Novel Study

For students, innovative study techniques are essential. It makes it easier for kids to comprehend information in any context and helps them build their vocabulary. Students as young as in the fourth grade can participate in this activity. Both individuals and small groups of students can complete it. In order to do the exercise, you will need a writing pad, markers, and a storybook. The purpose of this activity is to give students a framework and methods for studying novels so that they can develop a reading habit and expand their vocabulary. This activity can be divided into three: 1-point activities, 2-point activities and 3-point activities. In the 1-point activities, students are required to read a particular scene from a story and create a comic strip from it. In addition to the strip, students should also write a one-page document on recommendations as to why someone would want to read the book in question. In this section, students should provide specific reasons why it is imperative to read the book or the story. The third part of the activity is to encourage students to create a Venn diagram comparing themselves to one of the characters listed in the story. Then, students should make a poster in order to advertise the novel and also create a well-illustrated poem which talks about the main character in the story. Students should then proceed to create a character map which of the main characters in the story. The next activity should be writing a paper which describes the funniest part of the story, the most unbelievable, the most believable, the happiest and the saddest parts as well. Next, students should write a newspaper article which tells about the events contained in the novel and later make a shoebox diaroma which shows the scenes from the novel. Lastly, students should be able to create a one-point project which has been approved by the instructor.

The second way of executing this activity is using a 2-point activity approach. In this approach, the instructor guides the students in making a mobile which has more than 5 people or places which the novels talks about. Students should be in a position to explain all the pieces. The next part of the activity is to make timeline with more than 10 events derived from the story. Next, students are required to imagine and create a character for the story. Once the character has been created, students should describe the possible roles the character would have as well as how he/she is likely to change the story. The next step in this activity is to create a story map for the project as well as a collage to celebrate the novel. The collage should include words and phrases. Lastly, students should make a board game for the novel and make cards with information contained in the novel and create a project of their own.

The last project which can be used in novel studying is the 3-point activities. In this project, students are required to keep a diary account which has the events unfolding from the story. The account of events should be in accordance with the views of the characters in the narrative. Once this is done, students should write and also perform either a television or a radio commercial in order to sell the novel. Another activity is to write an extra chapter after the novel ends and make a shoebox video which has more than 10 scenes from the book.

Teaching students how to study novels is a central part of holistic learning. First, stories improve in cultural values since they have been part of the human race for a long time. In addition, the activity is important in helping the students to expanding horizons. Novels expose students to other cultures and people. Another goal of this activity is to help students in building vocabulary. Consequently, they find it easy to undertake other related activities such as writing, reading and also studying their course work. The activity also boosts the students’ critical thinking skills. Instead of consuming everything around them, students gain vital analytical skills through this activity which encourages them to think on their own.

Activity 2: Swapping Facts/ Pass the paper/ Carousel

The goal of this activity is to ensure that at the end of every lesson, students are in a position to revisit all what they have learnt in the lesson and summarize it for the ease of remembering. Secondly, the activity enables the instructor to know whether all the students understood the concept taught and how each student understood it. This activity is suitable for students in the 3rd and 4th grade and should be done by groups of 2 or more students. Materials include chart papers and writing materials.

In swapping facts activity, the instructor ensures that each student has a partner. Each student shares what they have learnt from the lesson. Once they both share the facts, they swap the facts back and forth until they exhaust all the facts in the lesson. Another similar activity is the pass the paper whereby the instructor provides the students with pieces of chart paper in their groups. They papers have different headings. Through brainstorming, each group of students should write what they know about the topic. Later, they should be able to write down their findings about the topic on their graphs. The next group takes over and reads the information written by the previous group, adds more information and passes it on to the next group who do the same. This activity continues around the classroom until groups starts to share on each site. In carousel, the teacher posts the chart paper around the room. Every chart has a different heading. The instructor ensures that the students are in small groups which can easily rotate from one chart to another. While making the rotations, the instructor can play music which signals the time to make the next rotation. Each group arriving in a chart assigns a recorder which they can fill based on their own views in relation to the topic. This goes on until they have all rotated to the charts.

These learning activities are key for students at a younger age because it not only enhances memory, but also promotes a student’s capacity to think critically. In addition, the activity enables students to relate and apply the skills acquired in class in real life situations. It is also an efficient method which students can apply when revising for examinations. Another learning outcome in this activity is that students can easily learn to work with one another as a team.

