Reading Boot Camp: "The Daily Schedule"

Reading Boot Camp: "Sample Daily Schedule"

Reading Boot Camp is the perfect tool to help ALL students transition to the Rigorous and Demanding College and Career Ready ELA Reading Standards.

The schedule below is a sample of the many RBC literacy activities and it lightly touches on the enrichment activities. 

Reading Boot Camp Philosophy: Awaken or reawaken the desire for learning and imagination, let the light of wisdom and reason shine in. Solemnity, harmony, and literacy are distant visions for some teachers on day one, yet the seed is planted rigorously, feed constantly, and blossoms over the 20 plus days.

Reading Boot Camp is a teaching philosophy that uses collaborative teaching, cooperative learning structures, active student learning, and teacher made curriculum that has many levels, structures, and strategies designed to meet the needs of individual children and classrooms.

“Reading Boot Camp is a sure fire way to rev-up reading in your classroom.  RBC has no magical remedy, just uses consistent teaching practices, significant time on task~reading with student accountability, coupled with high interest reading, student motivation and effort.  Students who participated in Reading Boot Camp the summer of 2011 at Wilson K-8 and then for three weeks as the 2011 school year began, enjoyed the routines of daily singing to music with lyrics, poetry readings, word work drills, reading fluency drills, student choice in reading, academic word games, and motivational brain breaks which translated to student success. Does Reading Boot Camp work, YES!  Students grow in their reading ability, are motivated to read, recite, and sing to lyrics, while reading which equals a high level of student engagement and more time on task reading!” Cindy Senn, Wilson k-8 Reading Specialist/Teacher

The RBC schedule is not set in stone! Fluency Drills, Sight Word Drills, Singing, Exercising, Emotional Intelligence Lessons (Formative Handicrafts), Literacy Games, Academic Vocabulary Games (Legendary Lands), Poetry Readings, Book Clubs, Close Reading, Socratic Seminars, Recess and Play, Authors Circles, Jokes, Riddles, Plays, and Tons of Reading Fun!

Reading Boot Camp Philosophy:

• Every half hour take a brain break! 
• Sing lots of songs 
• Build Reading Fluency!!!!
• Twice a day minimum incorporate formative handicrafts Käsityö  
• Repeat all declarative lessons (Ex. Vocabulary Tier 1, 2, and 3) within two hours to maximize long term memory of materials
• Keep it fun
• Play games and more board games
• Be creative 
• Use Cooperative Learning Structures 
• Skip the published basal readers and computer reading software  

8:35 Morning Motivational, Inspirational Read Aloud, and Emotional Intelligence Building “Can I get an Hazzah: ” We start the day with ”Curiosity Mindset Indoctrination” an old school  method of classic fairy tales, parables, inspirational stories, and fables. I share the epic stories of courage, virtue, honor, perseverance, responsibility, duty, fortitude, chivalry, civility, empathy, sacrifice, and most importantly, an exemplary work ethic. Two Rules: BE NICE and BE HELPFUL or BE VIRTUES and BE BENEVOLENT!

KEEP THE GOALS SMART, CHALLENGING, SHORT, AND FUN!       

8:45 Morning goals and preview: We set daily, weekly, and monthly goals, with active charting of all data for a strong visual cue of each student's progress. Class and student goals are always set at or above grade level, even for students who are four years below grade level. All class goals are posted in the class and updated regularly as students meet and surpass goals. Daily goals include tasks completed for homework and class work. For intermediate students, we list at least seven daily goals: 1) I will read, analyze, and diagram two-four poems, and select one to memorize for daily recitation; 2) I will read or reread two short stories and complete vocabulary comprehension exercises (questions); 3) I will read two chapters from a grade-level text and write a story map for each; 4) I will write five to fifteen, kid-friendly sentences with at least six to eight words each using the review vocabulary; 5) I will write one poem in student-selected cursive in my Book of Memories ( a collection of students best work and cherished knowledge); 6) I will study, review, or learn twenty five new words, ideas, facts, jokes, stanzas, phrases, limericks, rhymes, riddles, antonyms, synonyms, quotes, parables, folktales, myths, fables, and or fairy tales; and 7) We set big goals but keep many easy to attain! Do not try to do all this in a day!!! A goal can be as simple as do your homework.  Primary Goals; 1) I will learn and have fun!;  2) I will read 25-50 words with my partner and make and share kid friendly sentences; 3) I will actively listen and ask complete questions; 4) I will read two poems and find the words that help me create a picture in my mind (imagery)  “Try to learn 25 new things everyday at school or at home!” Goals: Students who meet their daily, weekly, and monthly goals can earn time for art lessons, hot cocoa with the teacher, Chinese noodles for lunch, homework passes, and the kids favorite a ten-minute dance party. Students who do nothing to meet their goals are dressed down and read the riot act using kid logic and parables to re-teach the work ethic and responsibility. I eat lunch with my students most days, so they can share what’s going on in their lives. I invite students who seem to be lost and have no desire to participate in school to join me for lunch. I let them know I am going to do everything in my power to teach them how to read and to keep them on task. I am a tough, no-nonsense teacher, and letting the kids talk and laugh with me at lunch lets them see me as someone other than the reading drill sergeant. It helps kids relate and feel more comfortable in the classroom.    

