Literacy

Body Reading - Integrate movement into reading with this idea. Children stand and put their arms up in the air for the capital letter at the beginning of the sentence. After reading each word, they take a step for the space. When they come to the period they sit down. For a question mark, they say "duh?" For an exclamation point, they jump. You can also have them hop for a comma, make quotation marks in the air with two fingers, and so forth.

Treasure Chest Words - Stephanie Humphreys of Panama City, FL, tells her students that their brains are like a treasure chest. "Words you learn are like 'gold' that is yours forever. You'll be a 'wealthy' person with all the words stored in your treasure chest brain."

Comprehension Flower - Have you ever seen those giant plastic flowers they sell for yard art? Write story elements on the petals with a permanent marker and stick the flower in a pot of dirt. After reading a story, allow different children to spin the flower. They get to explain the part of the story on the top petal.

Who, What, Where, When, Why? - We know from research that good readers are active readers. They are always asking questions in their head as they read. Put those questions in children's brains with this song to the tune of "Ten Little Indians."

                  Who, what, where, when, why?
                  Who, what, where, when, why?
                  Who, what, where, when, why?
                  Ask questions when you read!


Say What? - Read a story, sing a song, or say a rhyme the wrong way. Tell the children to be good listeners, and if they hear something that doesn't make sense, they should respond, "Say what?"

İİİİİFor example:

                  Humpty Dumpty sat on a chair. (Say what?)
                  Humpty Dumpty had a great tooth ache. (Say what?)