6. Savvy See-Through

   Chances are you have lots of great charts that you use with your students. Here’s a way to get even more out of your charts! Make a few clear plastic overlay sheets to use with your charts. You and your students can use dry erase markers to write on the overlays. Make the overlay sheet by running the laminator with nothing in it until it’s the size of your chart.

   Take a minute to think about some of the skills you teach. Do you have a chart that is perfect to use during a lesson about compound words? Clip the clear plastic sheet over the chart and let students come up and circle or divide the compound words.

7. Instant Retellings

   After a group or the entire class has read or listened to a story, select a child to give an oral summary. Then, let other students add additional important details. Next time, choose another child to start the retelling. Keep track of the students who initiate the summaries on a class list. You want to make sure each of your students has a chance to do a retelling. Retelling offers you instant insight into which students really comprehend what they hear or read.

8. Empower Students by Offering Choices

   There’s nothing like offering choices to involve your students. I don’t mean choices like do you want to read today? Here are some easy-to-implement ways to provide choice in your classroom from time to time:

   • let students select a paper or project to have graded
   • list three activities and let students choose to complete one of them
   • Give two follow up questions after a story. Let students choose one of the questions to answer.

   Giving children choices provides opportunities to build trust, foster responsibility and spark enthusiasm.

9. Free High-Interest Materials

   I guarantee that this book will become the most popular one in your classroom library. Fill a binder with plastic page protectors. Keep an eye out for high interest materials for your students to read. Slip them into the plastic pages. Ideas for FREE high interest reading material:

   • menus
   • catalogs
   • ads from the Sunday paper
   • cereal box front and back panels
   • maps
   • interesting news articles

   Before you know it, your students will start contributing material to the binder! You may end up with several binders. At the end of the year, remove the contents and hold a drawing to give the contents away. At the beginning of next year, start a new binder. The best way to pique students’ interest is by gradually adding items a few at a time. If you start with a full binder, chances are the kids won’t even look at it. You can also have a box or basket with mail order catalogs, maps and travel brochures for children to read.

10. Terrific Titles

    Here’s one of the best ways I know to teach the concept of main idea. After reading a chapter, elicit ideas from your students for a new title for the chapter. List the ideas on the board. Then discuss why each of the suggestions would make a good title for the chapter.

Expectations and demands have never been higher. If you are looking for more ideas like the ones in this article and want to earn graduate-level units—we can help! Barbara Gruber Courses for Teachers offers proven, easy-to-implement ideas and activities that are 100% practical. If you like the Gazette articles—you’ll love the online courses for K-6 teachers. Take a look at www.bgrubercourses.com today.

Happy Spring!

Sue Gruber
Barbara Gruber Online Courses for Teachers
www.bgrubercourses.com

Copyright 2009: Barbara Gruber Courses for Teachers

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