The Literacy Dive Podcast: Reading and Writing Strategies for Upper Elementary Teachers and Parents – Details, episodes & analysis

Over the last month, we’ve been discussing all the different factors that can affect a student’s reading comprehension, even in upper elementary. We’ve gone over fundamental and cognitive factors, and now we’ve hit the last factor, which is environmental. So, in the last episode of the series, I’m sharing interventions for environmental factors that affect reading comprehension, the impact those have on student learning, and ways to support them. 

When it comes to environmental factors, I’m really going to cover the socioeconomic and emotional or psychological factors that students face. As you address these factors, it’s important to be aware that this involves creating a supportive classroom environment and connecting with resources that go beyond the classroom. I’m going to provide several intervention ideas that involve the community, public library, and ways to include SEL into your daily literacy routine. 

As you start to examine reasons why a student isn’t proficient in reading comprehension, it’s important to look beyond academics. Are there resources or materials that aren’t attainable or lack the support to improve their reading? By taking a look at the environmental factors that affect reading comprehension and addressing those issues, you will soon have your students feeling successful with their literacy skills!

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode170

Resources Mentioned:

• Vocabulary Writing Prompts Sample
• FREE Context Clues Activity Set
• Reading Comprehension Activity Bundle
• McKay’s Used Book Store
• Half Price Books
• Reading Graphic Organizers
• Reading Comprehension Question Rings
• Reading Skills and Strategies Anchor Charts
• Sentence Stem Response Cards
• Sentence Stem Anchor Charts

Connect with Me:

• Join The Daily Writing Disguise Membership here
• Shop my TpT store here
• Receive emails from me here
• Follow me on Instagram

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been diving into intervention strategies for students who have difficulty with reading comprehension. The reality is that some upper elementary students aren’t proficient or on grade level when it comes to reading or reading comprehension. So, as literacy teachers, we’ve got to come up with ways to support these students in our class. Last week, I shared strategies for students who struggle with the fundamental factors of reading comprehension. But in today’s episode, I’m sharing interventions and strategies for cognitive factors that affect reading comprehension for your students.

When we discuss cognitive factors, we’re addressing deficiencies in attention issues, processing speeds, working memory, language processing, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities. But one thing that’s unique about cognitive challenges is that the intervention and strategies need to be specialized and focused on the unique needs of each student. Therefore, when highlighting strategies and interventions for cognitive factors that affect reading comprehension, they’re tailored and adjusted to benefit the student and help them succeed in reading and academics in general.

As you address cognitive factors that affect reading comprehension, know that support from special education teachers and interventionists may need to get involved. Therefore, by implementing these strategies with your students, you’re one step ahead in getting them the help they need for the future in academics. Our goal as literacy teachers is to get our students proficient in reading, so having these interventions ready for your students is one way for you to address their cognitive factors in order to improve their reading comprehension skills.

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode169

Resources Mentioned:

• Vocabulary Writing Prompts Sample
• FREE Context Clues Activity Set
• Reading Comprehension Activity Bundle
• Reading Graphic Organizers
• Reading Comprehension Question Rings
• Reading Skills and Strategies Anchor Charts
• Sentence Stem Response Cards
• Sentence Stem Anchor Charts
• Episode 168, Interventions for Fundamental Factors That Affect Reading Comprehension
• Episode 167, Fundamental, Cognitive, and Environmental...

In last week’s episode, we learned that writing stamina is built over time and includes more than just an amount of time, but when students are actively engaged in a particular writing task. Since having writing stamina can be difficult for students, I wanted to create a series that provided teachers with strategies that improved a student’s writing stamina and developed their writing skills at the same time. So in the second episode in the series, I’m sharing four ways you can increase writing endurance within your students.

In order to increase writing endurance within your students, several things are required from not only your students but yourself as the teacher. Knowing the role you play in increasing their endurance and developing their skills is going to help your students succeed and become independent writers. I share four ways what this can look like in your classroom or literacy block without taking up an extended amount of time or changing your entire curriculum. 

