Hello there!! I have a few things (including a freebie!) that I am super excited about and can't wait to share with you all! In fact if you follow me on TPT, Facebook, or Instagram, you have probably already seen a few of these items. :)
About a year ago or so, the Reading Recovery Teacher in my building came to me and expressed concern with the Beanie Baby Reading Strategies that are so popular these days. Don't start throwing tomatoes at me yet! Hear me out. I used these strategies all the time and used to love them. However, we started realizing that our struggling readers were often getting confused by these strategies. They may work well for some students (and that's great!!), but they don't work well for all students. So I set out to create something simpler for those students who were getting confused. That's when I came up with the Reading Strategy Tools.
In order to create something that would be beneficial for all students, I looked to our amazing Reading Recovery teacher for guidance and utilized one popular resource: Jan Richardson's The Next Step to Guided Reading (if you haven't read this yet, you should! It's filled with amazing ideas and information.) Also, after getting my Masters in Literacy, I knew that MSV (Meaning-Structure-Visual) was going to need to be a huge component in these reading strategies.
So here we are. Reading Strategy Tools. By know you might be wondering what these look like. Well let me break it down for you.
(Check them out in my TPT store!)
These reading strategies are broken down by type of reader. There is a set for Emergent readers and a set for those Early-Transitional readers.
The Emergent set has 4 basic reading strategies that beginning readers can utilize when they get to a tricky word: point underneath each word, look at the picture, say the beginning sound, and does that make sense.
The Early-Transitional set has 8 basic reading strategies that readers can utilize when they get to a tricky word: look at the picture, think about the story, say the beginning sound, look for parts, does it look right, does it sound right, does that make sense, and go back and reread.
Each set includes bookmarks, posters, table strips, and bulletin visuals.
Since implementing these strategies, I have seen less student confusion. Before, when students approached a tricky word, the dialogue would go something like this:
Me: What strategy could you use to help you figure out that tricky word?
Student: Um... eagle eye.
Me: Ok.. what does that mean you have to do?
Student: I don't know. *Student blankly stares at me*
Using the Beanie Baby strategies is a 2 step process. They had to know what strategy they were using AND what it meant. With the Reading Strategy Tools, its only 1 step as each strategy tells you exactly what to do. While going from 2 steps to 1 step may seem small, to struggling readers, it could be a game changer.
Now, the dialogue goes like this:
Me: What strategy could you use to help you figure out that tricky word?
Student: Look at the picture.
Me: That's correct! Now, what would make sense?
I'm not saying these strategies are perfect, or perfect for everyone (we all know teaching is not a one size fits all), but I can tell you that I have seen less confusion with my struggling readers. :)
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On another note.. I have a freebie for you!! I use these Hello Name Tags every year as part of my door décor and welcoming the students to my class. My students love them (they get to take them home at the end of the year)
They are FREE and they are EDITABLE!! What more could you want?!
Since implementing these strategies, I have seen less student confusion. Before, when students approached a tricky word, the dialogue would go something like this:
Me: What strategy could you use to help you figure out that tricky word?
Student: Um... eagle eye.
Me: Ok.. what does that mean you have to do?
Student: I don't know. *Student blankly stares at me*
Using the Beanie Baby strategies is a 2 step process. They had to know what strategy they were using AND what it meant. With the Reading Strategy Tools, its only 1 step as each strategy tells you exactly what to do. While going from 2 steps to 1 step may seem small, to struggling readers, it could be a game changer.
Now, the dialogue goes like this:
Me: What strategy could you use to help you figure out that tricky word?
Student: Look at the picture.
Me: That's correct! Now, what would make sense?
I'm not saying these strategies are perfect, or perfect for everyone (we all know teaching is not a one size fits all), but I can tell you that I have seen less confusion with my struggling readers. :)
-----
On another note.. I have a freebie for you!! I use these Hello Name Tags every year as part of my door décor and welcoming the students to my class. My students love them (they get to take them home at the end of the year)
They are FREE and they are EDITABLE!! What more could you want?!
(Check them out in my TPT store!)
Thank you for stopping by!! :)
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