Elementary Language Arts Reading

Teach Skills Explicitly Elementary students need to be explicitly taught the various comprehension skills adult readers innately use to gain meaning from what they read. The Utah State Language Arts core will help teachers identify those skills. The skills need to be introduced and taught using a variety of genres in an effort to encourage students to become lifelong readers. Every aspect of a student’s world will be impacted by their ability to read and write, therefore, it is extremely important to help students become proficient with Language Arts skills.

Teaching specific comprehension skills in chunks with short passages will make understanding the skills more comprehensible. When possible, it can be useful for students to see the skills used in a short piece of published literature. Amelia Bedelia is great for introducing figurative language. Fortunately/Unfortunately works well to introduce cause and affect relationships. The Important Book is a great catalyst for teaching descriptive paragraph writing. There are published book lists as well as basal texts that will help teachers choose a short piece of literature to introduce a specific skill in reading or writing.

Once a skill is introduced, then it can be applied to a few paragraphs or short articles where students can practice using their skills. As they become more proficient using a skill it can then be applied to longer pieces of literature.

There are many ways to teach reading There are many ways to teach reading. Teachers can enhance student comprehension especially at the intermediate elementary and middle school level by using reciprocal teaching and/or cooperative reading strategies.

Reciprocal reading encourages students to focus on Predicting, Questioning, Clarifying, and Summarizing, as they read to gain meaning from the text. The teacher must specifically teach students how to utilize these strategies to increase comprehension. Book marks with these skills help students remember what they need to do when they apply these strategies.

Reciprocal Reading Predict Question Clarify Summarize

Literature Circle Passage Picker - Job #1 Word Finder - Job #2 Connector - Job #3 Discussion Director - Job #4 Artful Artist - Job #5

Graphic Organizers Story Plot Flow Map

Graphic Organizers Specific Comprehension Skills

Graphic Organizers Writing

Supporting ELLs in the Mainstream Classroom: Reading Instruction http://www.readingrockets.org/articles/33048?theme=print

Read to students every day Illustrations that help clarify Action-based story plots Limited text on each page Repetitive or predictable phrases High-frequency vocabulary Useful words

Support Comprehension Read slow-to-normal speed Use expressive tone Allow time after each paragraph for assimilation Point to words or pictures as you read Act out the story as you read

Support Comprehension Use visuals and manipulatives Read the same story on successive days. Pause to invite students to supply words they know.

Use audio books Books on CD Record the stories as you read

Establish an ELL Center Object box with labeled objects Picture dictionary Home-language books on new-comers reading level Beginning phonics books with tapes Taped music in English and Home Language

Web Sites Http://www.csusm.edu/csb/english Site features more than 3,000 recommended books in Spanish or Spanish/English http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Dictionary.html Site features nearly 2,000 illustrated dictionary entries. English-Spanish