Summarizing Informational Texts: Using Main Ideas!

For the past few weeks, my job as a literacy coach has taken me into classrooms to support kids who are in need of some extra reading intervention. In the past, the model has been to pull these students out of the classroom, but the ore we pull kids out, the less they know what's going on, and they're often missing something important in the room. 
I have been working with kids in third, fourth, and fifth grade, and have really enjoyed it. It made me miss the classroom (for the most part!). 
After speaking with the teacher about what the students needed support in, we settled on some lessons about summarizing nonfiction. This is a difficult strategy for many students to apply. It requires them to identify the topic and then use that to determine what is important in each section of the text. Then we combine those important ideas into a complete summary. Here's what we did:

 We started out with a short text that I found at Readworks.org. There are lots of great passages about all different topics, in fiction and expository format on Readworks. And it's free!

I used a blank thinking guide from Fisher Reyna Education to help us focus on the topic, main idea of the article, and the main ideas of each paragraph.

First we previewed the text including the title, subtitle, and any images or nonfiction features. We made a prediction based on this evidence, and we read through the article once to confirm or adjust our predictions.

After we read through once, we discussed the topic of the article and recorded it on our sheets. We then read through one paragraph at a time to identify the main idea of each paragraph. To help students do this, I ask them to notice repeated ideas and to identify what idea is supported in all the sentences of a paragraph, or what the sentences have in common.

Once we had identified each main idea, we decided to bundle them. We read through paragraphs one and two and identified the common idea in both of them. Then we left paragraph three by itself, combined four and five into one main idea, and combined six and seven into another. We wrote a few words to identify what bundles we had made.

Students had been practicing writing open-ended summaries for weeks, so I thought I'd try a scaffolded response by providing some choices. I wrote four different versions of a summary for the article. One was complete and accurately represented all of the main ideas we identified. The others were either missing an important piece and overly represented a small detail, or misrepresented some information in the article.

On each choice, the students identified which main ideas were represented and which pieces were omitted. After they evaluated each one, they chose the summary that most accurately represented the important information in the article. 
For a whole class setting, I have provided each group with a different version of a summary and had the team evaluate it. Then they had to get up and present to the rest of the class to explain whether their summary was a great choice or a less-than-great choice.
I found that providing some answer choices for the kids to evaluate helped them make the connection to test-taking without having to do passage after passage! A simple activity like this at the end of a close reading could help kids practice this skill in an easy way.
To get the Thinking Guide and any other tools for helping students be successful through an understanding of genre, check out FisherReyna Education on TPT!
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Dr. Seuss Display

So, like most of my big projects, this one was waaaaay overdue. But I wanted to share the display that I put together to celebrate Dr. Seuss and Read Across America! We had so many pictures of our kids and teachers participating in different events that I had to show it off!

I love using cute fonts to create displays -it adds so much texture!

I printed out the letters "Read Across America" in one of my favorite Kimberly Geswein fonts and cut them out. Then I taped them onto some colorful yarn and draped them across the top.

We printed out pictures of our kids celebrating Dr. Seuss and stuck them to the front of the display. We had pictures from our guest readers (read about that here). The kids LOVE to see themselves on display!

To tie up the ends, I made big yarn bows and taped them to the corners.

Inside, I put our collection of Seuss books and stuffed animals, along with the truffula trees and Seuss Arrows I made last week. You can read about how to make those here! Pin It

Using context clues effectively: not as easy as it sounds!

As adults, we have a fairly good vocabulary and often a pretty good intuition about what unknown words mean. We know which words are important to our understanding and which words are not so necessary. We an tell if a word has a positive or negative connotation from reading around it and gathering clues about the tone. We do lots of things naturally that help us not only figure out the meaning of unknown words, but understand how they relate to the words around them. Kids.... not so much. When we ask a child to use "context clues", most of the time they have no clue what we're talking about. Really take a minute and ask your students, "What are context clues?" and see what they say. It's enlightening and depressing all at the same time.

