• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Creativity to the Core

Creativity to the Core

Learning Makes Us Who We Are

  • Home
  • About
  • PD
  • Resources
    • Freebies
    • Recommendations
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Book Now/Contact
  • TPT
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Complex Text

Literacy Centers & Student Achievement

Recently, I gave a professional development to the teachers who are new to my school as a requirement for the last semester practicum of my Master’s (yippee!). The PD was focused on how to teach in and through literacy centers. But, not just any literacy centers. Real, data driven, standards based literacy centers. 

RIGOR is an important word these days with our new Florida Standards (as with Common Core). The goal of this presentation was to give teachers a deeper look into providing center activities that required students to do more than move task cards, match cards together, or order magnetic letters. I am not against the former. Yes, there is a time and place for both. However, the teachers that were in this PD were interested in how to create activities that would promote the thinking and writing that we are pushing for with our new standards.
After many requests, I’ve decided to share some of the slides with you below. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Before we start, I know many people cannot call daily academic activities “centers” anymore, because administration and some researchers associate centers with play. “Stations” is becoming the popular term because it seems more work-based. However, my school still uses “centers”. Please think in this mindset as you read. ๐Ÿ™‚

Why should you teach through literacy centers?
Literacy centers allow us to gradually release students throughout the year. We teach them directly in small group when they are just beginning, and then as they become more knowledgable, we allow them to work on their own. This gives students a turn to practice and reinforce the strategies that we teach them.

When students are at centers, it is easy to differentiate their work. Differentiation is also not as obvious to other students when it is done in centers. I can have completely different activities going on, but students do not realize it because they are around the room working in groups. Integrating content is SO simple when you teach in a classroom that is full of centers. Students can connect material throughout the day in reading, math, social studies, and science.

And of course, you can plan centers to align directly with your standards.

Finally, literacy centers should include the 7 main components of reading: comprehension, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, writing, speaking & listening, and vocabulary. Jen Jones, from Hello Literacy, calls these the Big 7 Rocks of Literacy.

If you do not have centers up and running in your classroom, the first thing you will need to do is figure out a layout for your furniture. Furniture should be placed in a way that will promote movement. In primary classrooms, it is convenient to have activities rotating around the perimeter of the room. In the picture above, you will see my first grade classroom last year. I placed my small group table in the back corner (with the ball chairs). My centers were then placed around the perimeter of the room so that I could “keep an eye on” everyone. Students who were reading would sit on the carpet in the center of the room. I liked this set up because the groups of students were separated just enough so that each group was able to stay on their assigned task.

Centers do not have to be at tables that are separate from desks. Frequently, I would set a center bin at a group of desks. Students would sit at that group of desks to complete the center. We also use the floor a lot. Students LOVE reading and completing sorting activities on the floor!

Is your school in love with data?
Mine is! There are state assessments, county assessments, school-wide assessments, grade level assessments, in class assessments, and observations. Whew! It can make a teacher crazy. However, we can use the important data to help us create center groupings.

In my classroom, I use summative assessments to determine reading groups at the beginning of the year. At this point, I do not know much about my students or their strengths and weaknesses. As reading groups are used throughout the first few weeks/months, I use the subsequent summative assessments to regroup students.

Formative assessment is perfect for taking note of how students are reading. While in small group, I use black return address labels to write little notes or observations that I see. At the end of the week, I simply peel each label off and place it on the inside flap of the specific student’s folder. These notes are wonderful during conference time. I am just beginning to use the app Confer to do this same thing. See my previous post about this data tracking app here. Formative assessment helps teachers to differentiate center work. Don’t wait for a formal test to change a student’s assignment! If you see something that they need, go for it!

Mini-lessons are the first part of my day.
I teach a short 10-15 minute mini-lesson to introduce our topic of the week or review something that we need to practice. I always love using literature, a short movie clip, or a song to grab the students’ attention! As teachers, we often teach too long in the beginning of a lesson because we are excited about the material. When we think about it, we are talking and students are “listening”. It is important that we let the students do the talking. When you keep a mini-lesson short, it leaves time for students to show their independence on that particular skill.

—

Literacy Centers
When you begin forming your literacy centers, you should think about the centers that you want to include in your classroom. Everyone has different preferences here. I had 6 different centers in my first grade classroom: read to self, spelling, word work, computers, content area, and work on writing.

How do you rotate?
Above is my rotation chart. I had three reading groups that I met with daily (horizontal across the top). These were homogeneous groupings. Vertically on the left, I had “center partners”. These were heterogeneous groupings. One child from each of the reading groups was placed together as “center partners”. So, at the end of the day, each student went to two centers and my small group.

When I asked students to find their first center, they would all go to the center in the first column. Three students would be at each center. Then, I would call my first reading group “Cardinals”. One child from each center would come to me, leaving two kids at the center. This continued during reading group two and three. After about two weeks, I didn’t need to send students to their centers first. They learn quickly and know to just skip the center during their reading group time!

