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.

   

 

100th Day of School

If February isn't the most crowded month for teaching themes (Groundhog Day, Presidents' Day, Black History Month, Valentine's Day), I don't know what is.  In my district, the 100th Day of School also falls in Feb.  I typically immerse my students in that theme for the entire day with centers, activities, and book links.  In our whole group times and in some reading groups, I like to present poetry about this special day.  For example,

My free product on TpT --

-- has 4 poems with Possibilities accompanying each of them.  The Possibilities are an eclectic group of teaching ideas that range from poetic devices to guided reading lessons.  For the above poem, the Possibilities are:

To get all 4 poems and the Poetry Possibilities I created for each one, go here.  Remember, it's FREE!!  Enjoy.

If you like this product, you may wish to look at my other Poetry Possibilities products for February:

Black History Month Poetry Possibilities or Poetry Possibilities -- February.

Groundhog Day 3.0

One of the things I love to do with my students is immerse them in poetry because it offers so many teaching possibilities. Naturally you can focus on poetic structures and poetic devices.   But have you ever used poetry to teach reading skills? Because poetry is usually short and the message concise, it's a perfect venue for studying vowel sounds, contractions, punctuation, parts of speech, syllables, rimes, inflections, ....  The  possibilities are almost endless.  It's always good practice to relate these skills to what is being read.  Practicing skills in isolation may transfer to reading skill building; then again it may not.  

Each poem has reading skills already built into it.  All you have to do is look at it with a "reading skills eye."  Thus, if the poem is replete with a particular consonant blend, use it in a guided reading lesson about that blend.  If the poem has a sprinkling of contractions, devise a review lesson about contractions using the poem.  As an example, look at the following poem, noting that it has several compound words in it.

Due to the structure of a poem, it is easier for young children to locate the compound words.  If you reproduced this poem on sentence strips for use in a pocket chart, that would facilitate  identifying the compound words as a group.  With a little magic and masking tape, you could make the compound words come apart.  Alternately, you might focus on the punctuation and how it helps the reader to read with expression.  Or, you might choose to conduct a mini-lesson on the inflections -ing and -ed.

As a reading specialist, I highly recommend using poems for guided reading lessons and review lessons.  It has always been a favorite activity of my remedial students if for no other reason than they had less text to conquer.

While wearing my other hat, enrichment specialist, I developed Poetry Possibilities for my colleagues with teaching points identified for them.  For example, the Possibilities  for the above poem include:

As item #3 indicates, poetry can also be a launchpad for differentiating instruction.  Gifted and talented students deserve and require our attention, but it can be quite taxing to provide extensions for them.  I have dedicated most of my career to creating challenges for G/T children.  Most of my products on TpT reflect that commitment.  I hope you will go here to check out my critical and creative thinking products.

If you are interested in more seasonal poems with teaching points and skill suggestions, visit my TpT store here for February poems and possibilities.  You may also be interested in Black History Month Poetry Possibilities.  Just a word of caution: reading poetry is principally about creating enthusiasm for reading.  Take care not to defeat that goal by always turning poetry reading into a skill drill.