Chapter+6

__**Getting Ready : Talk Amongst Yourselves **__ #1. On page 140, Kathy states: //We need to teach them that listening is more than politely looking towards and// //nodding at the speaker. Listening is more active; a listener thinks about the speaker's words in a way that// //enables her to make some kind of connected response.// In writing workshop and reading workshop, we ask our students to turn and talk with their partner. Many times with young children we will have to show them what this looks like. Share some ways you model and teach students to listen actively and talk.

Children like adults need to learn the process of active listening to carry on a conversation. I will have a chart " Characteristics of a good listener pg. 142. Using the demonstration technique I will role play using a piece of already reading material that is predictable. We move on to Characteristic of a good Conversation pg. 142. Practice is the Key, using the the proper procedure based on my planning. They will become experts with me before they use this during their independent time. I will be coaching when needed or leading them back to the minilesson. This takes time and also teaching them how to stick to the book in question.

Margaret Fox

// The older students I teach have learned a lot of skills by the time they come to me. One way I have them listen more to each other is to have them repeat what the speaker has said. Either they can restate or add to what the speaker has said, "I agree with Samantha and..." Or they can disagree with the speaker, also. Another way to get the students to listen is to have them take notes on lectures or important information. Usually, I have the students copy down what I think is important and then they have to write some facts they think are important. This way it forces them to listen and be held accountable for what's being presented. These active listening skills are in addition to the "turn-and-talk" skill the students use. // // Cara1212﻿ // Chapter 6 from Bobbi Friend – Getting Ready - Listening is an active task. It requires practice to become a good listener. To be a good listener, Collins tells us that we need to use our bodies (look at the speaker and nod or smile), use our minds (think about what a speaker is saying, listen hard to understand what the speaker is saying, try to picture in our minds what the speaker is saying), use questions to help them understand (ask the speaker for details, ask the speaker to explain what he means, ask the speaker to repeat what he said). Because reading is such a complex skill, it needs to be taught in a systematic way. I have used the slogan “give me five” to help them remember how to be a good listener. The five parts of listening are using your eyes, your ears, your heart, your mind, and your undivided attention. In order to teach what that looks like, we model with partners all the parts. If you are listening with your eyes, you look at the speaker. If you are listening with your ears, you are hearing what the speaker is saying. If you listen with your heart, you care about what the speaker is saying. If you listen with your mind, you want to understand what the speaker is saying. And the undivided attention means that your body is still and your posture leans into the speaker. This type of teaching has worked well for me in the past.
 * Respond Here: I give them an Active Listener chart that they keep in their reading/writing folders and they refer back to that often. It does require quite a bit of of modeling and practice as Bobbi said. We give oral presentations in our classroom so we have a speaking and listening rubric that I give each child. We also make T charts and list what a good listener looks and does not look or sounds like. We also use the chart form or the acronym that Bobbi spoke about the 5 parts and we practice that with each other. It is hard to get children to always be an active listener, but it is something that we definitely need to practice more of in my room! Sgaunt **

Teaching the students to be active listeners is an area that I need to improve on. I try to model active listening and partner interaction often but some of the students remain more on the surface level of listening to their partners. I really like Bobbi’s “Give me Five” method and I’m going to try that. This sounds like a great visual and reminder for the students on how to prepare their bodies and minds. Having one partner share with the rest of the class what the other partner said is a good suggestion that Collins gives. - Garth
 * The author gives the analogy of toddlers playing side by side but never actually interacting as they play. She says that this is what discussion between first graders can be like. I also feel that this is what discussion was often like with many of my 4th graders this past school year. They were ready and willing to talk and share ideas about what they read, but it was usually just throwing out ideas, without trying to connect them to the comments of the previous speaker in any way. As I stated in an earlier post, I know that I did not put as much teaching and modeling time into conversations about reading as I should have, so this will be an area of focus for me this upcoming school year. After we get Reading Workshop procedures well underway during the first month of school, I know I need to move to partner reading and conversations as my next move. As a place to start, I like the point Collins uses on page 140: "The trick is that when we share, you'll tell us what your partner did, not what you did. You'll have to be a really good listener." This seems like a good way to get kids started on the idea of not just thinking what they are going to say in a conversation, but also listening to what their partner says. Once they are doing this... actually listening to the other person, then we can begin to work on building connections between the ideas shared by both partners in the conversation. This of course will be done by modeling how it works, both by myself and with other students who are starting to do this. Kids will need to see how ideas and themes build on each other in a story, and how they need to do this same thing with their ideas on conversations. But first I need to get them listening to each other!!! **
 * Kristy Weberg **

