Reading Time & Story Maps

Students are working their way through Unit 2: Bedtime Tales, where they are quickly approaching the end.

One part of unit two skills, is reading time with new stories and comprehension activities as part of many lessons. Students apply different phonics skills learned in lessons leading up to a variety of stories where those concepts would apply. My introduction to the stories reminds students of these learned concepts pointing out different examples, but also letting them read through new texts to practice independently while strengthening their reading ability.  

We are learning many elements within fictional tales. After each story, one practice for comprehension is to complete a story chart (like above). They review setting, characters, plot (beginning, middle and end), and occasionally moral, along with recognizing the different genres for each story. Students try this individually at first, then get with their reading partners, while always ending with a whole group conversation filling in the chart together. This gives me the opportunity to see how students do independently where I can listen to their level of fluency and where they are applying learned reading skills and strategies. It also shows where some students could be struggling, to then further assist. At the same time, I also get a peak at what students are interpreting on their story maps for the setting, characters, plot, and sometimes moral.