Problem of the Week: Deciphering DRA Decoding
This is the time of year were my team is working thought DRA's for their SLO (Student Learning Objectives) and figuring out what they are going to do when we come back from Spring Break.A question teacher's have been asking is what to do with the DRA rubric after they are scored. How do you use the information to plan instruction and next steps? (I always tell teachers to use the data they have to collect or they have created first before trying to figure out else they may need.)
When you look at a DRA rubric it is broken into two parts: oral reading (decoding and fluency and comprehension.)
For this student, I co-planned with his classroom teacher and we decided to start with decoding. For this week's POW, I'll walk you through why we decided to spend our time there first. (Next, week I'll talk about the comprehension part of the rubric and our plans.)
This student student's DRA score is Decoding--Intervention and Instructional--Comprehension. Ahhyy! In this case, group the student down NOT up or with instructional leveled peers. This means something in their skill set as a decoder needs some more work which will be easier in an easier text where the student has the confidence to be.
I use highlighters to break down the student errors: decodable (aka:phonics) and sight words. This information helps me differentiate and target his specific reading needs.
In his case he needs to work on using his decoding strategies and build his sight word knowledge. I think n most cases pulling the student into the next lower reading group--in his case working with a group of instructional DRA H/14s will provide him with decoding practice skills he needs to move into 16s and be successful.
In my building, everyone uses the same sight words list. Data collection shows he knows the first 200 and is working on the next 100 but with this information he needs to add 400 and 500 he needs to become familiar with.
I do this in my lesson plans daily before writing. Each group spends two minutes running through vocabulary they struggle with. This includes sight words needed to access text, text specific vocabulary, and any universally missed words I heard while the group is reading. This stack is meant to just add to their word knowledge. Word mastery is at the beginning of the lesson.
I have included two freebies I use when working on phonics and make sure students are meeting expectations. If you need to sign-up to access my Free Resource Library click here.
Psst: The sight word list we use are in my store here and to support RTI here.
In his case he needs to work on using his decoding strategies and build his sight word knowledge. I think n most cases pulling the student into the next lower reading group--in his case working with a group of instructional DRA H/14s will provide him with decoding practice skills he needs to move into 16s and be successful.
In my building, everyone uses the same sight words list. Data collection shows he knows the first 200 and is working on the next 100 but with this information he needs to add 400 and 500 he needs to become familiar with.
I do this in my lesson plans daily before writing. Each group spends two minutes running through vocabulary they struggle with. This includes sight words needed to access text, text specific vocabulary, and any universally missed words I heard while the group is reading. This stack is meant to just add to their word knowledge. Word mastery is at the beginning of the lesson.
I have included two freebies I use when working on phonics and make sure students are meeting expectations. If you need to sign-up to access my Free Resource Library click here.
Psst: The sight word list we use are in my store here and to support RTI here.
Tested--Now What?? Reading Comprehension
A quick note as I'm getting ready for Spring parent-teacher conferences this week. One of the assessments I'm helping my classroom teachers with is the DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment). Even though it has fallin' by the wayside, my teachers and I love having a solid number where students are reading at.
FYI the DRA can be given to students kindergarten to sixth grade. To determine a level students decoding (words on the page) and their comprehension (understanding) and with harder text reading fluency (speed) all of those factors most score at an independent level on the rubric to be at an independent level. The same is true for the Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Systems.
How what am I going to do with the rest of my year?
Well..what about using the rubric to create skill groups to move students more before the end of the year benchmark get done. After spending the first part of the year teaching decoding with phonics and vocabulary instruction--it know time to really focus on comprehension. One of my favorite ways to work on comprehension is through games. This is one of their favorites, they are always asking for...be sure to get uses here.
More to come on using the DRA or BAS rubric to create goals and instruction. Have a great week.
FYI the DRA can be given to students kindergarten to sixth grade. To determine a level students decoding (words on the page) and their comprehension (understanding) and with harder text reading fluency (speed) all of those factors most score at an independent level on the rubric to be at an independent level. The same is true for the Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Systems.
