Works for Me: Tips by Teachers for Teachers 1/9/2011

READING TIPS!

Popcorn Reading

From Sally Hundley, a teacher at Waynesville Middle School in Waynesville, NC, and Sandra M. Sroka, a teacher at Apex House/Christopher Columbus Middle School in Clifton, NJ:

“I use a game called Popcorn Reading to help teach oral reading. When I have students read a passage, they only read as much as they can handle, and then say 'popcorn' and the name of another student, who reads next. Most end up reading longer passages than I would normally assign, and they all have to stay on their toes. If students are not on track, they must read until I tell them to stop. As you would expect, students stop in the middle of sentences, paragraphs, etc. I culminate this activity with a popcorn treat if all students have been on track.”

Browse tips on READING, RELUCTANT READERS,

Pop Up into Reading

From Dana Hazzard, a seventh grade reading teacher at Swainston Middle School in Nevada:

"One strategy I have found that really draws reluctant readers into reading, particularly reluctant ELL boys, is to stock up on as many pop-up books as possible. Of course, the fairy princess pop-up books aren't much of a lure, but the pop-up books on science subjects, like deep-sea monsters and spiders, fly off my shelves every morning. The kids start out just looking at the pictures, but they get so involved with the picture that they want to know more. If you search the kids’ sections and the clearance racks of local bookstores, these books can sometimes be found for as little as $3.00."

Browse tips on READING, RELUCTANT READERS, READING GAMES

Pop Up into Reading

Reading Race

From Donna Dinizo-Ruhl, a teacher at Roosevelt School in South Plainfield, New Jersey:

"To foster a love of reading, I show my class books that I am reading on my own time. They are thrilled by the size of them. In class, I made a large race track out of bulletin board paper and had the kids color in race cars that I printed from the Internet. I gave them all a sheet to keep track of how much time they read outside of class (a parent’s initials help keep them honest). Their goal is to make it all the way around the track, which is labeled by minutes. Once they have all made it around, we have an ice cream party. They can't wait to move their cars everyday!"