logo
cuppacocoa
July 13, 2015

reading strategy - activating background knowledge

What do you remember about reading as a child? Do you recall doing whole-class reading, with one child reading out loud while everybody else followed along in the thick anthology reader? Did your teacher read aloud to you after lunch, letting you rest your recess-sweaty head on the cool desk while watching Ashley make faces at you? Did your whole class do units on a book together, working through packets and making book jackets at the end?

We all have memories of what it was like to be taught to read in school, and even though the format may be different, reading continues to be just as vital of a skill as it ever was. You already know a lot about what it’s like to learn to read, and that information will help you as you learn to teach your child to read!

…See what I did there? 🙂 Before jumping into my lesson, I activated your background knowledge. CLEVER HUH? 😀 (Yes, I am really feeling quite pleased with myself right now :D).

What does it mean to activate background knowledge?

When you activate background knowledge, you are basically helping a child unearth information she already knows and pulling it to the forefront of their mind. If you’re reading a story about dogs, then you’re asking the child what experiences she’s had with dogs before. If you’re starting a unit on the planets, you can ask them what things they’ve seen in the sky before. If it’s a unit on the Gold Rush, then you ask children to think about ideas they’ve had to make money (selling lemonade, doing chores, etc.).  Activating background knowledge will help your child make sense of new information and also help them remember new information that they read. And what’s the point of reading unless you are going to remember what you read?

I think the reason this is such an effective strategy has something to do with brain theory. I remember learning in college that new information sticks better when it is connected with old information. Sometimes, I even draw my students this diagram and tell them, “You already know a TON of stuff. If you can connect the new stuff you learn to the old stuff you already know, chances are you will remember it much better. If you just learn new stuff without connecting it to something you already knew before, it will be harder to remember.”

retaining new knowledge

read more

July 11, 2015

reading strategy - monitoring comprehension

“Okay, son. It’s 3pm. Time for reading. Get your books, I’m going to set the timer!”

Your child drags his feet away from the snacks and pulls out a thick, pictureless book from his backpack. Nice, you think to yourself with satisfaction, that looks like a serious chapter book! 

He settles down onto the sofa and starts thumbing through his book. You settle down at your computer and click away while he reads away. Getting those 20 minutes in of required reading every day isn’t so hard, right? But here’s the thing: A compliant, quiet kid in front of a thick book does not mean useful reading is happening. Here are the telltale signs your child is just enduring those minutes without processing many words at all:

Sure, if you have plans to take him swimming with friends in an hour, then time may feel like it’s passing slowly for him while he’s reading… but if these are regular characteristics of your child during silent reading time, it wouldn’t hurt to check in and see if this book is the right level for him.

When I first started teaching, I was surprised to find how frequently students chose books that were too hard for them. Some chose them because their friends recommended it and liked it, and they wanted to try it out. Some chose the too-difficult book because they wanted to look like they were reading at a higher level than they actually were able to. Others chose it just because the title or picture on the front cover looked interesting, with little regard to whether or not they could actually understand the text. Choosing a “just right” book merits a couple mini-lessons all its own in the beginning of the year!

As a teacher, I always made it a point to keep an eye on what books my students were reading. If I saw any of the telltale signs listed above (boredom, disinterest) or simply knew that a book was beyond a particular students’ reading level, I’d pull them back for a quick check to make sure they really picked a “just right” book. Most often, the book was indeed too hard. Ideally, though, it doesn’t take a teacher or an adult to tell a young reader that a book is too difficult for him. Ideally, a child will be able to tell himself that a text is too hard within the first page of reading it. Many students do pick up on this quickly, but others won’t pause to think about it unless I point it out for them. These students are weak in monitoring their comprehension: they don’t get that they are not getting it!

What does it mean to monitor comprehension?

read more

July 7, 2015

What is guided reading

We started reading to our infant from Day 1. Okay maybe Day 3 or 4, after we got home from the hospital… but it was soon. Even though I knew she was a mere infant, teacherness oozed out of me as I held her in my lap:

In the great green room there was a telephone and a red balloon and a picture of… Sweetie, what do you think they’ll say next? Can you make a prediction? If you look at the illustration, they give some great hints– what pictures do you see? Oooh, a COW? Yes, I think they might talk about a cow… or maybe some bears! Let’s see! The cow jumping over the moon and there were three little bears sitting on chairs. Look at that! Cows and bears! Just like we had predicted!

It’s a simple enough text, but every night, I found myself delving into various reading strategies with my infant, making connections to other books we’d read, encouraging her to make predictions on what would happen next, or posing questions as we made our way through the pages. I couldn’t help it. Reading strategies ran through my veins, and reading out loud without teaching them felt stiff and awkward.

My husband always  marveled when he overheard the discussions “we” had during these reading sessions. “Wow, you’re so good! How do you even think of all these things to talk about? This is so great! I’m so glad she has you to teach her!”

Isn’t he nice? 😀 I mean he could have laughed and reminded me that most 10-day old babies don’t appreciate doing guided reading every day, but instead he was encouraging and excited that our little daughter would have a teacher mommy to help her think well while reading.

Sometimes he expressed disappointment in himself, “Man, I’m so boring when I read. I just read straight through the text. I don’t know what to talk about while we read. You should do a post on your blog on how to read with kids!”

“You think so?”

“Yeah! That’d be great! I’m sure other parents would want to know better ways to maximize reading time with their kids, too!”

And the more I thought about it, the more I was sure this was something that needed to be shared. After all, twice a year at parent conferences, I found myself wishing parents could just sit down and do guided reading with their kids the way I did. Johnny was “approaching grade level standards,” and I made sure to work in small reading groups with him twice a week for 20 minutes each time, but MAN, if his parents could sit down with him every day for twenty minutes one-on-one and do the same thing with him, I know he would make TREMENDOUS progress.

