Tea Party Reading Strategy
By: Takara Brownridge
What is the Tea Party Strategy?
The tea party strategy is one that is used to either introduce a topic or thematic unit or it can be a great way to end a unit or a non-fiction book. Using this strategy with non-fiction text can help the students to summarize the story and review the content that has been presented to them. Students read excerpts from the text to different classmates and discuss what they have heard together.
This strategy can be used in grade levels 3-5, 6-8 and it is also helpful for ELL student as well.
Why use it?
This is a great instructional strategy to use because it helps students to enforce flunkey skills as they read to one another during this strategy. It also helps students to learn more by discussing what they have read with a partner as well. Students can also gain confidence in their reading as well.
Procedure:
- To begin this activity; the teacher must first make cards with excerpts on them or for younger students strips of sentences from the text.
- Before the students pair up, the must first read the text that they have silent to them selves serval times so they will be able to fluently read them to peers. Also to ensure that they understand the material as well.
- Students will then move around the room and share their excerpts with different classmate. To make sure that this is done in a manageable way, students will use the hands up pair up strategy as the find partners.
- Once the student has found a partner, they are to read their excerpts to each other and discuss them. One student will read and they will discuss, the other student will read and they will discuss. Once they have finished they will separate and find a new partner.
- After a few moments have passed the teacher will ask everyone to return to their seats and a few students will be called to share their excerpts with the class or discuss what they have learned through this activity.
When to use this?
This is a great strategy to use when beginning a lesson as well. When students are discussing the text they can be predicting what they think will happen next in the story or what is the outcome of a certain event that is taking place. This can also be used at the end of a unit to help reinforce what students have learned and to help them review any information that may have slipped their minds. It is also very useful to get student talking about vocabulary words they may not understand.
Common Core Standards?
Grades 3-5:
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.1
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.4.4
Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1.D
Review the key ideas expressed and draw conclusions in light of information and knowledge gained from the discussions.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.2
Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text. - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.5
Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how the differing structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style.
Resources
- English Language Arts Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2016, from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/
- Tompkins, G. E. (2004). 50 literacy strategies: Step by step. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.
YouTube
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PPzvskSRpI
Updike, J. (2008, December). Visions of Mars - National Geographic Magazine. Retrieved March 20, 2016, from http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/12/planet-mars/updike-text/3
Tea Party Protocol