Dear Colleague,
We at Maggie’s Earth Adventures are very concerned about deltas and wetlands and are making an effort to learn more about these fragile ecosystems worldwide. This delta (A Trip to the Irrawaddy DeltaTrip to the Irrawaddy Delta)was in the news last spring when typhoon NARGIS swirled into the region killing thousands and leaving untold devastation in its wake. Sadly, the Myanmar government refused international aid, literally waiting off its shores, to bring comfort to the victims of this tragedy. A quick internet search yielded several videos of Laura Bush speaking out about this tragic situation. You may want to preview an age-appropriate video for your class to view.
Continuing on with another one of our favorite themes, it’s time to revisit Richard Allington’s 6 Ts of effective teaching. I discussed the first T, Time, a few weeks ago. In this activity, I share some thoughts about the second T, Texts.

Dr. Allington points out that our students must engage with level-appropriate texts for maximum success. This means that we need to have on hand a multitude of independent level books and other materials so that children can practice easy text. The idea is an old one, but a successful one: the more you read, the better reader you become.And who wants to struggle to do something? We want to slowly build up a child’s reading ability; this means plenty of material should be available at even very low levels. I like to send children to kindergarten (or even the pre-school class if your school has one) to read aloud to the young children. This means older children think it is OK to practice even a very easy book. Think of the fluency this builds. Unfortunately, some of our schools have been “taken over” by reading programs that require children to read, even recreationally at their instructional or even frustration level. This does no good! We need to encourage lots of easy, fun reading – it is amazing that this will increase reading ability faster than all the worksheets and test reviews in the world
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Happy New Year!