How what am I going to do with the rest of my year?
Well..what about using the rubric to create skill groups to move students more before the end of the year benchmark get done. After spending the first part of the year teaching decoding with phonics and vocabulary instruction--it know time to really focus on comprehension. One of my favorite ways to work on comprehension is through games. This is one of their favorites, they are always asking for...be sure to get uses here.
More to come on using the DRA or BAS rubric to create goals and instruction. Have a great week.
6 Early Literacy Skills Predict Reading and Writing Success
Its that time of the year when I start planning and thinking how to support incoming preschoolers to kindergarten at the Big Building." These are the ideas I share with parents are they visit my program and get ready for next year.
Early literacy is everything children should know about reading and writing before they can actually read or write. Literacy skills begin developing in the first 5 years of life with a toddler holding and chewing on a book, to wanting a favorite book read over and over, to becoming a preschooler or kindergartner who loves to “read” a story to you from memory.
According to research performed by the National Reading Panel and other experts, young children entering school with specific early literacy skills have the greatest opportunity to become successful readers and writers. Early literacy skills include Vocabulary, Print Motivation, Print Awareness, Narrative Skills, Letter Knowledge, and Phonological Awareness. These important foundational skills are the building blocks for learning to read and write. Children having been exposed to, or having most of these skills, will benefit more from the reading instruction they receive when entering kindergarten than the child with fewer skills or no exposure at all.
Some think their child’s success in reading and writing depends on getting the “right” first grade teacher, but their success really depends on how much they learn at home about reading and writing before entering school. Early experiences with books and language are most critical for future success in literacy. Skills that should be promoted at home:
• Print Motivation — is taking an interest in and enjoying books. A child with print motivation loves being read to, plays with books, and pretends to write. Trips to the library are fun, motivational, and FREE! Exchange books with other parents with children of your child’s age. Encourage print motivation in your child by making reading a special shared time with you. Make books accessible to your child. Let your child see you enjoying reading. Talk to your child about how we use reading and/or writing almost every minute of the day.
• Vocabulary — (knowing the names of things) is the most important skill for children to have when learning to read. By the time your child enters school, he/she should know between 3,000-5,000 words. Help develop your child’s vocabulary by reading and rereading a variety of books (fiction and nonfiction) and teaching the names of all the objects in your child’s world.
• Print Awareness — is a child’s ability to point to the words on the page of a book. It includes learning that writing (in English) follows rules: print moves top to bottom and left to right, and that the person reading is someone that knows what all the letters and words say. Point out and read words to your child everywhere you see them: on signs, advertisements, labels, stores, candies, products, etc.
• Narrative Skills — help a child understand and tell a story and describe things, like what happened at a birthday party or about a trip to Grandma’s. Parents can help strengthen their child’s narrative skills by asking him/her to tell what is happening in a story or book, instead of always listening to you read. Ask your child to tell you about things he/she has done or will do that involve a regular sequence of steps: getting ready for school, what your family did/will do on vacation, how to play a particular game, etc.
• Letter Knowledge — is the ability to recognize and name letters (upper and lower case) and produce the sounds they make. Develop your child’s letter knowledge by using lots of fun reading and/or writing activities: pointing out and naming letters in a book, on a sign or on a label; drawing letters in sand or shaving cream; painting letters on paper with brushes, etc. Talk about letters and how some are similar in shape (l, H, F, E, and T or W, M, N, V). Teach the child how to write the letters in his/her name (one letter at a time) when he/she begins using a crayon to draw or “write”. As your child learns each letter, have him/her practice producing the sound the letter makes.
• Phonological Awareness — is an understanding of hearing and manipulating sounds in words. Phonological awareness includes the ability to hear and create rhymes (bat, cat, gnat, hat, mat, and sat), say words with sounds left out (bat without b is at), and put two word chunks together to make a word (fl + at = flat). Most often, children having difficulty with phonological awareness have trouble learning to read. An understanding of phonological awareness begins with a child’s exposure to and practice with the previous five steps. Phonological awareness is one of the final steps in preparing children for actual reading instruction that begins in kindergarten.