If kids are going to perform this very complex and sophisticated task of determining the meaning of unknown words, we have to help them understand a few things about how words relate to each other in a sentence, and how to use that to determine word meaning. Introducing the Strategy This is why I put together the Four Questions.
1. What job does the word do in the sentence? Does it describe another word? Show you how something is done? Name an object?
2. What part of speech is the word? If it names an object, it's a noun. If it describes a noun, it's an adjective. If it shows an action, it's a verb.
3. Which other words tell you about the word? If the word is describing something, what do we know about that thing? If it's a verb, what is happening? 4. What word has a similar meaning to the word? Are there words that would match the meaning of the word in that sentence, and relate to the other words in the same way? There are a few variations of these questions, depending on what kids need. But as we worked with kids on using these four questions, we realized that something was missing - the big picture. In order to help students get a better idea of the context of the paragraph or story/article, we decided to zoom out and sketch what was happening at the time that word was introduced. We required the kids to use exact details in the paragraph. One of my fifth grade teachers created this context clues mat to help students use the questions and a quick sketch to determine the meaning of unknown words.

The sketch really helped students determine the actual context of the word. If the word is "brush" and the context is describing a park with trees, bushes, and grass, the word "brush" is probably not going to mean "a tool with a handle and bristles". It's going to match the context, and mean "a clump of bushes." Partner Practice & Guided Practice To support this idea, and give kids practice with using context clues purposefully, I created some tools, such as task cards. One of my colleagues used them in her fourth grade classroom and really liked the focused, repetitious use of the strategy.

Students were placed in partners or threes to use the task cards.

After they read the paragraph on the card, they used a recording sheet with the questions on it to help them determine the meaning of the unknown word.

The hardest part was identifying the part of speech - this is unfortunately a difficult skill for our students. Relating it to the job the word does in the sentence was especially helpful.

While other students were working in teams or three, or partners, the teacher pulled over a small group of students who struggled with this skill and coached them through using the cards to practice their context clues.

Application to Test-Taking Isn't this the hard part? We can have kids who verbalize and write about words very well, but when it is applied to a test-taking situation, they don't know how to transfer that learning. One of my fifth grade teachers made this chart with his students to reinforce the use of thinking through context clues in order to answer context clues-type test questions.

Using released tests and passages, the class identified three types of context clue-type questions.  1. Figure out the meaning of the unknown word. 2. Match the dictionary meaning of a multiple-meaning word 3. Find a synonym or replacement word. By isolating the questions they will see and how to use the strategy, students will be better prepared to use context clues in real reading as well as test-taking.  If you'd like to try out the context clues task cards with your kids, just visit my TPT Store: Buzzing with Ms. B and check out the Reading Skills Pack: Context Clues.

What do you do to teach context clues? Pin It

Making Inferences: Scaffolding the Strategy Whole-Class and Small Group *Freebie!

Making inferences is tough! It's is one of the more difficult things we ask kids to do. We model, model, model, but making an inference requires more than following some steps. It requires some sense of what is logical and how we use evidence and background knowledge. It's tricky! Especially for our struggling readers, making inferences requires multiple exposures with lots of scaffolding.  To help kids make inferences that are logical, I try to keep them very closely tied to the text.   This doesn't mean that I don't value their background knowledge - background knowledge is so important to reading deeply! It just means that sometimes, students don't use background knowledge to understand text evidence; they use background knowledge to replace text evidence. And that's not good reading.   So I teach kids to use background knowledge to understand the evidence the text has provided. This means we have to start with the evidence!   

 Whole-Class Scaffolding

 This is a lesson we did with our second grade students. We were focusing on making inferences about a character. Specifically, we were working with A Bad Case of Stripes.

There is a lot of evidence about Camilla Cream's character in A Bad Case of Stripes. We wanted our kids to learn how to focus on searching for evidence to support their inferences. 

First, we started with introducing the strategy and what our purpose for reading was. The questions were charted on the left side of the chart before the teacher began reading the book. The teacher read the first question before starting the book to help focus the kids' thinking.

As the teacher read the book aloud, the kids listened for evidence that would help them specifically respond to the question. As they found evidence to respond to the question, it was charted on the right side. They used the specific details to make an inference and respond to the question. The answer was charted under the question on the left. 

