Word Work Center- Blended R sound

As a follow up to my fluency video on “The Day the Crayons Quit” I’ve created a word work center around blended r sounds, for example…crayon or dragon.  I came to this decision because according to, the Phonics Skills Sequence 2nd grade and the book What Research has to Say About Reading Instruction by PM Cunningham and JW Cunningham understanding blends is an essential phonetic skill that all students need to master in order to become fluent readers. 

Furthermore, the lesson helps students vocabulary grow because they are beginning to see a patterns develop with the various blends.  The text contains numerous blends but if you focused on the "purple crayon" "beige crayon" and "green crayon" the students should find the following words in the text: crayon, grapes, dragons, crazy, proud, brown, green, crocodile, trees, frogs, problems, congratulate, orange,  and driving.  In addition to these words students will sort the following words at the end of the lesson: brain, drum, draft, crown, drink, craft, crow, crab, brave, broom, brag, and drain.  These last twelve words are pre-selected by the teacher and serves as either tier one or tier two words. For example we (as teachers) can start showing students how the word drain, may mean to empty a bowl or may mean being physically tired.  This book is also an excellent book for increasing a students overall vocabulary with words such as: gorgeous, congratulate, humpback whale, embarrassed, and brilliantly.     

I’ve selected this book because I feel it is of high interest to students. This is a level R book for third graders.  As previously stated in my last post,  we know it is a level R book because when we compare it to the book Neighborhood Mystery by Ray Ramos from the website www.readinga-z.com we see several similarities including words per page, use of illustrations, and vocabulary level/literary devices.  Neighborhood Mystery has about 80 words per page on average, this is the same as The Day the Crayons Quit.  Furthermore both text use illustrations that are described in the writing but are not essential to understand the plot of the story. By which I mean, pictures alone would not be enough to understand what is happening in the text. The student would need to read to understand.  Both texts also use italics, bold words, and a variety of punctuation marks in the text.  Finally both text use a variety of words that would improve a students vocabulary, for example in The Day the Crayons Quit there are words such as - gorgeous, Humpback Whale,  and brilliantly; whereas  Neighborhood Mystery uses words such as - accidently, violinist, symphony, and eerie.  When you compare these two text, one which (Neighborhood Mystery) we know is leveled R we can see that they are both of similar levels.


The following activity would be for small group instruction after having modeled the text for students by reading it during whole group instruction. 

The activity would be ideal for small group instruction because it involves students reading, speaking, listening, and writing. It would work in a large group setting but I feel it would be less effective.

This lesson would meet the following standards:

·         1.1.K.B: Employ word recognition techniques:

o   Use association strategies to identify letters

o   Demonstrate phonological awareness through the segmenting and blending of phonemes

o   Use knowledge of letter sound correspondence (alphabetic principle) to decode words in context

·         1.1.1.B: Use word recognition techniques:

• Demonstrate phonological awareness through phoneme manipulation
• Demonstrate knowledge of letter sound correspondence (alphabetic principle) to decode and encode words

 1.1.2.B: Use knowledge of phonics and word recognition (e.g., root words, prefixes, suffixes, and syllabication) to decode and understand new words during reading

The activity would go as follows:

Objective:
To have students become familiar with and be able to locate, and produce words with common r blends.  This lesson specifically focuses on br, cr, dr blends. 

Materials:

·         The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

·         Five pieces of plain white paper (required)

·         Extra pieces of plain white paper (preferred)

·         Markers/pens

·         Sticky notes (colorful preferred)

·         12 tiered words on notecards

·         Large note cards

Engaging activity:

·         Ask students for a quick verbal summary of the book. 

o   This is to check for understanding

Lesson:

·         On the pieces of plain paper at the top, write three of the “blended r” sounds

o   Br

o   Cr

o   Dr

·         For the last two pieces of paper write “__r” at the top

·         As you are writing the letters pronounce each sound the blend makes

·         Ask students for one or two examples they can think of for these three blends

·         If correct have the student write them underneath the blend on the paper.  if incorrect write out the incorrect word and explain to students why it does not fit the pattern: For example if a student says "car" the teacher would write down car and explain how yes it does have a "c" and a "r" but they do not blend like the word "crash". 

