As teachers, we understand the benefit of scaffolding our instruction. By providing supports as students learn new skills, and then gradually releasing the responsibility from the teacher to the student, we know students will be more successful. However, scaffolding is much easier said than done. Curriculums usually don't do a very good job of providing scaffolding, and it can be very time consuming to break apart skills and create your own resources in order to scaffold your instruction.
Below, find ideas and activities to scaffold different skills for your upper elementary students (3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade). These ideas will help you gradually release responsibility to your students so that they can better understand these different skills.
Scaffold your main idea instruction so that 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade students will actually understand the difference between main idea and details. Includes a free main idea printable.
Scaffold your summarizing instruction so that your upper elementary students understand what should be included and what should NOT be included in a good summary.
Ideas to scaffold teaching theme to your students so that they actually understand. Teach each of the confusing aspects of theme separately and with smaller texts before building on that foundation.
Scaffold a compare and contrast essay so that your 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade students are successful. Start with sentence frames and paragraph frames.
Scaffold Venn Diagrams when teaching comparing and contrasting to encourage higher level thinking from your upper elementary students. Includes a free compare and contrast reading passage and activity.
Teach rounding using open number lines rather than tricks so that students develop a better understanding of the place value skills associated with rounding. Scaffold open number lines to help students be successful.
Scaffolding your instruction keep students from becoming discouraged and frustrated. Instead, it helps them be successful. The blog posts above provide examples and strategies for scaffolding instruction for your third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade students.
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