Sunday, November 10, 2019
Review of Ready to Read books
I recently came across this review of ready to read books. My previous blog post mentioned the importance of introducing the text well. This explains why. It also confirmed a research fact I had heard of in regards to moving readers onto red as soon as possible, not just waiting till they can read a certain number of sight words and recognise all of the alphabet letter/sounds.
Reading course with a Reading Recovery Tutor
This year I have attended three day courses with Joan. She is the far north Reading Recovery Teacher Tutor. We went to Shirley Tuisini's office at Kaitaia Primary and had three great sessions on teaching juniors about literacy. This was an excellent opportunity to review my current practice in regards to taking SEA, 6 year nets, running records. We also discussed ideas for writing, shared reading and guided reading.
A question posed to me by Diane my principal is "How can my students demonstrate the success criteria." Joan proposed a two day guided reading session where on the second day we focus on the follow up of the read from the day before. So if my focus is on "noticing the endings on words" then we will have a follow up activity that is specific for this learning. We also discussed using the buddies who come in from another class to ask the students "What are the strategies you are learning at the moment?" This initially had a great response after their teacher worked with them on discussing strategies.
There were quite a few takeaways from this course. Here are a couple I can think of at the moment:
-Reading recovery teachers work on two focus questions. She said everyone knows there is more learning occurring but they always have these focus questions.
-If students have b/d confusion then it is better to not use both in a focus activity/follow up task.
-Reading recovery teachers don't use the "read on" strategy. They work on fixing up at the point of error. So I have not used this strategy at all since then. I have found that this has increased my focus on 'searching through the word' as a strategy for students.
-In shared reading Joan covers up punctuation with sticky notes and takes them away when the students can say what punctuation is hidden. This is a goodie. Try it!
-The biggest takeaway is the reminder of the front loading for a book. She modelled how she does it and I could see from this parts I was missing. I think I am getting better at this and valuing that even though it takes some time and kids are usually eager to get started, it will often save time and gives them the language they need because they will encounter it soon.
Interestingly, Joan also recommended to me that I work out my kaupapa for a reading level. I have not quite sat down and done this but I do think about it. Recently, an experienced teacher took my class for reading over three weeks. And she asked me was a student able to join three phonemes together, e.g. c-a-t. I already had observed that she wasn't doing this and it was interesting to me that she also picked up on this quickly. For her, the student should not be reading yellow texts because this is part of the learning at red level. I took her back a level and shared the information with her mother and she is doing much better at school and home with reading.
A question posed to me by Diane my principal is "How can my students demonstrate the success criteria." Joan proposed a two day guided reading session where on the second day we focus on the follow up of the read from the day before. So if my focus is on "noticing the endings on words" then we will have a follow up activity that is specific for this learning. We also discussed using the buddies who come in from another class to ask the students "What are the strategies you are learning at the moment?" This initially had a great response after their teacher worked with them on discussing strategies.
There were quite a few takeaways from this course. Here are a couple I can think of at the moment:
-Reading recovery teachers work on two focus questions. She said everyone knows there is more learning occurring but they always have these focus questions.
-If students have b/d confusion then it is better to not use both in a focus activity/follow up task.
-Reading recovery teachers don't use the "read on" strategy. They work on fixing up at the point of error. So I have not used this strategy at all since then. I have found that this has increased my focus on 'searching through the word' as a strategy for students.
-In shared reading Joan covers up punctuation with sticky notes and takes them away when the students can say what punctuation is hidden. This is a goodie. Try it!
-The biggest takeaway is the reminder of the front loading for a book. She modelled how she does it and I could see from this parts I was missing. I think I am getting better at this and valuing that even though it takes some time and kids are usually eager to get started, it will often save time and gives them the language they need because they will encounter it soon.
Interestingly, Joan also recommended to me that I work out my kaupapa for a reading level. I have not quite sat down and done this but I do think about it. Recently, an experienced teacher took my class for reading over three weeks. And she asked me was a student able to join three phonemes together, e.g. c-a-t. I already had observed that she wasn't doing this and it was interesting to me that she also picked up on this quickly. For her, the student should not be reading yellow texts because this is part of the learning at red level. I took her back a level and shared the information with her mother and she is doing much better at school and home with reading.
