Thinking Clouds

Over the past week I have been phasing out my word study centers and bringing in literacy centers that focus more on reading strategies such as Reading is Valuable and Cootie Catcher Reading. I turned to my current favorite website The Third Grade Wiki to help me find a way to have my students develop their metacognitive skills while using reading strategies. I found a great resource called Thinking Clouds.

I used the Thinking Clouds as a teaching strategy during Literacy and Social Studies for a couple of lessons before I set the students loose to use them independetly in a literacy center. I simply glued the Thinking Clouds onto paint sample cards and laminated them. As students read they place the cards throughout the story whenever they have that certain thought. If they finish reading and have cards left, they go back and read the story again. If it is a specific reading passage that I want them to read and answer questions with, then the students use a sheet of Thinking Clouds, cut them out, and glue them onto the passage at the point where they had that thought.

Figurative Language Fun

Once again I discovered some fun new practice activities for my students on FCRR and The Third Grade Wiki! Each site has a section for figurative language resources. I also found a simile Bingo game on the Collaborative Learning website (which is from England so some of the similes are odd in America).

My students have been working with similes and metaphors, so that is what I focused on in this center for now. I will add in more elements later. One is a matching game, one is sets of scenarios with questions, and the third is the bingo game.

Making Inferences

Making inferences is a skill that I have my students practice all year.  I put together my two favorite resources, FCRR and The Third Grade Wiki, and was able to create a center that gave students multiple ways to practice this skill. If you have not visited either of these websites, do yourself a huge favor and set aside some time to browse...you will not be disappointed!

Some of the activities in this center are simply scenarios with questions glued to construction paper or paint sample cards, laminated, and held together with a binder ring. A couple of them are games that have a board, cards, and chips to cover the spaces. My independent readers work with partners, while my lower readers work with me in a small group setting.

orange-2nd-3rd grade reading level

purple-4th-5th grade reading level

The set of inferencing cards above came from Pinterest. I can't find the blog from which I downloaded it.

hotglued clothespins on the wall to hang the activities

Sight Words from the Sunshine State

If you are a teacher and are not familiar with The Florida Center for Reading Research please do yourself a huge favor and go to the link now. They have amazing instructional materials for students in grades K-5. I give them full credit for the materials found in the sight words center I am about to share with you.

FCRR has basic fluency practice sheets for students with passages, but I have third grade students who still have not mastered the Dolch sight word lists. There is an activity on the FCRR website that uses common phrases instead of whole passages or individual sight words. 

There are two versions of this center. For the first one, I put each phrase on a card so students could practice them like flash cards. There is a record sheet where they can keep track of how many cards they can read in 1 minute. My students use a simple turn-over timer from an old board game. For the second version, I put the phrase papers in a sheet protector along with the record sheet so students can keep track of their practice. This second version let's them practice in the familiar left to right sweep. My strategic readers enjoy this activity and are always asking to practice.

Sharing is Caring

Teaching is a wonderful profession because not only do we get to teach children new skills, but we have THE best network of collaboration between professionals.  I have to give some love to a wonderful wiki that has provided my students with terrific learning activities.

http://thirdgrade.okaloosaschools.wikispaces.net/Reading+Resources

I stumbled across this website while looking for some new comprehension activities for my students. What I discovered was many new literacy center opportunities just waiting to be made! Now that my student teacher has taken over my first block literacy class full-time, I actually have the luxury of spending time creating some new centers for my afternoon literacy block. 

These are easy centers to make and do not require you to buy anything special. Most of the centers are laminated construction paper (or paint sample cards) with questions and answers that are linked together with a binder ring that I hang on the wall with either a pushpin or a clothespin hotglued to the wall. My independent readers work on them with a partner, while my strategic readers work with a small group or they complete the cards with me during Guided Reading.



But Aren't Centers Noisy?

