It ain't over til It's over - Activating Prior Knowledge - Part 3 After Reading

yogi!photo © 2008 Chris connelly | more info (via: Wylio) 


“It ain’t over til it’s over” was the phrase coined by Yogi Berra.  Spoken like a true sportsman or classroom teacher!  

We all know that even when the kids have finished reading a story they’re “not really done”.  We read. We discuss. We assess.  There are all kinds of other activities that we can initiate to make sure the students have made connections to their reading.  This is Part 3 in the "Activating Prior Knowledge" series. 

In the Before reading post, it was suggested to use an Anticipation Guide.  If used, it would be a great (quick) assessment to see if the kids can answer those questions correctly now.  (They love getting them all right too!!).  Also, in the Before post as an alternative to the KWL chart - a Word Cloud was suggested.  How about make a new word cloud to share what was learned.  (The kids love comparing them!) 

The During reading post suggested to use a Wallwisher.  Students could add new thoughts to the Wallwisher.  (The kids will have fun revisiting the Wall!).


Other activities  to institute when the students have finished reading could include creating a retelling of the story.  Why not try have the students create a comic at ToonDoo.  It is free, fun and quite simple to use.  See my sample below.

Marven

Another activity along the lines of a summary, is to create a talking picture at Blabberize.  Blabberize is a free site where you can upload a picture and record a narration.  In the sample below, a picture was created at Sketchfu then uploaded to make a Blabber. 






For something a little more open-ended, have students create a poem.  With the help of ReadWriteThink students are guided through the writing process.  See the sample below of an Acrostic poem. 



Guiding our students and having them complete activities AFTER reading will help them make connections and therefore, have a deeper understanding of the concepts.  

Hopefully, students will come to the realization themselves that "It ain't over till it's over!"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Breakouts

Image
MedfieldDLD Promo A few weeks back I attended a conference in a neighboring district, #MedfieldDLD (Medfield Digital Learning Day!) It was a day filled with lots of great conversations & lots of learning.  Sessions I attended included: Hyperdocs; NEW Google Sites for Digital Portfolios; Homework: Shifting the Perspective and BreakoutEDU .  While I plan to incorporate ideas from all of these in my classroom somehow I was able to start immediately with the help of this  BreakoutEDU  slidedeck that Kerry Cowell presented. Kerry's Box BreakOuts are a game where "players use teamwork and critical thinking to solve a series of challenging puzzles in order to open a locked box." Literally, the box is locked with several different types of locks! (Number locks, key locks, word lock & direction locks)  Kerry's Breakout was related to the "Back to the Future" theme of the day and very challenging. As we worked through the clues, my team and I felt what it wo...
Read more

The Power of "I CAN"

Image
Over 30 years ago I was a student teacher in 1st grade.  It was frightening to me as I only pictured myself working with 4th grade students not being with 'little kids." I remember my cooperating teacher had me sit with a sign that said, "I CAN DO IT!"  As I recall, those first grade kids COULD do it and I did too!  Afterward I left that class and went on to become a grade 4 teacher.  I became good at figuring out what my fourth graders were and weren't capable of doing.  I often wonder if I held my students back believing they couldn't do something and not giving them the opportunity to try! Lately, as a Digital Learning Coach I have had the opportunity to spend time with kindergartners and 1st graders.  I forgot what it was like to be with 5 & 6 year olds. So, I am always pleasantly surprised and impressed by what they ARE able to 'do' when it comes learning.  Admittedly, I'm not familiar with the 'littles' and their abilities as I ...
Read more

Use of Thinking Blocks to Help Solve Math Problems

Image
More and more we are asking students to solve complex math problems.   Along the way we do a lot to help them become successful.  We incorporate the use of many tools during the math classroom. One of the tools we are using this year in the classroom is called, Thinking Blocks ".   This website (there is even a 'free' app for the thinking blocks) poses problems around different types of models.  As a warm up before the regular math lesson this week we practiced solving addition and subtraction word problems using the "part whole model with two parts" and the "part whole model with 3 parts". As a group we watch a quick 3 minute tutorial , practice several problems and then break off with a partner.  Using chrome books, students access the Thinking Blocks website and begin solving each new problem by first checking for understanding and then manipulating the blocks.  Working with a partner also gets the students used to 'talking' about mat...
Read more