I love cutsey centers and colorful paper. Heck, I even asked for a laminator {and got one} for Christmas. But let's be honest, I don't have time for all of that…all of the time! Ok…even half of the time. I'm a huge fan of low-zero prep. activities that are meaningful and engaging. And teaching a combo class {I'm sure you're sick of me repeating this} makes this even more important for my sanity the success of my students!
I've gotten great feedback on my social media about the “Listen and Sketch” strategy. I originally blogged about it a few months back. It's one of my favorite teaching strategies because it's simple, the kids love it, and it gets them excited to read.
I use it as a pre-reading strategy before I introduce our weekly story that goes along with our reading series. I'm so low on paper so we use whiteboards for everything. If you don't have whiteboards, just use scratch paper.
Basically, my kiddos come to the carpet with their whiteboard. I tell them the title of the story and we make predictions. I give them the purpose for reading, and we begin. Our reading series has the books on CD so I put it in and play it for about 30 seconds, then I say “sketch.” I give them about 30 seconds to sketch. They know it's not a masterpiece, just a quick sketch. I ring my bell, and they know that's the cue to put their marker down. I hit play and we repeat the process until the story is over.
At the end, they share it with their partner.
Then, I have them go back to their seats and open up to the story in their student edition. They compare and contrast what they visualized, to the illustrations in the story. They absolutely love it and get so excited to read the story. You can do it with any story. Just remember to set your expectations.
What other teaching strategies do you use for reading?
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I have my kids do this too! It's great:)!
Great idea! I can definitely adapt this for my 5th graders. The teacher's at my school are limited to a certain amount of paper per year. So I've had to get creative. You can also use sheet protectors as whiteboards too. I have whiteboards, but have started using the sheet protectors instead. They take up less room in their desks.
Chelsea
Fifth Grade Wit and
Whimsy
What great ideas! I've decided to nominate you for a Liebster Award. Check out my blog for more information! Congrats!!!