·         Tell students we are “hunting for r blends today” so while we re-read the story if you see one, we have to stop…and write it out on their “r traps” (aka sticky notes)

·         Begin rereading the story; after reading a page, have students write the words that have the “r blend” on sticky notes.  The students will then stick the note on the correct page. This “captures” the blends

·         As they “capture” a blend help students identify the meaning of the word using context clues from the crayons letter

·         As we read, have the students discover two other blends that are in the text

·         Have students find and capture the blend sounds using their “r traps”

·         After finishing the book have students try to add more words that weren’t in the text but that follow the pattern

Summarizing:

·         Have students repeat the different sounds for each category by correctly pronouncing two words from each category

·         Give students twelve note cards with tiered words on them

• You may want to pair up students and have one student read a word and one student place the word in the correct category.  This would prevent students from just matching letter patterns. It would also serve as an informal assessment for you as a teacher to gage your students progress.

·         Have students sort the note cards correctly

·         Have students pick out their favorite word in each category

• for this have students use words from "purple crayon" "beige crayon" and "green crayon"

·         Have them write it on a large note card.

·         Add the note card to the classroom word wall under a “blends” section.

I feel that this lesson would be engaging because students would be generating their own list and doing the work. They would take ownership of the lesson. In the interest of time, you could focus on specific pages of the text that really have these sounds. For example, the purple crayon has several of these blends. This way you could really focus the students on finding the blend instead of overwhelming them with the entire text. Furthermore, a teacher can really set the tone of excitement by playing up the “hunting” atmosphere and the “r traps” and really praising each “catch”. 

Hopefully, the students would generate more than two additional blend sounds and you can create more on the extra paper. Ideally students would recognize that their “r traps” have an r blend in their name. And this would be one of the blends they would use.

Overall, I feel that this lesson would be a very effective way of teaching blends.  It is interactive, engaging, and the lists are initially generated from the text that they are working with in whole group discussion. This connection re-enforces the importance of the text and the lesson.

The Day the Crayons Quit- A literacy lesson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcFJIkrNwMo&list=UUYXl7-RbC728R-Tzt_AmpiQ

Above is a link to my first YouTube video! It is of me reading The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the book let me provide a brief summary. Duncan is the main character and when he reaches for his box of crayons he finds a large pile of letters.  These letters are from all of his crayons. Some are happy with how they are being used but most are unhappy. In a unique way each crayon writes to Duncan.

This is a level R text, or a great book for third graders. We know it is a level R book because when we compare it to the book Neighborhood Mystery by Ray Ramos from the website www.readinga-z.com we see several similarities including words per page, use of illustrations, and vocabulary level/literary devices.  Neighborhood Mystery has about 80 words per page on average, this is the same as The Day the Crayons Quit.  Furthermore both text use illustrations that are described in the writing but are not essential to understand the plot of the story. By which I mean, pictures alone would not be enough to understand what is happening in the text. The student would need to read to understand.  Both texts also use italics, bold words, and a variety of punctuation marks in the text.  Finally both text use a variety of words that would improve a students vocabulary, for example in The Day the Crayons Quit there are words such as - gorgeous, Humpback Whale,  and brilliantly; whereas  Neighborhood Mystery uses words such as - accidently, violinist, symphony, and eerie.  When you compare these two text, one which (Neighborhood Mystery) we know is leveled R we can see that they are both of similar levels.

This would be an excellent book to use for whole group or small group instruction.  The book is engaging for all students. It is funny, and could be adopted for several smaller lessons, including a variety of writing activities. Such as answering the crayons in a letter back, or writing a letter to your own crayons.

Throughout the video I will stop and model several literacy skills as well as ask several sample questions that could be used. Of course as no students are present I had to pretend that students responded correctly. The type of question and the questions that I asked were: (editor’s note these are the written questions, I was a little nervous while reading and they may not be word for word translations)

1.       Let’s re-read these two sentences. They end with an exclamation point not a period.  How does this change the message of the sentence?-Literal question

2.       Let’s re-read the first sentence. What does the word gorgeous mean? What other words could we use instead o gorgeous? - Vocabulary question 

3.       Look at all these question marks? What should we do when we read a question? How does our voice sound?-Literal question

4.       Based on what the Green Crayon said what do you predict we will hear about on the next two pages?-Inferential or prediction question

5.       Look at the last sentence. Let’s re-read it. What does the phrase splash of color mean?-Vocabulary question

These questions are effective because they involve the text, students cannot simply rely on the picture to answer the questions. They must interact with the text. By stopping and engaging the students we ( as teachers) are drawing the students in.

I hope this video will help you plan out future lessons.