I think trying to teach children to be active listeners is a very hard concept. Even as adults are we really being an active listener. I find myself struggling with that at times. To imagine a Kindergarten class as all active listeners is something that I need to really work on and try and improve. I did like the idea of the partners be held accountable for reporting to the rest of the class what the other partner said. This activity would force the children to really listen to what their partner was talking about. Even though this would take some time, especially when you have a class of 25 children, I can see how this would be beneficial. It puts the accountability back on the student when they will be asked to share with the rest of the class and not just with their partner. Jill Baker

﻿I have never heard of Give Me Five, but really like the idea. I am going to try it out, too. Dear teachers of young children please work on this when they are young. I am working with 4/5 students during summer school and they really struggle with book talks - talking deeply, and listening actively. Fran Olesen #1. This chapter deals with the unit dealing with children's thinking about and understanding what they read. We want them to think as they read, not just read words, and also to be able to have a conversation about their thoughts. Shared reading and interactive read alouds help with this. We can model 'how to think' while reading as **we** think aloud. Explain some different techniques you use in your classroom to model "thinking" to students. Also explain any books you recommend for read alouds. // My students are used to having an interactive read aloud daily, after lunch. At the start of the year, I am the reader for the read aloud time. However, when the students feel more comfortable with each other, they're the ones that read aloud. It's interesting to hear the students hold the reading time themselves; they use the same type of language I use. They've learned how to elicit answers regarding vocabulary and comprehension regarding the text. The most types of questions the students use are retelling questions. I use this skills as well. In addition to this, I model how to think aloud. I show them how to use the context clues and text structures such as pictures and captions. The book that first comes to mind for a read aloud is "The Library Card" by Jerry Spinelli. This book had several vignettes regarding characters and a blue library card. It is an excellent book for book study clubs; it helps that I also have a classroom set of this book! I also enjoy reading books illustrated by Kadir Nelson. He uses larger than life paintings in which he usually focuses on portraits. These books are helpful for interactive read alouds because it forces the students to infer from reading the persons facial expressions. I also enjoy reading from books that relate to the students, may it be fads of the times or of a multicultural genre. // // Cara1212﻿ // Chapter 6 from Bobbi Friend #1 – Thinking is a skill that we used to call metacognition as we think about and reflect upon our own reading. Thinking about what we read needs to be taught, just as other skills need to be taught. Using the idea of read alouds to model thinking makes sense to me. I do my best thinking aloud with students when I am reading a familiar text to them orally. Readers need to learn to talk back to the text. After a mini-lesson on internal character traits, I model that when I am reading “Little House on the Prairie”. I notice that Pa cannot shoot a deer in the woods one day while he is hunting because he sees the baby in woods as well. I stop and think out loud that Pa’s actions tell me that he is a kind and gentle man even though the author did not tell me those words. I ask student to reflect on how I talk back to the text and make that observation. Another way of thinking is retelling. I will use that skill with many books at different times. The thinking skill of envisioning can be taught with books that have an unusual or unique setting. When reading the Magic Tree House book “Under the Volcano” and Mount Vesuvius is about the erupt, I have the students close their eyes and try to see what it would have been like there. Predicting is also important. When reading the book “Erie Canal”, I ask my students to predict what will happen on the canal boat when the family first arrives. Thinking skills are vital to becoming good readers so I do a great deal of modeling with this teaching.
 * __Chapter Six: Readers Think and Talk about Books to Grow Ideas __**
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Respond Here: I do this as often as I can and I am not good at remembering to do more think **
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">alouds. The kids know that reading has to make sense and they know the word metacognition. They are taught that if they cannot tell someone about what they are reading or if they cannot retell the story, that it is too hard and they really are not reading. We have our read aloud time after lunch and during this time I do most of my think a louds where I am talking and engaged with the text. The kids also feel out a DRTA form while I am reading outloud. On this four squared chart there is a space for them to jot down prediction, inferences, visualizing, and questions while I am reading we stop often to share what we are think as I have been reading. I find my kids making the chart on their own while they are reading their own chapter books as well. I have always found this strategy to be very, very essential in my reading instruction! S. gaunt **


