Sunday, April 14, 2013

Roll and Read: My New Favorite Activity!


Several weeks ago I stumbled upon the most amazing resource ever: Roll and Read! Now, maybe I have been living under a rock, but I had never seen this before! Maybe it has been more popular in the younger grades, but anyway, It has become my (and my kiddos, too!) new favorite activity!

If you are like me and have never heard of roll and read, here's how it works:
The paper has a sentence or sentences for each number on the die. The students roll the die, tally the result under the correct number at the bottom of the page, and then read the sentences out loud. After they have read the sentence, they repeat the process. Great fluency practice!

I first found this roll-and-read from Shari Edward's post on Scholastic Top Teaching using lines out of the Dr. Seuss book Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories.





First of all, I absolutely adore the stories in this book- they all have a wonderful message.  The kids loved meeting Yertle and especially Gertrude McFuzz. So when I pulled out the roll-and-read sheet, the kids were so excited! They loved that their favorite lines were included and that they could read them over and over and over! I think some of them secretly rolled the die just right so they could read certain lines more than others- oh well, they were reading! The sheet also had a place where the kids tallied the number of times they rolled each number, which we then turned into bar graphs and the kids compared their graphs with others' around them. It was a great math connection.


A few weeks ago, I read one of my favorite stories aloud- Hooway for Wodney Wat.





If you haven't read this one before, it's a must for any classroom. Poor Rodney cannot pronounce his R's, and his classmates tease him. However, through a hilarious turn of events, he becomes a hero and the classmates cheer for him, hence the title. It's a great lesson on acceptance and being proud of who you are. Anywho, I decided that it would be fun to create a roll-and-read for our fluency Friday activities using lines from the book. The kids were IN LOVE! Of course they loved reading the lines pretending they also had trouble pronouncing their R's,  but they made sure to really pay attention to their emotions as they read the lines. They could really get in character!

The kids love the roll-and-read activity. It's hands on, fairly fast-paced, and even my most struggling readers can participate. I'm sure there are all kinds of ways to differentiate this activity, but for now, I will just enjoy the sounds that fill my classroom when these babies make their appearance!

Click on the link below the picture to grab your own copy of the roll-and-read for Hooway for Wodney Wat!  I'm not the most tech-savvy, so when you download it there will be an extra blank page- my apologies! I couldn't get that darn page to go away!!




You can also pick up your own set of FREE dice clip art from First Grade Brain. Let your creativity run wild!!!

Do you use roll and read in your classroom? If so, I would love to hear how you use it and with what resources!

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this! I had noticed the activity before but always thought of it for lower primary, I guess. This is actually great for third graders! I am loving your blog. I always come away with awesome ideas! Thank you! :)

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    1. I am so glad to hear that! You made my day. Thank you!

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  2. I had not heard of this activity before either! I am going to be tutoring some younger students this summer and will have to remember this! I am a new follower :)
    Bethany
    FabandFunin4th!

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  3. I cannot thank you enough for the incredibly kind comment you left for me on my blog today. You really helped me put everything in perspective. I just have a principal that is not understanding. If fact he pulled a lady in his office last year and told her that her testing scores were the worst in the whole school. She is a sweetheart so of course she just kept it to herself until she broke down to me. Luckily, I'm moving schools next year into a more positive environment. I truly love these group of kids and I hope I have done everything I could have done to prepare them for this test. They are winners in my book no matter what score they get. I guess I'm just nervous about what the principal is going to say to me and I just need to get over that. Again...thank you so much for being so kind to me...I really needed that today. I'm your new follower and I look forward to getting to know you better!

    Stephanie Ann
    Sparkling in Third Grade

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  4. I found your blog via pinterest! Good to see another Koonce teacher. :) Great blog! I have one as well, though not as awesome as yours! http://branbikesbsg.blogspot.com

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