(FLEX) Private Literacy Tutor Lesson ONE: Independent Reading and Comprehension

Throughout this flex course, learners will be guided to read one assigned text per week. During the course of each week, a consistent schedule will be in place to nurture a steady, anticipated course pace full of comprehension and opinion pieces, as well as growth of a New To Me journal!

READING SCHEDULE:

(All reading titles are widely accessible; you are free in choosing to lend weekly or purchase these books for the course.)

Week 1: Henry and Mudge and The Starry Night (by Cynthia Rylant)
Week 2: Arthur's Loose Tooth (by Lillian Hoban)
Week 3: Henry and Mudge and The Happy Cat (by Cynthia Rylant)
Week 4: Arthur's Back to School Day (by Lillian Hoban)
Week 5: Agapanthus Hum and Major Bark (by Joy Cowley)

CLASS STRUCTURE:

-- SUNDAY: A video introduction and lesson on the week's text, themed points of focus, as well as a discussion/ visual of the specific week's writing prompts. Week 1 will contain the added introductory video on the 'New To Me' journals.

-- WEDNESDAY: Opinion piece due, in the form of a learner video (OPTIONAL: Learner may also write their text-to-self based opinions and include that with the video)

-- THURSDAY: Reading Comprehension piece due, in the form of an uploaded image.

-- SATURDAY: Each week's 'New To Me' journal entries due

* * *Any teacher-made printable work in relation to a writing/ artistic piece will be accessible at the beginning of that given week* * *

OPINION PIECES:

One of the many beautiful parts of reading a book is that the characters we meet and the experiences (and subsequent feelings) they have often make us think of ourselves, the readers: would I want my babysitter to pull my tooth out? If I had a friend that others, would I ignore it? Would I want a pet or is it too much work? This is called making text-to-self connections!

Each week, I will pose an opinion question or prompt based on the week's reading. Each learner will be tasked to consider the question thoughtfully, and detail their answer using their own feelings and experiences, as well as 'evidence' from the week's story.

All Opinion pieces will be modeled in a video lesson each Sunday, and due by Wednesday (as per the Course Structure). As is noted above, these Opinion pieces are shared through a learner video (and answered in a teacher video)!

READING COMPREHENSION PIECES:

Specific reading comprehensions prompts will include (but are not limited to): cause and effect, using context clues and evidence to understand characters' actions and behaviors, parts of speech (verbs, adjectives, nouns), literacy terms (i.e. ironic), etc. 

Each week's Reading Comprehension piece will be modeled in a video lesson each Sunday, and due by Thursday (as per the Course Structure). 

'NEW TO ME' JOURNAL:

Books are some of our greatest teachers; as such, every text read introduces SOMETHING new: vocabulary, an unfamiliar name of a city, a character-based social situation (i.e. a moral dilemma, an argument with a friend, etc.) Even grown ups learn new things when they read!

Each week, learners will be tasked to add to a teacher-created 'New To Me' journal, highlighting new words they were introduced to as readers, an unfamiliar phrase never heard (using text clues to figure it out!) or even a character journey they have never been on (i.e. "I've never had to move before" or "I haven't lost a tooth yet" or "I've never slept outside before"). Each learner's 'New To Me' weekly journal additions will serve as a 'conversation' between learner and teacher; your 'new to me' reading and experiences will allow me to learn SO much about you as a growing reader and individual! As per the Class Structure, these will be due by Saturday each week. An introductory/ 'how to' video lesson will also be posted and accessible during Week 1.

ASSESSMENT: 

I will provide detailed, encouraging and thought supporting feedback to all weekly pieces. This course is centered around reading with purpose, identifying text-to-self connections, learning new vocabulary and social situations, as well as strengthening our opinion and text-based writing.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE: 

This course is most successful for those that are currently strengthening their independent reading skills.