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cathie/NC/2 - can I start with a question to you all?
Barb/2/NE - sure...
cathie/NC/2 - I am from North carolina
Barb/2/NE - I'm in Nebraska, you?
cathie/NC/2 - how do you all teach reading, with chapter books or with basals?
Barb/2/NE - Cathie, I use the basal, mainly, but I have 2 groups of children that I have a book club with, and we read chapter books
Barb/2/NE - boy, 2nd grade seems awlful young to just use chapter books
cathie/NC/2 - how do you run your book club, barb?
Barb/2/NE - We still use our reading series up to 6th grade at our school
cathie/NC/2 - I have a class of very advanced readers
Barb/2/NE - cathie, right now we are doing the Magic Tree House, Knight before dawn. Once a week we meet and we go around the group and share one part of the book we liked. We will do this book in 2 weeks
cathie/NC/2 - when you do a chapter book, barb, what kinds of things do you do with the book?
Barb/2/NE - Cathie, then we are doing some extra activities, I checked out about 10 books from our public library, and they will be 'researching' one fact about medieval times to add to our bulletin board
Barb/2/NE - arthur, what grade? are you grade 2?
cathie/NC/2 - barb , do you read chapter by chapter?
Barb/2/NE - Cathie, I did Little House in the Big Woods, that was fun!
Barb/2/NE - cathie, I have 29 children, with 2 certified teachers in the classroom, my book club is an independent study
Arthur - Interest in K-3 with severe reading problems
Barb/2/NE - Arthur, have you posted on the main chatboard?
cathie/NC/2 - oh, I see barb, that is different. I have 21 with an assistant. we are reading Muggie Maggie and I give them comprehension questions and we read it aloud together discussing it as we go. next we are reading Freckle Juice
Barb/2/NE - Cathie, I assign a couple of chapters at a time, on the Little House book, I asked them to mark, with post-it's, "spicey" words, then we discussed them when we met.
Barb/2/NE - cathie, i also gave them a Story souviner(sp?) for each section we did, to help with retelling,
Barb/2/NE - do you belong to the 2nd grade mailring? I think the book Freckle Juice came up?
cathie/NC/2 - did you buy copies of the book for the students or how did you get enough copies
cathie/NC/2 - yes, I am on that mailring
Arthur - Barb, Arthur is in NH retired sped/reading teacher - writing lessons for teachers and volunteering
Barb/2/NE - I had them buy Little house, they had to bring in a parent permission slip for that one, but for Knight before Dawn, it was in our book order, I just used bonus points to buy 7
cathie/NC/2 - OIC, barb
cathie/NC/2 - NavyMama, where are you from?
Barb/2/NE - Arthur, that sounds wonderful! Is this your first time at Teachers.net?
Arthur - Barb, Never posted on main board - thanks for your patience with me
cathie/NC/2 - do you teach second
Barb/2/NE - Athur, would you like the link?
Barb/2/NE - Arthur, http://www.teachers.net/mentors/
Barb/2/NE - Arthur, the chatboard has alot of different teachers with ideas
Barb/2/NE - Cathie, what other books have you used in your book club?
Barb/2/NE - Cathie, I like doing a book from a series, then if the kids liked it, they read more from the same series
Arthur - came to Reading Instruction late in career - something of a Reading renegade
Barb/2/NE - I'm having a lot of parents tell me 'thanks' for getting their kids reading a series
Barb/2/NE - Arthur, do you like the 4 Blocks framework of reading instruction?
cathie/NC/2 - I have done amelia bedelia books
Barb/2/NE - cathie, those are fun!
cathie/NC/2 - I want to do Nate the Great books too. I found a book with activities on those books
Barb/2/NE - Some of my children have been asking that I do Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew! Haven't read those books in years!!!!
cathie/NC/2 - I try to find lesson plans on books at different websites too
Barb/2/NE - cathie, yes, that's a good idea, I forgot about those! Have you read Hank the Cowdog?
Barb/2/NE - cathie, their is tons of material on the web! my favorite search engine is Google
cathie/NC/2 - when I did amelia bedelia books they got to choose the book they liked to read and also with Nate the Great
Arthur - Thanks for the link - I added it to Favorites -
cathie/NC/2 - that's a good one . at my sister's school they have folders of activities that the teachers share on chapter books. she sends copies to me
Barb/2/NE - Arthur, you'll like the main chatboard, it's like coming into the Teacher's lounge! alot of different opinions and ideas!
Barb/2/NE - cathie, that's a lot of work, do the teacher's just pick what books they want? No guidelines?
Arthur - Reading is: meaning activated solely by text
cathie/NC/2 - yes, I think they have done this for years and have accumulated many folders
Barb/2/NE - Arthur, true
cheri - Yes, cheri from NY
Barb/2/NE - cheri, we are talking about good books for book clubs
cheri - oh, good. I have not done book clubs because at first I didn't understand them. And I don't have enough books collected yet, but I am getting ther.