Differentiation is my favorite part of centers. Centers make differentiation so simple! Look at the image above to see some fun ways to provide students with instruction that is at their individual levels. I love these ideas from two of my favorite teacher bloggers! The Brown Bag Teacher uses folders that are color coded to match student reading groups. These folders are placed in each center activity bin. When students go to the bin, they just grab their folder and begin working! Miss DeCarbo differentiates word work by integrating student choice and differentiated sight words. Students keep words for a short time or for a few weeks…depending on what the specific student needs.

Remember, these images are from the PD given to my school. In our county, social studies and science are NOT given separate times in the day. We must integrate social studies and science (and math!) into our reading block.

Integrating content into literacy centers allows teachers to create thematic units in the classroom. Students in my classrooms have always enjoyed learning when it is built into what they are reading. Using nonfiction texts or magazines in small group is a great way to integrate! As students begin to discuss and respond orally to what they are reading, it is easy for teachers to incorporate the new speaking and listening standards!

I compiled the following literacy block examples for different grade levels in my school in order to show teachers how to use the same topics and standards throughout many centers throughout the week. They may not work for your students or your curriculum. Please remember, these are just examples! ๐Ÿ™‚

I also wanted to show teachers how the same six centers can be used in K-5 classrooms. I created these little charts as a way to show the progression of ideas and activities within each center from grade level to grade level. Again, these are just examples! Add or subtract anything you wish.

Small group is my favorite time of day. I love the “almost” one-on-one interaction that I get with my students. This is when I really get to know them. I love the layout that Dianna from Sassy Savvy Simple Teaching created. I printed it out and gave it to all of the teachers in the PD. It is easy to understand and perfect for planning your small group instruction! Below is an example of Dianna’s layout as well as a tweaked version that I created for our 3-5 grade teachers.

Fonts: Hello Literacy & KG Fonts. Backgrounds: Sassydesigns.net. Clipart: Melonheadz.
That’s it! I hope you enjoyed a mini version of my literacy center PD! Thank you for stopping by!

Filed Under: Literacy, Misc Tagged With: Complex Text, data, literacy, Organization, Reading, Reading Centers, Schedule

What A Pair! {Using Paired Texts to Compare and Contrast}

I have be crazy busy with my new job back in the classroom {more to come on that soon}, but I wanted to share this fun set with you today! Last week, our skill was to compare and contrast two texts. In third grade, students are asked to compare and contrast the major points in two texts about the same topic. My two coworkers and I were searching for products to use, but we weren’t finding anything that worked for us…

Fast forward to the weekend. I decided to create a passage to go along with the book Officer Buckle and Gloria. We wanted the students to be engaged in the topic {dogs}, so we used a fun fiction book that they would giggle at. ๐Ÿ™‚ In the past, I have read Officer Buckle and Gloria to kindergarteners and first graders, so I was slightly worried. I didn’t know for sure if my third graders would think it was funny. OH was I wrong! They were laughing and asking to see the flipping dog picture again and again.

Reading two texts can be time consuming, but “Just Do It!”.
With my on level groups, I read Officer Buckle and Gloria aloud and then students read the paired passage silently. With my below level groups, I read the book aloud, but the students read some of the passage and I read some of the passage. With my lower below level groups (many are already in RtI or receiving services), I read both texts aloud. In one of my classes, I read the book aloud whole group which saved a bit of time. Yes, it takes a long time, but there’s no other way to expose them to two texts before discussing and responding.

Discussing the texts
After reading, we started discussing each text separately. I asked students to retell aloud using major details, and we talked a little bit about each character. I prepped students for the questions to come by showing them similarities and differences in the structure of the text: fiction/nonfiction, text features, real pictures/illustrations, paragraphs, etc. We also looked at similarities and differences between the characters/subject in both texts.

My school is big on accountable talk right now, so we made sure to answer questions in complete sentences with sentence starters. My friend Katie from Simply Creative in KY, has a great pack that helps remind us to use accountable talk. You can check it out here.

Responding to the Text
In order to hit two standards at once, I added response questions AND compare/contrast questions to the passage. My on level groups only did the compare and contrast questions with me, because they are able to answer text-dependent questions on their own. My below level groups were guided through everything. {A picture of both handouts is shown below.}

We compared and contrasted the text structure and the topic (dogs, worms, trees, apple pies, bumblebees) in each set of paired texts. Students then explained which book they enjoyed reading most and why.

It wasn’t the easiest skill for my struggling readers, however, it did make them think. And think HARD! They were prepared for their practice assessment on Friday, and did very well. {Celebrate Small Moments!!!} Pretty soon, the service dog passage was turned into a whole pack!

Click here to grab yours or see a larger preview!
Here are the five passages included. 

These are the five books that I used to pair with the nonfiction passages. But, any fiction book on the same topic as the passage will work just fine! ๐Ÿ™‚ They are not included in this pack, so check out your local library or head over to Amazon. {Amazon Prime is my weakness!}

At the top of each passage in the pack, you will see a Paired Text Suggestion and a line for students to write the name of the paired book (see picture above). This helps students to see that they are focusing on TWO texts not just one.
There are also two response pages included with full answer keys. Some answers may be different if you choose a different children’s book than the suggested one. Any fiction book on the same topic will do!

