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Showing posts with label first grade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label first grade. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Word Work, the Reading Recovery Way -- Pt. 7


It’s about time, teachers, … to begin working on rimes. 






At the white board, construct 3 known words that have the same onset, e.g. me, my, mom.  

Ask your student what is alike in these words.  Hopefully, she will notice that they all begin with m.  Ask, “Can you say another word that starts like that?”  Whereupon, you accept any word that begins with the same sound.  You need not be concerned about the correct spelling of the word.  That is, a word which is correctly spelled with /kn/ or /gn/ will be perfectly acceptable for the onset sound of /n/. 

On subsequent days, continue working with 1 letter onsets until you are sure the child understands the task and how words work when the onset remains the same.  The goal here is to bring your student's attention to the rime.

Now you are ready to use blends for onsets.  Following the same procedure, construct 3 words with the same initial blend, e.g. she, ship, show.  


Ask her to say another word that starts like that.  However, if she says sit or another word that has the /s/ sound, do NOT accept that word.  If necessary, over emphasize the /sh/ as you repeat the words you constructed.  If she still cannot produce a word with that blend, try again later, but in the same lesson, with a different onset blend.

Just as an aside, if your student struggles with distinguishing between blends and single consonants, you may want to have your speech & language specialist and/or an audiologist, do further assessments on her.

As always, you should proceed to the next task only after your student demonstrates mastery of this task.



It's nearly time for Halloween and in that spirit, my friend, Brian, at 


has boo-ed me. Don't fret that he's being a bully; it's a fun linky party. Brian's blog is well worth a visit. I am especially fond of his Positive Friday posts.  You will also appreciate the fall linky party he's running.




Now, here's the scoop on the I've Been Boo-ed linky party:
  1. When you have been boo-ed, copy and paste the above picture and these "rules" into your blog post.
  2. Give a shout out to the blogger who boo-ed you and link back to their site.
  3. Share 3 - 5 October activities, books, products (yours or others'), and/or freebie(s) that you love.
  4. Share the boo love with 5 bloggers.  Make sure you check this link to avoid boo-ing someone who has already been boo-ed.
Now it's time for me to share resources:
  1. My emergent reader book, What the Little Ghost Saw on Halloween, has been extremely popular.  Don't miss out on this FREE book.                                                                                                                  
  2. I also have a FREE Autumn Scarecrow Glyph.    It's fun and easy.                                                                                      
  3. Lest you think I'm only focused on the littlest scholars, let me assure you that I'm always on the lookout for activities for intermediate students.  In my role as an enrichment specialist for the school, I was thrilled to find Lisa's Boo! Ha Ha! Math Centers for Bigger Kids at Fourth and Ten. She uses them to constructively engage the students who have mastered a math skill while she works with those who need more help.  That's a win-win!                                             

The time has come to share some Boo love ...



Saturday, October 13, 2012

Word Work, the Reading Recovery Way -- Pt. 4

It's about time, teachers, ... for more Word Work, the Reading Recovery Way.


Now that your student is making KNOWN words easily from a set of letters, it's time to add inflections.  To do this, make a known word for the child, e.g. look.  Initially, you demonstrate the task by saying, "This says look."  


"Watch while I add something to it."  Slide an s to make looks.  


"Now it says looks.  Say it and check it with your finger."  

Do another word in the same lesson with the same inflection.  


Continue in this way on subsequent days, always using known words.  Avoid using words that require a spelling change, such as liking or batted.  Add other inflections until you are sure the child knows the task and understands how words work with inflections. 



As always, push as much of the task onto the child as you can, as soon as you can.

* * * * *

Now it's time for some fun!  

Cynthia over at 2nd Grade Pad has started a game, Who Will be Boo'd?  You've probably all played BOO at school where you leave a ghost on someone's desk or mailbox along with a treat. Let's do the same by sharing some love from our stores...