Reading Boot Camp 2.0 English Language Arts: 20 Day Curriculum Map

Reading Boot Camp Daily Must Do's!

1. Daily Reading Fluency Practice: Literature and Informational Text

2. Daily Read Alouds with Socratic Seminars: Analyzing and Discussing Literature

3. Mini ELA Concept-Lesson/Teaching Points: See daily teaching points

4. Small Group Guided Reading: Close Reading Strategies (Summarize and paraphrase main ideas in Literary Fiction, nonfiction, & Expository / Informational Text) 

5. Independent Close Reading: One Page Close Reading Passages Literature and Informational Text

6. Shared Reading / Reading Literature (Harry Potter) and Informational Text (Make inferences/draw conclusions)

7. Multimodal Word Study: Tier1, 2, and 3 Academic Vocabulary / Context Clues / Multimeaning words / Word Analysis · Greek and Latin Roots · Base Words · Prefixes, Affixes, and Suffixes

8. Writing Focus: Dependent on Grade Level ELA Standards

Week #1 Narrative Writing and Poetry or Research-Based Informational Writing, 

Week #2: Opinion and Informational Writing or Research-Based Opinion/Argument Essays

Week #3 Research-Based Informational Writing or Narrative Writing, or Poetry

Week #4 Opinion and Informational Writing or Research-Based Opinion/Argument Essays

WEEK One	WEEK Two	WEEK Three	WEEK Four	WEEK Five?
Teaching Points: · Greek and Latin Roots · Base Words · Prefixes, Affixes, and Suffixes · multimeaning words · contexts clues · Atmosphere & Setting · Mood vs. Tone · Sensory Details (words) in Writing AT LEVEL REVIEW: 7 elements of narative stories, plot, character types, setting, conflict, resolution TEXT FEATURES  EXPOSITORY TEXT Advanced review: Cited textual evidence · text annotation · 5 Organizational Structure of Different Genres · Connections among and across texts & genres	Teaching Points: · Narrative text, 7 main genres of fiction · plot development, including subplot ·3+ types of conflict · resolution · LITERARY DEVICES · LITERARY FORMS · LITERARY ELEMENTS AT LEVEL REVIEW: Making inferences, Drawing Conclusions, and locating supporting Information Advaced review: · Point of view, first/third. limited vs omniscient and subj vs. objective · character qualities that influence theme and conflict · Character Analysis · characterization	Teaching Points: · Expository text, 5 main structures of · Inference · Predictions · Drawing Conclusions ·, Signal words · Locating Key Information (Close Reading) TEXT FEATURES of EXPOSITORY TEXT AT LEVEL REVIEW: · Narrative text, 7 main genres of fiction · plot development, including subplot · 3+ types of conflict · Character qualities that influence theme and conflict Advaced review: literary devices: allusion, diction, epigraph, euphemism, foreshadowing, imagery, metaphor/simile, personification…	Teaching Points: · Plot development, including subplot · Character qualities that influence theme and conflict · Point of view, limited vs omniscient and subj vs. objective AT LEVEL REVIEW: · LITERARY DEVICES · LITERARY FORMS · LITERARY ELEMENTS · Connections among and across texts & genres Advaced review: · Persuasive and argumentative text · Factual claims, counter claims, · Textual evidence · Assertions · Opinions, reasons & evedence ·…	Teaching Points: Poetry forms · poetry terms · poetry types and structures · Main Idea and Supporting Details · Inference, Predictions, Drawing Conclusions, and Locating Key Information
HOT Vocabulary	HOT Vocabulary	HOT Vocabulary	HOT Vocabulary	HOT Vocabulary
compare & contrast (distinguish between), cause & effect, restate, support & supporting details/evidence, reinforce, details, context	categorize, determine, predict, reference, retell, informational, restate, paraphrase, related, evidence, evaluate, convince	clarify, claim, bias, conclude, contribute, resolution, opinions, persuade. prejudice, stereotype, argument, reasoning	convince, conclude, evaluate, evidence, characteristics, cite, comparative, persuade, persuasive

Day #1 Essential Questions, Academic and Concept Vocabulary, Teaching Points, and ELA Lesson Focus!

WHAT ARE WORDS and WHY are they so IMPORTANT?

Day #1 Essential Questions: How can you determine the meaning of a word using its roots and/or affixes? How are words formed or created? What are the origins of the English language? How do Greek and Latin Roots help a reader clarify unfamiliar words? Extension: How do context clues enable a reader to comprehend advance or complex texts?

Day One Concept Focus (Background Knowledge): Some words have an affix at the beginning, which is called a prefix, and others have an affix at the end, which is called a suffix. Words can also have both a prefix and a suffix. Some common prefixes include: de-, mis-, pre-, and un-. Common suffixes include: -ing, -ly, -ness, and -y.

Objective: Students will explore, read, review, build background knowledge, and discuss the concept of root words with prefixes and suffixes and identify their meanings.

