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reluctant readers

How to Host Your Own Book Debates and Battles

by BrainNinjasWP

Inspire a love of reading and encourage your students to choose new books by using book debates. We've outlined the process to use this in your upper elementary classroom today based on the format for Canada Reads. Come take a look.

If you live in Canada, you might have heard of Canada Reads. Canada Reads is an annual “battle of the books” competition organized and broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). We have enjoyed the event for years and thought about how much fun it would be to do the same style of book debates in our classroom. Students love a good battle. Come learn about how it went and how you can host your own book debates.

[Read more…] about How to Host Your Own Book Debates and Battles

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies Tagged With: Book Clubs, Book Debates, Book Recommendations, books, classroom celebrations, Professional Learning, read aloud, Reading, Reading Activities, Reading Buddies, reading comprehension, reading strategies, reluctant readers, strategies for reluctant readers

Are You Missing Out on the Love of Drama Circles?

by BrainNinjasWP

Are you missing out on the benefits of using drama circles in your upper elementary classroom? Come learn how to use them to help with listening skills, reading abilities and for the fun of it.

Before learning about drama circles, we weren’t sure how we could incorporate drama into our classroom in a meaningful way that didn’t take away from all the work we needed to do. Putting on a play just didn’t seem like a good use of our learning time, but we knew our students enjoyed acting. That is when we considered some of the benefits of drama circles in our upper elementary classroom.

[Read more…] about Are You Missing Out on the Love of Drama Circles?

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies Tagged With: Classroom Community, Confidence, Drama, Drama Circles, Expression, Listening Skills, Poetry and Drama, read aloud, Reading, Reading Activities, reading comprehension, reading strategies, reluctant readers, Teachers Pay Teachers, Teaching Reading

How to Set Up Your Reading Comprehension Schedule

by BrainNinjasWP

If you use our weekly reading comprehension sets (or maybe you want to learn more), come see how we schedule the first month and get some ideas for how you can use these reading and grammar activities in your classroom whether your instruction happens in the classroom or online.

If you are struggling with reading instruction in your classroom, you’re not alone. Upper elementary teachers are often not trained in how to teach students to read, despite the fact all the students in their classroom are unlikely to be reading at grade level. Setting up a reading comprehension schedule is one way to get on track.

We designed our Weekly Reading Comprehension Skills specifically for our students. We needed reading material for science and social studies that were at the right reading level and needed to teach grammar and reading skills. You might want to read this post about how we came up with them: Add Great Content to Your Literacy Lessons.

[Read more…] about How to Set Up Your Reading Comprehension Schedule

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons, Teaching Strategies Tagged With: distance teaching, Google Apps, Guided Reading, Guided Reading Instruction, Reading, reading comprehension, reading strategies, reluctant readers, Teachers Pay Teachers, Teaching Reading

Practical Strategies for Reluctant Readers

by BrainNinjasWP

Do you have students who avoid reading? Check out these step-by-step effective strategies for reluctant readers so you can get all of your students to enjoy reading.

Do you have students in your classroom you would label as reluctant readers? A reluctant reader is usually considered to be a person who doesn’t read for pleasure, but we’re about to debunk that myth and help you out in your classroom by giving you strategies to engage reluctant readers in ways you didn’t even know you needed.

[Read more…] about Practical Strategies for Reluctant Readers

Filed Under: Classroom Tips, Teaching Strategies Tagged With: Book Recommendations, English Language Arts, english language learners, language, Language Arts, Reading, reading strategies, reluctant readers, strategies for reluctant readers

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  • Instead of teaching poetry by simply reading or writing it, how about encouraging students to act it out. Teach poetry using drama to add a new dynamic to your language arts lessons.
    How to Teach Poetry Using Drama
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  • Inspire a love of reading and encourage your students to choose new books by using book debates. We've outlined the process to use this in your upper elementary classroom today based on the format for Canada Reads. Come take a look.
    How to Host Your Own Book Debates and Battles
    If you live in Canada, you...
  • Are brain breaks taking up too much time in your lessons and interrupting learning? You're probably using them incorrectly. Come read this post to help put the best practices for brain breaks into your classroom.
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