Unit #2 Dynamic and Emotional Reading

Unit 2 this week went very well. I believe we, (the teachers and I) are really getting into a groove of passing instruction and leadership back and forth. Our focus this week was dynamic and emotional reading.

After reviewing the six big questions they analyzed an image and with prompts from the teacher and myself, they wrote answers to the questions in their journals. It was really encouraging to see how many of them, when prompted took their descriptions to the next level instead of just  surface answers: 

We then did warm ups for the body, face and tongue to be ready to read! 

Dynamic reading:

We gave the kids a definition of  "dynamic" and talked about how reading like a robot is BORING!!:

We read each sentence like a robot, and then again dynamically - using their bodies to convey the action of the sentence.

Emotional Reading:

I then had the students name emotions - and we wrote them on the black board:

 I then modeled reading a sentence with the wrong emotion - they really got a kick out of that!

I would then pick an emotion that didn't match a sentence - they would read it that way, and then we would try it with the right emotion.

Group reading  Dynamic and Emotional reading:

We then split the kids up into 5 groups of 4 and there instructions were to read the passage to themselves, then read it aloud together. Then they picked 3 dynamic actions to do together, as well as the emotion that they thought best matched the passage. 

They had about 10-15 minutes to work in their groups while the teacher and I walked around and helped, and we then performed them in front of the class!

Practicing Flinging Open The Cupboard Door!!!

P..P..P..Please don't eat me!!  - can you guess the emotion they chose?

                                                              Mrs. Mayer's Class

                                                                        Mrs. Schuster's Class

                                                                    Mrs. Paulson's Class

A few things we noticed/realized: We really have to keep the sentences for any choral reading simple, to ensure that all students of all reading levels feel successful. 

It was also amazing to see the difference in participation in the choral reading vs. small group work from classroom to classroom. Mrs. Paulson's Class had a very successful experience with the students really applying the emotional and dynamic reading skills  in the small group work - but were almost overwhelmed with energy when we did the choral reading with the whole class, which was the opposite in Mrs. Meyer's class. (they were successful with group reading - but seemed more engaged and enthused during choral reading)