Word Analysis/ Concept Word Study | Academic and Concept Vocabulary Focus Day #1

Greek and Latin Roots, Base Words, Prefixes, Affixes, and Suffixes.

Day One Concept Focus Extensions (Background Knowledge): Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing the meaning word. Part of reading comprehension involves using the other words in a sentence or passage to understand an unknown word. An author often includes hints, or clues, to help the reader expand vocabulary and grasp the meaning of the passage.

Spiraling Reading Strategies and ELA Concept Review Day #1

Essential Questions: Understanding and making meaning from a text requires background knowledge and locating facts in the text. What are the best strategies to make an inference and draw a conclusion when I read?

Teaching Points /Concept Vocabulary

Tier 3: Inference, Predictions, Drawing Conclusions, and Locating Key Information (Close Reading)

Tier 2: compare & contrast, cause & effect, restate, support & supporting details, reinforce, details, context

Socratic Seminar Topic: What did Ludwig Wittgenstein mean by "the limits of my language are the limits of my world"?

Lesson Ideas and Resource Links:

• Prefix-Suffix-Root List by Grade Level
• Analyzing Words with Roots and Affixes: Centers # 2
• Analyzing Words with Roots and Affixes: Centers # 1
• Greek and Latin Roots Lesson Plans
• Analyzing Words with Roots and Affixes: Plus Games
• Tic-TAKE-Toe™ Prefixes and Suffixes

Day #2 Essential Questions, Academic and Concept Vocabulary, Teaching Points, and ELA Lesson Focus!

How do stories create empathy in the reader and why is this so important for our social wellness?

Day #2 Essential Questions: What can fiction do better than nonfiction? Why?  How do the characterization, conflict, and plot of a work of nonfiction differ from those of a work of fiction? What makes fiction narrative different from other types of writing? What are the main characteristics of a short story?

Day Two Concept Focus (Background Knowledge): A narrative is a literary work that involves the retelling of a story. To develop an effective narrative essay, paper, poem or book, you need to include several common narrative elements. These elements include a main theme of the story, characters, a plot and the setting. Author's craft is the art of writing immersive stories. It is the writer's intentional use of LITERARY DEVICES and LITERARY ELEMENTS to create introspective thoughts and or emotions in the reader.

Word Analysis/ Concept Word Study | Academic and Concept Vocabulary Focus Day #2

• CHARACTER, THEME, PLOT, POINT OF VIEW / Types of Point of View, SETTING, CONFLICT, and TONE.
• Exposition, rising action, conflict, turning points, plot twist, climax, falling action, resolution 
• Conversation, converse, dialogue

5 stages of a Story: 1 – Exposition. Exposition is the beginning of the story. The author sets up the story including characters, setting, and main conflicts. 2 - Rising Action. The Rising Action occurs throughout the story. This is where conflicts start to build. 3 – Climax. The Climax is the turning point of the story. This point in the story is when conflicts start to move in a different direction and it may not always be a positive direction. 4 - Falling Action. Falling Action occurs after the climax as conflicts start to resolve in the story. The excitement of the climax means the end is near. 5 – Resolution. The Resolution is the solution to the problem as you have reached. The solution might not be what you want, but the conflict has been resolved.

Day Two Concept Focus Extensions (Background Knowledge): 5 types of text organization: Description. This type of text structure features a detailed description of something to give the reader a mental picture. EXAMPLE: A book may tell all about whales or describe what the geography is like in a particular region. Cause and Effect. This structure presents the causal relationship between an specific event, idea, or concept and the events, ideas, or concept that follow. EXAMPLE: Weather patterns could be described that explain why a big snowstorm occurred. Comparison/Contrast. This type of text examines the similarities and differences between two or more people, events, concepts, ideas, etc. EXAMPLE: A book about ancient Greece may explain how the Spartan women were different from the Athenian women. Order/Sequence. This text structure gives readers a chronological of events or a list of steps in a procedure. EXAMPLE: A book about the American revolution might list the events leading to the war. In another book, steps involved in harvesting blue crabs might be told. Problem-Solution, This type of structure sets up a problem or problems, explains the solution, and then discusses the effects of the solution. EXAMPLE: Click here to view an example of Problem-Solution text structure.

Spiraling Reading Strategies and ELA Concept Review Day #2

Essential Questions: How are the various types of argumentative writing similar or different? How …… type of writing similar or different from ….. types of writing? What kind of organization could be used for this form of writing?

Teaching Points /Concept Vocabulary

Tier 3:

Tier 2: convince, conclude, evaluate, evidence, characteristics, comparative, persuade, persuasive
Socratic Seminar Topic: "Amat victoria curam" "Victory loves preparation"

The Seven Key Elements of Fiction

Day #3 Essential Questions, Academic and Concept Vocabulary, Teaching Points, and ELA Lesson Focus!

Why is mood, atmosphere, tone, and the writers style important to building an emotional connection and draw the readers into the story.