I hope you find these strategies helpful. I'd love to hear how you help parents understand the foundational skills needed to be successful.
February Show and Tell
I'm linking up with Forever in 5th Grade to give you peek into my special education resource room and what my students have been up to in the last month. And wow-have they been busy!
This is one group's comprehension work. I have four groups working through The Primary Comprehension Toolkit at Heinemann Publishing. It takes students' through all the comprehension strategies. I love they can move at their own pace. In my case, I have several the DRA reading levels in each group. The umbrella makeup of each group is the comprehension strategy and the reading material students use is at their DRA reading level.
This picture shows how the group is finishing a "Shared" lesson with a "shared" creation task. They decide HOW they were going to SHOW their meaning. My next step with this group will be to have them do the same lesson on their own. It's great to see HOW they go about SHOWING their meaning.
I have talked in the past about how my school district is very big on higher order thinking skills. Here you can see a different comprehension lesson, where you can see the Essential Question which they have to answer with either an Interim or Summative Assessment--but they do it through the World Class Outcome of "How did you create your meaning Strategically in reading and writing."
In my world, ALL students have to do this. This year my work around has been for students to app-smash their way to creating that meaning. This gets them through their hang-ups of writing or long drawn out projects I don't have time for. Plus, they love any excuse to use technology and I love using it for something other than plug and play. Be sure to follow me on Instagram for great special education resource ideas and more about our reading comprehension work.
So all comprehension groups means a new way to look at IEP goal progress--in the form of Google. This is a great way to be paperless. As students are reading quietly or reading to me I can fill out my notes. I go through everything my decoding and comprehension strategies to target and fluency work.
Stay turned for next months peek into my special education resource room. I'd love to hear how you teach reading comprehension strategies in your guided reading groups. Have a great week.
Ideas to Teach Comprehension Strategies
Reading Comprehension strategies are why harder to see student's use independently than decoding strategies. As a Special Education Teacher, I tend to spend the first part of my year working mostly with decoding strategies and then teaching comprehension strategies the second half. I have found we mat spend weeks on just one to ensure students are using it on their own as they are reading. But their on may bumps along the way.
I have added a couple of examples from my a few groups. You can see how student's make use of their understanding of different comprehension strategies in their reading. These are from modeled and shared lessons. I think the hardest thing for them to understand is how to show hoe they created their meaning strategy and use the keyword #understand what I'm reading. This is what each strategy does in a different way.
A "strategy" is a plan developed by a student to assist in comprehending and thinking about texts, when reading the words alone does not give the reader a sense of the meaning of a text. Reading comprehension strategy instruction has come to the fore in reading instruction at all age and grade levels. By helping students understand how these flexible tools work, I help readers to tackle challenging texts with greater independence.
What They Are?
1. Activating background knowledge to make connections between new and known information. In many classrooms, this instruction is divided into three categories-- text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world.
2. Questioning the text. Proficient readers are always asking questions while they read. Sticky notes (post-its) have become ubiquitous in classrooms in part because they are such a useful tool for teaching students to stop, mark text, and note questions as they read.
3. Drawing inferences. Proficient readers use their prior knowledge about a topic and the information they have gleaned in the text thus far to make predictions about what might happen next. When teachers demonstrate or model their reading processes for students through think-alouds, they often stop and predict what will happen next to show how inferring is essential for comprehending text.
4. Determining importance. In the sea of words that is any text, readers must continually sort through and prioritize information. Teachers often assist readers in analyzing everything from text features in nonfiction text like bullets and headings, to verbal cues in novels like strong verbs. Looking for these clues can help readers sift through the relative value of different bits of information in texts.
5. Creating mental images. Readers are constantly creating mind pictures as they read, visualizing action, characters, or themes. Teachers are using picture books with students of all ages, not necessarily because they are easy to read, but because the lush and sophisticated art in these books can be a great bridge for helping students see how words and images connect in meaning-making.
