Language Arts students have wrapped up their studies analyzing the development of main ideas in nonfiction texts using outlines, idea cycle charts, summarizing, and gist statements. Students are now bringing these strategies to their analysis of poetry. We will be focusing on word choice as we study poetry and prepare to take the MCA’s on April 16-18. A few students are also still working to put the final touches on their argumentative essay. Independent reading and journaling continue as these are great skill builders.
Please encourage your students to read at home. Remember independent reading improves comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary as well. You can make this reading time even more beneficial by having your child tell you about what they’re reading, help them find reading material, and sharing what you’re reading. Not sure where to start? Try asking one of the following questions:
What are you reading? Can you tell me about it?
Who’s your favorite character? Why?
What’s happening in your book right now? What do you think will happen next?
Which character is your favorite? Why?
Do you like the main character of your book? Why or why not?
Why Read?
- Reading is rewarding.
- Reading builds a mature vocabulary.
- Reading makes you a better writer.
- Reading is hard, and “hard” is necessary.
- Reading makes you smarter.
- Reading prepares you for the world of work.
- Reading well is financially rewarding.
In his book, Reading Reasons, Kelly Gallagher writes, “Let’s face it. Not many of us will grow up to be Michael Jordan or Bill Gates. Almost every one of us, however, will grow up needing a job. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 90 percent of jobs today require either a technical education or a four-year college degree. Only 10 percent of jobs require unskilled labor. Unless your students become the next Michael Jordan, their reading abilities will become increasingly critical to their chances of making a decent living” (114).
Reading Tips
Are you often unsure of how to answer the questions teachers ask you after reading a story? You aren’t alone. Some of the strategies that can help with this include: Think-Aloud, Retelling, Re-reading and rewording, SWBS, GIST, and Key Words. Let’s take a look at the GIST strategy.
As reading expert Kylene Beers writes:
If summarizing the information in expository, or informational, tests is difficult, try a strategy called GIST.
Steps for GIST
- Divide the text you want to summarize into three or four sections.
- Read the first section.
- Draw twenty blank lines on a sheet of paper.
- Write a summary of the first section of text using exactly 20 words one word for each blank
- read the next section of text. In your next set of 20 blanks, write a new summary statement that combines your first summary with whatever you want to add from this second section of text. It is important to note that even though you now have two chunks of text to cover, you still have only 20 blanks to fill, not 40.
- Repeat this one or two more times, depending on how much more text you have. When you're finished, you'll have a 20-word statement that gives you the gist, or overall idea, of what the entire text is about.
