Susan Jones Teaching: Money and Close Reading Activities

My students have been identifying coins and their values all week long and these introductory money activities have been just perfect for my first graders.

You can see more money activities here.

Over during reader's workshop we have been focusing on close reading!!

I wrote a whole post about close reading in first grade, but we continued this whole group with a non-fiction passage on Emperor Penguins:

This is just one of the 10 passages in my Close Reading for 1st grade winter unit:

I also got this question that I thought was a great question that many are probably wondering about my close reading in 1st grade post:

This text looks so so difficult for my firsties-I have students ranging from reading beginning kindergarten levels to end of first grade levels and I worry that most of them will be really lost with a text this long. How do you find this goes for the lowest, struggling readers? I guess I need some reassurance =)

Hi -----!

The MLK passage is a bit more difficult than the ones in my close reading pack. That being said, the process and passages ARE difficult for my firsties... that's kind of the point. It is not supposed to frustrate them and when I teach it, I do not expect them to read it on their own. I try to teach them the process of close reading. My high group can read it on their own and I most 2nd graders could read these passages on their own. In first grade, I read it aloud to them as they echo read and follow along. We also read the passages MANY times, so words they were unfamiliar with, become much more familiar as they keep reading. I am a happy teacher when I read one of the comprehension questions aloud and my students go back into the story looking for the answer without me asking them to do so!

The first time you do this with your first graders, it may be very discouraging, but keep going! The first few times are all about modeling, modeling, modeling. Showing them what to do. By the end of the year, many of your students will understand the process of close reading and readily provide their answers with text support.

When they get to the older grades and as their reading level gets higher and higher, they can attack the text on their own and use the close reading skills they learned to do it on their own.

I hope this helps!!

Before I go, I wanted to share that I am SO excited because next week we are starting my ALL-TIME FAVORITE WRITING UNIT!!!!!! All About Books!