Activity 3: Happily Ever After

“Happily ever after” is an activity which is suitable for students in pre-kindergarten aged between 3 and 4 years. This can be carried out as an individual activity or in small group of students. The most preferable number is two students per group. The materials required in include writing materials. The objective is to see how much the students can remember at the end of the unit and what they have learnt. It is also a reading readiness program in literature among young children.

In performing the activity, the instructor directs the students to write down all the best things they have learnt at the end of the unit. In addition, to what they have learnt already, the students are also required to indicate the things they would still want to learn or know as well as what it would take for them to have a happy ending. Once the students have written them down, the instructor can collect and review that the students have written to act as a guide when revisiting the unit in order to clarify issues which were no clear to the students.

The objective of this activity is to ensure that students grasp important life lessons at the end of every unit taught. The Happily Ever After activity also provides the instructor with an opportunity to recap on what he/she had taught in the particular unit. Therefore, it generally improves on learning outcomes among the students because the teacher can easily estimate the students’ level of understanding the particular topic. The activity provides student with early reading skills which are effectively taught and integrated with other language arts. Students are constantly, engaged in writing, reading, listening and speaking through this activity. Another learning outcome from this activity is that it provides explicit instructions to students by breaking down and explaining tasks. This is because the activity enables learning through concrete activity. In addition, the activity has a multimodal approach which engages all the students. It is a vital approach because children learn better through visual, auditory and kinesthetic modalities. Therefore, in the long run, students are able to read, spell and write with ease.

Another learning outcome associated with this activity is that students also learn key concepts, skills and vocabulary in the process. The strategy provides multiple examples for the students which they can both hear and see. In addition, student participation in the physical activities during the learning process also reinforces meaning. Another important part of the activity is in motivating the children into learning. The activity, provides students with beautifully illustrated learning materials such as stories as well as lively discussions which are all learning oriented. In addition, there are also hands-on activities, art projects and group games which are part of this activity. Therefore, children enjoy the entire learning process which boosts the culture of learning even in the future. The activity also provides clear instructions to children hence building a step-by-step success in the entire learning program. Consequently, students demonstrate confidence as they build on the skills needed to learn and to read. There are also pre and post-tests which are part of the learning outcomes of this activity.

Credit 2: Anchor Activities

Anchor activities are designed for students whereby they can either work the out at the beginning of class or after the class work. This is required so that their instructional time can be maximized. The purposes of anchor activities is to help instructors in reviewing as well as extending learning to students on any subject. Anchor activities can either be done individually or in small groups. The tasks should be relevant to the subject and every group member should be in a position to participate in any task. Other benefits of anchor activities include the provision of differentiation due to student choice of activity. In addition, teachers used these activities in order to deal with the ragged time especially when students complete their assignments at different times.

Activity 1: Illustrating a Lesson

This is one of the most commonly used anchor activities used by teachers. It is an important pre-assessment and content review activity which students can use to summarize a lesson based on their own understanding. This activity is suitable for students between the 3rd and the 4th grade aged 9-12 and can be carried out either by individual or by small groups of students. The materials required for this activity include wiring materials, sticky notes and a board.

When carrying out this activity, the instructor should give every student a sticky note. Students should write one fact or characteristic of a topic on each sticky note. Once every student has written their fact or the characteristics of the topic on the note, they are required to put them on the board. Later, they can organize the notes into clusters depending on the ideas contained. These notes can then be revisited once the lesson is over. During the lesson, the instructor should post 2-3 questions on the board. The students can respond to the questions in a journal and the answers can be checked at the end of the lesson. The instructor can also direct the students to respond to the questions on the board on a sticky note and immediately collect them. Therefore, the teacher is able to get an immediate sense of how the class understands the topic of discussion. As the lesson continues, the teacher can direct the students to answer and discuss more complicated questions on the board through a discussion of possible answers with other group members. This is followed by a class a discussion.

