R is for...Research

Internet research is used so frequently everyday with in school. Much of it is used to help with homework and some of it IS the homework. But when students are to write a formal research paper, they must know how to write the information and how to present the information in the proper format.

http://www.aresearchguide.com

F is for FUN!

If you make reading fun, kids will read more.

Here are some entertaining Literacy Activities and Games.

L means Literature Circles

We have to value this important technique to produce results when promoting reading among student teams. Literature Circles enables participants to have a wider ..."from distance" view of the material and topic of a literary piece. For example, by role playing each member assumes roles as: Summarizer, Discussion Director, Investigator, Illustrator, Connector, Travel Tracer and/or Vocabulary Enricher. Facitating collaboration and knowledge sharing.

I believe role playing is always a good promoter for engagement and critical thinking.

http://elearningrandomwalk.blogspot.com/2006/07/literature-circle.html


Best regards,

Carlos Ramirez

D is for Distance Learning

The Monster Exchange is a program where students from around the world come together to share reading comprehension, descriptive writing and art.
Students from a classroom work in groups to design a picture of a monster and then create a description of the monster.
The students then swap the descriptions via email to a partnered class (in a different school somewhere) and each class re-creates the monsters using the only descriptions provided by the original artists.

There are some lesson plans, chat rooms and a discussion board available for educators to utilize.

M is for "Music"

Promoting Literacy Through Music

Did you know that Language in music and language in print have many similarities, such as the use of abstract symbols? That both oral language and written language can be obtained in the same manner? Emergent readers will attempt to "read" along in a shared reading of a familiar text, just as they will join in a sing along to a familiar song.

Explore the sidebar areas for songs and materials. Some of it is sales, but there are some materials available on the website.

http://www.answers.com/

A is for Access. Having technology available to all teachers and students would be a beautiful thing!

We'll use this blog to come up with ABC's of literacy. Just pick a letter of the alphabet and write an explanation. You can find graphic images to illustrate your point. Have some fun with it.