6. Repairing understanding when meaning breaks down. Proficient readers don't just plow ahead through text when it doesn't make sense -- they stop and use "fix-up" strategies to restore their understanding. One of the most important fix-up tools is rereading, with teachers demonstrating to students a variety of ways to reread text in order to repair meaning.
7. Synthesizing information. Synthesis is the most sophisticated of the comprehension strategies, combining elements of connecting, questioning, and inferring. With this strategy, students move from making meaning of the text, to integrating their new understanding into their lives and world view.
Ideas for Teaching
Modeling through think-alouds is the best way to teach all comprehension strategies. By thinking aloud, teachers show students what good readers do. Think-alouds can be used during read-alouds and shared reading. They can also be used during small-group reading to review or reteach a previously modeled strategy.I use a think-aloud to:
- Create a record of the strategic decision-making process of going through text
- Report everything the reader notices, does, sees, feels, asks, and understands as she reads
- Talk about the reading strategies being used within the content being read
- There are many ways to conduct think-alouds:
- The teacher models the think-aloud while she reads aloud, and the students listen.
- The teacher thinks aloud during shared reading, and the students help out.
- Students think aloud during shared reading, and the teacher and other students monitor and help.
- The teacher or students think aloud during shared reading while writing on an overhead, on self-stick notes, or in a journal.
- Students think aloud in small-group reading, and the teacher monitors and helps.
- Students individually think aloud during independent reading using self-stick notes or a journal. Then students compare their thoughts with others.
I use a Model or Shared Lesson to:
- Decide on a new strategy or reteach a strategy to model.
- Other things I think about are:
- Choose a short text or section of text.
- Read the text ahead of time. Mark locations where you will stop and model the strategy.
- State your purpose—name the strategy and explain the focus of your think-alouds.
- Read the text aloud to students and think aloud at the designated points.
- If you conduct a shared reading experience, have students highlight words and phrases that show evidence of your thinking by placing self-stick notes in the book.
- Reinforce the think-alouds with follow-up lessons in the same text or with others.
As a Special Education Teacher, I spend at least one lesson a week during a Modeled or Shared Lesson. As a reading teacher, I have had to work not to be afraid of stopping in the middle of a lesson and redoing or doing a new modeled lesson. Teaching comprehension strategy work is HARD and I spend tons of time listening to and seeing what my students do as they practice independently. I take my time and work for skill mastery not accuracy mastery. How do you teach your reading comprehension strategies? I'd love to hear what works for your students!
Januay Show and Tell
Happy Happy Snow Day from Denver. I'll linking up with Forever in 5th grade for this months sneak peak into my Special Education resource room. Life in my room has been nuts since coming back from Winter break. Last time I said I was looking to bring "A Little Bit" of tech into my resource room. Seeing my most challenging student light up with having even a tiniest bit of access has changed how they come in and work. Mind you it is by no ways not messy but they love playing with apps right along with me. To help facilitate this--I needed a place that was student login friendly regardless of grade level. I started the year with Google Drive and Classroom but I HATE having to log in my students. I needed them to take responsible for that- not me. Over Winter Break, I came across SeeSaw. After a little of playing I was able to create sign-ons withe QR Codes (which with 1st graders is the best thing ever). Student's create portfolios to share just like with Drive and it can every be shared with parents without having to worry about other student's safety. 
This example was created for a summative assessment on non-fiction features. As they started to play with app-smashing. I started with Popplet lite (free version) and then put it in Explain Everything ($) to create the audio. I do really do try to play before giving it to them to do. This way I can work out the kinks but also problem solve and anticipate how they interact with the app. Besides--I LOVE to play.
In playing with apps before letting my students' have a go has been how I do the vast majority of my tech work. From iPad apps to web based to summative assessment. It gives me the chance to find the best way to create, save, and send work. It makes problem solving easier if I've had a preview. In this case, I took a group though Tellagami ($). They share one iPad and started with pictures of their pre-assessment. The group put the photos in PicCollage (free). I then had them put it all together in Tellagami. They have created a character to share what this task was about. As far as pre-assessments go-they rocked it. They worked together to create it and I had not seen it before that afternoon. The fun of playing.