Reflection seven- Spaces and Places 2

                While reading the assigned pages of Spaces and Places by Debbie Diller I was struck with more than a few ideas for my own classroom, most of which involved the classroom library and the writing stations.

                As a secondary English teacher I find students too often get prescribed reading in school.  By which I mean we as educators too often tell kids what they can or can’t read. We eliminate their input and then we wonder why they don’t ld then we wonder why they don'ids what they can or can'get prescribed reading in school.  By which I mean ove to read! Well if someone told me everything I had to read all the time…I’d hate it too. Now practically there are times when we must assign certain texts or certain articles but one thing I’ve used as a compromise is SSR.  This is the practice of allowing kids to select their own book and read independently in class. I usually allow the first ten to fifteen of class for this activity.  Once we are in the routine I allow students to move around the room and get comfortable. This is why the classroom library caught my attention. When you implement SSR into your curriculum you need to help the students by giving them access to books, and a wide variety of books.

                The first thing that jumped out at me on these pages was the genre baskets. I think this is great for three reasons.  One it is neat and saves space (a huge need in a classroom) two it helps students find books quicker (this would eliminate the student who just can’t find a book) and finally it allows students to see all the different kinds of books that are available, and make goals. They may really like fantasy books, and make a goal for themselves that they will read the basket this year.

                The second thing I liked in these pages was the comfortable reading corners. I am moving rooms this year because our building is under construction and I can’t wait to set up my reading corners. I have an old chair and an old ottoman that I can’t wait to bring in and set up. I think once kids are comfortable they will forget they are in class and be more inclined to “get into the book”. Because of the size of my students this idea is impractical but I thought the idea of the kids blow up pool was really neat. I like that because it could come out on special occasions. My only concern is how to eliminate fighting over the seats or areas. 

                In my class we focus a lot of time on writing. In my opinion writing is an essential tool for life, if you can’t put your thoughts onto paper you will struggle. So I spend a lot of time working on writing skills. So I was very interested in the writing areas. The one thing that I saw that was really cool was the peg board that had different writing tips on it. I think that this would be an extremely adaptable idea to any grade level. In the pictures they use sight words; I could use vocabulary words, or editing reminders. Students struggle with citations. This could be a way to help them.

                When it comes to desk arraignments I think the idea of groups is wonderful. It allows for easy interaction and allows students to “discover” the content together, which will make the content “stick” for the students.  The setup that I like the most is the four desks together in a large square, I like this setup because I think it is really important that as teacher I can easily get beside every desk if I need to help a student. It eliminates distractions. This way I am not reaching over other students or asking them to move.

                The final thing that I really liked in the room placement was the idea that nothing is permanent.  Even though the bare bones stay the same there are slight changes in the classroom as the year goes on. For example the back to school books, get replaced by fall books, or winter books. This keeps things fresh for students. I like that I think these little things in a class room go noticed by students, it shows you care, and that is so helpful in a classroom.

                   Before I became a teacher I was a substitute for two years. I subbed in four districts, and for every subject area. At the time I hated it…I mean really hated it. But now that I am employed I loved that experience.  I learned a lot. When you get to see many rooms, in many buildings you really can get a good idea of what you like and what you don’t like. I got to the point where I could walk in a room and even before kids got there I could tell if this was a “good” teacher or a “bad” teacher.  Just from the way the room was set up.  Some of the things I’ve seen that I really liked were a clothes line and an editing bank.  Let me explain.

                 The clothes line was hung near the class room library and the teacher used clothes pins to hang up books that were “highly recommended” to read. The students all went for those books first. It was like when you go into a book store and the new books are all in the front and center of the store and you gravitate towards those first. I thought it was a neat way to get kids reading books, which they may never have picked up.  

                The editing bank was interesting. It was a place where a student could “deposit” his or her first draft only to have it “withdrawn” by someone else for editing, this way students who were ahead could help edit other students work. Sometimes they would conference with the person too.  I thought this was an interesting idea because it motivated students to want to edit and read each other’s work without feeling like they were forced. 

                All in all I think these ideas seemed pretty simple to implement, and above all cheap. This book was helpful because these ideas are all affordable and easy. No one wants to spend hundreds of dollars on their classroom. But a few bucks here and there for an efficient classroom.  Sign me up! 

