Tips and Tricks for mentors promoting reading skills in first and second graders – It’s all about connections! -Presented by Jenn Michaels OCPS ESE Instructional Support Teacher

Making Connections Reading together builds relationships. A great mentor is emotionally present and available. Empathy Sympathy

Theresa Wiseman on Empathy Perspective taking (Recognize their perspective is their truth.) Staying out of judgment Recognizing emotion in other people and communicating that

It’s all about connections We must meet children where they are to help them get where they need to be. Academics can never come first. Children MUST know you care about them, their feelings, their baggage, the whole package. If we can connect emotionally, we can connect academically.

Meet Anthony Daedalus and Icarus - The Short Story Daedalus is a brilliant inventor—the Thomas Edison of his day. Unfortunately, he angers King Minos, the ruler of the island Crete, and he has to hightail it out of there. Desperate to flee the island, Daedalus uses wax to build some wings for himself and his son Icarus. Daddy Daedalus warns his son to fly at a middle height: the seawater will dampen the wings and the sun will melt them. (Not good either way.) Icarus heeds his father's advice for a bit, but then he gets cocky. He's having so much fun flying that he forgets the warning and flies too close to the sun. Sure enough, his wings melt, and Icarus plummets into the sea and drowns. Daedalus is (of course) devastated by his son's death, but the show must go on. He flies on to Sicily, where he mourns Icarus and builds a temple in honor of the god Apollo. This ancient fresco from a wall in Pompeii depicts the fall of Icarus.

What do you know about legos? CONNECTED. They only become something great when they are CONNECTED.

Just leggos, in skilled hands, strategically connected…

The foundation is critical. What we are connecting stuff to matters. The memory system in our brains involve coding, storage, and retrieval. Schema Theory states our memory system works best when we activate prior knowledge to build upon.

Prime background knowledge Good readers read the title and scan text to make a predictions about the content and think of what they already know about that topic. Read2Succeed mentors serving 2 nd graders can build on one of the prescribed steps in the 6 Minute Solution involving having the student read the title and scan for “tricky words.” During this preview, consider activating the child’s prior knowledge.

A KWL chart is frequently used in schools to help students activate prior knowledge.

Making connections to the text VIDEO 1:30 Text-to-text Text-to-self Text-to-world Similarities & Differences, Compare & Contrast

Even little kids can have pretty big baggage. If one of the kids you've been working with has tried to unpack some of their baggage while they're with you, you have received the highest honor a mentor can earn, you've earned the trust of a child. That fact alone means you're making a bigger difference than you realize in that kid's world.

It’s all about connections! Thank you for making a difference!