Getting your students to write in general can be challenging, but especially for an extended period of time while fully engaged. By implementing these strategies to increase writing endurance, you ensure that students will get the practice they need to positively grow their stamina and skills. Stay tuned to next week’s episode, the last in the series, on how to gradually increase the writing time and complexity of which your students are writing.

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/episode160

Resources Mentioned:

• Daily Writing Disguise
• Creative Writing Activities
• Writing Office Folders
• Writing Reference Helpers
• Writing Process Checklists
• Descriptive Writing Anchor Charts
• Episode 159, Writing Stamina: 6 Challenges Students Face and How to Help Them

Connect with Me:

• Join The Daily Writing Disguise Membership here
• Shop my TpT store here
• Receive emails from me here
• Follow me on Instagram here
• Read my blog posts here

I hope you’ve been enjoying this month’s biography theme. The last two episodes I gave tips for introducing biographies to your students and tips for using mentor texts. At this point your students should be familiar with the genre, which leads me to today’s episode. I will be sharing how to use biographies to focus on key reading skills that go hand in hand with this genre.

These reading skills really lend themselves beautifully to this genre and I’m going to tell you why. Although I could think of even more, today I will specifically be sharing seven key reading skills to target with biographies. The reason I want to talk about this is because you don’t have to always grab that fiction text when you want to introduce certain skills!

In this episode I share:

• 7 reading skills that can be easily practiced through biographies
• Tips for incorporating these reading skills into biography exploration
• How biographies can be used to have student expand their answers
• Why biographies are beneficial for test prep

SHOW NOTES: https://theliteracydive.com/7-key-reading-skills/

Resources Mentioned:

• Free Biography Templates
• Easy Reader Biographies
• Black History Biography Activity Bundle

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts
• Watch my YouTube channel 

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

Welcome to another episode to highlight February’s topic of biographies! If you listened to last week’s episode then your students should know what biographies are now that you’ve introduced them. Biographies may not seem like the most interesting genre, so today I’ll be sharing nine mini-lesson ideas that are going to be engaging and interesting for your students. These ideas should leave you inspired and focused on this nonfiction genre.

In this episode, I share:

• 9 exciting mini-lesson ideas to explore biographies
• Whole group and individual activities for teaching biographies
• How to use graphic organizers to make learning memorable
• Tips for taking advantage of available resources

SHOW NOTES: theliteracydive.com/podcast-episode69

Resources Mentioned:

• Free Biography Templates
• Easy Reader Biographies
• Black History Biography Activity Bundle

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts
• Watch my YouTube channel 

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

Black History is celebrated this month, but I have been one to celebrate Black and diverse history all year long.

This episode will support teachers who are wanting to implement African American history into their classrooms whether it's their first year or tenth year. You will gain helpful reminders when navigating your conversations about Black influential individuals with students, as well as activities that can be easily implemented throughout this month and beyond.

Episode Highlights:

• Black History Month is celebrated in February but is encouraged to be taught year-round
• It is the duty of teachers to help fill in the gaps that are left out of textbooks and omitted from curriculum standards
• 3 helpful reminders when discussing Black history with students
• 5 ways to implement Black history in the classroom - activities you can get up and running today!

Links referenced:

• Read my blog post, 5 Activities to Implement Black History in the Classroom

• Read my blog post, Teaching Black History in the Classroom

• Printable & Digital Black History Biographies and Research Activities

• Digital-Only Black History Biographies and Research Activities

• Diverse Read Alouds + Books for Black History

• Donorschoose

• BrainPop

• Creating an Amazon Wishlist

Show Notes: https://theliteracydive.com/podcast-episode17/

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please subscribe, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

As we enter the month of February it is time that we discuss and celebrate what Black History Month really stands for with our students. My favorite way to do this is by acknowledging iconic Black and African American figures. 

