive into print!

 

3. Show your child how people use reading ALL the time!

Point out street and store signs, maps, billboards, menus and labels on packages. Environmental print is important to point out to children so they can generalize skills they are learning in the classroom to the community!

 

4. Set up an area in your home where a variety of reading materials are within easy reach!

Encourage not only reading a variety of texts, encourage children to respond to their reading through writing or drawing pictures.

 

5. Encourage a love of words!

Play rhyming and word games, singing silly song poems together and reading stories together!

 

6. TALK!

 About daily activities or tell stories about your family or culture to help children's language skills.

 

 

Visit pbskids.org for more tips on raising readers

 

Other ways to encourage your children to read is to:

 

*Create your own books (use paper, crayons, pencils, stickers, colored paper, self pictures, etc) to create funny stories, scary stories or biographies of each family member. Children LOVE being authors and illustrators!

 

*Check out books that are based upon your child's favorite TV show. Many Disney movies, shows and series are in book form.

 

*Allow children to read comic books! Many more graphic novels (comic books) are available to children at many different reading levels. The pictures help children continue to follow the story line and many use higher level vocabulary that is great exposure to the child reader.

 



October Already?

 

I cannot believe we are already in the month of October! The trees are changing, the wind is chilly, and fall is here! As the weather get cooler, remember to visit the library for fun indoor activities and check out a book to read in a warm cozy blanket at home!

Our readers keep getting better and better! They are becoming quite skilled in the art of reading.



Bear smiles go out to the following students:

* Jacob S.

*Ortheis H.

* Ahlon B.

* Estrella A.

* Aliyana R.

* Corey G.

*Deuce H.

*Matthew W.

*Elizabeth B.

 

Please remember the next Parenting for School Success is Monday, October 15th from 6pm to 7pm. The topic is Math. 

Keep warm and keep reading! We never know the world we can enter into, until we open a book!

The end of September is here! I cannot believe it! In reading intervention, we have been busy like beavers reading, reading and reading!

I am so proud of many of my students who are increasing their reading levels and reaching for the stars! 

Those students are:
*Jacob S.
* Ortheis H.
* Estrella A.
* Deuce H.
*Elizabeth B.
* Josiah M.

Keep reading at home, visit the library, or call a loved one and read a book over the phone to them! All reading counts and helps us explore our world!

Welcome back to school

Welcome to the 2012-2013 school year! I'm very excited to be here at Jefferson Elementary School as a reading teacher! For the past 13 years, I have been a special education teacher. I'm looking forward to working with students to build reading skills and the enjoyment of reading. See you next week!