Things that could be listed would be luggage. Tickets. A place to go. Somewhere to come back to. Someone to help you on your way.

Post this list on the wall.

Physically anchoring the reading experience:

Have the students make something to remind them that they are going on an adventure. Craft stores are great for ideas. Some common choices would be a magic wand, a star on a stick, a small bag with a special item tucked in or a painted rock.

Show and Tell:

Bring in one of

Star Gazer's Guided Reading Kit follows the philosophy behind guided reading. This month, we will be speaking about Exploration as a key theme to teaching students how to read and to do it well.

Close your eyes and try to remember back to when you learned something for the very first time. It could have been the first time you tied your shoes or the first time you learned how to take care of the cat and had to do it all by yourself. Never mind the first time you learned how to say 'I'm sorry' or the very first day you were allowed to go to a birthday party by yourself.

Do you remember the fear? Do you remember the anxiety? Do you remember puzzling out what could happen in the absolute worst scenario? When the moment finally arrived for you to let go of your mom's hand, do you remember the thrill of just going with the moment and trying your best? What happened after was of course exploration in the truest sense...no different than a space pioneer or a researcher looking for the cure. And as I say to my children, “today we are going to do something different. I know you have the hearts of explorers, the feet of adventurers.”

Sometimes as adults we forget that children are truly innocent beings that we as the adults often guide children unwittingly through about every first experience until they get the hang of it. There is nothing more destructive to children than to be completely left alone without training wheels on these first experiences.

So now, imagine you are a child again and your teacher is at the front of the room telling you first about the sounds letters make and now you are told that you're going to be reading. Imagine the fear. Imagine the anxiety. Worst case scenario, what if all the kids in your class learn how to read but you're sitting there without any idea of what is going on.

We have to entice students to open up their minds and be explorers. How do we do that?

Here are some practical tips to make it all come together for your reading explorer or explorers.

Discussion:

Verbally tell them that they are going on an adventure. They will be exploring reading. Have a discussion about what people need when they are exploring something for the first time? Make sure students know what exploring is. Make a class list of what you need when you are going on a trip.

Things that could be listed would be luggage. Tickets. A place to go. Somewhere to come back to. Someone to help you on your way.

Post this list on the wall.

Physically anchoring the reading experience:

Have the students make something to remind them that they are going on an adventure. Craft stores are great for ideas. Some common choices would be a magic wand, a star on a stick, a small bag with a special item tucked in or a painted rock.

Show and Tell:

Bring in one of

Do you remember the fear? Do you remember the anxiety? Do you remember puzzling out what could happen in the absolute worst scenario? When the moment finally arrived for you to let go of your mom's hand, do you remember the thrill of just going with the moment and trying your best? What happened after was of course exploration in the truest sense...no different than a space pioneer or a researcher looking for the cure. And as I say to my children, “today we are going to do something different. I know you have the hearts of explorers, the feet of adventurers.”

Sometimes as adults we forget that children are truly innocent beings that we as the adults often guide children unwittingly through about every first experience until they get the hang of it. There is nothing more destructive to children than to be completely left alone without training wheels on these first experiences.

So now, imagine you are a child again and your teacher is at the front of the room telling you first about the sounds letters make and now you are told that you're going to be reading. Imagine the fear. Imagine the anxiety. Worst case scenario, what if all the kids in your class learn how to read but you're sitting there without any idea of what is going on.

We have to entice students to open up their minds and be explorers. How do we do that?

Here are some practical tips to make it all come together for your reading explorer or explorers.

Discussion:

Verbally tell them that they are going on an adventure. They will be exploring reading. Have a discussion about what people need when they are exploring something for the first time? Make sure students know what exploring is. Make a class list of what you need when you are going on a trip.

Things that could be listed would be luggage. Tickets. A place to go. Somewhere to come back to. Someone to help you on your way.

Post this list on the wall.

Physically anchoring the reading experience:

Have the students make something to remind them that they are going on an adventure. Craft stores are great for ideas. Some common choices would be a magic wand, a star on a stick, a small bag with a special item tucked in or a painted rock.

Show and Tell:

Bring in one of

Sometimes as adults we forget that children are truly innocent beings that we as the adults often guide children unwittingly through about every first experience until they get the hang of it. There is nothing more destructive to children than to be completely left alone without training wheels on these first experiences.

So now, imagine you are a child again and your teacher is at the front of the room telling you first about the sounds letters make and now you are told that you're going to be reading. Imagine the fear. Imagine the anxiety. Worst case scenario, what if all the kids in your class learn how to read but you're sitting there without any idea of what is going on.

We have to entice students to open up their minds and be explorers. How do we do that?

Here are some practical tips to make it all come together for your reading explorer or explorers.

Discussion:

Verbally tell them that they are going on an adventure. They will be exploring reading. Have a discussion about what people need when they are exploring something for the first time? Make sure students know what exploring is. Make a class list of what you need when you are going on a trip.

Things that could be listed would be luggage. Tickets. A place to go. Somewhere to come back to. Someone to help you on your way.

Post this list on the wall.

Physically anchoring the reading experience:

Have the students make something to remind them that they are going on an adventure. Craft stores are great for ideas. Some common choices would be a magic wand, a star on a stick, a small bag with a special item tucked in or a painted rock.

Show and Tell:

Bring in one of

We have to entice students to open up their minds and be explorers. How do we do that?

Here are some practical tips to make it all come together for your reading explorer or explorers.

Discussion:

Verbally tell them that they are going on an adventure. They will be exploring reading. Have a discussion about what people need when they are exploring something for the first time? Make sure students know what exploring is. Make a class list of what you need when you are going on a trip.

Things that could be listed would be luggage. Tickets. A place to go. Somewhere to come back to. Someone to help you on your way.

Post this list on the wall.

Physically anchoring the reading experience:

Have the students make something to remind them that they are going on an adventure. Craft stores are great for ideas. Some common choices would be a magic wand, a star on a stick, a small bag with a special item tucked in or a painted rock.

Show and Tell:

Bring in one of

Things that could be listed would be luggage. Tickets. A place to go. Somewhere to come back to. Someone to help you on your way.

Post this list on the wall.

Physically anchoring the reading experience:

Have the students make something to remind them that they are going on an adventure. Craft stores are great for ideas. Some common choices would be a magic wand, a star on a stick, a small bag with a special item tucked in or a painted rock.

Show and Tell:

Bring in one of the books you learned to read first. Remind them that you once were a reading explorer. Have them ask their parents when they learned to read as a take home assignment.

Have them make Reading Helpers:

Cut out a square in a piece of paper, big enough for students to focus on on one word. Students can use this to learn that in reading, we look at one word after another.

Tell it like it is:

Let them know it is great to make mistakes when reading words. Just by the fact that someone stumbles over a word, the rest of the students will know what that word is. Tell them to always try their best and the rest will come. Engage students in learning words right away:

Send home copies of the Memorize These Words sheets for parents and ask them to cut and decorate all of these flashcards. Give them an envelope to put their masterpieces in and give students a chance in class to learn these key words.

By following some of these tips, you can make reading what it truly needs to be with all the subtitles.

I thank the amazing teachers I had in my early schooling and you'll be thanked to for making reading an exploration.

Remember: “Today we are going to do something different. I know you have the hearts of explorers, the feet of adventurers.”