Independent Study Ideas
Character Study: Fold a paper in half. Label the column on the left "before", and the column on the right "after." Write in the left hand column the way the character was at the beginning of the story. Write in the right hand column the changes in the character as the story progresses.
Never-ending Book Project: Put together a collection of favorite picture books that have been used as read alouds in your classroom. Compile a menu of literature response activities that apply to a variety of texts. Allow the students to reread their favorite book and respond to the text based on their choices from the menu. Response activities might include: 1) write a letter to the book's illustrator, 2) Make up five "why" questions about the story or the illustrations, or 3) describe the most interesting scene in the book. This is a great project because the students always have something to do. Change the collection of books periodically.
Open Mind: Draw the outline of the head of one of the characters in your book. Write inside the head what the character is thinking in this section of the book. Then write what you think the character is feeling. Write at least four sentences.
Root Words: Take a piece of paper and fold it in three sections (hot dog style). At the top of the left column write prefix, at the top of the middle column write root, and at the top of the right hand column write suffix. Look at the list of root words and together with a partner brainstorm as many words that you both can think of that have the same root. Underline or highlight the root in each word you write. Write the prefix, root, and suffix in the appropriate columns.
Schema Strategy: The focus of this strategy is definitely comprehension. The challenge is for students to put text back together-somewhat like a puzzle with words rather than pictures. The researchers suggest cutting apart the text of a poem and giving the cut-apart sections to the children to reassemble. This requires a great deal of collaboration, reading aloud, and self-correcting. Poetry is just one way to use this strategy. It can also be used to sequence dialogue or to put sentences in order to form a paragraph.
Telephone Poem: Have the students write their telephone number on the top of a piece of paper. The number of words in each line of their poem will depend on their telephone number. For example, if the number is 253-0689, the first line of the poem will have two words, the second line will have five words, the third line will have three words, and so on. If there is a zero in the phone number, that line has 10 words. This is a great activity that can be combined with content area reading, responding to literature, or poetry writing. The poem might retell information that the students have just learned about a particular character, them, or topic.
Word Sorts: Word sorts is a word study strategy. Essentially, words are put into categories. Word sorting helps students make connections as they think about word parts and letter patterns. More experience readers develop word knowledge as spelling principles are investigated. Ideas for work sorting: rhyming words, patterns letters make in words, parts of speech, categories, words that are proper nouns/names, words with suffixes, words with prefixes, words that are nouns, adjectives, verbs, (parts of speech), and words according to subject areas.
Put a collection of words in an independent study area. Have the students sort words that will reinforce classroom instruction.