 * Real thinking as kids read can be a very hard thing to come by. As I stated in another post, my students have usually spent so much time with reading a text and then answering questions, that they are always just wanting to "find the right answer" while they read. I've found that I have to show kids that I really value their thinking... that yes, there are times, like during a reading test, when they need to find the right answer. But when they are reading a book for enjoyment and learning, their thinking is what's most important. **
 * Of course, read alouds seem like the best place to model for kids what thinking is like during reading. Everyone uses this method, and I try to do this several times a day. I do 1 "official" read aloud each day, usually from a chapter book we are working through. Then I end up doing a couple shorter, more informal read alouds from various texts. This could be a portion of a magazine article, a short part of a story to look at a character, or something from a nonfiction book related to our science or social studies topics. In all of these read alouds, I make sure to model my thinking. After kids have seen this modeling for awhile, then I will begin to incorporate using sticky notes to record our thoughts. First, I'll model this several times. I'll stop my reading, think aloud, and then write the thought on a sticky note. I'll explain why I chose to write that down and how I will use that note later. Then I start to ask kids to do the same. I may ask them to write just one, simple sticky note at first, but over time it will increase, and the depth of what is needed on the sticky note will change. **
 * Conferring also seems to be a good time to really talk to kids about their thinking... and let them talk to me about it. You can tell how kids are forming their thoughts by just listening to them for awhile as they talk about their reading. **
 * Overall, growing kids into really thinking about their reading is hard to do. But is the purpose of reading, so we have to keep working at it! **
 * Kristy Weberg **

Teaching students how to think while they read is a major goal for the first grade reader. Many beginning readers in first grade are not even ready to “listen to their thinking” until later in the school year. Once a young reader is decoding more automatically and his or her fluency has improved then I try to encourage more metacognition. Throughout the year I have been modeling through read alouds and think alouds how readers take notice of their thinking throughout a story. The more explicit lessons happen well into the school year. Collins’ Unit 6 does a nice job getting the students ready for more thinking about the text through retells. Retells are important but I now realize that I spent way to much time on this than I should have in my beginning years of teaching. I have a feeling unit tests had something to do with that shamefully. Now I try to help each student use higher level thinking strategies like: envisioning, predicting, wondering, making connections, inferring, and synthesizing. Last year I spent two months on this unit because my students were ready and capable and because they wanted to be challenged more and more. I used Stephanie Parsons book “First Grade Readers” to help supplement. In her book she encourages the teacher to create a “Reading with a Wide-Awake Mind” chart that lists all the types of thinking the students do as they read and to come up with a symbol for that thinking. The students use the symbol on sticky notes to record that type of thinking they were doing a specific point in a story. Later the student can share with the class that sticky note and that type of thinking. I noticed that for this unit the sharing time was twice as long but I feel it really solidified a lot of learning and helped model all the different types of thinking the students were recognizing. Garth

__<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I __ use an actual light bulb to show the students that I am thinking - helps me, too. Fran Olesen

Like Marg said using a familiar piece to literacy helps guide the process. Your question was funny in the fact that first we do need quietness and looking at the speaker before we can proceed. Then, I personal model the talk I would like to see and hear. I have a student model with me. Finally I have two students model fro the class. This is an on going process. Since I am always pushing the vocabulary whether in light of the framework or the content of the discussion. KDN

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">#2. As we begin the work of this unit, we begin by focusing on retelling. Kathy points out that while we teach <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">retelling to check for comprehension, we also need to use retelling to help them as readers and thinkers. On <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">page 158, the characteristics of a good retelling are noted. The minilessons will be geared towards teaching <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">them how to retell and incorporate all of these elements. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Reflect on these elements of retelling. Which ones do you feel are most difficult for our students and why.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">The retelling is an art. Art needs to have "specific" language. Minilessons that develop the "The characteristics of retelling". It needs to be built on. We often say tell me about the story or article without the breakdown. Using predictable material and the characteristics I can guide their learning. They will have "Active Engagement". Each one has an opportunity to practice. I listen to give feedback. The link is careful readers will do this, and my job is to make them experts.

