Open Court Reading

Storytelling Resources Online

Reader’s Theater Page Favorite Authors: Dr. Seuss Page Shel Silverstein Page Aesop’s Fables Hans Christian Anderson Stories Hans Christian Anderson Biography Learing to Read Sites: Starfall Book Adventure free Reading Motivation Program Storyplace free elementary library Virtual Picture Books from Ms. Cositas (English & Spanish) Literary Genres: Literary Genre Info by Ms. Ott American Folklore …

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Fluency Open Court Reading

Reading Fluency vs. Reading for Speed

In California, our unit assessments which align with the Open Court Reading series aren’t from the publishers of Open Court but from the Sacramento County Office of Education. The tests’ emphasis on timing students reading leads teachers to teach reading in a dibels-like fashion with reading passages typed with numbers of words written at the …

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Open Court Reading Writing

Teaching Parts of Speech

Here’s an engaging activity for teaching parts of speech through song.  This is particularly useful for English Language Learners. Post a large piece of butcher paper and have multiple colored markers available. Prompt students for a list of adjectives which you list on a color coded chart.  Do the same for nouns, verbs, and prepositional …

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Concept Question Board

Anatomy of a Concept Question Board

Perhaps I’ve been a little too obtuse in my discussion of the Concept Question Board as related to Wikipedia and Jung’s theory of collective unconscious. Let’s step back a little and make sure you have the basic things that  you’re supposed to on the board… See this image larger. Also related: Everything You Always Wanted …

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Open Court Reading

National Archives Experience: Digital Vaults

Here’s an awesome site found by way of Macworld Magazine.  It organizes primary sources by keyword and historical event and allows you to move from one to another as if you are unlocking a vault.  It’s a great way to take an exploratory approach to learning about history and to engage visual learners.

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Open Court Reading

Open Court in the Special Education Classroom

This question comes frequently from special education classrooms who are teaching the Open Court Reading Program… I have a classroom of fifth graders reading at a first grade level.  Can’t I just teach my fifth graders the first grade curriculum? While fifth grade students may not be able to read, they can certainly comprehend, are …

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Open Court Reading

Constitution Day Activities

Teaching with Documents. Primary Source material for teaching about the Constitution. Constitution Day wiki. Constitution Day FAQ with activities from the Constitution Center. Library of Congress Constitution Day resources. Education World Constitution Day activities. Here are some more activities for Constitution Day. And a movie, just for fun.  (If Youtube is blocked in your school, …

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