LITERACY AT GATES
If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of
myself in the world, I would do that again by reading,
just as I did when I was young.
~ Maya Angelou ~
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NEED HELP FINDING A BOOK? Email me at msullivan@scit.org Go to the library! Go on-line to Scituate Town Library and access Novel List. Take a trip to Front Street Book Shop or Buttonwoods! Ask a friend! Search an on-line book seller for subjects that interest you! HELPFUL LINKS Clicking on each link below will provide you with helpful resources, articles, and sites. If you have additional questions, feel free to email me at msullivan@scit.org. If you would like me to add something to this website, email me and I will track it down! Happy Reading and Writing! Mrs. Sullivan LINKS: Mass Department of Education: MCAS data I NEED HELP! Click on the links below for resources. Each link is to a page that I have created. I have organized resources by subject. Do you know of any good books to read? Do you need a good graphic organizer? Are you interested in learning about multiple intelligences and how they affect learning?
Multiple Intelligences WAC Link
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/ 2008/08/07/books/summer-reading-533.jpg |
What do I read? I just created a WIKI for us to share what we are reading. If you would like to become a user, please email me or stopy by my room and I will register you as a user. Please click on the URL or copy and paste the address.
Are you a parent and not sure whether your child should read a particular book? Click on article below: From the Literacy Corner As October winds down, reality is beginning to sink in that yes, we are all back at school. For some students, the first two months have been a somewhat frustrating time as they struggle with performing well on tests and learning the most efficient way to study for tests. I was speaking with two eighth grade students who had just finished a “really hard” social studies test. I asked both of them how long they studied and how they studied. One student responded that she studied for one hour and the other student told me that he quickly reviewed the notes after soccer. Neither student felt confident about the test. My own eighth grade son will come home from school and say, “I have no homework”. My immediate question is, “Do you have a quiz or test scheduled?” I can’t begin to tell you how many times the answer is yes. Many students do not view an assigned test as homework, especially if the test is not for several days. Literacy research supports chunking the study time. As soon as the student’s test is assigned, he/she should begin the studying process. 10-15 minutes /day will provide much better results; cramming is not effective. I have listed several suggestions below. If your student is struggling with tests or quizzes, I would recommend that he/she try this process. 1. Once test date is assigned, immediately write it in assignment notebook. Write it in every day until the day of the test. 2. Count how many days you have until the test. For example, if the test is scheduled for Friday on Monday of the same week, you then have 4 days to study. 3. Organize all of your materials. Make sure that your notes, homework, worksheets, any related information is organized. If you don’t have all of the material, ask a friend or the teacher. 4. Divide your information among the four days. Look it over. You can chunk it however you like. Figure out what you don’t know first. You should spend the most time reviewing that material. 5. Plan your material so that you are studying 15-20 minutes each night. If any of the material requires memorization (vocabulary, etc.), review it each night. If you have 20 words to memorize, read them over 3-4 times each night and try to visualize (make a picture in your head) the word. Picturing the word improves your memory retention rate by up to 50%. 6. The night before the test should be a review of all material. 7. “WHAT DO I DO IF IT IS AN OPEN-NOTES TEST? I DON’T HAVE TO STUDY!” This misconception is incorrect. You still have to study for an open-notes test. The days leading up to the test should be spent organizing all of your information in your notes so that it is organized by concept. Use markers to color code so that you know where to find all of the material. Make sure that you understand the concepts. The test will never be a direct restatement of your notes or text.
Finally---access your resources! Ask the teacher and/or study with a friend.
Each month, I will try to provide literacy information that may be helpful to you. Please feel free to email me at msullivan@scit.org with any specific questions or suggestions you may have.
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