On-line Library - http://awesomelibrary.org/
RAZ - Kids http://www.raz-kids.com/main/BrowseCategory/id/new - click on the letter of the Alphabet to begin your search!
Read To Succeed! The more you read the more you arm yourself with powerful knowledge to succeed in the world. Critical readers are critical thinkers. Remember to summarize, clarify, compare and make connections in order to make your reading more meaningful. Reading Strategies
Inferencing
Compare and Contrast
Summarize
Main Idea
Predicting
Context Clues
Interactive Language Arts Websites
Learning
Planet
Letters,
sounds, parts of speech; for students in K-5
Play Kids Games
Alphabet and vocabulary
games for all ages
Internet 4
Classrooms
Use the
Language Arts links under each grade level
ABC Teach
This site has some
forms that older kids can use to do reports. It also has lots of printable ABC
activities for the little ones, including flash cards and coloring
sheets.
Kids
Reads
Students of
all grades can find information about books - book reviews, books in series,
author information, podcasts, etc.
Reading
Planet
Reading and writing games for students in grades
2-5. Check out the "Game Station" and "Book Zone" areas!
Soft
Schools
Good
phonics practice for K-2 students
Enchanted
Learning
Printable
books, online picture dictionary; for students and teachers
Game Goo
Games
for K-5 students; alphabet matching, parts of speech, rhyming
Toon
University
PreK-5th
grade students can enjoy learning with games for spelling, reading
comprehension, and more
Education
Place
Find your
grade level and explore the activities online; from Houghton Mifflin
Company
PBS Kids
Explore with your favorite characters
like Clifford and Arthur; you'll find lots of fun, interactive stories and
games
I Know
That
Language Arts
games and activities for students of all ages
Starfall
Fun interactive stories for younger K-1
students
Professor
Garfield
Beginning/ending sounds matching game for K-1
students
Reading
Sparkers
Phonics
skills for first and second grade students
Language Arts
Fun
Filled with
hundreds of activities for letter learning, spelling, reading, and
more
ReadWriteThink
Match beginning, middle, and ending sounds; also long and short
vowels
Rat Race
Move
Rodney Rat to catch falling shapes, words, or parts of speech based on your
grade level
Click Here to see tutorial and activities U N W R A P Unwrap and C U B E S is one of our favorite TAKS reading strategies. Remember to approach your article or story as though you are unwrapping a gift. You are deconstructing the packaging bit by bit to reveal the wonderful gift of knowledge. Every time you read, you are activating and adding to your schema, you are learning something new.
U - Underline the title, pictures, captions - jot down any predictions
N - Number your paragraphs,
W - Walk through the questions before reading
R - Read story 2 -3 times - stop and jot about the main idea of each paragraph
A - Answer all the questions - do not leave a blank . X out wrong answers
P - Prove your answers - write down paragraph number e.g. P.2
************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
C - Circle the numbers
U - Underline important words
B - Bracket the questions
E - Eliminate extra information
S - Solve
PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES
Problem Solving Strategies
Acting It Out:
This strategy provides a more tactile approach to a problem. For these students
acting out the problem or using a manipulative may help them better understand
the problem.
The steps are:
1. Identify the question.
2. Decide either to use simple objects or act out.
3. Manipulate the objects or themselves to represent the problem and visualize the relationships.
4. Determine the answer.
5. Record the solution.
Looking for a Pattern:
There are some problems that are easily solved using patterns. For these problems, organize the information, evaluate it, and determine the pattern which will result in either the answer or the method to get to the answer. The pattern will show relationships in the numbers.
The steps are:
1. Identify the question.
2. Organize the information in a understandable way, such as a T-chart, vertical pattern, or other model.
3. Study the information to find a pattern.
4. Apply the pattern to
determine the final answer.
5. Record the answer.
Drawing a Picture:
Some students rely on visual aids to better understand mathematical concepts or problems. Making a picture is a helpful tool for solving a problem. Students may represent their thoughts with pictures. For example, problems related to sequencing would need timelines. The drawing does not need to be elaborate; it just needs to help with the reasoning of a problem.