Day #3 Essential Questions: How are words used to create the mood or atmosphere in a story? How are words used to reflect a positive or negative tone in a story? How is tone related to atmosphere and mood?

Day Two Concept Focus (Background Knowledge): Atmosphere, Mood, Tone.. While “tone” is the writer's attitude towards the story, “mood” is the feeling the reader gets from the authors style of writing. Tone often describes the writing overall, but the mood (feeling) of a piece of writing can change throughout it. Tone and mood in fiction and literature are created by a writer's style and ... identify what's important to him, but also affect the reader's response and feelings. ... of which is ideal when you want to draw a reader deep into story. ... It's not the reader's emotions, but the atmosphere (the vibe) of a scene or story.

Word Analysis/Word Study | Academic and Concept Vocabulary Focus Day #2

· Atmosphere, Mood, Tone, Setting, Imagery and Descriptive Visual Words

MOOD = EMOTIONS & FEELINGS Create a list of mood words
TONE= Positive or Negative ATTITUDE Create a list of attitude words
Mood = ATMOSPHERE = Sensory Details and Words in in Writing

Spiraling Reading Strategies and ELA Concept Focus Day #3

Essential questions: What are some strategies to find the theme or the main ideas in a story? How are the theme and the main idea similar and or different (compare and contrast)?

Essential Concepts: Main ideas are typically found in a literary passage. Central ideas are found in an informational text

· The theme is the lesson or message that the writer wants to get across in his or her story.

Teaching Points / Concept Vocabulary

Tier 3: Main Idea, Central Ideas, Topic, Theme, and Points of View
Tier 2: categorize, determine, sequencing, claim, inform, persuade,

Advanced Teaching Points / Concept Vocabulary

Character qualities that influence theme and conflict, Point of view limited vs omniscient and subj vs. objective

Socratic Seminar Topic: “Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.” ― John Green

Lesson Ideas and Resource Links:

Tone & Mood Word ListsTone vs. MoodTone and Mood - inetTeacherMOOD vs TONE.
MOOD AND TONETeaching tone & mood - TDifference Between Mood and Tone - Worksheet - Freeology

CLOSE READING STRATEGIES on TEST

1. What does the title tell you? Is this a persuasive text, expository text, narrative text, or technical text?
2. Skim the text and label/annotate the headings, titles, subheadings, pictures, diagrams, captions, and any text features
3. Read the text closely and annotate each paragraph seeking the main ideas, themes, mood, tone, points of view...Annotate in the margins and take notes. Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph and find the main ideas.
4. Read the question carefully and circle 1 or 2 keywords/clues in the questions and one keyword/clue in each of the multiple choice questions or distractor choices.
5. Skim the text and find the exact text or passage that supports your first answer choice or conclusion.
6. Investigate and eliminate the 2 or 3 distractors or DECEIVERS with the same close reading strategies. Distractors are designed to fool the passive reader.
7. Annotate and X-OUT the distractors, why are they wrong and what is your proof/evidence?
8. Find and prove your answer using text evidence and circle the correct answer and highlight it!

Grade Level Reading Fluency Goals

1st Grade 80 Words Correct Per Minute

2nd 140 WCPM

3rd 160

4th 180

5th 195

6th 205

7th 210

8th 215

READING ENDURANCE GOALS Sustained Out-Load Reading

1st Grade 20-30 minutes

2nd 30-40 minutes

3rd 40-60 minutes

4th 60-80 minutes

5th 80-100 minutes

6th 100-120 minutes

7th 100-120 minutes

8th 100-120 minutes

Morning Songs | Start the Day RIGHT! 

8:50 Vocabulary Games: VOCABULARY SPARKLE Have your children stand or sit on their desk so they are facing the teacher. Start at either end of room and give the first child a vocabulary word or definition. They say the definition or kid friendly sentence if given the vocabulary word or they must give the word when a definition is given. The child that cannot give an answer says SPARKLE and must sit down. Continue the game until you are down to one child! The last child that has answered all the vocabulary gets a small bag of popcorn. Every child that answers a hard vocabulary question correctly gets a pretzel, stamp, or a sticker. They love this and it is great review for challenging academic vocabulary! Start with a mix of easy and hard words to get the kids excited and ready to study the challenging academic words.

We use Tier 2 and Tier 3 Academic Vocabulary.

8:54 WORD WORK DRILLS: Vocabulary Drills and Practice With Buddy: Vocabulary Building Activities Graded word list used daily to build phonemic awareness, word attack skills, articulation, power, and fluency. Students read the words up to ten times per day, as needed, at the start of Reading Boot Camp to reinforce fluency and word attack skills. The drills are quick, one-time read-through that take about a minute to read the twenty to forty words. ALL VOCABULARY (WORD WALLS) I USE DURING READING BOOT CAMP ARE CONTAINED IN A SPELLER! THE SPELLER CONTAINS ALL GRADED VOCABULARY, ACADEMIC WORDS, FLUENCY DRILLS, POETRY, SHORT STORIES, And ACADEMIC GLOSSARIES. Ask students to keep an efficient pace and use timers to guide the class. Students with attention problems do well with this task. After reading the vocabulary list for fluency have students share kid friendly sentences, antonyms, synonyms and definitions. Students that are learning English are asked to repeat the sentences or definition they just heard. Activities can be done with a partner or in small groups.

