Today I am back for another segment for the Diggin' Into Next Year.
Organize Literacy Blocks
I combine my reading and writing components so that the literacy block can go from the beginning of the day, following morning start up activities, until the recess break. This gives me about 75 minutes without interruption each morning. Some days I will be able to extend the time a bit after the recess break, but often other things such as gym, music, or library are scheduled in during the recess to lunch block. For this post, I will be focusing on guided reading and how I make it work. In our school, we try to do guided reading groups across the primary grades. During the last couple of years, several of the primary teachers have gotten together and grouped their students by levels and then each teacher has taken on a group for a daily guided reading block that has been dedicated on the timetable. Other adults have also been included so that the groups can be small enough to work well, especially with the struggling readers. These could be administrators, the librarian, educational assistants, and some parents or retired teachers. Since we are usually short of adults, myself and one other teacher have opted out of this and done our own reading groups. This has helped to keep the numbers manageable, but it has also required some creative planning in order to make it work well in our classrooms. My colleague has had a couple of volunteers come in to help. She trained them a few years ago and she can count on them to follow her guidelines. (Unfortunately, she is retiring, so this will change next year.) I have found that it works better for me to do my own groups and tailor the lessons specifically for them. It takes some management, but it has worked effectively for me. First of all, it is important to figure out what the appropriate reading level is for all of my students. I choose a few books that are in my leveled boxes and I have my students read to me one by one while others are working at their desks on an independent writing activity. Once I have a starting place for each child, I put together groups of children that are reading at similar levels and I create book bins for them to use during reading times. I also have 3 book shelves full of books for recreational or free reading times. These are the books they read when it is not time for guided reading groups. After the groups are determined, the organization of the literacy block can be prepared. The number of groups is determined by the levels created for the guided reading component. Sometimes I can have as many as 7 different reading groups going on in order to best meet the needs of the class. This can be tricky to organize and make work. I try to get to all of my groups during the literacy block, but I only get to do actual guided reading lessons with about 3-4 groups each day. I make sure that I work with my struggling readers every day. The other groups need to alternate days. I select book series for my guided reading so that I can capture the interest of the kids and then send them on to related books. This helps keep them reading while I work with other kids. Once they are reading beginning chapter books, this is easier to do because there are so many series available that are geared towards this age level. Some of my favorite go to series are: The Magic Tree House, Bailey City School Kids, Horrible Harry, Pony Pals, The Littles, Amelia Bedelia, Ready Freddy, Cam Jansen, Jigsaw Jones. You can read about my Amelia Bedelia post here.
I also have written activities and games or task cards available for the groups that are not working with me. Sometimes they will work on them independently, and sometimes in small groups. I train my kids to work quietly during guided reading time so that I can hear those that I am working with. They learn quickly, that they need to be able to work quietly if they want to be working with others.
Reading with a partner is also a great way to support struggling readers. I often pair up either a struggling reader with someone who is stronger and able to guide them through the book, or I will pair up people in the same group to work on a book together. In this picture, the 2 boys are in the same level, and they are supporting each other as they read through a choice book.
Another tool I use is the computer. I collected iMacs as the different computer labs undated their machines, and I have enough computers for everyone to use. I have them loaded with math and language games, so during our literacy block, sometimes I assign different language games for them to work on. This is usually just for one group at a time, as it gets noisy otherwise.
I have also used Reading A-Z (Raz Kids) for individuals and also pairs when necessary. This allows me to tailor specific books and levels for certain students.
I may need to have some of my students join the others if we do a mixed grouping with all the classes next year. If I have too many students who are struggling readers, and also not very independent, it is difficult to manage the groups and effectively teach at the same time. There are many students that will require extra support coming into my grade level next year, so I will have to wait to determine how I will make it work.
I used to have a rotation schedule for groups and activities, but I have found that I don't usually need this as I have done it for so long that I know the rotation. However, I may start creating a written schedule again so that it will be easier for another teacher to follow if I am away. It will save writing it out each time with my sub plans.
I will continue to get a starting point level for each of my students when the year begins. I will also begin some guided reading groups as soon as possible during the year. Even if I have some students join the other groups, I need to do this because whole school guided reading doesn't begin until later in the fall. I can't wait that long to get them going.
I use the Dolch sight words for many different activities in my classroom. My kids never get tired of them. I have created different themes to use at different times of the year. Here are some of the ones available at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Task cards and written activities are also important mainstays during guided reading. A quick lesson can be given at the beginning of the session, and then the activities can be started and groups can be pulled away when it is time for them to do guided reading. (This is a student writing sample based on a quick story about all the ice storms back east last winter. The template can be found here.)
Well, there you have it. I hope there is something here that can be helpful for others.
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I an linking up again at Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Here is a glimpse at my week.
The snow finally caught up to us on the west coast of Canada. This is a picture from our kitchen window on Sunday afternoon. The snow continued to fall through the night and we had a snow day on Monday.
