The Reading Room
Schema
Schema-a precise term for background knowledge
Schema is "your own world wide web." This week, we learned to use our schema to deepen our connections with the books we are reading. We talked about spiders and how they create webs. The spider carefully connects each strand of silk to another strand in order to make the web stronger.. We related this to our lives. Everything we experience becomes part of our web or schema. Stopping to make connections by using our background knowledge (schema) helps us to better understand what we read.
Schema Anchor Chart
The sentence stems on this anchor chart will help students to access their schema before, during and after reading. They are:
That reminds me of...
I'm remembering...
I have a connection to...
I have schema for....
I can relate to...
Share your own schema with your child as you read together.
Quote of the Week
Reading is important, because if you can read, you can learn anything about everything and everything about anything. —Tomie dePaola
Spider Webs
This week we watched as this spider created its web in slow motion and at normal speed. We discussed how the spider constantly connects each part of the web to another part which gives the web its strength. This is how our brain works as we have new experiences which we connect to previous experiences. These connections from old to new or new to old, are what makes our schema strong and unique.
Spider Web Construction in Slow Motion
Creating a Reading Salad
The following video is a lesson that is very similar to the lesson I did last week with students. This lesson was done to teach students about Metacognition. Metacognition is the process of thinking while we reading. Remember:
Reading + Thinking = Real Reading
Reading Salad