Think Big With Think Alouds Grades K 5

I’m guessing that those two are planning a surprise. . . . The author keeps mentioning the storm because she wants us to think that the character’s upset. . . . Wait—yikes, I gotta go back and reread because I’m not getting this part. . . . These are the flickering thoughts of a strategic reader. If only we could bottle all these mental moves and pour them into the minds of our students, then readers’ achievement would grow exponentially. In Think Big With Think Alouds, Molly Ness delivers a process that comes close to bottling that magic. Molly spent a year researching teachers’ think alouds, and she uses these findings to help you know just what to do. The big time-saver? You focus on just these five strategies: asking questions, making inferences, synthesizing, understanding the author’s purpose, and monitoring and clarifying. Select the one or two strategies that align to your text, and get ready with a stack of sticky notes! Grab a pencil, and you are on your way to dynamic lessons using Molly’s three-step planning process: Read Once: Go wild, putting a flurry of sticky notes on spots that strike you Read Twice: Whittle your notes down to the juiciest stopping points Read Three Times: Jot down what you will say so there’s no need to wing it in front of the kids Other practical tools include More than 20 ready-made think aloud scripts for favorite texts by Sandra Cisneros, Seymour Simon, Shel Silverstein, and many others, to use for think alouds for fiction, informational text, and poetry. Fun small group and partner activities to gradually transfer comprehension strategies to your students. Downloads on the companion website, including spinner and dice templates, planning forms, and think aloud scripts Molly Ness is an associate professor at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University and earned her PhD in reading education from the University of Virginia. A former Teach For America corps member, she is an experienced classroom teacher and reading clinician. Her numerous books and articles focus on reading comprehension, the instructional decisions of teachers, and the assessment and diagnosis of struggling readers.

A think-aloud process that comes close to bottling magic Grab a pencil, and you are on your way to dynamic lessons using Molly’s three-step planning process. Read Once: Go wild, putting a flurry of sticky notes on spots that strike you Read Twice: Whittle your notes down to the juiciest stopping points Read Three Times: Jot down what you will say so there’s no need to wing it in front of the kids Molly helps you focus on just five strategies: asking questions, making inferences, synthesizing, understanding the author’s purpose, and monitoring and clarifying. Includes more than 20 ready-made think aloud scripts, activities, templates, and more.

A think-aloud process that comes close to bottling magic Grab a pencil, and you are on your way to dynamic lessons using Molly's three-step planning process. Read Once: Go wild, putting a flurry of sticky notes on spots that strike you Read Twice: Whittle your notes down to the juiciest stopping points Read Three Times: Jot down what you will say so there's no need to wing it in front of the kids Molly helps you focus on just five strategies: asking questions, making inferences, synthesizing, understanding the author's purpose, and monitoring and clarifying. Includes more than 20 ready-made think aloud scripts, activities, templates, and more.

Kids stop, think, and predict as they solve skill-building word problems.

The Comprehensive Handbook for Scaffolding Students’ Literacy Growth Our readers and writers must "do the doing" if they are to succeed. In The Big Book of Literacy Tasks, Nancy Akhavan offers an instructional plan designed to yield independent effort and engagement. 75 tasks in beautiful full-color two-pagers ensure gradual release by moving more swiftly from the "I do" teacher phase to the "you do," when students benefit from the healthy amount of struggle that is the hallmark of learning. (And spoiler alert: you kick the habit of hovering, over-explaining, and rescuing!) Backed by research and thoughtfully arranged to make day-to-day planning easier, this groundbreaking book provides: Reading and writing tasks organized into 3 sections—everyday skills, weekly practices, and sometime engagements requiring greater complexity Mini-lessons that are essential— whether you use a reading program, a workshop approach, or are just transitioning to Balanced Literacy Colorful teaching charts allowing you to quickly grasp the high points of each lesson A clear task structure for introducing and managing the stages as you move students toward independent practice Mid-task "Watch Fors" and "Work Arounds" showing how to coach without risking helicopter teaching Amazing scaffolding tips for meeting the needs of a range of learners Sample student work that offers valuable insights on how to use the tasks as formative assessments Practical and engaging, The Big Book of Literacy Tasks gives you a clear framework for "working the minds" of your students, helping them forge their own path to becoming better readers and writers.

With this giant flip chart, you can teach comprehension to your whole class or small groups with great ease and impact. Or prop the chart up on an easel for students to use on their own! Two-page spreads show a strategy lesson on one side and on the other, a nonfiction or fiction passage with Robb's think aloud highlighted. Finally, your students can see the kinds of thoughts a reader makes to puzzle the meaning of a word, visualize, and so on. Includes lessons for 8 key strategies, including inferring, posing questions, making connections, discerning cause and effect, and more. Engaging journal writing prompts support students as they practice the strategies independently. For use with Grades 4 & Up.

Spark meaningful conversations about race, identity, and social justice in your classroom using read alouds as an entry point. Students need to see themselves and their peers in the books they read, and to engage with varying viewpoints. How can educators create a safe and nurturing space that inspires young children to explore diversity and ask curious questions? In Rebellious Read Alouds, author Vera Ahiyya—beloved by educators worldwide as The Tutu Teacher (@thetututeacher and @diversereads on Instagram)—empowers teachers to encourage classroom conversations about important and culturally relevant topics using daily read alouds as an entry point. Presenting a broad range of read aloud lessons around current, diverse picture books that can ignite deep conversations and learning about self, others, and the world, this wise and joyful guide prepares educators to tackle "hushed topics" with young children. It includes: Booklists, tools, and recommendations for building an inclusive classroom library of titles written or illustrated by people in traditionally marginalized populations Tips and resources for facilitating diversity conversations in a way that’s developmentally appropriate — and meets ELA and social justice standards 45 complete lessons plans around children’s books, with prompts and recommended stopping points for conversation, and suggestions for inspiring discussion and scaffolding deep thinking Interviews with educators and parents who offer advice from their experience doing rebellious read alouds Suggestions for partnering with administration, parents, and colleagues on this important work Spark the rebellious reader inside you and lead your students toward creating a more just and equitable world.

While self-talk like Now we are buckling you in the car seat so we can go to the store is common parental practice, this book shows how teachers, parents, and therapists can take this to higher levels to advance language cognitive development and learning potential. Based on neuroscience and their own innovative work, the authors provide the rationale and a step-by-step process for using intentional self-talk and think-aloud methods to improve both language and cognitive development in normal and language-delayed children, as well as in older individuals with disabilities. Stories are sprinkled throughout the text to demonstrate mediated self-talk in action and the remarkable results achieved with real children. With clear guidelines for delivery, content, and timing, the crucial core of the process is to narrate thinking, action, and emotion in the presence of children without requiring their response. Book Features: Addresses the growing numbers of children entering school with language poverty, describes the concept of mediated soliloquy (MSL), or self-talk, with individuals or classroomswho should use it and when, where and how it can be applied, and expected outcome, and illustrates the use of MSL for specific language disorders and to improve both language and interpersonal function with children exhibiting delays, disabilities, spectrum behavior, and social/emotional difficulties.