Blasting Off a Great Year: 2-Day Literacy Blog Hop with FREEBIES!

Welcome back to school, blog hoppers!  Thanks for stopping by for our very first blog hop and literacy link-up.  An immense thank you to Carla from Comprehension Connection for the invitation to join the hop and to Andrea from Reading Toward the Stars for helping Carla organize this two-day opportunity to share literacy lessons for a new year.  Isn't it nice to start the year with some literacy-related FREEBIES? :)

In our school, the reading support staff utilizes the Fountas and Pinnell Intervention System to support struggling readers.  We currently have access to the kits below, which support students reading on Levels A-Q.

Within those kits, students encounter and process a variety of fiction and nonfiction genres.  We teach the students how to identify the characteristics of fiction, as well as the underlying text structures in nonfiction.  To read more about one resource I use to teach nonfiction text structures, click HERE.  Below are some examples of the different genres found in the LLI Blue Kit that is mostly used with 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade students. 

As we all know, exposure to many different genres can assist struggling readers and writers to become more successful in school.  According to research, knowledge of genre when reading a text is a powerful factor in comprehension!  

At the start of the school year, reading stories to students that contain an assortment of genres within the story allows for some great discussion.  The discussions can provide an opportunity for a teacher to pre-assess what students already know about different genres.  Three of my favorite read alouds to introduce genres are Charlie Cook's Favorite Book,  Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind and Read Anything Good Lately?

Charlie Cook's Favorite Book is a circular tale that begins and ends with Charlie Cook reading his favorite book.  He starts out reading   a book about a pirate, who is reading a book about Goldilocks, who is reading about a knight, who is reading about a frog, and so on.  The book includes snippets from a story book, fairy tale, comic, magazine, newspaper and even an encyclopedia.  Each page is like a mini-adventure for students, since they come upon multiple characters from each tale.  The book ends with Charlie Cook reading his favorite book to all of the characters in his favorite book.  Students adore this paperback!  

Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind describes how Miss Malarkey vows to find each of her students a book to love by the end of the school year, but one video game-loving, book-hating boy proves to be a challenge.  Miss Malarkey gives the boy various genres to try, including a fantasy, comic, biography and some poetry.  She finally finds the perfect book for him.  Ever been challenged like that with one of your students?? :)

Read Anything Good Lately? is an alliterative alphabet book with each page listing something a person can read and a place to read it.  For instance, a person can read a biography in bed, the dictionary at a desk, information on the Internet, science fiction on a swing, and tall tales in a tree house.  

Below are three FREEBIES!  The Genre Reference Poster containing an Independent Reading Log is based on Jan Richardson's reading genre chart found in her book, The Next Step in Guided Reading.  Both the poster and log can be useful tools for students to reference and use throughout the school year to keep track genres.  Take a peek at both Genre Reference Poster freebies to see which one you prefer!  I've also added a "Readers Rule!" back-to-school reading preferences graphic organizer, which touches on favorite genres and places to read.  I added it to go along with Read Anything Good Lately?, since it discusses places to read.  :)

Enjoy the freebies above.  I hope they're useful for you.  Before you blast off to the next blog, below you'll find (my former blogging partner) Nancy's addition to our literacy blog hop! 

:) Colleen 

Hi all!  One of my favorite books to start the school year is Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen, by Howard Binkow.  This book leads to interesting conversations about classroom expectations.  It's one of my must haves to introduce my expectations of students while they are participating in my intervention groups, as well as my one-on-one time with Reading Recovery students.  Time is limited, so it's crucial that we are able to get right down to business without wasting time. 

I often use the Think-Pair-Share Strategy to get students to discuss what they feel are important rules for listening in the group.  Of course, I guide them into the most important aspects of being a good listener, but it's important to allow students to have a *say* in setting expectations in the room.  I want students to know I hear their voice.  It permits critical relationships to be developed with my students.   Take a peek below at the book, as well as the freebie my partner created so I have a freebie to share, too! ;)

Click HERE to peek inside!

Thanks for stopping by Literacy Loving Gals!  If you're interested, we'd love for you to follow our Bloglovin' feed and/or link up on our Blogs tab up above before you go.  The best part about being a blogger is learning  from others all over world.  We'd love to learn from you, too!   

Okay, that's all for now.  We hope the start of your school year is a successful one.  Click below to hop on over to the next stop, which is Lori from Conversations in Literacy, for even more literacy lessons to blast off your school year.  Enjoy your hoppin'!

Click HERE for the next stop!!