Barb/2/NE - cathie does whole group book clubs, I do 7 kiddos at a time
Arthur - 4 Blocks is one I missed - am not a wide-ranging scholar
Barb/2/NE - cheri, right now I'm doing the Magic Tree House, Knight before Dawn
cheri - So all 7 kids have acopy of the book and they read together or separately and then discuss?
Barb/2/NE - Arthur, there is a lot of support for 4 blocks here, it's a balanced approach to teach reading
Barb/2/NE - cheri, they read on there own, then we met once a week to discuss part of the book, we did Little House in the Big Woods before Christmas
cathie/NC/2 - cheri, we have sets of book and we read it together silently and orally
cheri - Arthur, I started 4 blocks this year--my first year in 2nd grade and it is wonderful. I'm learning constantly.
cheri - Ok, cathie and Barb, what do you do with kids who may not be able to read independently?
cathie/NC/2 - cheri, isn't second grade great. I love it too
cathie/NC/2 - cheri, we partner read alot too and I pair them up with a high level reader
cathie/NC/2 - second graders love to help each other
cheri - Yes, I think I want to stay forever. And I have a great group of kids.
Barb/2/NE - Cheri, my book club is an optional club, I only have 14 out of 29 kiddos in my group
cheri - Is this part o fyour guided reading or a separate reading time?
cathie/NC/2 - either sometimes
Barb/2/NE - cheri, what books are you planning on doing?
cheri - Barb, I have three girls who are reading on a high third to 4th gr level. I could do book clubs with them on higher level books?
Arthur - Reading Ability requires memory - whether we memorize whole words or 44-45 sounds
Barb/2/NE - cheri, Little House in the Big Woods would be great for them! My little boys loved it too!
cheri - Well, I'm thinking of Sarah, Plain and Tall for my higher level girls.
cheri - Barb, yes another good one.
Barb/2/NE - Cheri, I gave them story souviners, die cuts of a bear and a mitten
Barb/2/NE - Cheri, I wanted to do that one, but I found out the 4th grade does it!
cheri - I do souvenirs for most of our guided reading. they love it
Arthur - I believe in balance - pure phonics superbly taught and fully mastered does not enable one to read every word (the, of)
cheri - Arthur, are you using whole language as well as phonics?
Barb/2/NE - Arthur, sounds like you are discribing 4 blocks!
cheri - My difficulty is scheduling. I have such trouble fitting everything in and it seems like the time is my dictator. How do you manage?
Barb/2/NE - cheri, I found a lot of web sites for Sarah, Plain and Tall, one was neat, it had coloring pages of wild flowers
Barb/2/NE - cheri, remember I have 2 certified teachers in my room, I just take my group for a half hour during reading time
cheri - Oh that would be fun. Where did you find them?
Barb/2/NE - cheri, not sure, I like to use the search engine, google. I think I just typed in the title of the book
cheri - Yes, I do remember that. You introduced me to hink pinks. We do them everyday. The kids are beginning to make up their own.
Arthur - Barb, this old-timer appreciates your help - will take a look at the main board
Barb/2/NE - Cheri, that's great!
Barb/2/NE - Arthur, nice to meet you!
cheri - Barb, you are the certified teacher in a parochial school,right?
Barb/2/NE - yes
cheri - I remember you from one of my first visits to the chatroom. I couldn't type and follow the conversation and you and deb smith were very kind. Thanks. I've improved a little.
Arthur - Cheri, I have been working on my personal method for 32 years - mostly ask students to focus on letter order in words (who vs. how) - thin strand of phonics - much practice in sentences
Barb/2/NE - cheri, have you tried the OWL method during guided reading?
cheri - Oh, Arthur, that's what we do in 4 blocks and it works so well.
cheri - Yes, I've tried OWL.
Barb/2/NE - cheri, did you like it?
cheri - My kids a re responding so much better when I do think alouds and work with them on these methods. It's so simple that I cannot believe I haven't always done it.
cheri - Barb, have you used or read MOsaic of
cheri - sorry, hit the enter key--Mosaic of thoughts?
Barb/2/NE - cheri, I remember the think alouds in the old basal, they didn't seem real, too scripted, so I never did them, now I just go with what ever!
Barb/2/NE - cheri, It was mentioned so many times this summer, I looked for it at the public library, but it wasn't there, I should just buy it!
cheri - Yes. I agree. Even now in our HM series sometimes they seem that way. When I pick the strategy that seems to match the book or our needs it seems to work so much better.
cheri - You m ight want to own it. I think it's a great book.
cheri - Did you like OWL?
Barb/2/NE - sounds good! Thanks! My youngest just hollered up that the dryer's done!
Barb/2/NE - Owl was fun, I learned a lot from my kiddos!
cheri - OK. Nice talking to you. I need to go to.