Margaret Fox


 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Respond Here: As I looked over the chapter and that list this morning I thought that retelling and synthetically retelling the plot were probably the hardest elements to teach. Often the kids will either use too much detail, skip important parts in the story or tell the plot out of sequence. They also will sometimes talk like the listener already knows what is happening in the story:(. I try to help them along by using charts hung in the room, modeling myself as well as letting other kids who are fluent in retelling tell stories to the class. I think that it is hard because the harder the stories are to read, the more detailed the plot becomes and they lose their place and often read too much before stopping to retell or summarize. S. Gaunt **

Most students in second grade came to me with a strong knowledge of retelling characters and telling the story in order. Setting was challenging for some students. A couple of students each year struggle with the meaning of the word so we practiced by having them tell me the setting they were in while in various parts of the school. Other students struggle to provide a more detailed setting than outside or inside. Most students overcome this issue by repeating our chant that those two places are not settings. Most challenging for my early elementary students is including the important parts of the story. As Stephanie said, many students retell too much detail or leave out important parts. Some students would read a running record book to me and basically give the story back word by word, while others would miss large chunks of the story. I’m looking forward to giving these lessons a try to boost retelling skills in my classroom.

Stephanie Cooper For my students, they usually do a great job with retelling the characters in the story and some of the big parts of the plot. Being able to retell in an interesting voice and checking back in the book are areas that are often missed. As Stephanie said as well, the setting is usually very general and my students will miss the changes in the setting throughout the story. My students tend to give a short one or two sentence retell and don’t give many details. Because reading is so difficult for most of my students, retells are difficult and a surface understanding of the book is all they have. I am looking forward to the mini-lessons on retelling in hopes of deepening my students understanding of the stories that they are reading. Sue Ronning I think that in Kindergarten retelling is very hard for some 5-6 year olds. We model, practice...retelling from very simple, to more complex stories and it seems like when the children are retelling, they are leaving out so many of the details in the story. Hopefully the mini lessons will help in my classroom as we once again work together on retelling stories. J. Baker
 * For my students, I would say the 2 most difficult aspects of retelling are 1) includes the important parts of the story, and 2) is told in an interesting voice. Kids usually tell the characters and setting. These are the areas that have always been the focus of story maps, finding the narrative elements, etc. But kids often struggle with determining what is an "important part" to include in the retell or summary, and then what is something that just remained in their mind for some reason, but isn't really a part worth retelling. We have to work a lot on talking about what are all the things someone would need to know to understand this if they have not read it before. I think using sticky notes, can be very useful for teaching in this area because they are movable. Kids can write on separate sticky notes things that they feel could be included in a retell. Then we can go through an determine which should really be included; which are the most important for understanding the story. These sticky notes can be placed in order for the retell, while the other ones can be put aside, maybe into the reader's notebook just as more of their thoughts. My students usually don't even think about retelling in an interesting voice. They just do a retell because it's something to be done. "Here's what happened in the story..." and then its over. I plan to talk with my students about how giving retell or summary can be like telling a story in itself and they want to make it sound fun and interesting to the person listening. The listener has not read this before, and you're trying to make them interested in this story. **
 * I like how the author talks about how "we ground our teaching in retelling in real life" because this is really true. How often are we telling stories to our kids (retells) of what happened to us at home, in this situation, when we went on a trip, etc. Kids retell all the time also, we just have to bring the skill from our real life stories, to the stories we read. **
 * Kristy Weberg **
 * _<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I have found, especially with children who are new to our program, retelling in the correct sequence is the biggest retelling issue. Telling it across the fingers we use in both writing and now reading workshops have helped immensely. The second in all grade levels is text evidence. Students do not go back to the text. I am wondering if it because they are not allow to for reading records? **
 * <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fran Olesen **

This was an exciting part for me. In DIBELS there is a time to practice the retell—this is so critical especially if we don’t want to produce “work caller” only. We want thinking and thinking reader. I once watch a 5th grade teacher encourage her students how where struggling in the area of retells to use the 5 elements of a story to be able to more accurately be able to retell the story. It was so exciting to see the author lay this about again. KDN