We have been very bust since returning from Winter Break. I can't wait to see what my students create as I push their critical thinking skills using app-smashing to reach those I have that are most difficult to reach.
What is 21st Century Learning?
Definition: The term 21st century skills refers to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits that are believed—by educators, school reformers, college professors, employers, and others—to be critically important to success in today’s world, particularly in collegiate programs and contemporary careers and workplaces. Think jobs that have yet to be thought of or created.
I have talked throughout the year about how my district has encouraged the 4Cs in all my planning. It has driven how I created my students Personalized Learning Pathways (PLP) for my students—they have IEPs.
You know the four Cs right. Great colors, wonderful wording and multiple ways to explain:
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Creativity
- Critical Thinking
Problem solving
Students need the ability to solve complex problems in real time.
Why it’s important: In the future, complex problems that we can’t even conceive right now will be everywhere. The more we focus on students’ ability to devise effective solutions to real-world problems, the more successful those students will become.
Creativity
Students need to be able to think and work creatively in both digital and non-digital environments to develop unique and useful solutions.
Why it’s important: Our digital students are in a constant state of stimulation and neural development with technology use. They are natural producers and consumers, or prosumers, of information. Problem-solving is a skill that comes naturally to them and this can be advanced profoundly with the proper engagement in their learning. This comes from doing rewarding projects and meaningful tasks that give them challenges to overcome in imaginative ways.
Analytic thinking
Students need the ability to think analytically, which includes proficiency with comparing, contrasting, evaluating, synthesizing, and applying without instruction or supervision.
Why it’s important: Analytic thinking means being able to use the higher end of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy or higher-order thinking skills (HOTS).
Collaboration
Students must possess the ability to collaborate seamlessly in both physical and virtual spaces, with real and virtual partners globally.
Why it’s important: Students of the digital age are social by nature. They text, post, update, share, chat, and constantly co-create in technological environments with each other. When they are unable to do this in school, they become disengaged and unattached to their learning. Connection and collaboration with others are essential not only to their learning but their mental and emotional health. This kind of interaction goes hand-in-hand with the mindset of global awareness that is part of Global Digital Citizenship. Simply put, better collaborators make better students—and better citizens.
Communication
Students must be able to communicate not just with text or speech, but in multiple multimedia formats. They must be able to communicate visually through video and imagery as effectively as they do with text and speech.
Why it’s important: Communication is a broad term that incorporates multi-faceted levels of interaction and sharing information. Students love to communicate using technology. But it’s more than just being able to effectively use digital media. It’s about personal interactions as well.
What does this mean my Resource Room?
In my world, it’s about pushing students’ thinking with Higher Order Thinking Skills—think Create or Evaluate (Old Bloom’s), Synthesis or Evaluation (New Bloom’s), or Depth of Knowledge Level 4—Extended Thinking).
I do this with more than thinking critically about a book. With each book or group of books (depends on reading level) students have an Essential Question. This question encourages then to think beyond the text and create new information based on what they have learned. This question becomes the starting point of their PLP. They have voice and choice in how they answer the essential question. You also have to realize the work leading up to them creating their answer maybe anywhere from a couple of days to a whole month. I see students 4 days a week for at least 30 minutes a day. Most of
them are students with learning disabilities, communication delays or students with Autism. Students only get at the MOST a couple of days to do their work—that time is theirs’s; not mine. I’m a guide, a support, techno wiz, troubleshooter, ear, problem solver but not teacher or answer giver. They do all the work. I’m really looking forward to seeing how their work with the new version I created with App-Smashing instead of one app for each of the 4C’s. Plus, we are moving everything second semester over to Seesaw (which I hope is way more user friendly to share work with parents, peers, and families. I'll post ideas and project on how I make all this work and meet IEP goals in the coming year.
