Tuesday, July 14, 2015


If you want to see reluctant learners perk up...start that unit on the American Revolution! It has everything! Excitement, deceit, battles and even a crazy king. The trick is to take it from words on a page, to activities, videos and more to get your students to be totally emmersed in the 1700s! My goal is always to get my kids so excited about this period in history, that they talk about it at home...at lot! With the use of a few of the resources linked below, your students can time-travel back into time, back into the birth of our nation!

You can't do better than the Colonial Williamsburg website. It has games, information and so much more to make the unit come alive!

I can't even begin to list all of that amazing links on this site! The Continental Cartoons game is one your kids will really enjoy! Don't miss the virtual Liberty Bell for sure!

To get your kids into the danger patriots had to face in the Revolutionary War, don't miss this game from the National Park Service. Students must take on the role of Patriot spy and deliver a litter to Paul Revere.

This game from PBS is based on their TV series, "Liberty". Students test their knowledge about the American Revolution to see if they can make their way to independence. Great for review before a test!

From Mr. Nussbaum, 14 sites student can go to to learn everything from the battles of the Revolutionary War, to Revolutionary flags. Terrific for research.

This site has a number of short videos from the Ben Franklin Story, to the treason of Benedict Arnold. Very nice assortment to supplement lessons! 

Sixteen 6 minute or less videos from the History Channel on this site are simply outstanding. They include, Lost Treasusre of the Founding Fathers, Rebels With a Cause, Boston Massacre, and Sons of Liberty.

This is a tried and true activity that kids really love, and learn a lot from doing! It's Called the King's M & M's: The Stamp Act. The activity has three pages and is free from TeacherVision.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Why is Prediction Important When Students Read?

It's SUCH an easy part of reading to skip over, but if we skip prediction when teaching our students to read, we are missing a key part of the reading process! Prediction is more than figuring out what happens next. It involves asking questions, finding evidence, and inferring.

Why is prediction important?

1. Prediction activates prior knowledge about the text. Students take what they already know, and apply it to new information.

2. Prediction before, during and after reading connects students to the text. They have a reason to read, and want to know if they predicted correctly.

3. A reader who makes predictions is focused on the text and what is about to be read. In short...they care!

4. Prediction helps kids get excited about what they are about to read. Reading isn't just word calling, it's making a connection to the text...prediction helps this to happen.

Simple Ways to Teach Prediction

1. Prediction needs explicit instruction on how it is done and modeling from teachers. This is particularly easy to do during oral reading to the class with a favorite book. For example, as you read give your own predictions of what might happen next. Tell what evidence in the book makes you think this will happen, ask for student predictions.

2. Using titles, headings, pictures and diagrams in non-fictional text helps students think about what they are about to read. Since students are more comfortable with narrative texts than with non-fiction, helping them become familiar with the text features and use them to make predictions helps them feel more comfortable with more difficult reading.

3.  Ask students to turn to a partner. Ask them to share with each other at least one prediction based on evidence found in the text. 

4. Make a simple anchor chart with "Prediction" on one side, and "Evidence" on the other. As a story is read, add predictions and evidence on the chart. Remind students that the evidence could be found on the book cover, pictures or within the text. If the prediction was correct, put a red check in the box, if it did not happen, and was a surprise, put a blue explaination mark. Discuss why it was a surprise. Did the author purposefully mislead the reader to surprise him? Was evidence missed?

5. Draw a picture! All grade levels really get into drawing pictures of what they think will happen next. Art is often a direct route into a student's thinking! After reading a chapter of a class book to the group, ask them to go to their desk and draw a picture of what will happen next. Allow students to share their pictures and tell what evidence they used to make their predictions. 

Seeing is worth a 1000 words. Great prediction lesson!