Today we worked on another very important reading skill – visualizing. Researchers tell us that one key difference between good readers and bad readers is the ability to form mental pictures of the words as they read. Good reads paint pictures in their brains; they make mental movies of the stories. Poor readers, even if they can read the words accurately and reasonably quickly, simply do not do this. However, the skill of visualizing can be both taught and practice. We did exactly that today.
We read a story called “Toto” today in the Open Court Reader. It’s a terrific story and just filled with great descriptive writing. I had the students copy words and phrases which seemed particularly evocative as I read the story. They put these words on post-it notes. At the end of the story, they transferred these to a piece of colored bond paper.
The students then put their textbooks away. Just using the post-it notes and their memories of the story, the students created a scene. They used oil pastel for color to give a nice, deep tone. You can see how different their perceptions and artistic visions are, yet each one is a valid response to the words in the story.
Of course, we did a few other things, too. We read a chapter from the social studies text as well as correcting the history homework. We went out to PE today because tomorrow is supposed to be so insanely hot that we will be stuck in our room. (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are our regular PE days.) And, of course, we did math.
Homework: Do spelling sentences for words 1-10 only. Only use 1 word per sentences. (2) Do the Weather and Climate study sheets. (3) Do “Rounding,” Envision Math, pp 26-27.
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