December Show and Tell
This year my big goal has been looking for ways to bring a little bit of tech into what we are doing. For the pieces I have added to the room I do most if not all of the work. This in most cases would not be a problem but with my teacher's rubric and the need for students to show what they have learned and apply it--this is a huge problem.
My break so far has been looking at different ways student can take these ideas and run with them.
For the record I do everything in google. I put student work in Drive. I take the photos and upload the work. To be fair this is because I don't have local control of the iPads in my room. Yes, I know but I have had to create work arounds for everything we do. I came across Seesaw and was impressed with the idea that it is student and time friendly. I only have my groups for about 30 minutes. This means I either need to do it when I have a 2 minutes or they need to do the up-loading and creating within that 30 minutes. I love the app options that can be uploaded into the platform. My hope is this is REALLY student friendly and will become a place students can create and show off their app-smashing.
My district is big on redefinition--this is seen in the teacher rubric to score highly effective I have to create opportunities for students to "Create and Evaluate" what they have learned.
I have two groups that are working on Non-Fiction Text Features. This will be the first Aurasma, I'm going to show my students. I've been working on how to do this because let's be honest I have no idea and if I'm going to share and have them do the same I better figure it out. Crossing my fingers it works! More coming on this soon.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Letter-Sound Correspondence
What are letter-sound correspondences?
Letter-sound correspondences involve knowledge of:
- the sounds represented by the letters of the alphabet
- the letters used to represent the sounds
Why is knowledge of letter-sound correspondences important?
Knowledge of letter-sound correspondences is essential in reading and writing
- In order to read a word:
- the student must recognize the letters in the word and associate each letter with its sound
- In order the student must break the word into its component sounds and know the letters that represent these sounds.
What sequence should be used to teach letter-sound correspondence?
Letter-sound correspondences should be taught one at a time. As soon as the student acquires one letter sound correspondence, introduce a new one.
I tend to teaching the letters and sounds in this sequence
- a, m, t, p, o, n, c, d, u, s, g, h, i, f, b, l, e, r, w, k, x, v, y, z, j, q
- Letters that occur frequently in simple words (e.g., a, m, t) are taught first.
- Letters that look similar and have similar sounds (b and d) are separated in the instructional sequence to avoid confusion.
- Short vowels are taught before long vowels.
- I tend to teach lower case letters first before upper case letters. Pick one and stick to it.
- prior knowledge
- interests
- hearing
Start by teaching the sounds of the letters, not their names. Knowing the names of letters is not necessary to read or write. Knowledge of letter names can interfere with successful decoding.
- For example, the student looks at a word and thinks of the names of the letters instead of the sounds.
The student will:
- listen to a target sound presented orally
- identify the letter that represents the sound
- select the appropriate letter from a group of letter cards, an alphabet board, or a keyboard with at least 80% accuracy
Instructional Task
Here is an example of instruction to teach letter-sound correspondences
Teacher
- introduces the new letter and its sound
- shows a card with the letter m and says the sound “mmmm”
After practice with this letter sound, the instructor provides review
Teacher
- says a letter sound
- listens to the sound
- looks at each of the letters provided as response options
- selects the correct letter
- from a group of letter cards,
- from an alphabet board, or
- from a keyboard.
Instructional Materials
Various materials can be used to teach letter-sound correspondences
- cards with lower case letters
- an alphabet board that includes lower case letters
- a keyboard adapted to include lower case letters
- listen to the target sound – “mmmm”
- select the letter – m – from the keyboard
Instructional Procedure
The teacher teaches letter-sound correspondences using these procedures:
- Model
- The teacher demonstrates the letter-sound correspondence for the student.
- Guided practice
- The teacher provides scaffolding support or prompting to help the student match the letter and sound correctly.
- Independent practice
- The student listens to the target sound and selects the letter independently.
- The teacher monitors the student’s responses and provides appropriate feedback.
Pointers
There are a wide range of fonts. These fonts use different forms of letters, especially the letter a.
- Initially use a consistent font in all instructional materials (I use one that have the capital I and lower case q-I want.)
