The nonfiction reading standards for sixth and seventh grade are tough for kids, especially those who don't have much experience with academic reading and writing. At the same time, however, kids report that they really like reading nonfiction!
In my classroom, I always like to start the year with some informational texts. Not only do these texts help me to see where my students are (and what challenges I have ahead of me!), but they also capture students' interests!
One of my favorite texts sets is the Summary and Analysis set that I started around 2015. I wrote the texts to go along with our earth science standards, and formatted them to be weekly homework assignments. I can get so much mileage out of these texts! With one reading packet we could do repeated readings, write summaries, and talk about analysis responses.
A key piece of this Summary and Analysis: Flood Warning is the scaffolded summary. This writing frame shows students exactly what is needed in a successful summary. I have found it a vital resource for helping students to get a feel for the academic style writing that is needed in a summary. It's a great way to start the year!
No comments:
Post a Comment