The steps are:
1. Think about the problem.
2. Understand what is being asked.
3. Find a picture that would fit the problem.
4. Make a drawing.
5. Come up with a solution to the problem.
Systematic Guessing and Checking:
There are some problems that are very complex or have very large numbers and pose difficulties to the student. For these types of problems, allowing the student to guess an answer will give them a starting point. For this strategy the student guesses an answer to a given problem and then tests their answer.
The steps are:
1. Identify what piece of data is missing.
2. Guess an answer and substitute the answer into the problem.
3. Evaluate the result to determine if it is reasonable.
4. Adjust guess as needed.
Making a Table:
There are some problems that contain large quantities of data or continuing data. For these problems the student might find it helpful to create a table in order to help them organize data, identify missing data, or discover patterns.
The steps are:
1. Decide on the data to include in the table.
2. Label the table.
3. Fill in the data.
4. Evaluate the data to find relationships between numbers.
5. Answer the question.
Working a Simpler Problem:
This strategy is beneficial when solving complex problems. The student takes a complex problem and breaks it into simpler parts. For example, if the problem has multiple parts, the student would perform the problem in steps or if the problem possesses large numbers the student may round the numbers.
The steps are:
1. Identify the question.
2. Identify the pieces of missing information needed to solve the problem.
3. Solve for the missing pieces of information for the simpler problem.
4. Apply the new information to the problem. 5. Solve the original question.
Working Backwards: (Inverse Operation)
Students need help solving multi-step problems. This strategy involves working backwards to solve a series of computations or steps. The student then addresses the information given at the beginning of the problem to determine the final answer. For example, a problem that gives partial information about the ages of a group of children and the actual age of only one child. The student must work backwards to determine the ages of all the children based on the one piece of information.
The steps are:
1. Identify question being asked.
2. Determine the last piece of data.
3. Decide operation to perform on last piece of data to prior data.
4. Repeat step 2 as needed.
5. Collect all data.
6. Perform final operation and solve.
Reading Practice
High
Frequency Word Practice
(You could make flash
cards using these words and/or phrases!)
Inferencing
Compare and Contrast
Summarize
Main Idea
Predicting
Context Clues
Interactive Language Arts Websites
Learning
Planet
Letters,
sounds, parts of speech; for students in K-5
Play Kids Games
Alphabet and vocabulary
games for all ages
Internet 4
Classrooms
Use the
Language Arts links under each grade level
ABC Teach
This site has some
forms that older kids can use to do reports. It also has lots of printable ABC
activities for the little ones, including flash cards and coloring
sheets.
Kids
Reads
Students of
all grades can find information about books - book reviews, books in series,
author information, podcasts, etc.
Reading
Planet
Reading and writing games for students in grades
2-5. Check out the "Game Station" and "Book Zone" areas!
Soft
Schools
Good
phonics practice for K-2 students
Enchanted
Learning
Printable
books, online picture dictionary; for students and teachers
Game Goo
Games
for K-5 students; alphabet matching, parts of speech, rhyming
Toon
University
PreK-5th
grade students can enjoy learning with games for spelling, reading
comprehension, and more
Education
Place
Find your
grade level and explore the activities online; from Houghton Mifflin
Company
PBS Kids
Explore with your favorite characters
like Clifford and Arthur; you'll find lots of fun, interactive stories and
games
I Know
That
Language Arts
games and activities for students of all ages
Starfall
Fun interactive stories for younger K-1
students
Professor
Garfield
Beginning/ending sounds matching game for K-1
students
Reading
Sparkers
Phonics
skills for first and second grade students
Language Arts
Fun
Filled with
hundreds of activities for letter learning, spelling, reading, and
more
ReadWriteThink
Match beginning, middle, and ending sounds; also long and short
vowels
Rat Race
Move
Rodney Rat to catch falling shapes, words, or parts of speech based on your
grade level
Click Here to see tutorial and activities U N W R A P Unwrap and C U B E S is one of our favorite TAKS reading strategies. Remember to approach your article or story as though you are unwrapping a gift. You are deconstructing the packaging bit by bit to reveal the wonderful gift of knowledge. Every time you read, you are activating and adding to your schema, you are learning something new.
