In order to fully comprehend what they read, our students need to be aware of a variety elements and strategies. Some of these skills need to be practiced frequently in a variety of ways.
Grade 6 ELA Outcomes
4.3 use a wider range of pictorial, typographical, and organizational features of written texts to obtain, verify, and reinforce their understanding of information
4.4 use and integrate the various cueing systems and a variety of strategies with increasing independence to construct meaning
4.5 reflect on and discuss their own processes and strategies in reading and viewing
Grade 6 ELA Outcomes
4.3 use a wider range of pictorial, typographical, and organizational features of written texts to obtain, verify, and reinforce their understanding of information
4.4 use and integrate the various cueing systems and a variety of strategies with increasing independence to construct meaning
4.5 reflect on and discuss their own processes and strategies in reading and viewing
Rags to Riches
This game has Who Wants to be a Millionaire-like game play. It was created by Miss Farlin and can be accessed online for free from Quia.com.
Students will answer a series of questions about literary devices such as personification and metaphor. Each correct answer moves them up the money ladder. An incorrect answer ends the game. There are three hints that students can access if they are unsure about the correct answer.
Students will answer a series of questions about literary devices such as personification and metaphor. Each correct answer moves them up the money ladder. An incorrect answer ends the game. There are three hints that students can access if they are unsure about the correct answer.
20 Questions
This classic is flexible and easy to use. Although you can do some advance prep by preparing a bank of names for students to choose from, this is not necessary. It works as a class-wide activity or a small group activity.
How to Play:
One student chooses a character from the book being read or a popular well known character like Harry Potter. The other players ask yes/no questions to try to guess who the character is. The character must be guessed in 20 questions for the class to win.
Variation:
The name of the character is displayed behind the player or on their forehead. This student must ask the questions of the class to guess the identity of the character.
How to Play:
One student chooses a character from the book being read or a popular well known character like Harry Potter. The other players ask yes/no questions to try to guess who the character is. The character must be guessed in 20 questions for the class to win.
Variation:
The name of the character is displayed behind the player or on their forehead. This student must ask the questions of the class to guess the identity of the character.
cause and effect card game
This game helps students to clarify and become more confident with cause and effect relationships. It was posted on Education.com by Liza Jenkins, a middle school Language Arts teacher and private tutor from Maryland.
What You Need:
What You Do:
Step 1: Begin by refreshing your child’s memory on cause-and-effect. Students need to understand this relationship in order to make logical story connections. Cause-and-effect is a relationship that writers use to show how facts, events, or concepts happen or come into being because of other facts, events or concepts. Why did your child ace his spelling exam (the effect)? Because he studied for it (the cause). Why doesn't he get allowance this week (the effect)? Because he didn't do his chores (the cause).
Step 2: Both you and your child should take a sheet of construction paper or other sturdy paper and set up two columns with a line down the middle. One side will be for a list of causes and the other, a list of effects. You will be cutting the causes and effects into cards, so make sure to leave enough space. Each of you should come up with 20 cause-and-effect relationships, keeping them secret from the other person.
For example:
Paul was not able to practice lacrosse today - because he had the flu.
John spent all day in the kitchen - because all of his friends wanted him to make dinner for them.
**The cards could be made up in advance for use with younger students or at a literacy center.
**The card sets can be differentiated to reflect the needs of the students in your class.
Step 3: Cut up your papers so that each cause and each effect is on its own card. Mix all the cards up, position them face down, and draw 7 cards each. Hold these cards in your hand like playing cards, and pile the rest, keeping them face down, on the table or floor between you and your opponent. Take the top card from the pile and place it face up next to the pile so that both people can read it.
Step 4: Play continues like the card game “Gin,” but with a twist. Here are the rules:
Examples:
- Construction paper or other sturdy paper
- Pens or pencils
- Scissors
What You Do:
Step 1: Begin by refreshing your child’s memory on cause-and-effect. Students need to understand this relationship in order to make logical story connections. Cause-and-effect is a relationship that writers use to show how facts, events, or concepts happen or come into being because of other facts, events or concepts. Why did your child ace his spelling exam (the effect)? Because he studied for it (the cause). Why doesn't he get allowance this week (the effect)? Because he didn't do his chores (the cause).
Step 2: Both you and your child should take a sheet of construction paper or other sturdy paper and set up two columns with a line down the middle. One side will be for a list of causes and the other, a list of effects. You will be cutting the causes and effects into cards, so make sure to leave enough space. Each of you should come up with 20 cause-and-effect relationships, keeping them secret from the other person.
For example:
Paul was not able to practice lacrosse today - because he had the flu.
John spent all day in the kitchen - because all of his friends wanted him to make dinner for them.
**The cards could be made up in advance for use with younger students or at a literacy center.
**The card sets can be differentiated to reflect the needs of the students in your class.
Step 3: Cut up your papers so that each cause and each effect is on its own card. Mix all the cards up, position them face down, and draw 7 cards each. Hold these cards in your hand like playing cards, and pile the rest, keeping them face down, on the table or floor between you and your opponent. Take the top card from the pile and place it face up next to the pile so that both people can read it.
Step 4: Play continues like the card game “Gin,” but with a twist. Here are the rules:
- Players may match a cause or effect in their hand with an effect or cause on the upturned middle card, or draw a hidden card from the pile.
- After each turn, players must discard one card into the face-up pile.
- If a match is made, the player takes the two matching cards and places them on the ground in front of him, but only after his opponent approves the match! This means that your match must make sense when read, and eliminates the possibility of matching any old pair of cards together.
- Play ends when one player has no cards left, and the winner is the player with the most matches by game's end!
Examples:
- Paul was not able to practice lacrosse today/because all of his friends expected him to make dinner for them. Makes sense! This counts as a match, even though it's not the original cause and effect pair.
- John spent all day in the kitchen/because he had the flu. This doesn't really make sense, so it doesn't count as a match.
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This PDF comes from ReadWriteThink.org. It contains more examples of cause and effect relationships which could be used to create cards.
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Guess Who
This classic game can be modified in a variety of useful ways. Students ask yes/no questions to help them narrow down and determine which card their opponent has chosen.
Variations:
Setting-Pictures of landscapes/buildings that occurred in a book.
Characters-Pictures or name tags representing the people in a book.
Variations:
Setting-Pictures of landscapes/buildings that occurred in a book.
Characters-Pictures or name tags representing the people in a book.
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This PDF template for the older Guess Who game set was created by MaeLyn Hiatt.You might already have or be able to find this set at a yard sale.
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This editable Word document can be used to create boards that can be used with white board markers in plastic sheet protector sleeves.
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