Tuesday already? That means it is tacos for dinner tonight….my husband loves to have Taco Tuesdays……AND it means time for another Two Tips for Tuesday for Struggling Readers! Hi everyone…Kristin here.
So let’s keep going on a couple more tips for difficulties with learning behaviors. We talked a bit about some attention grabbers for your kiddos with attention difficulties. Then we talked about some “whacking fun” ideas for motivation and engagement. So this time around, let’s see what we can think of for our sweetums who have difficulty with cognitive processing. These are the kiddos who can read the text, but can’t tell you what it was about because the information gets all jumbled either going into their brain, or coming back out of their brain. Sometimes that happens because they are learning English as a second language and it gets all mixed up in their sweet little brains. Or it may happen because their brains are not wired in a way that makes processing text information easy. It could also be that their little lives are a bit chaotic and they are just tired!!! I can relate…what about you?
Todays tips are a version of a wonderful picture sort strategy from Project G.L.A.D. training (Guided Language Acquisition Design). We know that all students benefit from picture support, but especially those students who may be qualified in ELL, Speech and Language, cognitive processing, or who have underdeveloped vocabularies. Because these sort activities are multimodality, involve a lot of thinking and discussing, and are highly scaffolded, they help kiddos make connections and links in their brains much easier. And they are definitely not just for the youngers!! These lessons are for some of my 4th and 5th grade groups!
1. Picture Sorting – for help with determining Important versus Unimportant Information
Some of my reading intervention groups are really having difficulty with this. So….I have made copies of pages from the book we will read tomorrow. The process goes like this:
*I’ll review the difference between important and unimportant info………. again
*The kiddles will work together to sort the pages into those two categories, then we will discuss why they sorted them that way
*Next the kiddles will read the book to learn “important information,” and we’ll discuss
*Then we’ll revisit their sorting from before the reading, and have them discuss and make any changes necessary
And voila! All the students will have mastered this important skill! Wink, wink!
2. Picture Sorting – to Analyze The Text Format
Here’s a sort for another group. They are working to understand how NF texts group related information into chapters or sections, so they can more easily understand and find the new information they learn. This time I made copies of the pictures from the text.
*First, the kiddles will work together to sort the pictures into groups that make sense “going together.” They’ll explain their thinking. We’ll discuss whether or not they think the author might have sorted the info. the same way they did.
*Now the kiddles will read the books to learn how the author grouped the information. We’ll discuss.
*Next, I’ll give them the chapter headings which show how the author sorted…or organized..the information. The students will see if the chapter headings match the groups they sorted. If not, they’ll sort again under the headings and discuss the reasons for the changes. And now they will all understand how and why authors organize information to help them understand what they read!
Right? …………Right?
Hope these two tips will help you out with some of your learners!
So now it’s time to go get busy on those tacos!
This week is flying by! Hope it is for you, too!
