Mother's Day & Graphic Novels

Do you have students who have absolutely no interest whatsoever in reading a book?  Doesn't it just break your heart!   You've tried everything in your bag of tricks to share your love of books, but nothing has worked.  The thing I found interesting about these students is, their lack of love for reading doesn't necessarily mean they are poor readers.  In fact, I've had some high readers who never read for pleasure.  Sometimes I've found the trouble is a limited attention span.  These students are often overwhelmed by all the words they see on a page and shut down mentally when they see a book that has "too many pages" (their opinion).  These students do better with non-fiction books because the reading is divided into bite-sized pieces.

 Graphic novels are another type of book that will hold these readers' attention.  Here's a great article you should read.  These books appeal to boys and girls.  A favorite of my students is the Baby Mouse series.  Boys love all the ones about Superheroes.

I put together a new packet called "My Mother is My Superhero" which has activities about superheroes.  Students make a book, which I thought would be a great Mother's Day gift.  This unit can be taught at any time of the year, but with Mother's Day right around the corner, this seemed like a great time to use it.  Activities include:

My Mom is My Superhero (book)

• Front cover page

• Writing page: My Mom's super power is . . .

• Design your superhero's logo and write about it

• Comic strip: Write a comic strip about your superhero

Book Center

• Non-fiction worksheet

• Fiction worksheet

• Book list of books about superheroes and moms includes: title, author, reading level, and fiction/non-fiction

Language Arts worksheets:

• ABC order

• How many words can you make from SUPERHERO?

• Palindrome worksheet

• Writing worksheets

• Comparison: Fill out chart comparing two superheroes and

then complete a venn diagram

Math Center

• Superhero Scrabble: Choose words from the word bank, find

the letters' scrabble value, and add the amount.

Available at TPT for $4.

Isn't the clipart cute?  Teacher Tam made it.  Go check out her great stuff!

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Reading Recovery Techniques in the Classroom

Heather @ Hojo's Teaching Adventures is having a  linky party called:

I am not a reading specialist.  But, I did enjoy a workshop called Connect which was given by reading specialists.  The workshop taught classroom teachers how to use reading recovery techniques in the classroom.  We were given many wonderful ideas.  Here is a link that gives an overview of Reading Recovery that is very informative. 

One of my favorite tips that I have used quite often is the "cut up story" technique.  Read about it in the link above.  

My reading specialists also suggested using "boo-boo stickers".  These are white circle stickers that the students use when they make a mistake.  Instead of erasing the word, they cover it up with a "boo-boo sticker".  I couldn't find a picture of white stickers, but here is a picture of red ones.

                                      

I included this activity in my Reading Tips and Tidbits packet.  The activity is called sentence puzzles.  You can use it in a small group setting or as a literacy center.

I also like how students are taught to hear sounds in words using boxes.  You can read about that in the link above in the "Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words" section.  I loved this activity so much I included it in my Word Work for Primary Students packet.  I call it "sound boxes".  There is also an extension of the activity that can be set up as a literacy center.

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