Not Your Normal KWL

Hi there!  I don’t know about you, but when I went to school to become a teacher I was told that the KWL chart was one of the best ways to begin learning about a new topic.  It accomplished the task of activating prior knowledge, had students asking questions and setting a purpose for learning, and then they recorded any new information that they learned.   I still think a KWL chart is extremely useful and can be very meaningful for students, but I have personally found a new way of beginning units and I don't think I will be going back - a Schema Chart.  

*The idea for this cutie penguin chart came from the very talented Cara Carroll*

Here’s why I love me some schema charts: When students share what they “know” about a topic on a KWL, sometimes they are not correct.  For example, Penguins can fly.  As a teacher, what do you do when that happens?  Do you tell them right then that they are wrong or do you write the incorrect information on the KWL only to have to cross it off later?  I never liked that decision because I didn’t think either one was a good solution to the problem.  I didn't want to ruin the discovery of learning and I also didn't want to knock down the children who were brave to volunteer information only to tell them they were wrong.  That child will never raise his/her hand again after that.  But by using a Schema Chart you don’t have to make students feel bad anymore and you can let them DISCOVER their own misconceptions while learning.  

We begin each unit by sharing all of our schema about the topic we are about to study.  I use post-its so we can easily move them around later if we need to.  When I first introduce the terms SCHEMA and MISCONCEPTIONS I explain that schema is what we “think” we know about a topic. Sometimes we “know” something and then realize that we didn’t have all the facts.  This is called a misconception.  I’ll say something like: “Is it ok to be “wrong” when we really thought we knew something?  Of course - it happens to the best of us!  Is it fun to be wrong?  No, but in our classroom we don’t make anyone feel bad when they get an answer wrong.  It’s all part of learning.  None of us, including me, knows everything there is to know, so we won’t make anyone feel bad if they had a misconception.  We just move our ideas over to misconceptions and write down some of our new learning.”  Give them a quick explanation of how we will handle misconceptions and how that is all part of the process of learning.  Of course, it’s all in the way you, as the teacher, deliver it.  

The next two parts of a schema chart are the same as a KWL - QUESTIONS and NEW LEARNING. We think of questions we want answered and as we move through the unit we add new learning to our chart.  And again, we move misconceptions over as we discover our new learning.  

When I started using schema charts to begin my units I  really saw my 1st graders using the language of schema and misconceptions.  I heard them support each other when they learned they were wrong and say, “Oops, that was a misconception!  Now we have some new learning!”  It really was a great thing!  

Now,  you can make your charts look cute and more engaging like my penguin or reindeer, which of course take a little longer.  

Or you can just use a piece of chart paper with columns for each part.  Personally I like the visual, but sometimes I don't have the time or might forget to prepare my charts ahead of time.  Here is one that I did on the fly about 5 minutes before we started learning about The First Thanksgiving.

The kids were eating snack while I was making it and it was actually so fun for them to see me put this together and talk about what they thought we would be doing next.  Bad teacher planning on my part, but it did spark a bit of curiosity.  

After I realized how much I really loved using schema charts to begin my units, I created a little pack called Be a Fact Finder that I could use with ANY nonfiction unit.  

It includes chart pieces and a student component of the schema chart, as well as tons of other activities that can be used during whole group or guided reading and writing.  My favorite are these Stop and Think bookmarks and signs.

Click HERE if you want to check this pack out in more detail.  

I would love to hear any other ideas you have for sparking interest and activating prior knowledge when you begin a new unit.  Comment below and share :)

Have a wonderful holiday!!  

Groundhog Day Activities

One thing I just adore about teaching in the primary grades is that we have the ability to expose students to fun themes and holidays throughout the year.  These things are always fun and of high interest to the students.  Even more important though, I really love expanding on these themes and holidays with activities that are jam-packed with learning.  It's a win-win because the kids are working on topics that are fun and interesting, the teachers have fun planning and also get to hit the standards at the same time, and of course administrators are happy that it's not all just fluff.  

When I create a pack, I try to be sure I am including activities that are exciting for the students, but also worth your instructional time.  With this pack I started with some informational reading about these little guys we call groundhogs, or as they will learn are also called woodchucks or whistle-pigs. 

I started including these Fact Cards with real photos in some of my other thematic units like Reindeer and Penguins, and I have gotten tons of comments and feedback from teachers that this was their students' favorite part of these packs!  I have to agree -- my kiddos love it too!  These sheets can be printed off and laminated to show students, or can be projected from your computer so students can read along.  The second option is what I usually do because it offers students a different media to learn from and switches things up a bit.  After reading and learning together, we move on to some comprehension.  I kept the comprehension simple in this pack because I know we don't have all that much time to devote to only groundhogs, but I think you'll find that it is just enough to show students how to gather information from texts.  

The next part is an informational mini-book about the actual day of Groundhog Day.  This is perfect for shared reading and can be followed by buddy reading or independent reading for further practice. 

 Once students are thinking about whether or not the groundhog will see his shadow, we start making our predictions.  I use these chart pieces to create a class graph where students can predict what they think will happen on Groundhog Day.  Then we all fill out a graph to show what the class chose.  I also have the students do a quick writing about their prediction.  I included this writing page, along with two other options without a sentence starter and different writing lines.

Along with the informational reading I do, I always like to tie in some fictional reading as well.  There are some really cute read alouds for Groundhog Day, but my favorite is Go to Sleep, Groundhog! by Lucy Cox.

I made two different sequencing activities to go with this book.  One is a quick picture cut and paste worksheet, and the other is a cute flip book which is also cut and paste with events from the story.  Choose whichever one you have time for and fits your students' abilities.  I also made a blank sequencing flip book that you could use with any groundhog read aloud you choose.