Once the first question was answered, the teacher charted the second question to set a purpose for reading the next piece of text. The process continued throughout the book to help kids think about Camilla's character at different points in the story.

Small Group Scaffolding

 Sometimes what we do for the whole group doesn't "click" with some kids. They try to understand, but the learning is elusive. Small groups are a great time to differentiate your instruction and provide some scaffolding for students to learn a concept in a more structured way.

This is a tool I've used with small groups to help scaffold their inference-making skills. I chose a text very carefully that had several opportunities for students to make inferences. This can be challenging when you're working with a group of struggling readers. It's tough to find a text they can navigate at an instructional level and still have opportunities to "read between the lines" because the text is often so straightforward. Maybe this is easier for others than it is for me, but to ensure that my lesson is as accurate as possible, I really have to do some thinking! 

I chose a leveled reader from our supplemental materials after several re-reads. I found a few places in the text where I could make an inference. I made a two-columned table and and recorded the text evidence in order on the left side, in the order it appeared in the text. On a separate page, I made a blank some blank boxes and typed in the inferences I was able to make using the evidence. These I typed up out of order.

As students read the text, we hunted for the text evidence. Once they found it in the text, we read around it and thought about what we could "tell" from the evidence. Then we looked at the answer choices - the four inference statements that I typed up on the cards - and decided which one accurately matched the evidence. I had students circle a few words that helped them understand the inference was supported by the evidence. 

These are the questions I asked to guide their thinking:

What does the evidence mean?

From the evidence, which inference can we say is true? 

Which inference is supported by the piece of evidence?

Do the inference and evidence have similar meanings?

These questions helped focus the kids' thinking and made sure they were being logical in their evidence-inference connection.

Supporting inferences with evidence

I did a similar activity to work on the reverse of the evidence-inference process. I provided the inferences on the table, and the kids had to match the text evidence to explain which sentence from the text best supported the evidence. We read the article first and discussed important ideas. Then we read the evidence on the cards and sequenced them to locate the context of the evidence in the text. 

Then we read our inferences on the right side of the column and tried to logically connect the evidence to the inferences on the chart, making decisions about which piece of evidence helped us prove the inference true.

It was more challenging than moving from evidence to inferences, and required more time the first time I taught the lesson. But these scaffolding strategies helped our kids become more deliberate in their inference-making and inference-justifying. I used them with kids in grades three and four; special education students and general education students, too! 

What do you do to support kids' inference-making?

 Here's a handy dandy FREEBIE to help you scaffold your inference instruction!

And get all my Reading Strategy MiniPacks in the BIG BUNDLE!

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Bright Ideas Blog Hop: Personal Editing Checklists

How many times have you found yourself reading over an assignment, especially a writing assignment and asking the student the following questions:

Did you reread this?
Where are the capitals?
Do you have a problem with punctuation?

I got a little tired of saying these things (and others) and I finally realized that students were waiting for me to tell them what they should do as writers (and assignment-doers) and so the responsibility was all mine. I had to find a way for them to help themselves for two reasons: one, it is important for their development as students, and two, I didn't want to do it anymore.

So I made these!

Personal Editing Checklists!

Personal Editing Checklists are a handy tool glued on to a tent card. As you can see, I used nothing but the best materials to make my tent cards...I cut up an old cereal box.

I flipped the blank cardboard side out and made a little tent. 

I only made personal editing checklists for my students who needed them, i.e., those students who have significant issues with conventions of writing. So I thought of those individual kids and decided what each student had to do in order for their writing to make sense. I wanted each step to be a specific direction, or action (not a question or single word like "capitals", because I wanted kids to be able to use them independently).

This is the checklist I made for Chris, who struggled with the basics: capitalizing, using periods, leaving words out, and spelling.

I taught the kids how to use them in a small group setting so they knew what was expected. After that, when a student brought an assignment to me and said, "I'm done," I had him or her plop down at my table with the personal editing checklist and review/improve their writing before I ever even see it.

And that improves their writing habits....and my life as well.

I hope you found something helpful here today! The best thing about this post is that it's part of a Blog Hop! If you're here, you've probably found tons of Bright Ideas by now and you're in store for so many more!

