Doesn't work just as it is for your students? Modify it!

Have you found a cute story or fun activity on TpT, book, or other resource and wish it would be a little bit different for your students?  Have you tried an activity and your students just could not get it as it was?  Keep reading!

Now..I said modify NOT alter, change, resell, or recreate and claim as your own!!

What do I mean by this?  Take what was created by a publisher, author, or TpT seller and make SLIGHT modifications so your students can achieve the task.

For example,  I was using my Sequencing Stories for the Entire Year activity and my students were getting overwhelmed by the three paragraphs.  They kept wanting to read ahead, get lost with which sentences we were up to, etc.

I grabbed my scissor, and cut the paper up!  Just cut it up into the three paragraphs!

Now, I was able to give my student that was stressing over the long story one paragraph at at time.  We read each paragraph, discussed what we read, and then went onto the next one!  This helped my student stay focused, less stressed, and able to complete the task created by this activity.

Want another example??

I took a predicting story from Readworks.org.  These stories are great because they are designed with specific comprehension skills in mind.  The questions mimic what students will see in the class (and are just great higher level questions!!).  Did I mention this website is free?

This one story has predicting questions throughout the story.  It forces students to stop, think about what already happened and what could possible happen next to answer a higher level comprehension question.

BUT...my students like to cheat.  They want to read ahead so they can ensure that they get the answers correct.  SNEAKY RIGHT!?

So..what did I do??  I took out my scissors again!  I cut up the story right after each question so they could not read ahead!

This helped my students not cheat and go ahead.  It also helped those students that get overwhelmed by long stories.  My students didn't know many pieces I had!

Did you notice all I did was grab a scissor in both of these examples?!  I didn't alter or recreate these stories or products.  I just made simple changes that helped my students complete the tasks required in these activities.

These are just two of the many ways I modify activities for my students while keeping the original activities still intact!

Do you modify?  How?