I hope you enjoyed this mini preview! If you are like me and focused on standards, standards, standards, then I hope this little pack helps to narrow down your planning for LAFS.RI.3.9 or CCSS.RI.3.9! Click here to see a larger preview!

Have a great week!

Filed Under: Literacy, Misc Tagged With: Accountable Talk, Complex Text, literacy, Paired Text, Reading

Close Reading for the Holidays

Are you in need of some low-prep activities to get your students through the holiday season? Check out my newest close reading passages! They are perfect for small group, guided reading, weekly homework, and thematic units. All you have to do is simply download and print! If you are not familiar with close reading you can read more about it in my Close Reading Mini Series.

I’m excited to be a part of The Primary Gal‘s Unwrap a Gift Linky Party. There are so many engaging gifts for you from some of my favorite teachers. Keep reading for a closer look and be sure to unwrap your gift at the end of this post!ย 

I have two sets of holiday close reads: European traditions (7 passages) & Asian traditions (6 passages). Each passage is written at an appropriate text complexity level for 2-3rd grade according to the Common Core State Standards. However, it totally depends on your students. I often used similar close reads with my high first graders, and I have a friend who uses them with her struggling fourth graders. There are two different versions of most handouts within each set. Instant differentiation!

Close reading is all about developing a true understanding of the text. Therefore, I make sure that students are rereading many times. One passage will last us 3 days to a full week! Students reread the passages silently, aloud, and to partners. Then, they annotate by highlighting or circling unknown words, numbering paragraphs, and underlining answers in the text. You can have students use any annotation marks that you like (although I recommend no more than about 3 at a time – see the close reading blog series above for in depth information).

After reading, students will respond to text-dependent questions. I ask students to go back to the text and underline or highlight their answers. They are also required to write the number of the question beside the sentence in the text. This is a wonderful skill to start early on! It works wonders on standardized tests! Each passage in my close reading sets has two different sets of response questions which is great for differentiation in class.
I hope you enjoy your holiday season! Click the image below to UNWRAP YOUR GIFT!
Head over to The Primary Gal to unwrap more gifts!

 

Filed Under: Literacy, Misc Tagged With: Annotation, Christmas, Close Reading, Complex Text, freebie, Holidays, Reading, Repeated Reading, Text Dependent Questions

Complex Text & Text Dependent Questions {Close Reading Mini-Series}

Close Reading - complex text & text dependent questions

Brief, high-quality, & complex text
Reading lessons should match this description if you are implementing close reading. In my research, it was recommended that passages should be anywhere from 3 paragraphs to 2 pages.

Why shorter passages?
-Teachers can teach specific skills.
-Teachers can focus on specific ideas in the text.
-Students can practice really digging into the text.
-Students of ALL reading levels can closely read demanding texts.
-Young students have time to gradually build up to independent reading because they are not overwhelmed.

Time Consuming!
Close reading can take a very long time. So…teachers should choose smaller passages in order to be able to get through everything. When students are reading on their own, they can enjoy longer passages. For close reading, keep it short!

Modifications
As we discussed, modifications must be made when using close reading in the elementary grades. Common Core calls for ALL students, regardless of reading level, to interact with complex texts. But how can kindergarteners and young firsties do this, you ask??? Answer: Modify!
Students in primary grades have a higher ability to comprehend while listening. So, it may be important for teachers to expose students by reading aloud to them and promoting independent reading. If you teach K or 1, you may even try a close read in which you read aloud to students. This modification will help kids to move from listening to reading independently in the upper grades.

Text-Dependent Questions
Common Core is focused on text evidence. So, teachers should form text-dependent questions for students. In other words, the questions MUST require students to use the text.
In close reading, students are asked to go back to the text to find something that confirms their opinion or answer. Focusing on these questions causes students to reflect on the text rather than just quickly getting the gist of the passage (Brown & Kappes, 2012).

Questions should be about and include:
-General understanding of the text
-Key details
-Vocabulary
-Text structure
-Author’s purpose
-Inferring
-Opinons
-Intertextual connections

Using many types of questions helps students to develop diverse discussions about the text. Think about it. If you keep asking the same key detail questions, kids will only talk about key details. But if you ask questions that have them recall, talk about text features, infer from the images, form opinions, and make connections to their lives, they will have A WHOLE LOT to talk about!

Think about this:
“Students who learn to ask themselves such questions are reading with the discerning eye of a careful reader. We can also teach students to read carefully with the eye of a writer, which means helping them analyze craft” (Boyles, 2012).

Goal:
Have students participate in active discussions to share their background knowledge and ultimately apply what they have learned. Eventually, students should begin to ask themselves the same questions while reading independently.

I hope you will be able to use these ideas in your classroom! ย Click here to read about using repeated readings during your close reads.

Close reading - What's it all about? Understanding the in's and out's of close reading in an elementary classroom

signature

Filed Under: Literacy, Misc Tagged With: Close Reading, Complex Text, Mini-Series, Text Dependent Questions

Primary Sidebar

Hi, I’m Meredith!

READ MORE

Search

Follow on Instagram

Footer

Copyright © 2023 ยท Creativity to the Core ยท Site by Ready to Blog Designs