Instructional materials
are essential to an effective reading program.
The given curriculum is not always enough to reach all readers. The teacher may need to use other materials
in order to meet the needs of every student.
There are several, inexpensive ways teachers can use reading
instructional materials in the classroom.
Internet
Games
There is a plethora of internet sources that teachers
have right at their fingertips. These online
games can be a fun, interactive way for students to practice reading skills. Sometimes the students don’t even realize that
they are practicing their reading skills because they are enjoying the
activities. The greatest strength for
this material is that children seem to respond best to technology, so it’s
great whenever you can use it in the classroom.
The only weakness is that not all schools have computers in the
classroom or they may not have internet access.
In spite of that, online games can be used by all age groups and skill
levels.
The student I am tutoring, Kayla, seems to struggle with
her inferencing skills. Basically she is
struggling with using her prior knowledge to understand what is happening in a
story. I found one website that will
help her with this skill. This website
is free to use however, you can purchase upgrades for a minimal amount of
money. The website is full of inference
riddles. All Kayla has to do is go to
the website www.philtulga.com/riddles.html
and play the riddle game. The game
begins with one clue about a person, place, or thing. Each round Kayla receives
another clue until she is able to guess who or what is being talked about. The goal is to figure it out with only the
first couple of clues. Kayla had fun and
enjoyed practicing her inferencing skills.
Targeted
Skill Reading Worksheets
Sometimes the word “worksheet” gets a bad rap. However, there are some worksheets that can
target specific skills. Teachers can
look on the internet for worksheets to help students with a certain skill they
may need help with. The cost of these
worksheets is nothing except buying paper and ink for a printer. Teachers can also purchase books at a teacher
supply store that may have a collection of worksheets that target a certain
skill. There are worksheets available
for all instructional levels and can be used in any subject of learning. The benefit of giving worksheets is that the
teacher is able to individualize for each student and it is a cost effective way
to meet lots of needs at one time. One
major downfall of using worksheets is that some teachers become dependent on
worksheets to do all the teaching.
Worksheets should only be used as a review or as a way to focus on a targeted
skill.
The student I am tutoring, Kayla, and I are working on inferencing
skills. I found several targeted skills
worksheets to help with inferencing skills.
There are lots of websites out there focuses on this topic but I found
one in particular that I thought was very helpful. The website I found was www.k12reader.com/subject/inference. The particular worksheet I found was working
on using our visual inferencing. Kayla
had to look at a picture of a snow and ice covered tree and answer questions
about the picture. The questions asked
about what season was depicted in the picture, what animals might live in the
picture and what time of day the picture was taken. She didn’t have the stress of having to read
a story but was able to concentrate on the simple picture to answer
questions. This helped her to see that
we use inferencing skills all the time and not even realize it. We talked about how these are the types of
questions we should ask ourselves while we are reading. I felt like this targeted skill worksheet was
an effective way to practice how to inference.
Graphic
Organizers
Graphic organizers are used every day in classrooms
across the country. They can be used to
introduce a lesson, during a lesson, and to evaluate after a lesson. Graphic
organizers are used as a visual representative of a certain aspect of a
story. They can also be used to reinforce
vocabulary terms. Teachers can get
graphic organizers off the internet for free or there are books full of
organizers for a small cost that teachers can copy for the class. These can be found for a variety of ages and
instructional levels.
I
think the strengths outweigh the weakness when using graphic organizers. The only weakness I can think of is the fact
that most organizers require writing skills.
This could be a problem for very young students or students with certain
learning disabilities. The greatest
strength is the fact that the graphic organizer helps students to “see” what they
are learning so it is really beneficial to visual learners. They also teach organization skills to
students which is something they will need throughout life. Teachers should take advantage of graphic
organizers during reading instruction.
Word
Wall
A word wall is a great asset to have in any
classroom. They can be used in a K4 room
and can also be used in a high school classroom. The purpose of a word wall is to allow
vocabulary words to be visible in the classroom at all times. This is virtually a free instructional
resource. The only cost might be the
purchase of either index cards or sentence strips to write the words on. Most teachers designate a certain wall or
area of the classroom to display the words.
Because this is such an effective method, the only weakness I can think
of is that there may not be enough space for a word wall in a small
classroom. There are many benefits to
having a word wall in the classroom.
They are the fact that the students will always have new words in front
of them; the students will have a reference when they are doing writing
activities; and students will be able to practice writing the words daily.
KWL
Chart
A KWL chart is a
reading instructional tool that teachers can use during whole group or small
group instruction and can be used for any age group. The cost of a chart is minimal. I made my own chart with cardstock and
laminated it. You can also purchase KWL
charts from a teacher supply store. The
only other cost would be supplying post-it notes but they are fairly
inexpensive.
The
KWL chart is used as a pre-assessment and as a post-assessment activity. The chart can be displayed in the classroom
for everyone to see. The K stands for “what
I KNOW,” the W stands for “what I WANT to know,” and the L stands for “what I
LEARNED.” When a new topic or reading
story is being introduced, the teacher can give each student a few post-it notes. The student is supposed to write something
that they know about the topic on the note.
They can then share their idea with the class and post it on the
chart. This is done for each section of
the KWL chart. This could take a day,
several days or even weeks. The greatest
strength of a KWL chart is that it is an interactive, easy way to assess the
whole class without giving a test. One
weakness of the KWL chart is that some students may be nervous to write and
then share what they wrote on the post-it note.
However, an effective teacher can help those students to overcome their
fear and feel confident when sharing their ideas with the class.
I
actually use the KWL chart in my own 2nd grade classroom all the
time. In my reading class, we were going
to start a story about the Underground Railroad. I wasn't sure if this was something my
students knew about. So instead of
telling them some background information, I pulled out my KWL chart to assess
their prior knowledge. It turns out my
hunch was right… they knew nothing about the Underground Railroad. We then concentrated on the things they
wanted to learn about the Underground Railroad, or the “W” part of the KWL
chart. As we read the story, we
discovered some of our questions were answered and we moved our new knowledge
to the “L” section of the chart. It was
a very effective way to help the students connect with the story they were reading.
Teachers have access to thousands of reading
instructional tools. Some are expensive
and some don’t have any cost at all.
There are some that are useful for younger students and some that are beneficial
for all age groups. I have talked about several
materials that have very minimal cost and can be used for any instructional age
group. When teachers are willing to be a
little creative, they can find some great material that can be used in the
classroom.
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