The next blogger on the hop is Laura Martin at Peace, Love, and First Grade. Click to visit her blog and learn all about her bright idea: Keeping track of money! If you're like me, collecting money from children is the bane of your existence, so click through for some great tips!

Or if you're ready for some more bright ideas? Check out the Bright Ideas below by clicking on a button. Hope you collect tons of bright ideas today!

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

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Igniting a Passion for Reading: Chapters three and four of our book study!

This is the second posting about our professional book study: Igniting a Passion for Reading! 

"If we can't make kids read (and we can't), then shouldn't we be concerned about monitoring how often we're providing experiences with text that are enjoyable so they might consider reading on their own?" (Layne, 2009)

This book has provided my teachers and I with so much quotable inspiration that I have to share some of it with you!

Chapter Three

Igniting a Passion Through Book Chats

In this chapter, Layne shares his number one surefire strategy to be able to pair books with readers: 

"Read books written for the age group you teach and then tell the kids about the books."

 I love to read books written for adults (like me), and I read a smattering of children's books, but it's really not enough to keep up with all of the new stuff! If we become voracious readers of children's books and have a large collection of books we can recommend and pair up with readers, our reading instruction becomes far better. 

The way Stephen Layne actually "tells" kids about the books is Book Chats. Book Chats are 5-7 minutes long (I could see you getting away with 3-4 minutes in elementary school) and are basically carefully planned commercials that include a few of the following pieces:

1. A Hook - just like we teach in writing, a good hook creates excitement and interest in the book. Some ways Layne shares to create a great hook are to

- Ask a thought-provoking question related to the theme/topic of the book.

- Dress up/use a simple prop

- Possibly read an excerpt (choose carefully!)

- Use an accent related to the book

2. Share a few reasons this book is a great read, or share your reaction to the book

One of our teachers dresses up to share Fancy Nancy!

My favorite quote from this section:

"If I walk into an elementary school classroom wearing a plastic tiara and announce that my name is Nancy (to introduce Jane O'Connor's Fancy Nancy), believe me, I have everyone's attention." 

Keep in mind, the author speaking is Stephen Layne lol.

Chapter Four

Igniting a Passion Through Effectively Reading Aloud

As my teachers and I were discussing this chapter, we talked a lot about where our love of reading came from. Many of us had positive reading experiences in the home, with a parent or older sibling. Unfortunately, many of our students don't have those experiences. By effectively reading aloud (and yes, I have seen this done INeffectively), we can create a positive reading experience for our kids!

To quote Stephen Layne, "To reach these kids, we're going to have to impact the way they think about books and the way they feel about books." 

Throughout the chapter, Layne gives several reasons to read aloud to kids. I've never had a principal who didn't believe in the value of reading aloud to children, but in case you do, this chapter provides some good reasons and quotable moments to share with them!

Reason Number One: It's fun! "A good book read well will do more for the woes of the disenfranchised readers than all the leveled books our publishers can crank out." 

Reason Number Two: It exposes them to a variety of genres. "The conscious choice of reading aloud from a wide range of genres is certain to broaden the interests of our students because many of them have failed to explore multiple genres."

Reason Number Three: It can improve children's listening skills. "In the elementary and middle grades, it is important for us to capitalize on the difference between a child's listening level and the silent reading level of the same child because, in most cases, there is about a two-year difference in these levels." 

Reason Number Four: Reading aloud provides an opportunity to authentically model and practice targeted reading skills. "To underestimate the value of the teachable moment... could be a serious mistake; through the read-aloud I may be reaching kids who need the most skill reinforcement."

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In closing, this line that Stephen Layne quoted from Mary Lee Hahn resonated with me and my teachers, and I wanted to share it with you:

"Read-aloud may look like an ordinary event in a typical classroom, but it feels extraordinary when the teacher who is reading is aware of the power of the book and the importance of his/her role..."

Beautifully put! Thanks for joining our second round of our book study! In a week or so, I'll publish what we noticed when we read chapters five and six!

If you want to go back and learn about chapters one and two, check out my previous post!

And for tips about reading aloud, check out my Reader's Workshop MiniSeries: Episode 3 Read Alouds!

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