Hello Mrs Sykes

We know reading and writing are linked, right? Many of our struggling readers need help with writing, too. Unfortunately, time is tight, and mClass assessments require written response! Here's a quick look at strategies that I use with my struggling second, third, and fourth grade readers to boost their written responses.

The ultimate goal of literacy is to help students become life-long readers, so they can be educated citizens. The child's first and most influential teacher is their parent and/or guardian. With that in mind, it is crucial to give families the tools they need to help this child, as well as other children in the household. {Here's a link to an article from The Atlantic:  How Family Game Night Makes Kids Into Better Students } I love to invite families to school for Literacy Night. I've helped organize, prepare, and lead Literacy Nights at least 8 times over the course of my teaching career, and I plan to continue this for years to come. Here are my tips for an easy and successful Literacy Night in Upper Elementary classrooms. Make and Take for Literacy Night, grades 3-5 At a recent Literacy Night at my school, the parents met in the gym to see a quick presentation about state testing. The students went to the media center to watch a video, learn how to do the Make and...

In my experiences as a literacy coach, classroom teacher, and literacy specialist, I noticed that my upper elementary kiddos who struggle with reading usually have some similarities.  They are typically not fluent readers, and they rely on prior knowledge instead of the information they read.  Not all struggling readers have these issues, naturally.  :) When I say fluency, I know the picture that pops into the head of many teachers...  anxious students, stopwatches, and lists of nonsense words while you tell the kiddos to read as fast as they can!  That's not what I mean.  I'm not talking about their oral reading fluency - I'm concerned that these kiddos who struggle with reading aren't fluent readers when they read to themselves .  Since the best way to become a better reader is to read, and they struggle reading, then reading isn't usually something they are clamoring to do. For months, I have been inspired to create "Practicing Fluency and Compr...

Today is the third day in my series to empower teachers, Supporting Struggling Readers in Grades 3-5.  If you are new to the series, or want to see what the hype is about, click on the button below to visit the other posts in this series . So far, you've created an Assessment Binder, made your list of struggling readers , and assessed Fluency . Our focus today is Comprehension!! Whoo-hoo!  Y'all know how much I enjoy Literacy, particularly helping teachers help their students...  Let's get started!!   Just a reminder from the other day:  We are going to engage in a bit of "Digging Deeper" with each student on your list.  We want to use this time to be a detective and find out why they are struggling readers. There are 3 main reasons the majority of struggling readers in upper elementary have difficulty reading: 1. Fluency - they take a long time to read and don't have the stamina to read for very long. 2. Comprehension -  they don't u...

OK, yall.  I'm going to share a little something that is simple but it works!  I was a Literacy Specialist for 9 years, working with the neediest readers who weren't already being served in reading with special services.  My struggling readers could really latch on to 4 strategies, so I modeled/taught/lived/breathed the Reciprocal Reading Strategies: summarize, clarify, question, and predict.  Anyway, this is an oldie but a goodie... click on the picture to download free from TPT, and be sure to leave a comment or review it on TPT.  Happy Tuesday, y'all!  :)