Sample from Primary Speller

Week 1	1st Grade Comprehensive English Vocabulary Tier 1, 2 & 3
MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
the	I	it	had	at
of	that	with	you	her
and	was	is	not	by
to	he	for	be	which
in	his	as	on	have

Week 1	2nd Grade Comprehensive English Vocabulary Tier 1, 2 & 3
down		never	those	way	long
good		where	come	without	being
men		old	shall	life	well
own		day	himself	make	through
most		work	came	go	might

Week 1	3rd Grade Comprehensive English Vocabulary Tier 1, 2 & 3
rise	built	middle	rate	provided
sake	touch	promise	looked	pale
spot	courage	sky	lower	higher
winter	board	complete	distribute	loss
breath	official	physical	instance	offer

Comprehensive Academic Vocabulary Tier 3

Reading	Language Arts	Math	Science	Social Studies
Author	Punctuation	Add	degree	America
Plot	Noun	Shorter	balance	citizen
Setting	Sentence	Pattern	environment	community
Characters	Rhyme	Taller	shelter	country
Atlas	Pronoun	Smaller	thermometer	governor
Paragraph	Abbreviation	Subtract	light	president
Comprehensive Academic Vocabulary Tier 2             Blooms Taxonomy Vocabulary
Category	Tell	Read	Match	Compare
Create	Make	Describe	Predict	Discuss
Sort	Show	Sequence	Question	Answer

9:10 Quick Reading Drills: Fluency drill: Students use a collection of teacher-made fluency drills to quickly read a passage and assess a reading fluency rate. Students are trained to complete the Running Record and monitor, record and prepare a simple miscue analysis for their peers. Students then switch roles and repeat the Running Record process. The students calculate, or get help calculating, their own words-per-minute fluency rate. Extensions: The student then read and reread the fluency drill to practice inflection, articulation, and expression with peer and teacher modeling. The first time a passage is introduced, I read the passage with power and inflection as it would be performed as a recitation for an audience. We discuss vocabulary and background knowledge to insure full understanding of the literature.




9:15 Poetry and Prose: Students can read a quick poems with a reading buddy or come together for formal poetry readings and student recitation. Formal poetry readings start with soft jazz music and students sitting with their poetry books in hand, reading along as a student reads or I perform a selected poem. Students who have mastered a poem are invited to recite for the class. We critique the poem for articulation, emotions, and our thoughts and impressions. Extensions: Jazz and poetry can run longer than the five to ten minutes that I give it during Reading Boot Camp. Reading collections of poems from the same author and doing a more thorough analysis is time well spent and makes life-long readers of poetry. There are many "aah . . ." and "Wow!" teachable moments in poetry. Digging deeper into poetry helps teach the hardest concepts in reading, such as inference, author's view point, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, and allusion. Extensions: Riddles and Jokes are also used to teach inferential thinking skills.


9:25 Guided Reading or Close Reading: Students participate in an Oprah-style book club during Reading Boot Camp and throughout the year. All students (and the teacher) read the same award-winning chapter book. I usually start with a book that is one grade above the level I teach to insure a very steep learning curve. Harry Potter books are favorites. Whenever a student or I read to the class, the students always have the text in front of them. The students read along silently with the reader, their fingers following word-for-word. To begin, I read the first few pages (no more than half of the chapter). I stop frequently to do a 'think aloud' to show my thoughts and opinions. Any passage that has a teachable moment is seized to help students understand complex concepts. Background knowledge and challenging vocabulary are explained and simplified with synonyms and examples. Students have a short breakout reading session with their peers and reread what I read to them. Students are grouped in many ways, from picking groups randomly using popsicle sticks, to forming groups using student data. Students take turns reading two pages and then actively monitoring for understanding and decoding. The student who monitors the reader must ask three questions that show a deep understanding of what was just read. The impressions of characters feelings, motivations, author's viewpoint, and vocabulary are discussed and analyzed for meaning. Students who cannot decode a word or don’t know its meaning get assistance from their peers, or, if needed, from the teacher.

9:50 Brain Breaks: Educational Sloyd "handicrafts training that incorporates character building", Games, Poems. and Music and Lyrics: Students learn to sing 10-20 songs during RBC. We usually start with the Beatles or classics from the great singer songwriters.

Use everything and anything to bring 

literacy into the classroom, Even Zumba!  

Music and Movement with a Twist! 

9:55 Quick Fluency drill: Students retake the previous fluency drill to improve their wpm scores.