Here's how to play:

  • Choose a fellow blogger that has FEWER followers, another that has about the SAME number of followers, and last, someone that has MORE followers.
  • Highlight their blogs with links to encourage others to check them out. Don't forget to let your fellow bloggers know that you shared about them. 
  • Last, leave them some love by offering them a goody from your store as their "treat."

Here are my three:



Kristi teaches 2nd grade. She's been blogging since Feb., like me. She loves pinning and has great ideas to share. Check out Lucky in Learning.









Heather at Creation Castle is my newest bloggy friend. She just hosted a Celebrating Literacy Giveaway. I was lucky enough to participate (my 1st giveaway) and loved it! 




Vicky at Traditions, Laughter, & Happily Ever After was one of the first teachers to follow my blog, making her near and dear to my heart. She has an awesome blog filled with fantastic ideas. You've got to check it out.


Now it's your turn. Pass on the BOO to 3 of your favorite blogs, tell us about them, and link up! Feel free to add your link here through Oct. 31st before the ghosts all flee and the turkeys arrive! :-)





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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Word Work, the Reading Recovery Way -- Pt.3

It's about time, teachers, for another post about Word Word, the Reading Recovery Way. As a Reading Recovery teacher and literacy specialist, I have spent years collecting data and analyzing techniques to determine what works best for teaching my reluctant readers how to be successful.  These posts represent the sum total of my learning to date.  The steps I am offering have proven very successful with my students, and, hopefully, will bring you the same results.

Once your student has mastered the majority of her letters, begin working on high frequency words that she KNOWS.  To this end, I place a group of letters on the white board that make a word she knows.  

I start with 2 letter words.  This allows the student to learn the task quickly and easily.  At the board, I push the letter set to the center and tell her these letters make a word she knows.  I ask her to make that word.  Once that is accomplished, I ask her to "say it slowly and run your finger under it to check the sounds."  You may have to demonstrate this procedure.

The next step is to use 3 letter words that she knows.

Naturally, that is followed by 4 letter words.

This procedure continues until the task is completed easily.  I do not, typically, progress to 5, or more, letter words.  My goal is to have her manipulate the letters quickly and self-check that the letter sequence matches the sound sequence.  

These tasks are easily adapted to small group instruction.  In deference to time constraints, I place my letter sets in snack size zipper bags ahead of time.  As the students gain facility with the task, I up the ante by giving different words to each student.  We all know how "helpful" first graders can be to each other.  This step allows each student to be more independent.



   
 

Friday, October 5, 2012

Word Work, the Reading Recovery Way - Pt. 2

It's about time, teachers, for Part 2 of Word Work, the Reading Recovery Way.  If you missed my 1st post, you can read it here.

Let me start with an aside:  In America, we typically work on all of the upper case letters first.  As I understand it, our British friends commence with lower case letters.  I say,  "Well done, Brits," because when you introduce proper nouns, it is much easier to instill the need for capitalizing the first letter.  This is as opposed to us Yankees trying to "unlearn" writing every word with a capital letter.  Just food for thought...

Regardless of the letter case you tackle first, you will eventually reach the time when your student must differentiate between upper and lower case letters.  In a sorting activity, that means you will include both cases of known letters.  


Ask the student to sort by letter first.


When she demonstrates automaticity with this sort, proceed to sorting by 2 characteristics:  letter & case.


Up the ante by adding more letters to the pool.


Again sort by letter first.


Then sort by 2 characteristics again.


Before you start working with actual words, conduct other characteristic sorts.  For example, find all the letters that have humps; letters with sticks; letters that start like c.



Go forth & sort!  Then come back for more Word Work, the Reading Recovery Way.

Be sure you check out my facebook page for the grammar gaffe of the day.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Word Work, the Reading Recovery Way

Since completing training as a Reading Recovery™ teacher in 2000, I have been fascinated watching reluctant readers learn how words work. That is, how they can use known words to learn unknown words. In RR we call it "word work," but it is quite different than the "word work" associated with programs like Words Their Way™.


