Independent Reading Choice-board

I have created many choice boards throughout the years to help facilitate independent reading time in my classrooms.  I created this one to be used in a middle school inclusion class.  I am teaching special education this year.  I co-teach with a team of ELA teachers and I was finding that students lacked focus during reading time and needed a goal/project to keep them motivated.

Since the class is of varying levels I had to create a choice that could be used by all readers. This board has on level, below level, and above level activities.

The children are able to set a weekly goal for reading with this choice-board and it also gives directions on how good readers behave before, during, and after their reading.  Our students are so excited about there activities.  They were so engaged in reading all week and we were able to engage in small group instruction while the other students read independently.  You can get this choice-board from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store by using the link: Independent Reading Choice-board

News Paper Summary Rubric

During a recent professional development session at my school it was impressed upon me that I should began to utilize rubrics more often in my classroom.  At first I was like oh no more work.  I thought I am sure that it is better for the students but it will take me forever to create a rubric.  I was wrong!!!

Once you decide what a level 4 will look like for the project your baseline is set and the other requirements will just be modified from the that level 4.  I took a stab at creating a rubric for a news article summary.  If the students meet a level 3 or above for this assignment they will be showing proficiency with common core standards 4.W.2, 4.W.1, 4.W.9, and 4.RI.2

As a child doing weekly newspaper article summaries is one of the assignments that I remember.  If I remember it now at the ripe old age of 18 :)  then it must have been a fruitful activity that my class might also enjoy.

Use the link below to have your students do this assignment as well!


News Article Summary Rubric