Memorial Day!

     Memorial Day is an important day for students to remember because they need to know that there are people out there who are willing to die to provide us with freedom. These people are not only in the military but all people who protect us, police, firefighters, and rescue workers are just as important.
     I have been talking to my students about all these important people and relating it to 911, since that is something they are familiar with.  I have also read them the book "A Patriotic Alphabet Book", then we went to YouTube and searched for the song Yankee Doodle.  They enjoyed this.  I did this because I didn't want them to only remember Memorial Day as death, even though that is what it is about.

Ch. 2 "Reading as Thinking Strategy" Daniels & Bizar

At my school last year we had a workshop on Thinking Maps and I use these all the time with my first graders.  I use the maps in addition to the usual predicting and think aloud with my students. I have also seen an increase in reading comprehension.  The students enjoy using the maps because we have made them bigger and laminated them so they can use them during work station time and this also saves on paper.  At the beginning of the year I introduce one map at a time and model how to use them before putting them in the work station.  My favorite maps are: circle map-is used for defining a word or event, tree map- used to classify things and has many uses (setting, characters, problem, solution; answering questions, and is great for writing activities), flow map-sequencing, double bubble map-comparing and contrasting (I use different colors this helps the students identify the 3 parts), and brace map- whole-part relationship helps brake words and ideas apart.  There are other maps with this program, however, these have proven to be the most useful with my students. The great thing about these maps, they can be used in all content areas!

Welcome to my blog

This blog is for my graduate class, Language Arts/Social Studies 520.  We will be doing weekly discussions about our understanding of the reading assignemnts.  Please feel free to leave comments about my discussions.  It will help me to have a better understanding.

I did it!!!  See you can teach an old dog new tricks!