My class had a great time following the Olympics. They were so excited every time Canada won a medal. We began writing stories last week from my writing activities package. They are finally done and on the bulletin board. I am so proud of the stories they created. Even my weakest students wrote incredible stories. They also created fabulous illustrations to go along with them. I can hardly wait for the parents to see them next week at our student-led conferences.
My students have been having a blast doing idioms. When I found this blog post by Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching, I had to show it to my class. Now they have homework for the weekend. I can hardly wait to see the idioms they bring to school.
I also created a set of task cards which we played with today. I am amazed at how much they have learned about idioms.
February is such a jam packed month, it is hard to find time to do teaching of core material. I find that I need to squeeze it in between all the events going on. We have just started working with measurement in math and with the scientific process in science. I was able to get a set of measurement tools cards from Camping Teacher and I also created a set of anchor charts and conversions that we will be using.
The kids had fun going around and measuring things in the classroom using measuring tapes, rulers, links, cubes, pencils, erasers, and hands. We also did a math lesson as an experiment. We wrote it up using the scientific method and then we proceeded to test it out. I will share what we did next week after we try it out again with the parents at the conferences.
Finally, I just wanted to comment on how effective I am finding the rules for WBT.
I have modified them a bit for my class, but they work like a charm. I have not needed to use a treasure box, behavior charts, or any other types of motivators this year. It is exciting to see the children buying into following the rules and taking it so seriously. It is time to say goodbye to the winter theme and create a new and brighter set for the spring. This set will be available for free for the weekend if you would like to grab a set for next winter.
Wow! What a busy February. We just completed Chinese New Year, Groundhog Day, and the opening events of the Olympics last week, and now we are into Hundred Day Week, Valentines Day, and more Olympics. Time is moving so quickly.
Ukulele Workshop, Heritage Projects, Skating, Games, and Facebook Free-For-All Make Up My Week1/24/2014
Wow! What a busy week! I am excited to share what has been happening this week with you. I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday so that I can keep everything organized. Here are some of the highlights of my week.
On the weekend we had our annual Vancouver Island Ukulele Workshop. It was very busy, but all went well. We had about 30 people attending that ranged from new players to advanced. Some were university students, and some were seniors. Several teachers also attended. The excitement was evident throughout the day and people had a great time singing and playing.
Heritage Project Celebration
Monday we shared our heritage projects with families and friends. This was a big project for my little grade 2 and 3 students, but they did an amazing job. Check out the photos below to see samples of what they created. More importantly, they were able to talk about their countries and how they were important in their lives. It was awesome to see their beaming faces as the parents talked to them.
In December we had a big challenge for reading. We had to create a chain that went from one end of the school to the other end in order to cheer up Grumpy Santa. Each link of the chain was 20-30 minutes of reading. As a celebration for completing the challenge, the whole school went skating today. Half of the school went in the morning, and the other half went in the afternoon.
I have been busy creating more Dolch word games using winter themes. Here is my latest one. I just finished it last night. My kids have fun using it to play WORDS today. Each set is a different sport theme so it is easy to identify when using only some sets. Click here to find out more about the product. The WORDS cards are part of my limited time free product for this weekend's Facebook Free-For-All hop.(See #5 for more details.)
Finally, I have been working with an amazing group of teachers for the past couple of weeks preparing for a Facebook Free-For-All blog hop that is beginning at midnight tonight.
The craziness of February has passed and now we are preparing for spring. Groundhog Day, Hundreds Day, Family Day, Valentines Day, cultural activities, and assessment. Phew! Now on to Spring and the quickly approaching Spring Break.
Report Cards Are Done.....Yippee! Do the Happy Dance!
Finally, a day without writing report cards! It is amazing how the weight is lifted once they are done. I slept in and then had a day to do some of the things that have been piling up. Then I got to go to watch the high school production of Aladdin. Several of our ukulele students were performing in it.
Tomorrow I will print my report cards out, hand them in for proofing on Monday, and then take some time for me. I don't know about the rest of you, but that is a luxury for me lately. I am definitely ready for Spring Break and some R and R. Two weeks to go!
This is a game board that I created with a sports theme because it reminded me of spring coming. They are generic so that they can be used for many different games. Click on the image to get a copy.
What an incredibly busy and exciting end to January and beginning for February.
To start off with, I was home sick for three days last week and then I returned to madly prepare for Groundhog Day on Friday. We had a busy day doing activities that related to that furry fellow who was going to tell us if we were in for an early spring or a long winter.
Finally, but most exciting for me, is that my daughter had a little baby boy early Monday morning and I was able to take the time off work to come and be with her at this special time. Makaio, almost 5, is the big brother and Kalena, almost 3, is the big sister. They are very excited about their little baby brother. Makaio and Kalena received very special presents for this occasion. They each got a personalized alphabet book. They were so excited to get these books and see their own life pictures inside them.
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About Me Charlene Sequeira
I am a wife, mother of 4, grandmother of 9, and a retired primary and music teacher. I love working with kids and continue to volunteer at school and teach ukulele. Categories
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