Blog - Page 23 of 63 - Tales from Outside the Classroom

A Close Look at Reading Fluency with Read Alouds text with girl with magnifying glass

A Close Look at Fluency: Read Alouds

I’m continuing to look at ways to improve my students’ reading fluency using The Fluent Reader by Tim Rasinski. In this post, I explore building reading fluency through read alouds. You can also read my post on building fluency through supported reading and an introduction to The Fluent Reader. As with nearly everything in teaching students, fluency should be taught and practiced following a gradual release model. (Note: Links in this post are affiliate links)

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A Close Look at Fluency

I’ve always believed fluency is an important, and often overlooked, area of reading. I’ve read quite a bit about fluency over the last few years, have heard Dr. Tim Rasinski speak quite a few times, and even had him give me feedback on something I created (more on that later). If you’re not familiar with Dr. Tim Rasinski, he is known as a reading researcher with a focus on reading fluency. I’ve had as a

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Working with Division

Some people, districts, textbooks (take your pick) teach multiplication and division together in one unit and at one time. I prefer to teach division a few weeks after multiplication; after students have had some time working with multiplication, exploring equal groups, and building a deep understanding of what multiplication means. You can also read more about how I introduce multiplication. For division, however, my go to is always, always food! Lesson engagement is at an

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Whole Group Classroom Management Systems

Classroom Management with Whole Class Behavior Rewards

Every few years you get a group of kids that help you become a better teacher, and this year is that group for me. They need a lot of positive reinforcement and are high energy. My engagement strategy toolbox has increased as I’ve tried out new methods to keep them interested in our lessons and our learning. They’ve already made tremendous gains and I’ve seen some critical shifts in their thought processes about school, learning,

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Making my List & Checking it Twice

The beginning of the school year is rough. No matter how many hours and hours I spend in my classroom in the summer, August hits and I’m automatically behind and can’t get caught up. As soon as I think I maybe, just maybe, might possibly be caught up after a marathon of a work session on a Saturday, I discover a bunch of things I haven’t yet done and my To-Do list once again

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