My students are also usually very good at retelling the characters and a few big parts. A good portion of them retell fluently with voice, especially if they enjoyed the selection. They do tend to forget the setting and not always retell the story in sequence though. I was thinking about how useful the time words idea is. In Writer's Workshop we use time words with a lot of success. It's perfect for retelling. I also can't wait to use the strategy where they take turns retelling the same story. I remember doing something similar to this with my best friend growing up. Pages 158-161 are going to be so helpful in teaching this skill. TGaribay <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">#3. The next focus of the chapter is on teaching the students to think as they read. Kathy shares with us some <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">wonderful strategies for doing this. As a first grade teacher, she reminds us that she is laying that solid <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">foundation that will continue on. This is vital. Comment on the minilessons. Share with the rest of us some <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">suggestions or comments on the minilessons from pages 168 to page 178.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 23px;">**Respond: I really liked the lesson on pg. 178, where she is talking about making connections and how it can sometimes take us far away from the book. She gives an example of it and a non-example. I do that often where I give both sides of the story so to speak. It is a great mini-lesson since kids love to talk and really do go off the deep end at times talking about other stories based on their connections with connections and me! I also liked the mini lesson on pg. 170 where is teaching them to envision. I like that word better than visualizing. She also goes more in depth with the 5 senses and visualizing it on a deeper level. She gives them words to use and tells them to imagine this and can you feel that. Envisioning and imagining are stronger words to use with kids I think. I will use those words from now on and interchange them so I can try to get the kids to go and plug into a stronger/deeper level. S. gaunt**

I plan to try and use sticky notes the way Kathy describes them in the text. I like the fact that at first, students simply mark the page and later write a short reminder to themselves. Too often students get caught up in trying to write novels on the mini papers instead of focusing on the task of reading. I am also excited to have partner get together daily to share all of their thoughts for the day. Not only will students be held accountable for thinking while reading, but they will get to share what great thoughts they are having. Like Stephanie, I plan to teach students this year that visualizing includes more than just the picture in your head, but all of the senses. It does make the word imagine seem like a better choice since most young learners are very skilled in using their imaginations. I am looking forward to using the connections mini lessons. I have taught several connections lessons in the past and there are aulways some students who continue to make only superficial connections or those who never seem to bring their connection to the next level and use it to gain understanding of the story. Making connections seems to be the easy part for my readers, not it’s time to make connections matter. Stephanie Cooper Collins listed on page 175 that, “Readers use what they know about the kind of story and about life to make good predictions.” While reading through the mini-lessons about predicting I remembered how my students and I used what we knew about a particular author or a series of chapter books to guide our predictions. For example, before reading a Robert Munsch book, we would talk about how his books had outrageous events occur which made us laugh. We’d use the information to predict that this new book by him would contain some of those elements, as well. Similarly, before I read the next book in the Magic Tree House series the students would discuss what typically happens and how Jack and Annie acted in the book. Annie loves animals and is usually brave. Jack on the other hand wants to research things before jumping right in. My kids love and chime in of course with the part when “the tree house spins faster and faster and then everything is still…absolutely still.” They love joining in and being smart about how those books go! Like both Stephanie G. and C. commented, I, too, am looking forward to teaching envisioning and connections better! I want connections to be meaningful and for students to see how connections can help us better understand a story. Sara Sabourin

The first part of the mini-lesson that I thought about was on page 170 with the section on Readers pay attention to when they are confused. I see students reading and the book is making sense to them, but they continue on and when they are finished with the book they have no idea what it was about. To be able to specifically and explicitly teach students strategies for what to do when they are confused when reading will make my students better readers and able to understand the books they are reading. The second part that I liked was on page 175 regarding predictions, specifically that readers use what they know about the text to make good predictions. For me, this goes with the section above, that students need to be understanding the text so that they can make predictions that make sense and not random thoughts. Using the text to support what they are predicting will draw attention back to what they are reading. Sue Ronning <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">#4. We want our students to take ownership for their thinking and hold themselves accountable. There are <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">wonderful strategies and thinking shared in this chapter that is worth noting. One key point Kathy makes is that <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">"they (children) don't always realize what they don't comprehend." Sometimes we assume they know how to <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">think about things. They do not understand what they 'don't know". Share what you think about this.
 * <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had to laugh as I read Collins comparison to the "church lady" because that is exactly what my kids to be like. I want them to be so into their books that they need to call out to them. What I truly found enlightening are the lessons where we teach student to explain their connections, (pages 177-178) "it's important to think beyond the connection." So many students (and I allow them) respond with a shallow response about a connection. I need to help them find a deeper meaning to their connections. **
 * _**

I loved this chapter probably because I feel it is the area where I need the most growth myself. I am a surface reader. I remember in school when I questioned a teacher about where an answer came from and she told me I needed to “read between the lines.” Not having a clue what she meant I probably skipped that question and got it wrong. As an adult I learned what the phrase meant but no one had ever taught me how to do this. I never had to think about or talk about my reading –only regurgitate the characters, setting, plot and climax of the story in a book report. I am studying this section very carefully and have reread this chapter because I will need lots of practice in this area in order to model for my students. I love S. Gaunt’s idea to use the cards so a student can let me know when they are stuck. I am wondering what grade you teach? I teach first grade and am thinking that I could give the students a card that is red on one side and green on the other to try this. Thanks for sharing your idea. –Jodee Tuttle

