Watch Out! The 4th Grade is Chargin' Ahead!

****At the end of this article you will find a Blog Question and a Riddle. Have fun answering both the question and the riddle so that your name can be entered for a prize drawing. The details for how to do this are at the bottom of the article. ****


How do you know what your kids are really doing when they are reading? Can they pronounce the words? How are they figuring them out? Fourth grade teachers have found some answers to these questions. Read on to learn about what they are doing and talk with them to learn even more.

Sue found success by using the following oral reading strategies to help her understand more about her students’ fluency and decoding skills...

• Whisper Reading - First Sue modeled this technique by demonstrating how students should read outloud at a low volume and at their own pace. When each student practiced the technique you could hear a soft buzzing in the classroom. Sue was then able to stand by each student, listen to them read, and coach them about decoding and fluency strategies.

• Sticky "Comprehension" Notes - Used in partner reading or small group read alouds, Sue gave each student a task to complete based on assigned reading pages. The tasks can be the same for each student OR each student might have a different assignment. Sticky notes are pre-written with a code which indicates the assignment. Students complete tasks on the sticky note during or after reading. Some examples of "tasks" are as follows...

Code and Meaning

? - Something the student did not understand/wants more information about

! - Student will write "cool facts" about what they read

:) - Student will write text to text, self, world, or media connections

***Please note that the teacher writes "?", "!", or ":)" on the actual sticky note***

Jan has a copy of the book Good-Bye Round Robin by Michael F. Opitz and Timothy V. Rasinski and recommends the book for more ideas about reading aloud.

Marcy and Rita, along with the other fourth grade teachers, are using journals to engage the students in reading and writing and to include quality literature in their reading program. Students choose a novel based on their reading level and an assigned theme. They write a friendly letter to their teacher every week using prompts. Prompts include: appropriate information to include about the novel, sentence starters, and paragraphing ideas. Journals are due on an assigned day and returned with a written response from their teacher. All of the starter ideas are posted in the same journal that the children use to write their letters.

Marcy has found a great motivator for comprehension of nonfiction reading (TFK articles, etc.) She writes questions on green, yellow and red cards. Each student chooses a color coded card before, during and after they read the article. The questions are generic so they can be used over again with many different articles. For example:

Green - questions to answer before the article is read
Yellow - questions to answer when a student finishes the beginning of the article
Red – questions to answer at the end of the article

Please feel free to ask the 4th grade teachers if you have any questions, comments or thoughts.

Extra: Answer the Blog AND Riddle Questions below to enter to win a lottery ticket (3 names will be chosen):

Blog Question: Will you use any of the above strategies in your classroom? Which one?

Riddle Question: What can you hold, no matter how old, in your left hand, that you can't hold, no matter how bold, in your right hand?

How to Post You Answers? Click "comments" at the bottom of the article, type your response in the box, under "Choose an Identity" select Name/URL and type your first and last name, and then hit publish.