This is truly a great opportunity to teach biography and I have so many creative ways to do this that I’m going to share with you today. In this episode I will share how to teach this nonfiction genre so your students get the most out of their reading experience.

In this episode I share:

• Simple ways to help your students understand how biographies work
• Ways to use mentor texts when teaching your students biographies
• How to identify biographies from a big group of texts 
• Tips for recognizing the main purpose of the genre
• My favorite techniques to let students share their ideas with others

SHOW NOTES: theliteracydive.com/podcast-episode68

Resources Mentioned:

• Free Biography Templates
• Easy Reader Biographies
• Black History Biography Activity Bundle

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts
• Watch my YouTube channel 

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

I don’t know about you, but I have really been enjoying this Resetting Series to start off this new 2022 year! We’ve talked about topics such as routines and writing blocks, but this episode will be focused on something more pragmatic: parents. It is never too late to reset your relationship with parents, or as I like to call them,”your student’s grown ups!” This episode is important for so many reasons, and I’m going to share those with you today.

In this episode I share:

• Why building relationships with parents has become more difficult during the pandemic
• 3 areas to form healthy relationships with parents
• 5 simple and effective ways to communicate with parents
• How to support parents and students at home
• 5 fun ways I have gotten parents involved in my classroom

SHOW NOTES: theliteracydive.com/podcast-episode67

Resources Mentioned:

• Guided Reading Question Cards
• Reading Reference Sheets
• Writing Reference Sheets

Connect with me:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts
• Watch my YouTube channel 

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

This time of the year is perfect for resetting, and I personally find it to be such a powerful opportunity. In my previous episode I provided tips for resetting your writing block and in this episode we’re going to speak about the other part of literacy, which is reading. We all know that reading is a complex skill and you may be surprised to learn that the reason your students are having difficulty is solely due to needing a reset. 

This episode will follow a similar format as my previous episodes with five questions and actionable tips for you to put into place. These questions will make you consider what you like about your reading block and how you may be able to change it for the better. You will get an accurate idea of what skills and strategies your students are able to apply to their reading or need additional instruction. It’s not too late to reset and establish new goals for both you and your students!

In this episode I share:

-The benefits of making daily reading a priority

-The dos and don’ts for how to organize your mini-lessons 

-Why you shouldn’t worry about providing multiple scaffolds

-Various approaches to collecting data on your students reading abilities

-A surprising idea to get your students to read every day

SHOW NOTES: theliteracydive.com/podcast-episode66

Resources Mentioned:

Episode 64, Reset Your Routine: 5 Questions to Ask Your Students

Running Records Cheat Sheet Freebie

Reading Choice Boards freebie

Reading Reference Sheets

Reading Activities Bundle

Reading Skills and Strategies Anchor Charts

Reading Response Sentence Stem Anchor Charts

Small Group Observation Notes Data Tracker

Reading Workshop Bundle

Connect with me:

-Check out my TpT Store

-Subscribe to my E-mail list

-Instagram Posts

-Blog Posts

-Facebook Posts

-Watch my YouTube channel 

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!

SHOW NOTES: theliteracydive.com/podcast-episode65

Resources Mentioned:

-Primary and Upper Elementary Writing Office

-Writing Reference Sheets

-Descriptive Writing Anchor Charts

-Writing Prompts

-Writing Process Sticky Note Checklists

-Literacy Choice Boards freebie

-Episode 32, Setting Up Effective Writing Centers

-Episode 23, Using Centers for Upper Elementary Kids

-Episode 9, Using Quick Writes to Strengthen Student Writing

-Episode 2, 5 Components of a Mini Lesson

Connect with me:

-Check out my TpT Store

-Subscribe to my E-mail list

-Instagram Posts

-Blog Posts

-Facebook Posts

-Watch my YouTube channel 

If you are enjoying The Literacy Dive Podcast, please follow, leave a rating, and a helpful review! It is much appreciated and thank you for listening!