I actually cannot claim this to be my WOW moment, but when my teammate, Karen, shared it with me...I was mad that we had not thought of it years ago. Something so simple....how did we not think of it before.
It starts with nonsense words. Our firsties have been working on becoming fluent with reading nonsense words and from DAY 1 we have explained that these little words are inside big words. So our students do understand the importance and have seen those nonsense words in some bigger words.
So last week Karen came to school with these:
They open up into the real words. We want to show them that if they can just say the nonsense word, then they will be able to easily figure out the rest of the "bigger" word.
Our hope is that when they see these "bigger" words in text, they will know what to do and feel confident in the strategies that they have and know how to use.
Thanks Karen for this WOW moment! I would NOT be the teacher that I am today if it was not for you!
Now that is a WOW moment! Thank you for sharing. I need to get to work making some of those. Maria
ReplyDeleteThat's a big WOW! I'm immediately doing this! Thanks so much for sharing not only the awesome activity, but the rationale (applying the nonsense word to the bigger word). Amazing!
ReplyDeleteWOW ! That is great... I want to share it with my grades 3-5 students as well... they are working on seeing the syllables (chunks) in words ... I love the repeated reading in poetry as well...scooping ! :) Gee, I have to come here more often !
ReplyDeleteWendy
Ms. D's Literacy Lab
That is a fabulous wow, Em! I could have used this with my tutoring student...tonight! Excellent post!
ReplyDeleteI am confused. I looked for Fern Smith's post, but I couldn't find it?
DeleteI am so glad you are finding ways to show students real applications for reading nonsense words! Thanks for the opportunity to link up! :)
ReplyDeleteDeb
Not very fancy
I think this is such a terrific idea! I have several students that are working hard at reading and doing a good job, but the big words just seem to scare them.What a great way to tame the big words! Thanks for sharing your friends idea!
ReplyDeleteKelly
I'm Not Your Grandpa, I'm Your Teacher
I love this idea. It makes reading those nonsense words more meaningful and gives kids a reason to learn. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete