This week our Smart Summer Challenge theme is Government–and what better way to start the week off than by playing with money? Okay, so we really started the week off with a flag cake, but who’s really keeping track? We’ve …
Category:
reading
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comprehensionquestioningreading
questioning and connecting during read-alouds
by Teach Mamaby Teach MamaI’m not going to lie–some summer days, I really think that if it weren’t for the 15 minutes of Adult Swim, my kids wouldn’t stop moving all day long. Even the rest times that I once relied on …
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readingword consciousness
word a day: creating word conscious, word happy kids
by Teach Mamaby Teach MamaOur very first day of the Smart Summer Challenge found us lazying around at home because Owen returned from swim and dive feeling really under the weather. So while he caught up on some telly and gave his body a …
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Best Of Teach Mamacomprehensionreading
learning during read-alouds: 5 things never to say to emerging readers
by Teach Mamaby Teach MamaSometimes it’s very easy for teachers and parents to feel impatient with emerging readers. It’s hard to listen to kids sound out every word on a page and get through only five words a minute. It’s hard to know what …
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activating schemacomprehensionreading
learning during read-alouds: activating schema
by Teach Mamaby Teach MamaAccording to Rachel and Mary Gabriel, the “schema theory tells us that prior knowledge is essential for comprehension of new knowledge and that learning difficulties can often be traced back to insufficient background knowledge” (Gabriel & Gabriel, “Power in Pictures: …
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comprehensionconnectingreading
learning during read-alouds: making connections
by Teach Mamaby Teach MamaMy kiddos are huge fans of popping pop beads, stringing beads, connecting nuts and bolts, and just sticking things together. Not only are these great activities to help develop kiddos’ fine motor skills, but it shows how connecting–putting things together–is …
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readingword consciousness
learning during read-alouds: word consciousness
by Teach Mamaby Teach MamaBy sharing our love of words and talking about new and exciting words, we are teaching our children to become Word Conscious. Word Consciousness is an integral component of language development and one of the early predictors of success in …
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comprehensionreadingvisualizing
learning during read-alouds: visualizing
by Teach Mamaby Teach MamaMany of us have taken a moment now and again to encourage our children to find pictures in the sky on a cloudy day, right? No matter if it’s a turtle, a shoe, a bunny, or a Cheerio, it always …
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I’ve said time and time again that read-alouds are an absolutely perfect time for sneaking in some learning with our kiddos, I believe there the sky’s the limit as far as what concepts, terms, and ideas we can teach our …
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comprehensionquestioningreading
quick, sneaky questioning to improve reading comprehension
by Teach Mamaby Teach MamaIt seems that Maddy’s leveled out a bit with her reading this year. She’s doing great with her spelling, she’s made huge strides with decoding, but she’s stuck on one particular level and needs to stretch her …
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I’ve struggled this year with how to occupy Owen and Cora while Maddy does her homework, and what I’ve come to realize is that in order for me to support Maddy, Owen and Cora have to pretend they’re in Rome …
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20 fun ways to learn spelling words | sight word games | spelling word games | best ways to learn sight words | teachmama.com
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comprehensioninferringreading
super-important inferring during read-alouds
by Teach Mamaby Teach MamaRead-alouds are the perfect time to sneak in a little bit of learning, whether you’re talking simple reading comprehension strategies, concepts of print, or word recognition. Tonight, we rocked our nighttime read-aloud with a few more thought-provoking and …
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comprehensionquestioningreading
non-fiction reading and real-life learning with fish
by Teach Mamaby Teach MamaWe’re pet sitting for the next few days, and Maddy, Owen and Cora are loving it. Nothing cuddly or furry, but these little guys are certainly entertaining if you ask my three kiddos. We’re fish-sitting, actually, for what …
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countingenvironmental printmathnumberstravel
adding practice with street sign math
by Teach Mamaby Teach MamaToday, we hit the road a bit, to a new-for-us library to hang out with some friends and learn about 4-H and county fairs and then to (our fave!) Ikea to pass a rainy afternoon. (And the free kids’ meals …
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Lately, we’ve been so busy. May flew by, like it always does for us–a blur of end-of-school activities, yard work, picnics, park dates, and now pool time. So I’ve tried to sneak in what I can, when I …
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Today, on this rainy, cool, gray Monday, we rocked it with an oldie but goodie:Sunny-Rainy Grid Games. Or Rainy-Sunny Grid Games, depending on how you’re feeling or the weather outside. We’ve played this game before, but not for a while, …
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Thank you, ABC Exercise Cards, for giving us a fun and burn-some-steam kind of activity this afternoon! After a rainy weekend and another rainy–but exciting!–morning at the College Park Aviation Museum with Owen’s class, I found that by the afternoon, …
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I always cringe when I hear parents talking in baby voices and using baby words when interacting with their not-so-babyish children. Or other people’s not-so-babyish children, especially once those kiddos are out of Baby Bjorns and are walking, jumping, feeding …
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Today is the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association’s new National Day on Writing! The National Day on Writing is designed to draw attention to the variety of writing that occurs as part of daily …