U - Underline the title, pictures, captions - jot down any predictions
N - Number your paragraphs,
W - Walk through the questions before reading
R - Read story 2 -3 times - stop and jot about the main idea of each paragraph
A - Answer all the questions - do not leave a blank . X out wrong answers
P - Prove your answers - write down paragraph number e.g. P.2
************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
C - Circle the numbers
U - Underline important words
B - Bracket the questions
E - Eliminate extra information
S - Solve
PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES
Problem Solving Strategies
Acting It Out:
This strategy provides a more tactile approach to a problem. For these students
acting out the problem or using a manipulative may help them better understand
the problem.
The steps are:
1. Identify the question.
2. Decide either to use simple objects or act out.
3. Manipulate the objects or themselves to represent the problem and visualize the relationships.
4. Determine the answer.
5. Record the solution.
Looking for a Pattern:
There are some problems that are easily solved using patterns. For these problems, organize the information, evaluate it, and determine the pattern which will result in either the answer or the method to get to the answer. The pattern will show relationships in the numbers.
The steps are:
1. Identify the question.
2. Organize the information in a understandable way, such as a T-chart, vertical pattern, or other model.
3. Study the information to find a pattern.
4. Apply the pattern to
determine the final answer.
5. Record the answer.
Drawing a Picture:
Some students rely on visual aids to better understand mathematical concepts or problems. Making a picture is a helpful tool for solving a problem. Students may represent their thoughts with pictures. For example, problems related to sequencing would need timelines. The drawing does not need to be elaborate; it just needs to help with the reasoning of a problem.
The steps are:
1. Think about the problem.
2. Understand what is being asked.
3. Find a picture that would fit the problem.
4. Make a drawing.
5. Come up with a solution to the problem.
Systematic Guessing and Checking:
There are some problems that are very complex or have very large numbers and pose difficulties to the student. For these types of problems, allowing the student to guess an answer will give them a starting point. For this strategy the student guesses an answer to a given problem and then tests their answer.
The steps are:
1. Identify what piece of data is missing.
2. Guess an answer and substitute the answer into the problem.
3. Evaluate the result to determine if it is reasonable.
4. Adjust guess as needed.
Making a Table:
There are some problems that contain large quantities of data or continuing data. For these problems the student might find it helpful to create a table in order to help them organize data, identify missing data, or discover patterns.
The steps are:
1. Decide on the data to include in the table.
2. Label the table.
3. Fill in the data.
4. Evaluate the data to find relationships between numbers.
5. Answer the question.
Working a Simpler Problem:
This strategy is beneficial when solving complex problems. The student takes a complex problem and breaks it into simpler parts. For example, if the problem has multiple parts, the student would perform the problem in steps or if the problem possesses large numbers the student may round the numbers.
The steps are:
1. Identify the question.
2. Identify the pieces of missing information needed to solve the problem.
3. Solve for the missing pieces of information for the simpler problem.
4. Apply the new information to the problem. 5. Solve the original question.
Working Backwards: (Inverse Operation)
Students need help solving multi-step problems. This strategy involves working backwards to solve a series of computations or steps. The student then addresses the information given at the beginning of the problem to determine the final answer. For example, a problem that gives partial information about the ages of a group of children and the actual age of only one child. The student must work backwards to determine the ages of all the children based on the one piece of information.
The steps are:
1. Identify question being asked.
2. Determine the last piece of data.
3. Decide operation to perform on last piece of data to prior data.
4. Repeat step 2 as needed.
5. Collect all data.
6. Perform final operation and solve.
Reading Practice
High
Frequency Word Practice
(You could make flash
cards using these words and/or phrases!)