Over the course of my RR and reading intervention teaching, I have sought to find a sequence of skill lessons that would best assist my students in learning to coordinate 2 items of knowledge:


  1. linking sound sequence with letter sequence 
  2. linking letter sequence with sound sequence

That doesn't sound that hard, does it? But with the lowest 20% of first graders, it can be herculean!


In RR, word work is NOT about learning words. Rather, it is about learning how words work. The idea is much like the parable of the fisherman: give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for life. We all need to teach our students to "fish" in order to ensure lifelong success. Which leads me to the next important point: the child must accomplish as much of the word work task independently as he can handle. Before RR training, I admit that I spoon fed my firsties too often. One of the hardest lessons any teacher learns is to wait. for. the. child. to. respond. 



In RR, teachers are constantly evaluating both the student's work and the teacher's work. To that end, I have come to understand that if the word work done early in the lesson did not go well, then it must be repeated in the same lesson. If the task went well, however, you repeat the task with similar words (or letters). 



Key to the child's success is spending enough time on each task to ensure that he has learned the task. We do a great disservice to our students when we push on without giving them the time to truly learn the foundation skills. Similarly, enough time must be spent on the task to assess the learning. There is a difference between learning the task and actually learning. Confused? Let me give an example: 


Let’s say your student knows the upper case letters L and B. Using the vertical plane white board, you place a pool of magnetic upper case Ls and Bs.


Ask your student to find all the Ls, pushing them quickly into a pile. Repeat with the Bs. Demonstrate the speed you desire, if necessary. Because you are working with known letters, this activity constitutes learning the task. You will repeat this activity with known letters until you are convinced the child understands the task.


Now it’s time to introduce an unknown letter, N. On the white board, you place a pool of 12 - 15 letters - - several of each of the known letters and 3-5 of the new letter.




Instruct the child to find all of the Ls, just as he has done in the past. When that is completed, ask him to find all of the Bs, again forming a pile using the procedure already learned. Finally, direct him to find all of the Ns, showing him an N, if necessary. When he can reliably find the Ns without assistance, he has demonstrated learning. 



Push the child to act quickly, but do not proceed to the next activity until you are sure the child understands the task at hand. An activity of this type should take 3 minutes OR LESS! Remember that 6 year olds have very short attention spans that are enhanced by opportunities to move. That is why, if you have ever witnessed a RR lesson, the child gets up and moves to the vertical plane white board to do this portion of the lesson.

Just  a note to all my OCD friends:  Resist having the child line the letters up in neat rows.  You are seeking instant recognition and speed of reaction; NOT neatness and regimentation!

This is the first post in a series about Word Work, the Reading Recovery™ Way.  Come back soon for the next step.





Monday, August 13, 2012

Calendar Patterns

Young students love the comfort of a daily routine in their classroom.  One of the most universal routines is a morning meeting with calendar activities.  Lots of math concepts are inherent with calendar activities.  But, have you every incorporated patterning?  

Once September rolls around, I like to subtly introduce patterns on the calendar.  To do this, I provide apple cards for the calendar -- 


As the calendar starts to fill with apple cards, someone always notices that they make a color pattern.  Gotta love those "Aha!" moments!  Once that realization has been achieved, my students have a new challenge at calendar time:  predict what color the apple will be today.  

My first graders really get into this.  So naturally, I have to up the ante with the next month.  October brings autumn leaves --


The first few days of October are such fun as the children try to predict what the pattern will be.  By the 5th of October, the pattern becomes clear.  However, I'm not finished with the predictions...  Now my students have to predict such details as what kind of leaf it is, which direction the stem will point, is the leaf right side up or upside down...  

Common Core Standards are being addressed.  Visual discrimination is enhanced. Teaching time is being maximized.  Students are engaged and having fun.  Try it; you'll like it!

You can get both of these sets of calendar cards for FREE in my TpT store or TN shop.  If you like adding more content to your calendar activities, I have another product that offers icons for the entire year. 




Update 7/2015:
I have just added a new product that provides Calendar Icons in a forest friends theme.  Check it out!
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