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Creating Entry Points #3: Try Using Short Texts to Celebrate Green!

Julie Wright

SHORT TEXTS: CELEBRATING GREEN!

Short texts are everywhere and are focused on lots of interesting topics.  Short texts are a great resource for:

  • Read Aloud

  • Shared Reading

  • Small Group Learning Opportunities [pairs, trios, groups of 4-6]

  • One-to-One Conferring

Short texts can be about serious topics.  They can be about interesting topics. Short texts can be about fun topics.  Sometimes, when we put a bunch of texts together in a SHORT TEXT SET, collectively they can fit all three -- serious, interesting, and fun. 

CURATE THIS!

Imagine creating an organizing feature such as a holiday, an author, or an event.  Then, do a little brainstorming about the different types of texts students could read in order to dig deeper into it.  For an example, let’s use the color GREEN as our organizing feature. Using GREEN as our vehicle, we could provide opportunities for students to read:

  • All about the environment 

  • Picture books that focus on green

  • Leafy, green vegetables

  • Green candy [think M & M’s and Skittles]

  • Mike Wazowski [Monsters, Inc.]

The idea of green might sound generic or unimportant, but there are so many different paths you can take -- to pique students’ interests, learn about new ideas, and satisfy curiosities -- with texts related to the color green.  Here’s what I mean:

Click here for active links to purchase the books and refer to the websites provided in the chart above.

TRY THIS!

  1. Select one of the short texts listed above OR curate your own GREEN text set.

  2. Determine if you want to share the text through

    • Read Aloud

    • Shared Reading

    • Small Group Learning Opportunities [pairs, trios, groups of 4-6]

    • One-to-One

  3. Enjoy reading the short text with students.

  4. Give students time to talk about the short text. Consider spearheading the conversation with some of the questions listed in the chart above.

  5. Ask students if they want to read more short texts focused on GREEN. If they do, decide who, what, when, where, and how you will design the learning opportunities.

  6. Have fun! And, if you aren’t digging the color GREEN as an organizing feature…there’s always BLUE or PINK!

COMING SOON!

Elizabeth and I are excited for our book to hit the shelves in the months to come— Short Texts: Mighty Mentors That Move Readers and Writers Forward [Benchmark, 2020]!