Students working on literacy centers can get noisy if they are not properly managed. This means you need to be proactive and expect to have to tell your students they are too loud. Be prepared by setting up procedures and materials to handle this occurrence. 

• have a variety of places in your room for students to work: tablecloths, blankets, carpet squares, clipboards, cookie sheets, small desks, in the warm weather I let them sit outside the classroom window
• have a signal such as a bell (try out the Whisper Bell idea from Teacher Tipster) or a clap to let students know they are too loud so you can signal without words if you are working with a small group
• I saved my broken computer headphones over the years (just cut off the cords) for students to either wear when they are in a center or to wear if they are completing an assignment while the other students are in a center. The headphones are hanging up where students can get them whenever they want to use them. They aren't Bose noise-cancelling headphones but they do the job!

Rolling Out the Questions

I don't have these question cubes out as a center.  I use them in Guided Reading groups and during novel studies.  The first picture shows a fancy set that are made out of sturdy foam.  I borrowed them from my Literacy Facilitator, but since we all share materials I had to give them back--waaa.

 I saw on Pinterest that someone made dice out of Kleenex boxes so, I adapted the idea and made the question cubes out them instead! I typed the questions(which are higher order thinking), glued them on index cards, laminated them, and hot glued them to the tissue box. These are cheaper than buying the foam ones and these can easily be replaced if they get crumbled or crushed.

Beanbag Toss

I was at an NCTM conference when I came up with this idea.  I was actually working a booth for Renaissance Learning and during my down time I would walk around and visit the other booths.  There was a booth selling beanbags for $0.50.  They were advertised to be used with the Smart Board (which is also a great use), but another idea popped in to my mind.

This is a very versatile activity.  It can be used in the classroom or outside. Students can work independently or with a partner. You can use it as a center or during Guided Reading. Here are some ways to use the beanbags:

• I wrote author's purposes on the beanbags. I doubled up on to inform and to explain because my third graders struggle with distinguishing between those two the most.  I include a variety of laminated passages.  Students spread the reading materials on the ground face up. They scan them and read the titles.  They look at any graphics or illustrations. Then they toss the beanbags onto the reading passages that match the author's purpose on the appropriate beanbag.  They check their answers by flipping over the passages (where I wrote the author's purpose).

• Write content vocabulary on the beanbags. Write the definitions or an illustration on index cards.
• Write Marzano's Questions on the beanbags. Spread passages or books on the floor. Toss a beanbag on a piece of reading material and answer the question after reading.
• Write BOOK and HEAD on beanbags. Write questions on index cards. Students use QAR strategies to decide what type of question is on the card. They toss the corresponding beanbag onto the question cards.
• Write genres on the beanbags. Spread out a variety of books. Toss the genre beanbag onto the corresponding book.

Biography Bucket

Students select a book from the bucket. While Buddy Reading, students record information on index cards. Then they sort the cards and place them in the biography folder according to the categories.  If they have an empty category, then they have to go back into the book and find facts to go in that pocket.  You can extend this center into a writing assignment by having the students use the index cards to write a paragraph about the person they read about.

Reading is Valuable

This is a higher level center meant to be used by independent readers.  It can also be used during a novel study or Guided Reading lesson.  My Literacy Facilitator at my school gave me a teaching tool titled Marzano Money. I added some books to the recipe and came up with this center. The books in this center relate to a topic that is appropriate for the season.  For example, I have books for Black History Month in February.  I will add books centered on strong female stories for March which is Women's History Month. November can feature historical fiction books about Pilgrims and Native Americans. You get the point!


Students choose a book from the tub.  Then they select five questions to answer from the Marzano Bucks.  They tally the total value of their answers.  Then they rate their total value:

• $5-$25        Your learning was worth a little bit.
• $26-$100    Your mind is getting richer. 
• $101-$250   You can take your learning to the bank.
• $251-$500   Your mind is a wealth of knowledge.
• $501 and up  You have a million dollar mind.