Pre-assessment and content review activity is a vital anchor activity. It enhances a student’s familiarity to a particular topic to be taught. Therefore, students are psychologically prepared before the lesson starts. It is an essential tool to gauge the level of students’ strengths and weaknesses, their prior knowledge as well as skills to the particular instruction. Therefore, this activity is significant to attaining learning outcomes by helping the instructor to identify the needs of the students. Also, through this activity, instructors can assess whether the lesson being taught is already being mastered by the students. If most of the students already have enough information about the topic, the teacher can then individualize learning to a few students who are weak in that particular instruction. Also, the teacher is in a position to prepare longer pre-test for the students. Another important learning outcome in this activity is that the teacher is in a position to measure true learning for every student. The activity has summative assessment and therefore it is possible see what the students learn as the lesson was being developed. Another important outcome of this activity is that students are provided with a preview of what is expected of them in the lesson. With clear expectations, students can focus on the key topics in the lesson. Finally, the activity gives students the ideas for future lessons.

Activity 2: Silent Reading

Silent reading is another critical anchor activity relevant to students during the early stages of education. The activity can be taught to students from the second grade aged 6-7 years. The materials needed in this activity including writing and reading materials. The activity is suitable for individual students.

When carrying out the activity, it is critical for the instructor to ensure that students are in charge of the materials they prefer to read. This givens the students an opportunity to choose the materials which interest them therefore making the entire exercise easy. Recreational reading materials outside the syllabus are preferred since this is what most students enjoy reading. Once selected, the instructor assigns the reading to all the students. Every student is required to read 2-3 paragraphs from the given chapter of the material selected. Additional tools such as Lexile measures can be used to ensure that the material students are using is within the level they can read independently.

Sustained silent reading is a critical literacy instruction to students. One of the outcomes associated with silent reading activity is that it enhances enjoyment in reading. Since the readers can choose their preferred material for the activity, they willingly engage in reading. Children usually extend one finger to words they know in the material. However, if the children tend to extend four of five fingers in the reading material, there is a possibility that the book is too difficult for them. The second importance of this activity in literacy learning is that it increases the students’ comprehension. When reading silently, students do not pay much attention to issues such as pronunciation. Therefore, they tend to concentrate more on the content and easily understand the material. In addition, motivation and fluency in reading are also enhanced.

Another learning outcome associated with this activity is significant building of vocabulary. Through silent reading, students get an opportunity to learn the meaning of new words and how they are used in their context. Therefore, they find word meaning to be more interesting than direct instructions. In addition, students apply work attack skills and also learn how to figure out new words on their own. Another learning outcome which is associated with sustained silent reading is the establishment of a link between reading and writing. Through silent reading, students are in a position to observe numerous writing styles and sentence structures. In addition, the ability to concentrate on the words they are reading also improves on their grammar, spelling and general reading. This activity can be sustained by encouraging the students to write in a dialogue journal on what they are reading. This improves general understanding of study materials, comprehension and memorability. When presented with the dialogue journal, the teacher should not correct the writing. Instead, he/she responds using corrected spelling on the misspelt words and grammar structure. Generally, this activity is suitable for inculcating the culture of reading at a very early age. Consequently, this becomes significant in future college education and career development.

Activity 3: Activity Boxes

This activity is suitable for students in in the 2nd grade aged 6-8 years. The activity can be carried out by small groups of students or individuals. The materials required for the activity include index file box, backpack, metal ring and reading materials. The activity can be carried out in different ways depending on the content are or the skills required.

Using the index card file box, the instructor ensures that the activities are organized according to the students’ ability level. A separate card file is made for every content area as the card files accumulate. From the cards provided, students can choose their activity card and solve the problem indicated. The advantage of using this method is that minimal storage space is required. Another way the activity can be carried out is by using a backpack or shoulder bag. In this case, multiple task cards are used in order to bring about a difference with various levels of questions in the bag. The advantage of using this method is that all the contents are contained in one bag. However, there is a disadvantage in that the activity requires ample space. Lastly, the activity can be carried out using a metal ring. In this case, each ring used contains multiple activity cards. The cards are leveled and students can only flip in the specific card which they are interested in solving. Similar to the index card file box the advantage of this method is that it requires minimal storage space for the cards.

