This article highlights the literacy practices of two second grade teachers-one in an affluent suburb of a major metropolitan area and the other in a large urban school district. The article describes how these teachers use informational texts to engage their students, to provide children with opportunities to learn about the world around them, and to immerse them in literacy learning. The article also shares the teachers 0 insights into the value of informational texts in primary classrooms.
This article shares an oral reading practice that develops children's fluency skills, with a particular emphasis on performance reading and prosody. The authors share their experiences with Fluency Idol! as a way to engage young children by tapping into pop culture. The practice emphasizes repeated readings, feedback, practice, and performance while encouraging children to read aloud to one another. Applications to a second grade classroom as well as in a college reading clinic are discussed.
The use of graphic poetry in classrooms is encouraged as a way to engage students and motivate them to read and write poetry. This article discusses how graphic poetry can help students with their comprehension of poetry while tapping into popular culture. It is organized around three main sections—reading graphic poetry, writing graphic poetry, and celebrating/sharing graphic poetry. Teachers are provided with information about why visual literacy is important in today's world as well as information about ways to build students' visual literacy skills, comprehension, and fluency by incorporating graphic poetry into their classrooms. Ideas for developing students' reading skills and strategies are included as well as ideas for writing graphic poetry. The article concludes with ways that teachers and students can celebrate and share graphic poetry including graphic poetry contests, poetry clubs, and poetry Readers' Theatre presentations.
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