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Andie Cunningham
Andie Cunningham recently taught kindergarten for five years at the Harold Oliver Primary School in Portland, Oregon. In the fall of 2006, she became a faculty member at Lewis & Clark College. Andie is the co-author (with Ruth Shagoury) of
Starting with Comprehension. She has worked previously as a physical movement teacher. Andie also serves as a national facilitator for the Courage to Teach program.
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Preschool Letter Detectives
Andie Cunningham
"What is a letter? A mystery." Five-year-old Gabe's response to my question stunned me. I realized from listening and observing his teacher Melissa's gentle nudging and guiding that letters are at the heart of what's being studied by these wonderful preschool students. It was obvious that letters are a primary source of meaning making for these students. . . . more
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Connecting Language and Hope:
A Study Group Activity
Andie Cunningham
For the past three months, a group of teachers and I have been exploring words in our classrooms. To help us clarify how language affects us, some teachers listened to the language of their students in both academic and social situations. Other teachers studied their own spoken language as an entrance into the words of the classroom. . . . more
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Helping Classroom Volunteers Become Better Listeners
Andie Cunningham
In my school, asking students questions when the answer is already known by the questioner was a common practice. Frustrated by these conversations, I decided to see what might happen if I brought some of what I learned as a Courage to Teach facilitator into my classroom. . . . more
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Introducing Bull's-Eyes and Waves Written Responses in Synthesis Work (VIDEO with TEMPLATES)
Andie Cunningham
My students find different ways to communicate their synthesis, but we found we needed a substantial way to hold on to our knowing and in some cases, further unpack and give definition to it. To help all of us create placeholders for what we know, and to offer my students appropriate tools for explaining what connections they are making, we use two tools, the bull's-eye and waves sheets, both created on 18" by 24" manila or white construction paper. . . . more
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Creating Anchor Charts with Sticky Note Responses from Young Readers (VIDEO)
Andie Cunningham
Learners who focus on comprehension strategies rely on different tools. One of the most popular is the three by three inch sticky note. High school teachers like Cris Tovani and primary teachers such as Debbie Miller write about how they use these little notes in their comprehension work with students. But what adaptions do pre-school and kindergarten teachers need to make in order to use these tools as successfully as teachers who work with older students? . . . more
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Reading Comprehension Posters: What, Where, and Why (PHOTO ESSAY)
Andie Cunningham
Several years ago, I started creating permanent posters to use in my reading comprehension strategy work. My hope for the large posters was two-pronged. I wanted the posters to serve as a visual reference, a way for us to all narrow our focus over and over again when we turned to strategy work. The second hope was to show the children (and classroom visitors) how important the strategies were to all of our classwork... . . . more
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Understanding the "Silent Period" with English Language Learners
Andie Cunningham and Ruth Shagoury
If you have a new English language learner in your class who is not speaking, don't worry. According to language researcher Stephen Krashen, most new learners of English will go through a "silent period," where they are unwilling or unable to communicate orally... . . . more
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Webbing to Learn: A Writing Strategy to Chart Thinking with Young Learners(VIDEO)
Andie Cunningham and Ruth Shagoury
Teachers and teacher educators used to think that a web structure was too advanced for our youngest school learners, and reserved this work for more academically experienced students. A couple of years ago, we decided to see what would happen when primary grade students are invited to use webs to document their new understanding of texts. What we discovered was that webs can play a crucial role in comprehension work even with five- and six-year-olds... . . . more
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Every Language Counts: Adding Multilingual Counting Activities to Morning Meeting (VIDEO)
Andie Cunningham
Every year I have children who come from homes with many different first languages. In the past year alone, first languages included English, Spanish, Hmong, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Russian. One way I help welcome these different languages and cultures into our classroom community is by counting in different languages during the morning meeting. . . . more
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The Art of Listening in Writing Conferences with English Language Learners
Ruth Shagoury and Andie Cunningham
Listening to individual children in active writers' workshops is especially challenging, and understanding the words of students who speak a different first language than yours can be downright daunting. Here are some tips for mastering the art of listening in conferences with English language learners... . . . more
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