How To Teach Reading and Writing

Instructions
Things You'll Need:

* Reading materials
* Butcher paper
* Colored markers
* Flash cards

1.
Step 1

Ask students to dictate stories as you write their words on the dry board. For example, the students might write about a field trip they took or an upcoming school event. Ask them to name the story. Write the title on the board. Then ask for the main idea, and write it under the title. Ask the students to add sentences that tell about the main idea. After students have dictated the story, read it aloud, asking students to read it with you. Read the story together several times. Then ask individual students to volunteer to read it aloud.
2.
Step 2

Provide a variety of materials for students to read. Classroom libraries, basal readers, newspapers, magazines and materials that students bring from home should provide examples of fiction, nonfiction, realistic fiction, biographies and other genres. Give students opportunities to share what they have read.
3.
Step 3

Use some of the many games on the Internet that teach vocabulary and comprehension skills. One game challenges students to make sentences by unscrambling words. This activity can also be done without a computer. Dictate words similar to the following ones to students and have them write them: rained month day this has it every. Then ask the students to unscramble the words to make a sentence. (It has rained every day this month.) Tell them to use capital letters and punctuation where it is needed. This exercise could also be done with sentences on worksheets.
4.
Step 4

Use activities that are meaningful to students. Diaries and journals are great ways to allow students to express themselves, whether they are beginners or advanced English learners. The emphasis should be on fluency. Correct grammar, punctuation and spelling errors once students have gained some confidence. Correct only one or two errors at one time. A page filled with corrections and suggestions can be confusing. A student may be able to remember one or two corrections, but possibly not a page full of them.
5.
Step 5

Incorporate writing activities into all disciplines. Have students work in groups to research and report topics within the disciplines. For a science project, for example, one group might research and report on magnets, another group on life cycles and another group on the water cycle. Each group should choose a recorder to write the group's findings and another person or persons to report to the rest of the class. Everyone in the group should be responsible for doing some of the reading and taking notes on the group's topic.