Reading Activities

Interactive read aloud and shared reading are excellent ways to structure reading time. In addition, consider...

Strategy 1: Juicy Sentences (this can also be considered a language structure activity and may use all four domains)

Juicy sentences is an excellent strategy for building language, making grade-level sentences comprehensible to ELs, and increasing content knowledge at the same time. It is the brain-child of Dr. Lily Wong-Fillmore of UC Berkley. It is part of the 3Ls lesson sequence from the Council of Great City Schools and comes after close reading of a selected text. There are no hard and fast rules for how to teach them, but when you begin it may be helpful to follow the steps below.

Steps:

1) Choose a complex, content-rich sentence that contributes to answering your essential question from a current text. Write it on the board/slide/chart paper.

examples:

“Previously, scientists believed dinosaurs swallowed the bones whole without chewing, but after examining the coprolites, they realized they crushed mouthfuls of flesh and bones.”

“There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail

2) Show students the sentence's location in the text.

3) Read it aloud first, then choral read (as appropriate).

4) Ask students to talk/write what they think it means (teacher listens in).

5) Unpack the sentence—take the sentence clause by clause and help students understand it through conversation, comprehension strategies, etc.

6) Re-assemble the sentence – play with parts (could you switch them around? Could we eliminate this phrase? Would it change the meaning if…”) Teachers may use sentence strips or receipt tape to facilitate this activity.

7) Ask a few text-dependent questions to put the meaning back together.

8) Students write/talk about new understanding of the meaning.

Need to see it? Click here to see MNPS' own Michael Beno teaching a JS lesson.

Extensions/Options:

· Turn the sentence into a frame for the students to use.

· Do a mix and fix with clauses from the sentence on strips of paper. Discuss how any errors affect the meaning of the sentence. Ask questions like, "Does that sound right?" Display useful sentence chunks in the classroom to inspire students to include the structures in their own writing.

· Have the students reflect on the difference between their first and second note cards either in an academic conversation or in writing. (I thought this sentence meant… but now I know...).

Strategy 2: Text reconstruction

1. Select a chunk of quality text that models good text structure and provides an appropriate challenge.

2. Chop it up into sentences. Literally.

3. Mix the sentence strips and put them into an envelope.

4. Students in groups work to put the paragraph back together in the correct order (reconstruct the text). They must talk about their reasoning.

5. Afterwards, they must explain what clues they followed (main idea, details, etc.) to help put the text back together.

EXTENTIONS:

· Have different groups work on different paragraphs and compare the clues they used.

· Use the reconstructed paragraphs as mentor texts to guide a writing assignment.

Strategy 3: RiVeRS Collaborative reading

In this strategy, students read slightly above their reading level with the support of a small group setting. Follow the acronym:

• R -- Read a chunk of text (a few sentences or a paragraph)
• V -- Vocabulary: students learn to identify and deal with unfamiliar vocabulary by using a dictionary, checking with peers, using context clues, etc.
• R - Re-read the chunk of text
• S -- Summarize --write one sentence about the chunk of text

Because they write a summary sentence at the end of each chunk, by the time they have finished the assigned passage, they have also summarized the important content.

When students become skilled at using the strategy in small groups, they can use it independently as well.

Strategy 4: Actively Learn

Use this wonderful resource to turn any text into a cooperative, interactive reading activity linked to standards.

http://www.activelylearn.com/

RESOURCE: Check out the list of culturally responsive books below.