The advantage of using this activity in teaching is to enhance a child’s sociocultural experiences. In addition, elements such as the child’s interests and preferences are also taken into account when using this activity. Besides, the teacher is in a position to track the unique progress exhibited by students at an individual level. The boxes are commonly used in this activity because the space is at a premium in many classrooms. Boxes usually have enough materials and books for more than three children. In addition, the boxes are portable and therefore, students are able to move to small areas of the room. They are flexible and easier to plan compared to other methods. This is a core differentiation activity because students come to school with a wide range of literacy experience which is usually influenced by myriad, cultural, social and economic factors. This activity enhanced differentiation of the students and the teacher can individualize learning according to the specific student’s needs. All the activities are developmentally appropriate for the students. Therefore, teachers can easily plan how to teach literacy instructions based on the informed knowledge they have on each student. Also, literacy boxes scaffold learning making differentiation more manageable. Students are assigned activities from one box to another depending on the complexity of the activities. Apart from the immediate learning, another benefit of using activity boxes in teaching literacy is that important virtues such as teamwork and collaboration are significantly improved among the students. Also, students develop critical thinking skills which are important in future academic and career life.

Credit 3: Cooperative Grouping Strategies

Cooperative grouping strategies include all forms of activities in literacy teaching which encourage cooperative learning. These activities are critical for students studying a second language. The essence of these activities is to promote peer interactions among students. According to scholars, cooperative learning is been proven as an effective form of learning which also takes into account diverse backgrounds of students regardless of their ability (Harper and Dzaldov 9). These strategies include the academically gifted students, the disabled, English language learners as well as the mainstream students. Cooperative grouping activities are known to foster respect and promote learning and friendship between different factions of students. Through these activities, peers can learn to depend on one another positively. The primary guide to cooperative grouping strategies is ensuring that each student contributes to the friendship, stays on task, shares, helps one another, encourage each other and solve problems together.

Activity 1: Seasonal Partners

Seasons partner is a very useful activity for the teachers since they require the students to pair up at one time or another in the course of the learning. Therefore, through this activity, it is possible for the teacher to organize the class at the beginning of the year. This activity is effective from students from kindergarten to other higher stages of learning. The materials required include a Seasons Partner card. The students can be divided into groups of 2 or 4 in this particular activity.

When planning for the activity, the instructor gives each student a Season’s partner card on which they are supposed to write their names at the center. The card is divided into winter, spring, fall and summer. The students are instructed on how to carry out the activity. For instance, Fall is the time for the new beginning at school. During this time, students meet new friends and teachers in their respective classrooms. Therefore, during this season, they should find a new friend, who they did not know previously. Once they identify this friend, they should exchange their cards and write their name on the cards of their respective partner. The second part of the card is the winter. Various things will be learnt in class during this season. Students should be paired afresh. During Spring, the teacher can make a few changes to the pairs of friends (Harper and Dzaldov 43). For instance, he/she may encourage the boys to choose girl partners and vice-versa. The final season in the cycle is the summer. The friends in summer are special and students can be left the choice to make their own friends for this specific season.

Seasonal partner activity is critical to learning as well as to a child’s holistic development. Through cooperative learning promote by this activity, it is possible to enhance positive interdependence, individual accountability and simultaneous interaction. In positive interdependence, children are taught the importance of teamwork. Students learn that in order to be successful themselves, it is critical to ensure that their friends succeed too (Harper and Dzaldov 44). Through such an activity, the teachers usually learn about the actual benefits differentiation of instructions. This makes it possible to meet the needs of all students holistically. Student partners are also able to share and open up to one another. Therefore, the teacher can easily monitor the classroom and assess the problems which the students are facing.

Activity 2: Clock Buddies

Clock buddies in another strategy used by teachers to quickly pair up students for partnered activities. It is an important strategy which promotes cooperative learning and ensuring that students do not always partner with the same person (Spenser and Vavra 397). Also, it ensures that students do not end up partnering with a person who they do not go well with which can negatively affect the learning process. This activity is suitable for any academic level but mostly used in the lower levels of education. It is a group-work kind of activity and therefore the groups should not exceed this number.

The teacher prints clock buddies charts. The charts can either be small to be put in the student desks or large to put in student folders and binders. Once the clocks have been set, each student is required to make an appointment with 12 different people. Each person represents every hour on the clock. Students are only required to make appointments if only there is an open slot at that particular hour on both the clocks. The instructor can reserve three slots in the clock. These slots can be used for strategically assigning writing partner, the strategically assigned math partner and the strategically assigned reading partner. However, for the rest of the slots, the teacher can encourage the students to select clock buddies based on their own preferences. For instance, students can find partners with same color of hair or those whose favorite colors are similar to theirs.