10:00 Music and Movement: After sustained, focused reading and concentration, students take a music and movement break in the form of a high-energy tune and kung fu exercises. The kids do deep knee bends, push ups, and other stretching exercises -- think Tie Chi and New Wave Rave music. Extensions: I will turn the music and movement break into a longer lesson by having the students listen to a song with great poetic lyrics. The goal for the students is to listen and write down all the lyrics. The students' focus quickly turns to mania to get all the lyrics written down. Active listening is very easy to teach with this method, especially if you use a song from No Doubt to Katy Perry. '

 

10:05 Story Maps and Journaling: Students write a story map or journal entry to strengthen reading concepts. Students work together with their reading partners or with the teacher together for the second part of the guided reading instruction. We review important concepts to look for and discuss the main idea of the chapter. I model a proper story map on the chalk board and show students my thought processes on selecting important detail. Students break out into groups and revisit the chapter they just read earlier with their peers. They review the chapter again, stopping to write challenging and interesting vocabulary. Then they sequence important details as they happen in the chapter. Students can use the author’s words and phrases or put them into their own words, depending on their ability. Students take turns reading and helping with selecting important content and discussing what is actually important. Students usually have fifteen to twenty vocabulary words and ten to twenty sentences in sequential order.

We Spend 30% of the day goofing off with enrichment activities! Handicraft "Käsityö", Paper Sloyd. Singing Songs, Playing Games, Hunting for Sand Rubies in the Sand Box, Dancing to Bollywood Songs, Dressing Up, Hand Weaving, and every other fun activity that makes learning fun!


We Take a Brain Break Every Half Hour!


The Praisers Club Affirmation Poster Party!


The Students Play Games Twice A Day!


The Kids Favorite Quick
Brain Break is Hand Weaving "Käsityö"!

10:45 Word Work Vocabulary Practice with Peers | Dragons and Airships or Alien Vocabulary Game | (Tier 3 and Tier 2 Testing Words) Use this free tier 3 academic vocabulary game to background knowledge and build Reading ELA readiness. The game is designed to be a fun way to build academic vocabulary using a game students already know, snakes and ladders. .    

Complete Vocabulary Game Card Set  Vocabulary Game RULEs
Alien Vocabulary Game Board

 

11:05 Direct Vocabulary Instruction: ELA and Reading Testing Vocabulary: This is even made into a camp style activity. Three tiers of vocabulary are used during vocabulary instruction. Grade level Tier 1 reading/spelling vocabulary, Tier 2 and 3 academic vocabulary, and a grade below Tier 1 for review. six-ten words from each academic Tier are selected and explicitly taught with definition and kid friendly examples. We read, write, define, categorize Tier 1 vocabulary, and students use in a sentence, I try to make funny or odd sentences to help students remember. Tier 1 Vocabulary is also, alphabetized, syllabified, categorized (noun, verb, adjective etc.) and roots, suffix, prefixes are examined in a discussion forum. Students then write one kid-friendly sentence per word for Tier 1 grade level vocabulary, with at least six to eight words, to show understanding. I give students examples of strong sentences and weak sentences to model competent writing. Students can use my sentences to help with the process at the beginning. Most vocabulary words are discussed and made into sentences by the teacher to help students with active listening before they have to write them. Extensions: Students who are reading at grade level are instructed to choose harder words and analyze and write more complex sentences.

11:25 MORE BRAIN GAMES: VOCABULARY SPARKLE Have your children stand or sit on their desk so they are facing the teacher. Start at either end of room and give the first child a vocabulary word or definition. They say the definition or kid friendly sentence if given the vocabulary word or they must give the word when a definition is given. The child that cannot give an answer says SPARKLE and must sit down. Continue the game until you are down to one child! The last child that has answered all the vocabulary gets a small bag of popcorn. Every child that answers a hard vocabulary question correctly gets a pretzel, stamp, or a sticker. They love this and it is great review for challenging academic vocabulary! Start with a mix of easy and hard words to get the kids excited and ready to study the challenging academic words.

Teaching Poetic Devices with Lyrics!!

11:30 SMARTBoard Read Aloud: Alice in Wonderland, Chapter One: Students gather around the SMARTBoard to read and listen to Alice in Wonderland. I load the PDF ebook to display on the SMARTBoard, select the Librivox audio book, and start the presentation. I ask for a volunteer to use the pointer to help students follow the text as its being read by the Librivox narrator. The students relax and listen to Alice and I have time to work with a student or put my feet up and take a breather. I am lucky to have a SMARTBoard to help with reading instruction and lesson planning. Before the SMARTBoard, I was stuck using my Aver key and my TV.

Make Reading an Event!

11:30 Short Stories: Many teachers do not have a SMARTBoard, so this type of read aloud is not possible in that format. Teachers can use their computer and/or an Aver key to do a modified read aloud. Teachers, who do not have access to technology, can use a student-led reading group to read a short story. Students select a short story from their anthologies and round-robin read with their groups. The teacher can join a group, or work one-on-one with a student who is struggling. Groups should be formed using student data to insure each group has one strong reader. They read the story, and if they have time, read a second story, taking turns reading and discussing important details and interesting concepts.


12:00 Morning Wrap: Quick discussions of morning goals, learning, and methods are critiqued to improve the learning environment. Exemplary students who demonstrate excellent manners and etiquette are praised and celebrated.