**I think this is very true that kids don't always know what they are not understanding, especially children who have had limited experiences, conversations, and opportunities to practice reading. Adults and children who do have this sensor going off, telling them when they are not understanding are able to do this because of all the past times they have been able to practice this and experienced the consequences of not understanding. They may have been minor consequences, but we have all dealt with not understanding something that we read, directions, or what someone told us and reacted a certain way only to find we were wrong. But some children have not had enough of any of this to know what it feels like in your head when something just doesn't seem right about what you're taking in. To me, I can best find who these children are through conferring and listening to the kinds of thoughts they share during this time. As I listed to what they have to say about their reading, I'll know if they recognize when they do not understand and start to help them feel that sensor of lack of or misunderstanding.** **--Kristy Weberg--**

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">#5. The three ideas Kathy suggests for closing this unit are great. Creating a big book of strategies is a good idea <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">for cementing these strategies further. It will help make our teaching 'sticky'. If you have tried something like <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">this, tell us about it. Share any similar ideas.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Respond Here: Kids do have a very hard time with this and they really don't get it when they don't understand what they don't know. I think that it takes lots of practice and modeling, modeling and more modeling as well as practicing with others. I think that partnership reading is an excellent way to get the kids more engaged with the text as well as keeping each other accountable for understanding the story. I like how she pairs up readers from the same level so they help each other with the strategies that they are both using! Yes, they will need help to make sure they are on track and not telling the words. Hopefully they use the bookmarks that we make at the beginning of the year. They have metacognitive reminders on them and we also use clink and clunk cards. They are folded tagboard that say clink on one side and clunk on the other. They show the clunk side when they are stuck and don't understand and they use the clink side when they are clinking long. They use these alone and with others! S. Gaunt **
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 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Respond Here: **


 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> We don't make a big book, but we use lots of charts, several mini lessons, book marks, visuals, manipulatives (clink/clunk) and I have a large charts that lists what good readers do and it is a compilation of all the reading strategies. I like the big book idea and might try it this year in my room ;) ! S.gaunt **


 * I have also not yet tried any kind of closing project or activity for this unit. But I attended the Home Grown institute this summer for upper grades and got some very good ideas there. One option that was presented was to have kids create "Information Books". These could be done after a non-fiction unit, or to close our reading clubs on various nonfiction topics, or at the end of an author study, genre study, etc. Upper El students collect all their thoughts and ideas as they go through the study, and then make an Information Book at the end. This book would be designed by them, and present all their ideas in an orderly way so that it can be understood by others. Many students may choose to format it like a nonfiction book with a table of contents, captions, diagrams, etc. Other formats would work as well. But students are not just copying facts from the books they read or from websites. They are taking their thinking, which was recorded all through the unit, and compiling it into this new book. They get to show that they are now experts on this topic. I'm sure I will try this at least once this coming school year, if not more. **
 * Kristy Weberg **

Like Kristy and Stephanie, I haven’t tried these ideas, but I’m getting inspiration for other ways to celebrate. My students enjoy being videotaped when they put on plays or when they read-aloud a just-right book. I’m thinking now that we could create a video where students read and stop to explain a strategy they just used…such as making a prediction. They could “talk back to the story” like Collins explained to her student Eliza on page 164. Then they could tell what they were doing. In the past, I have had students share their how-to unit of writing in our “How-To Hallway.” Families, students and staff rotated to different students and learned how-to do something at that station. I’m thinking my young readers could do something similar for this reading celebration, too. Visitors could hear about “how-to predict and why that is important.” Again, incorporating video and / or audio recordings have been motivating to my students in the past. I would also plan to use these tapes with future students. I could show them what it looks and sounds like when a child their age tries a strategy. We have mentor texts written by past students that we save for future classes; well I think the same can apply to our reading work! Sara Sabourin

Sara's responses always get me thinking. :) I will have to talk to one of the teacher's in our building, but there is a really cool site where you can audio tape your students reading and add their own artwork to their reading. It's almost like a slide show or reading with illustrations. Talk about an awesome way to end a unit! Students would be so excited to go online and hear themselves reading. I am going to be looking more into this for my classroom. TGaribay