Word Ladders: Climbing with Word Features

Word Ladders are such a great way to see what your students can really do with manipulating letters in words. I first used Tim Rasinski's Daily Word Ladders (I don't get any money for this link). This was the warm up for my word work and students were directed to read the clue, then read the directions, move the letters that were not changing and fill in the letter that was changing. We had the process down. I really wanted them to try and do these independently, but the clues and directions often held hurdles for my earliest readers. I decided to make my own (because it's what I like do...lol).

CVC Building ~ The Bridge to Reading and Writing

The Bridge to Everywhere!

The majority of early learners need very specific things:  a foundation of letters and sounds and their clear connections, a bank of known words, and exposure to lots and lots of words.  If I could have 1 literacy center to bond all those skills together, I’d take CVC practice.  (Well, I’d sneak in lots of writing ~ both scripted and unscripted.)

6 Mini Lessons for Structure Errors

If you've ever read a post from me about reading, you know I completely believe in miscue analysis. You have to know why they made errors before you can help fix the confusions.  I have previously blogged about Meaning Errors and Visual Errors.  This is the last in the a series: Structure Errors.

Structure errors are all about the structure of the sentence and understanding the English language.

Structure errors are also known as syntactic errors or errors with syntax. Structure errors are errors with natural language, grammar, language patterns, or knowledge of the English language. Once you have determined the errors are structural in nature, the following activities are great for helping students with these errors.

6 Mini Lessons for Visual Errors

This is the second in the series. As I stated before, I believe in analyzing your running records.  I recently re-posted a blog about just that (Be a Reading Detective).  Once you have analyzed the running record, then what?  You have to use that analysis to make lessons for your students.

Students who have visual errors are using what they see (obviously).  This can include letters (horse for house), word length (hat for hit), analogies (car looks a bit like cat).  Here are 6 ideas for lessons when students are making meaning errors.

7 Mini Lessons for Meaning Errors

I believe in analyzing your running records, but you know that.  I recently re-posted a blog about just that (Be a Reading Detective).  Once you have analyzed the running record, then what?  You have to use that analysis to be strategic about the lessons for your students.

For a quick review, students who make meaning errors are using meaning to help guide their reading.  Meaning errors are only looking at the illustrations, story meaning, the text, or their prior knowledge to read, not digging deeper. While making reading make sense is important, these errors turn into a comprehension breakdown when we don't use all clues (visual and structure) to read. Here are some ideas for students who are making meaning errors.