Reading Aloud to 6th Graders
Reading aloud to my 6th graders is probably one of my favorite times of the day! I think “most” of them love it, too! It’s like I’m able to bring the characters alive for them through my voice and actions. We always talk to our partners about some of what is read. Today we finished chapter 4 of The Watsons Go To Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis.
Kenny’s brother, Byron, took care of Larry Dunn, the boy who stole Kenny’s gloves. In fact, he took care of him REAL GOOD. We discussed how Kenny’s character is so nice and considerate and actually ended up feeling sorry for the boy who stole his gloves.
We answered some questions from our trucker buddy and sent him some questions. We can’t wait for him to visit us! 🙂
Our day tomorrow will be FILLED with our weekly tests. One of them is on our Scott Foresman Reading Street story this week-The Chimpanzees I Love by Jane Goodall. Today we finished partner reading the story and used sticky notes to write down what we though was important. Of course, I also went over the study guide so that our grades can be suitable instead of so many failing grades. These tests are HARD!!! For me!!! 🙂
We didn’t have enough time for Read to Self. 😦 Why can’t I just have another hour in my day???? Even 30 more minutes for each class would be enough. I still need to tweak my schedule to fit this in EVERYDAY!!! And we didn’t even write today! Maybe by retirement I’ll have something figured out for the next teacher. 🙂
1 day until the weekend!! Hooray!
Posted on January 19, 2012, in Read and Write 180, Reading aloud and tagged Christopher Paul Curtis, Jane Goodall, reading aloud, the chimpanzees i love, the watsons go to birmingham, using sticky notes in reading. Bookmark the permalink. 9 Comments.
6th Grade Scott Foresman Reading Street Resources 
I LOVE Read Aloud time!
My kids have enjoyed Watsons, but I had to do a lot of pre-teaching because they got confused without the background knowledge of that time period. There were some really funny parts that we just adored.
Have you ever done Tuck Everlasting as a read-aloud? There are some great opportunities for discussion.
One of my kids is starting the Hunger Games tomorrow!!!!
Happy Almost Weekend…
Kim
Finding JOY in 6th Grade
I’m beginning to think most of my 6th graders don’t have background knowledge in anything but video games, facebook, and tv. LOL!
I’ve never done Tuck Everlasting, but may give it a try sometime. I so wish we didn’t have a reading program and could just immerse ourselves in books, book, books! 🙂
Shannon, I teach block schedule with 1:40 min for each class and its STILL not enough time to finish everything!!! Great book choice! I read that book with my 7th graders!
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Hi Shannon:
I was just reading about big storms in Alabama. I hope you’re okay!
Kim
Finding JOY in 6th Grade
Kim-
Thanks for thinking of me! We are fine-went into school 3 hours late because of the weather. It hit Jefferson County really bad(fatalities), but that is about 2 hours from where I live. We just had bad thunderstorms and a couple of tornado warnings but nothing touched down. Thank God! 🙂
I love teacher read-aloud time, too. I teach 6th grade Language Arts but I’ve taught 4th, 7th, and 8th and I’ve found that no matter the age, almost all of the kids love being read to! A couple of years ago I started doing books on audio with the students and it’s been another strategy that is fun for the kids, gets them excited about reading, AND they get a lot out of it academically.
Amy-
I JUST got my 3 student computers hooked up to the internet (YEA), and wish I could download some books to the computers (going to look into that) because I have LOTS of kids that I think would benefit from that! 🙂 I’m so excited!
Hello,
I am writing you to see if there is anyway that anyone could help me to help my 6th grader be successful this year in reading. I know it is a little late in the year, but it seems that his grade is getting worse and worse. My son who has always made all A’s and has always scored well above average on all standardized test made his first B in reading last semester. Currently he has a C. I feel as if he is going backward instead of forward. After a conference with his teacher, I still have no clue what can be done. The conference actually made me feel as if nothing can be done. As an educator myself, and knowing how bright my child is, I refuse to accept that nothing can be done. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, please email me.Thanks.
Jessica-
I wish I had an answer for you! The first thing I can tell you is that the Scott Foresman Reading Street 6th grade tests are HARD!!! Even for me!!!! So I tell my students if they make a C on the test, they are doing GREAT! I’m sorry I can’t help you more!