Clock buddies is an important activity in literacy instructions which promote collaboration, conversation and presentation. These three standards are vital part of student’s academic life which must be utilized in order to achieve a mastery on the content areas. The activity is an important way to ensure collaborative effort among the students. In addition, the activity is critical in promoting a two-way conversation among students. Consequently, students can present their thinking in a way which is clear and powerful. Incorporating partner talk in all the learning activity promotes students’ conversational skills. Students also learn how to be interactive and engage one-on-one with people from different calibers and backgrounds. In addition, the activity improves a student’s learning horizon. Instead of talking to the person sitting closes to the which is easy, students learn to associate and hold a one-on-one conversation with students they are not close to. Therefore, at the end of the activity, students demonstrate improved self-esteem and confidence in themselves.

Another learning outcome associated with clock buddies is the aspect of idea sharing. When a student learns to hold a conversation with more people, their horizon tends to expand as they easily learn from one another. Students learn about new cultures and backgrounds of their respective friends. This activity also improves on students’ cultural competency because they can hold conversation and discussions with students who come from a cultural, religious, ethnic or racial background different from theirs. The activity also creates a team spirit which is essential for students in their future academic and career life. Also, the activity provides a better way of spending extra time on meaningful activities. Another importance of this activity is creation of a culture of inclusiveness in the classroom. Studies show that lower-status students are likely to be excluded from full participation in classroom activities (Spenser and Vavra 168). Therefore, this activity ensures that all students are evenly matched and granted equal participation opportunities in classroom.

Activity 3: Flowers and Stems

This is another activity which teachers can use to create groups of students with either equal or unequal number of participants which depends on the specific needs of the instructor. The grouping is planned in advance in order to accommodate the number of students contained in the classroom.

When using flowers and stems as the grouping strategies in cooperative learning, it is important to note that teacher can apply the specific characteristics of flowers and stems to group the students fairly. For instance, they may be grouped based on the type of the flower (National Science Teachers Association 26). This can give groups such as iris, rose, zinnia, tulip, daisy, daffodil among others. Other characteristics which may be used include the color, the stage of booming among others.

The use of this strategy in the classroom is vital not only in improving diversity as per how the students learn but also in playing a role in reaching out to students with a style of learning which is different from how the lesson was planned originally. In addition, the outcomes of such activities as this can help education planners in changing the lesson plans so that they can accommodate different type of learners. This activity also promotes students’ comprehension of various concepts and topics which were not clear initially. When using this strategy in planning the lesson, students can ask as many questions as possible at the beginning of the lesson. These questions engage the students. Consequently, the struggling students are in a position to receive proper prior background knowledge of the topic and can easily comprehend the topic being taught.

Diversity demonstrated in this activity can also help the instructor in planning the lesson in such a way to meet the needs of the students who are gifted or talented. For instance, the teacher may use a different worksheet on the special needs students. Another important part of this activity is group building. It involves multiple components such as how the many students should be in one group and what should be grouped together in a particular group. Two group members which are considered as informal groups are useful for students in sharing ideas in a quick manner. On the other hand, teachers using this activity can opt for formal groups if the planned activities and projects are going to take more time. The different groups of students have different levels of ability. It is also imperative that teachers should participate and engage students groups with questions.

The use of differentiation in the instruction and lesson plans is important in reaching different types of learners within a classroom. The teacher can opt for any cooperative strategy to use in his/her class depending on the characteristics of the students and the class makeup. Through these programs, students can easily learn about content concepts and social skills as well as cultural diversity in all capacities.

Work Cited

Harper, J and B Dzaldov. Literacy smarts : simple classroom strategies for using interactive whiteboards to engage students. Markham, Ont. :: Pembroke Publishers, 2011.

National Science Teachers Association. The Science Teacher. Arlington, Va.: ., National Science Teachers Association,, 2001.

Spenser, S and S Vavra. Getting to the common core : using research-based strategies that empower students to own their own achievement. Charlotte, NC : : Information Age Publishing,, 2015.