MLC
On Thursday I went to the Maths Learning Community for school and came away with lots of ideas and thoughts about maths in the classroom. One school had just completed their local curriculum and were saying they have some 'musts' for maths. It was great to discuss the fluency of basic facts. We discussed how the necessity for some maths practice has changed as society has changed. For example, once upon a time a shop teller would add in their head the total for purchases. Now we have scanners and this is done automatically. So the contexts for doing maths have changed so how do we change our contexts or think about rich learning tasks.
Here are some resources I could bring back to Oruaiti School.
Here are some resources I could bring back to Oruaiti School.
Teaching Son # 2
Last year I began teaching full time again as my first born was beginning primary school. It was great to see him enjoy school so much, but it made me a little sad that it wasn't me teaching him how to read. So when the opportunity arose for me to teach the new entrants I jumped at the chance and have been fortunate enough to teach my second son.
He was the four year old who would stop playing his game when his older brother began reading, edging his way to the arm of the chair to peer at the pictures, hanging on every laboured word read aloud by his big brother. I could see a flourishing love of stories and I wanted to be the person to teach him how to read for himself.
Most people nodded enthusiastically when I said I would be teaching my son. Not his kindy teacher, though. She gave me a raised eyebrow and said "Are you sure about that? He has a bit of trouble following instructions."
The transition to school was smoother than some, having his mum as the teacher. There were no tears at drop off time because he was still with mum. He hasn't been the star pupil one might have imagined, rolling around on the mat, playing when he should be listening, and bellowing frustrated "Muuuuummmm"s during writing when I am helping other students.
However, there is something quite special about cuddling up to your son on the couch in the late afternoon with a small reader you're hearing for the second time that day, listening to the chirping, sweet tone of your little one becoming a reader. Reflecting on his reading journey so far I do acknowledge it hasn't been just me who has taught him to read. Each day I give him a book, carefully crafted for interest, personal experience and a level just right for him, written by one of New Zealand's many marvelous authors. He gets tips from his group peers, older reading buddy and beloved Nanza. Most of all, he himself has the keen desire to know how to read that little story.
I asked him one night, "Do you miss preschool? Would you like to go back?" To which he replied,
"I like preschool, but I like learning to read."
He was the four year old who would stop playing his game when his older brother began reading, edging his way to the arm of the chair to peer at the pictures, hanging on every laboured word read aloud by his big brother. I could see a flourishing love of stories and I wanted to be the person to teach him how to read for himself.
Most people nodded enthusiastically when I said I would be teaching my son. Not his kindy teacher, though. She gave me a raised eyebrow and said "Are you sure about that? He has a bit of trouble following instructions."
The transition to school was smoother than some, having his mum as the teacher. There were no tears at drop off time because he was still with mum. He hasn't been the star pupil one might have imagined, rolling around on the mat, playing when he should be listening, and bellowing frustrated "Muuuuummmm"s during writing when I am helping other students.
However, there is something quite special about cuddling up to your son on the couch in the late afternoon with a small reader you're hearing for the second time that day, listening to the chirping, sweet tone of your little one becoming a reader. Reflecting on his reading journey so far I do acknowledge it hasn't been just me who has taught him to read. Each day I give him a book, carefully crafted for interest, personal experience and a level just right for him, written by one of New Zealand's many marvelous authors. He gets tips from his group peers, older reading buddy and beloved Nanza. Most of all, he himself has the keen desire to know how to read that little story.
I asked him one night, "Do you miss preschool? Would you like to go back?" To which he replied,
"I like preschool, but I like learning to read."
PB4L Day
Ideas from Meeting time with Chrystal
Websites to go to for Lesson Planning
Websites to go through: https://www.pbis.org
https://www.pbisworld.com
Question: How many times are we giving children a chance to practise this lesson? 8 times should really be the goal.
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