12:05: Brain Breaks: Music and Lyrics:

12:10 Recess and Lunch: Students who are not on task, who play or goof around, lack manners or good school-etiquette are kept in during recess to re-teach those skills that are needed to succeed. I use an old-school method of positive behavior modification in the form of writing sentences. Positive affirmations are used to help modify attitude and behavior. Intermediate students, who are chronically off the mark, write twenty five affirmations to start the reprogramming and they lose their lunch recess.

12:40 Vocabulary Practice With Buddy: Vocabulary Building Activities

12:50 Quick Fluency drill: Students retake the previous fluency drill to improve their wpm scores.

12:55 Poetry and Prose: Students buddy read a poem or come together for student recitation or performance. We start the soft jazz music and sit with our poetry books in hand, reading along as the students recite or perform a selected poem.

The fountains mingle with the river

And the rivers with the ocean, 

The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
 Nothing in the world is single,

All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle -
Why not I with thine?
 See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another;

No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdain'd its brother:
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea -
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

1:00 Academic Vocabulary Instruction: Six challenging words are selected, usually at a grade above what is taught. I use a fifth grade vocabulary list for some, and sixth grade for a few students. Vocabulary is reviewed, categorized (noun, verb, adjective etc.) and synonyms and antonyms are diagrammed on the SMARTBoard or chalk board. I give three examples of each word in a sentence to help students understand the meaning. Students then write one kid-friendly sentence per word, with at least six words, to show understanding. Students are allowed to use my sentences or write their own. Extensions: Students above grade level can assist with writing and editing of peers' work and reading if they are competent and good role models. Students can also assist with analyzing new poems and literature for challenging vocabulary and suggested lessons.

1:10 VOCABULARY SPARKLE Have your children stand or sit on their desk so they are facing the teacher. Start at either end of room and give the first child a vocabulary word or definition. They say the definition or kid friendly sentence if given the vocabulary word or they must give the word when a definition is given. The child that cannot give an answer says SPARKLE and must sit down. Continue the game until you are down to one child! The last child that has answered all the vocabulary gets a small bag of popcorn. Every child that answers a hard vocabulary question correctly gets a pretzel, stamp, or a sticker. They love this and it is great review for challenging academic vocabulary! Start with a mix of easy and hard words to get the kids excited and ready to study the challenging academic words.

1:15 Fluency Drills or Math Blast Vocabulary Lesson Math Blast is a quick review of Tier 3 Math vocabulary on the chalk board with examples. Example: Obtuse, Mode, Median, Ordered Pairs or any other Grade level Tier 3 Vocabulary students must mastered. 1:20 Vocabulary Instruction: VOCABULARY MASTERS!

1:30 Music and Movement: After sustained focus and concentration, students take a music and movement break in the form of a super-high-energy tune and Kung Fu exercises. The kids do deep-knee bends, push ups, and other stretching exercises think Tie Chi and new-wave, rave music.

1:35 Poetry and Prose: Student volunteers read a favorite poem as the class reads along. Cracker Barrel Philosophy: Reading great poetry is bubble gum for the imagination. 'It's very hard when you start but the more you chew the softer it gets". Sean

1:44 Word Wall Fluency Drills

1:45 Quick Fluency drill: Students retake the previous fluency drill to improve their wpm scores.

1:50 Poetry Recitation: Students write, read, and memorize a poem to recite. The students read and reread the entire poem, practicing articulation and enunciation for public performance. They must memorize at least one stanza, and students with more skill can memorize up to four. We start with a simple poem like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that most kids know.

2:15 Music and Lyrics:

2:20 Short Stories: Students select a short story from their anthologies, peer read with their partners, and take notes in their reading journals. Try to incorporate the classics, e.g. The Brothers Grimm and Aesop’s Fables to give students a foundation in classic literature.

2:30 Guided Reading or Close Reading: Students bring their Harry Potter book and join in as I read the first few pages of the next chapter that was read earlier in the morning. We read chorally, practicing speed and fluency, with me as the model. I stop often, explaining my Metacognition, to help student take deeper meaning from the material. I ask for volunteers to reread a paragraph or a passage, as the class silently reads along. Background knowledge and challenging vocabulary is explained in detail, and we try to make connections to books, movies, or other teachable concepts. The students then break out into their groups and reread what we read chorally. Each student may read or monitor for understanding, and all students are encouraged to read. During transitions to the next reader, they pause for inquiry and dialogue on important impressions. Students who cannot decode a word, or don’t know its meaning, get assistance first from their peers then the teacher.