Finally, I like to have some filler activities for these days to use either in centers, for morning work, or just for fun.  I made a couple printables for math and sight words.  I also made a groundhog page topper if you'd like to use it for a bulletin board or it can also be used as a cute hat.  

I can't wait to get started on the Groundhog Day fun tomorrow in my classroom.  If you think you could use some of these activities too you can grab it in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store by clicking on the picture below.  

I don't know about you, but I am ALWAYS hoping Puxsutawney Phil DOES NOT see his shadow so we can have an early spring.  Where I live that really never happens though.  We're happy if it stops snowing by April (sometimes May).  So if you are someplace warm -- send me some of that! :)

Reading Comprehension for Beginning Readers - 1st and 2nd Graders

I used to teach 3rd grade, for 8 years, and before that I taught 4th grade for 2 years.  I liked how independent the kids were.  I liked how I could joke with them and they actually got my jokes.  I especially loved how those years were such a huge turning point in a child's elementary life and I was the one to help them through it.  Students in those grades actually remember, for years, the things you do in the classroom....and come back to tell you ALL about it!  It really is a great age to teach!!

What I didn't love, however, were the state assessments.  Yuck!  They really sucked the fun out of teaching for so many weeks leading up to the tests.  Then when Common Core was adopted and the tests consequently changed to being so much harder, so much longer, and frankly - so much more unfair....I decided I needed a change too.  That was when I took the opportunity to move to 1st grade.  This was the best decision I could have ever made because 1st grade is just ME.

First grade and me go together like peanut butter and jelly.

I could go on and on about the things I love about my little firsties, but what I love the most of all is knowing where my students have to get to in a few short years and being confident that I can be the person to help them get there.  I feel effective!  And isn't that what all teachers want to feel?

You might be wondering why I went on and on about all that and how it has anything to do with reading comprehension.  Well I'll tell you.  When I watched my little third graders - and yes, they are still little in 3rd grade - struggle through a reading test for HOURS and feel defeated, it broke my heart.  I wanted to do anything I could to try to prepare them for the stamina they would need and the strategies to get through it.  Now that I'm in 1st grade I feel like I can help them on this journey by providing as many opportunities to practice strategies they will need but at their level and with my support.  It is my hope that I can give them the foundation that will help them down the road.

So this year I started creating some opportunities to guide my students through the process of reading comprehension.  It definitely is a PROCESS - am I right?  So besides being able to read (kinda important) - what DO children need to be able to do when answering reading comprehension questions?

Here are 5 things that I think young readers need to learn when it comes to reading comprehension:


One of the hardest things for students is just knowing what exactly a comprehension question is even asking.  I spend time teaching those question words: who, what, why, where, when, and how.  I teach them how to read those words, of course, and then also what kinds of questions they might see with each of them.

As with anything we teach, it's important to start out with some modeling and guided practice.  I use my whole group reading time to model using our read alouds.  I use my guided reading time to practice with texts at their level.  When it comes to practicing independently I wanted to give my students the opportunity to just work on the questions, so I made these Picture Comprehension pages with some basic questions like: Who is in the picture? What are they doing? Where are they?  And then also some inference questions like: Why do you think they are doing that?




These allow the students to practice reading those question words, but keeps it quick and simple for independent work.




The next skill that children need to learn is to read ALL of the choices when answering multiple choice questions.  They need to get used to being tricked by similar answers and not just pick the first one they read.  So again, I use the Picture Comprehension to practice this, but I also made these simple Sentence Comprehension pages for that as well.



Many of the choices are similar and students really need to pay close attention to the answer they choose.




It's important for us as teachers to understand that children don't naturally know how to answer comprehension questions.  We need to start out simple in order to help them practice and be successful from the get go.  When students get into reading longer passages they will need to pay close attention to detail and be able to search for important clues in the text.  Again, I like to provide the support of pictures to help students practice this.  Important clues can be found in the text and also in pictures.



These Picture Match Books have become a favorite in our classroom.  The kids cannot get enough of them!!!



I also use these CLOZE Comprehension pages for practice.  Children need to fill in the missing words and then answer a couple questions about a short passage.






One of the hardest parts of reading comprehension for beginning readers is the amount of time it takes to get through a reading passage and THEN they have to go back and find answers to the questions.  Teaching students to find the key words in questions and then skim through the text to search for the answer is one of the best skills they can have in their back pocket.   This takes TONS of modeling and guided practice.  When I am working on this with students I really like to have a short passage with questions to answer.



I teach them to read all the choices first, pick out key words to search for, and then skim to find those words.  In the Earth Day example shown I would have students read #1 and the choices.  Then we would skim for the numbers 2 or 22 in the passage since numbers are easy to skim for.  The next questions in this passage involve a little more inferring, but we would still search for key words to give us clues that help us answer the questions.




The final strategy I teach my first graders really goes along with #4.  When they are skimming for key words, they then need to underline where they find the proof for their answers.  We try to make this more interesting by using crayons or highlighters when we practice.  This also lets me see quickly if students are actually using this strategy and doing it correctly.



When we take the time with our beginning readers to model, model, model, then guide, guide, guide, and finally practice, practice, practice -- it gives them the time they need to internalize these strategies.  They do so with manageable texts and are able to build up their comprehension confidence.  I strongly believe that providing these opportunities for them early on is the key to helping them further develop these skills in later years.

So for a quick recap, here are the 5 strategies again:




You can find these reading comprehension pages in my seasonal Building Readers packs.



The ones pictured here are from the Spring Edition (March-May).  I also have Fall (September-November) and Winter (December-February).

    

I have plans to make more of these packs as well because I've seen such a difference in my students as readers this year.  These have become an important part of our reading routine and I think they could do the same for your class.