So here is my mini training program for you, parents! Not just one post, but a whole series. Teachers, please feel free to share this as a resource for your parents! I certainly can’t cover everything about guided reading that teachers know and do, but I’ll do my best to give you the basic tools to up your reading game with your child. Hopefully you will find that this makes your reading time together more enjoyable and more beneficial for your growing reader!

read more

June 22, 2015

How to Get the Most Out of Reading Time with Your Child

In elementary school, there are two topics we focus on most heavily during parent conferences: reading and math. I can’t even count the number of times I have sat in a parent conference wishing with all my heart that I could spend just twenty minutes a day doing guided reading with their child. Give me twenty minutes a day with your struggling reader, and you will see tremendous progress and a rapid progression in reading levels in just weeks. Because when I sit down with one, two, or three kids and do focused guided reading, there is real progress. I can see where their weak spots are, coach them through it, and help them develop the strategies they need to become great readers.

The thing is, I usually have closer to thirty kids, and there is only about one hour a day allotted to teaching reading. Much of that is spent with the whole class, and the rest gets parceled out to reading tests, library time, individual conferences, and guided reading groups. My point is, I am not able to spend twenty minutes a day with your struggling reader. In reality, my struggling readers are lumped together in groups of 3-5, and we are lucky if I am able to spend twenty minutes once or twice a week with each group. Our guided reading times are productive, but not nearly as consistent or focused as I wish they could be. Students make progress over the year, but I always find myself wishing I had more time to spend with smaller groups of students on a regular basis. But I don’t have the time, and I can’t make as much impact as I want.

…BUT YOU CAN!!! Moms, dads, siblings, grandparents and caretakers: YOU CAN. You can do the guided reading with them every day that I can’t. You can spend the time getting to know your child as a reader that I wish I could, and you can seriously help them make leaps and bounds if you are willing to invest just 15-20 minutes a day reading with your child. Actually, even twice a week will make a huge impact if you make the most of your time. So here is my gift to you: I will show you how to read with your child the way a teacher would. That 20 minutes a day I wish I could get to work with your kid? Now you can do it. I will try to equip you to know 1) how to approach your child as a reader, 2) what to teach them, and 3) how to teach it.

read more

June 20, 2015

Last updated 5/12/2021

Summer reading series

Summer is here, and that means sunshine and outdoors and fun! Last summer, I offered you a series of fun math games to help keep your kids entertained while also sharpening their math skills. This summer, my focus is on reading. I know we could all use a break from school, and the last thing some of your kids want to hear is, “Time for READING!!!” But don’t cave in!! As a teacher, I have seen numerous children actually start the school year at a lower reading level than they finished at the previous school year. I literally see their report cards telling me the student finished “at grade level,” and yet they are unable to read through the exact same mini book they had mastered just a few months before. What is the cause of this unfortunate phenomenon??

A book-less summer.

Sad.

Maybe you want to give your child a break from working so hard over the school year and feel like reading is for homework and teachers. I hope you will try to instead see books as the gateway to adventure, imagination, and mental growth for your child! Summer is a great time to encourage your children to read (almost) whatever they want and to develop a love of reading. Allow them to just take pleasure in consuming books that will take them all over the world, into the future, or back in time. Many public libraries have great reading programs that encourage children to dig into books, so take a trek out sometime and see what strikes their fancy!

For every student who started off fourth grade at a lower level than they finished third grade, there were just as many children who entered fourth grade one or two reading levels higher than they finished third grade. It wasn’t because their parents sat by their side and read with them every day or sent them to tutoring programs. They simply had access to books and read them regularly over the summer! As I’ve shared before, simply consuming books at the right reading level is oftentimes all it takes to help young readers move to the next level in reading. So I urge you this summer to encourage your children to read. It could be the difference of falling behind, or starting with their best foot forward at the start of the next year!

Now that I’ve thoroughly hammered in that point, let’s talk about taking further steps to move your child to the next level. Maybe your child finished the school year a little behind in reading. Maybe they just barely met “grade level expectations.” Maybe you just want to continue to hone their love of reading and see where else you can take this.

October 14, 2014

Teach by Thinking Out Loud! Simple but effective.

One of the best ways to learn from someone else is to get inside their head. One of my favorite blogs is www.younghouselove.com, a blog by a couple that does a lot of DIY with their house and shares about their lives while they’re at it.

There are many reasons I like the blog, but a big one is that I actually learn stuff and gain confidence from them. For example, there was this one post where they shared the new gallery wall above their master bed. First of all, I could never do that, because we live in the land of earthquakes and that’s just asking for trouble. But I read it anyway, because I wanted to learn something from them.

Now, home stuff and DIY and artsy craftsy is not my forte… but that’s why I like this blog. Since I don’t know much about it, and I don’t know what factors to consider when I’m looking at our house, I love getting in their head and seeing what they thought of when they worked on theirs.

read more

September 30, 2014

Why Your Child Hates Reading (and How to Change That)Reading is always a hot topic during parent-teacher conferences, and for good reason. In elementary school, students learn to read, so that for the rest of their lives, they can read to learn. If a student falls back here, almost every other subject will lag behind as they approach the upper grades. They will struggle with writing, labor over word problems in math, loathe their Science and Social Studies textbooks, and likely experience lower academic self-confidence.

One of my goals as a teacher is to help kids fall in love with reading… or at least not hate it. Every year, I have a couple of parents who insist that their child hates reading. I can see the defeat in their eyes, even as the school year is just beginning. It doesn’t have to be that way! I will share some basic beliefs I have about teaching reading as well as ways to help make reading time more enjoyable and productive time for your child.

read more