2:45 Music and Lyrics:

2:50 Vocabulary Practice With Buddy: Vocabulary Building Activities A sample page from my NEW Eclectic Intermediate Speller (2012-2013) that meets or exceeds all Common Core State Standards for Reading and English Language Arts! A Sample Week

3^rd Grade Comprehensive English Vocabulary   Tier 1

MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
rise	spot	looks	classic	instance
courage	servant	marked	meaning	promise
special	running	touch	complete	spread
wonderful	serious	marked	foreign	marked
physical	engaged	movement	darkness	vast
degree	distribute	obliged	expect	example
importance	advantage	provided	proved	request

4^th Grade Comprehensive English Vocabulary Tier 1

wondered	mystery	suggestion	disease	suspicion
punishment	blessed	regret	troubled	attend
afford	Governor	pushed	commercial	delay
frightened	belonged	electronically	reign	related
reputation	formerly	replacement	indicate	violence
consciousness	possess	melancholy	eternal	pause
proceed	philosophy	appeal	stepped	fierce

5^th Grade Comprehensive English Vocabulary   Tier 1

gracious	opportunities	ridiculous	reckon	agony
tragedy	indicated	model	proceedings	ventured
submit	reserve	proposition	satisfactory	alteration
petite	emotions	mutual	convey	stout
pretext	disclaimers	inevitable	extensive	assume
compressed	unconscious	correspondence	exquisite	jealousy
disappointment	indifference	engagement	criticism	motives

Comprehensive Academic Vocabulary Tier 3

Reading	Language Arts	Math	Science	Social Studies
adage	adjective	addend	germination	abolitionist
allusion	simile	product	gravity	alliance
archetype	hyperbole	divisor	friction	capitalism
analogy	personification	denominator	erosion	federal
argument	stanza	polygon	environment	state
Academic Vocabulary Tier 2  Blooms Taxonomy Vocabulary
evaluate	debate	conclude	justify	select
predict	acknowledge	prove	prioritize	appraise
summarize	review	evaluate	assess	propose

3:00 Short Music and Movement Cleanup: Always leave the student on a high point, if possible, with great music and lots of smiles and praise.

Flipped Classroom Weekly Reading Homework:

Homework Reading Ideas:

The Great Robot Race: Weekly Reading Assignment #1

Read the short wiki article below about DARPA'S Grand Challenge and then watch the PBS Nova program. Write a short summary, create a Glogster, Empressr, and or Prezi of what you learned or found interesting and post it to the Reading Sage Blog. 

Extra Credit: Follow the links on the wiki article and or read one of the extra articles below and do an in-depth research paper or digital presentation about the DARPA challenge and share your findings and opinions with our readers.   

Reading Assignment Extensions |  Digital Presentations: 
Create a Digital Project and share the link and project on the Reading Sage Blog.  

 My Top 10 Digital Presentation Tools! 

1. Spreaker Create an online podcast or radio show and share with your friends
2. Vocaroo Online Voice Recorder Vocaroo is a quick and easy way to record and share voice messages, podcast over the internet with no sign up
3. Glogster Express yourself with the ultimate Glog(TM) - graphic blog. Mix Web, Images, Text, Music and Video.
4. Little Bird Tales: Capture the Voice of Childhood. We offer a fun,unique way to create,record and share stories online.
5. Empressor Tell your story anyway you like. Add photos, music, video, and audio, and share it publicly or privately in an instant. Empressr is the best and original browser based rich media presentation and storytelling tool.
6. Prezi Prezi is a cloud based presentation software that opens up a new world between whiteboards and slides. The zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas
7. Voki Voki is a FREE service that lets you: Create customized avatars. Add voice to your Voki avatars. Post your Voki to any blog, website, or profile.
8. VUVOX VUVOX allows you to create interactive slideshows and presentations from photos, video and music from Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, and YouTube..
9. Slideshare Offers users the ability to upload and share publicly or privately PowerPoint presentations, Word documents and Adobe PDF Portfolios
10. Zoho Zoho offers a suite of online web applications geared towards increasing your productivity and offering easy collaboration.

More Reading Opportunities!  STEM RULES!

1. Stanley: The Robot that Won the DARPA Grand Challenge
2. Winning the DARPA Grand Challenge with an AI Robot 
3. Junior: The Stanford Entry in the Urban Challenge 
4. Why We Compete in DARPA’s Urban ChallengeAutonomous Robot Race

PBS LINK DARPA Grand Challenge


The DARPA Grand Challenge is a prize competition for American driverless vehicles, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the most prominent research organization of the United States Department of Defense. Congress has authorized DARPA to award cash prizes to further DARPA's mission to sponsor revolutionary, high-payoff research that bridges the gap between fundamental discoveries and military use. The initial DARPA Grand Challenge was created to spur the development of technologies needed to create the first fully autonomous ground vehicles capable of completing a substantial off-road course within a limited time. The third event, the DARPA Urban Challenge extended the initial Challenge to autonomous operation in a mock urban environment. The most recent Challenge, the 2012 DARPA Robotics Challenge, will focus on autonomous emergency-maintenance robots. Wiki 

More Games!

"The Legendary Lands"
a Literary Adventure Game 

In this RISK style “word domination game“ game of reading comprehension and reading strategies you are battling to conquer the world of literacy, literary elements, poetry and academic vocabulary in any domain. To win, you must launch daring adventures, assemble teams of scholars, build floating sky  fortresses of learning (Sky Libraries), seek knowledge on all fronts, and sweep across vast literary lands with boldness and cunning. But remember, the dangers, as well as the rewards, are high. Just when the world of knowledge is within your grasp, your antagonist opponent might strike and take it all away!

Legendary Lands Map Quadrangle 1 of 4