- Later, I introduce variations in font.
What is Effective Comprehension Instruction?
It is Explicit, Intensive, persistent instruction. I do mine in small and large groups. Small groups allow me to focus in on the specific skill the groups needs. I find this is a great easy way to differenate students because each student does not need to be in the same reading material--they are grouuped to practice the specific comprehension skill.
To become good readers, most students require explicit, intensive, and persistent instruction. In explicit comprehension strategy instruction, the teacher chooses strategies that are closely aligned with the text students are reading. The teacher models and "thinks aloud" about what a given strategy is and why it is important, helps students learn how, when, and where to use the strategy, and gives students opportunities to apply the strategy on their own.
Modeling is followed by practice, guided by the teacher, who works with students to help them figure out how and when to use the strategy themselves. As students read, the teacher provides feedback and engages them in discussion. In subsequent lessons, the teacher asks students to apply the strategy on their own to other texts.
Students are encouraged to plan before reading so that reading has a clear goal or purpose, to continually monitor their understanding during reading, and to apply repair strategies when breakdowns in understanding occur. To improve self-monitoring, the teacher may model for students how to do one or all of the following:
· think about what they already know before they start reading and during reading;
· be aware of whether they understand what they are reading;
· employ strategies to identify difficult words, concepts, and ideas;
· ask themselves: "Does this make sense?"; and
· be aware of how a particular text is organized.
One of the most important features of explicit instruction is the teacher's gradual release to students of responsibility for strategy use, with the goal that students apply strategies independently. However, teachers do not ask students to work on their own until the students have demonstrated that they understand a strategy and how and when to use it.
The Primary Comprehension Toolkit from Heinemann (grade K-2) allows me to teach specific comprehension skills in a sequence that makes sense to the reader. The student does the work--I have to listen to how they are applying the strategies to text.
My students LOVE expository text (non-fiction). Most of the reading students do throughout their schooling — indeed, throughout their lives — will involve expository text. Without an understanding of the organization of such text, students often have difficulty understanding what they read. Unlike a narrative, an expository text has no familiar story line to guide students' reading. To read expository texts successfully, students must learn that authors may use a variety of structures to organize their ideas, including cause-and-effect or compare and contrast relationships, time-and-order sequences, and problem-solution patterns. Indeed, students need to know that authors may use some or all of these structures in any given chapter or section of a text.
They need to learn that expository text can differ from narrative text in the way it is presented on a page. For example, expository text may be organized by means of text headings and subheadings, and may contain extensive graphics, such as tables, charts, diagrams, and illustrations. Instructional practices that facilitate students' understanding of expository text include helping them learn how to:
· chunk information in a text by grouping related ideas and concepts;
· summarize important information in a text by grouping related ideas and concepts;
· integrate information in a text with existing knowledge;
· apply information in a text to real-world situations;
· interpret and construct graphics such as charts, tables, and figures;
· synthesize information from different texts; and
· develop presentations about the text
and this one show two examples of the sentence stems.
My hope in using the Primary Comprehension Toolkit is to have student's think more critically about what they have read to in turn create new works that show how they created meaning strategically in reading and writing. This set of strategies being tied to their Personalized Learning Plans. I hoping to see great products but I'll have to wait until next week to see what students do.
Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Give Away
So exciting! TPT is having a site wide sale! Save up to 28% off in my store and others by entering code, "CYBER2016"at checkout! Now is a great time to stock up on your favorite resources! Here's the link to my store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Toad-ally-Exceptional-Learners
And after the turkey and special time together draws to a close, please join in throwing a great, big, magnificent Cyber Monday Sale. Earlier this week, I was sent a Teachers pay Teachers $10 gift card for the Cyber Monday and Tuesday sale. To help with the shopping, you have a chance to win a gift card. With 4 chances and a winner picked before the sale gets going-all you have to do is shop.
I will notify a winner by 7am tomorrow morning (11/28). So 4 chances, 24 hours GO!
Happy Cyber Monday!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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