Let's talk! Students with after reading projects

We think these two young learners really do speak for themselves! 

 

Milking a glossary with Wordwall

Making the most out of even the simplest graded readers!

Familiar vocabulary recycled in any good graded reader series, but the secret is to make sure students can actually read and spell the words, use the vocabulary flexibly (not just recognise a particular picture & blurt it)!

We love using the various applications/games that wordwall offers, with the added twist of PC skils (mouse/keyboard), letter recognition (upper/lower case) & QWERTY layout (not a linear ABC from the poster on the wall). Have a go yourself here, and consider all the ways your learners can recycle, drill, revise (you know, the deadly sins of teacher talk!) both at home, or in the classroom when a buddy is absent.

Yukihi's snow animal

 

Check out Yukihi's lovely after reading project - created with Chatterpix in a matter of minutes. Student's own design on paper, descriptive writing & then reading own work fluently :)

China's snow bird - a writing & speaking project

 You've read the book, and enjoyed the thrills & spills with familiar characters...digested new vocabulary and recycled more; read bits out loud and shown understanding of the text.

Make your own character - a snow animal - including a bit of 'dictadraw' (add a scarf/hat etc), then write a description of your new animal with words from the glossary...and then read your work.

Win win using chatterkids app (students quickl learnt how to manipulate/edit/enhance their own creations!), following up our OUP Read & Imagine graded reader. After reading = fun activity & a legacy moment!

Boring glossaries...gamified!

DIY gamification

I've been wondering how to 'make more' out of the graded readers our younger students are enjoying reading, and in particular to exploit the target or new vocabulary.

I came across a tweet from @HancockMcDonald which reminded me of a favourite game I'd long forgotten - his Chinese Chequers pronunciation game. A quick little think and some eager readers with 'finished ' books handy, I asked them what their 'hardest' six words were, and to circle them with a colour pencil. Then I asked them to write their chosen words onto the blank game template, at random (importantly, not clustered together!), with that colour pencil. 

Then we looked at the second glossary page, and did the same thing with a different colour pencil. Another reader, two more pages & different colours, and a third book leaving us with seven blank spaces for the last group of words.

 As you can see, this became a very engaging activity and proved to have very valuable spelling practice built into it (which never hurts, and is always really hard to squeeze into a lesson plan!). Important to use pencils (not crayons) for ease of corrections (and fitting words into small spaces - I insisted on getting words 'on' one line).

The words I want to learn!

So why the six colours? It's a dice game...we will be exploring our own games next week, and then asking our young learners to challenge mum & dad at home for 'homework'! Stay tuned :)

Hope you like the idea - we did!

Rabbits, rabbits, rabbits!

Ruka's "great escape" rabbit

In the summer, Rabbit and Ruka were playing on a farm.

The rabbit escapes.

I find the rabbit eating grass and carrots.

 

Arisa's after reading story :)

Pandasssssssssssssss!

 In the spring, Panda have a baby.

A small baby panda was born in China.