Reflection eight- assesment drives instructions

http://www.pdesas.org/module/assessment/Search.aspx#assessmentsearch

For this post I looked on the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s website at their Standard Aligned System (SAS) section for third grade Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening (RWLS) assessments.  I’ve used this site before in my classroom as a way to help prepare my students for the state tests. Last year I had a lot of luck using the site as a tool to gage what and how the state will evaluate my students. I also tried to mirror my own test questions based on the formatting of their questions. I think students who are familiar with the language and format of a test will do better than those who are unfamiliar. If students have seen similar style questions they won’t panic, and will think it is easy.

For this assignment I chose to focus on the story “A Truth Speaker” it is described as a story about a king who likes poetry.  I especially liked it because I felt that the assessment was starting to set the groundwork for the types of questions my students see on their middle school tests. I think it is always good to know where students are starting from. To know what they are familiar with can save so much time in the classroom. 

To understand this passage students would need a multitude of literacy skills but in my opinion three would be essential: comprehension, decoding vocabulary words, and understand point of view.  I selected these three because of the sample questions that followed. The first skill (comprehension) is important to the story because if we as readers cannot understand a text we have no hope in moving onto higher order thinking skills. Comprehension helps us decode meaning, and understand the point of view, and helps us learn the deeper meaning of the text.  The second skill (decoding vocabulary words) is a skill that is really important for students to master, especially as they get older.  On question asked students to re-read a line and determine what disdain means. Well, if they have never heard it, how would they determine its meaning? We need to teach the skills of context, and prefixes, etc.  this allows students to learn words on their own. Finally the third skill I selected was point of view. Again, I selected this based on a question. But I think it is an important skill to master. The point of view determines so much of the story.

I would use the following questions as guides for my students to help them succeed on the test.  The questions would relate to each of the three literary techniques I mentioned above:

1.       Why do we stop and check for understand when we read?

a.       For this lesson I would model for students how when we read something confusing it is okay to re-read it, and to stop and think about what we are reading. Reading is not a race.  I would then have them practice these skills

2.       How can I use context clues to learn a words meaning?

a.       For this lesson we would work with context clues. I would probably design a detective lesson and read a short mystery and play up that we are reading detectives and we can’t leave any stone unturned. A simple word may be the clue to solving the case!

3.       How do you write from a different perspective?

a.       This one is slightly different. I think a great way to teach perspective is to make kids work on writing from a different perspective. Then when we read something from another perspective they seem to get it easier. For example this year,  I had students write about a day in the life of a 7^th grader (one of the grades I teach) but from the perspective of the opposite gender.  As a preview for this unit we read “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” and I had them re-write classic tales from the bad guys’ perspective.  It seems juvenile to use story books at a secondary level but as a preview activity, it works fantastically.

I think the SAS site can be overwhelming at times, because when you look at the big picture we need to cover so much material in so few days. However, I think it is helpful to use it as a map, this is where I need my students to be in the spring, and this is how I get there. Once we realize how much we need to cover, each minute of class becomes important and when we realize this, students realize this. They will meet you expectations. 

Reflection six- Explicit and Systematic Phonics Article

          In searching www.readwritething.org for a great lesson to teach phonics I stumbled upon a lesson called “The Big Green Monster Teaches Phonics in Reading and Writing” by an educator in Arizona named Maureen Gerard.  The reason that I liked this lesson is that it covers three 45 minute sessions and is very interactive. The students begin the lesson together and then move to literacy stations. I think lessons like this are great ways to get students to work with a text. This lesson is recommended for K-2 but I would say that this is more of a K-1 lesson, only because it seems to really focus on sight words, which is something strongly focused on in Kindergarten.

            The preparation for the lesson includes writing out the text of “Go Away, Big Green Monster!” using colored markers to match the colored words in the story.  The teacher would also need to gather index cards, or card sheets for a memory game station. Finally the teacher would need to gather crayons for students to make their own monsters. The final optional step given I think is great, it is making your own monster pointer. In my experience, students love when teachers go the extra step, even in high school students like seeing that you care and aren’t just making them do something you haven’t thought through. So I would not make this step optional.

            This lesson has several parts because of the literacy stations, each part should take about 30 minutes, but the writer’s workshop may take up to 45 minutes. The lesson begins at the large group area in the classroom. The teacher introduces the story and students read through the story chorally. While reading you should point out the words in color and ask if they can recognize the work from the color. Furthermore you should review the sight words from the word wall in your room (hopefully already established by this time, if not you could add words to the wall).  After reading the story through once you would re-read it several times. The site recommends doing just boys, then girls, left side, right side etc. finally ending for any individual volunteers, claiming “Reading the story multiple times in alternative formats builds fluency, adds interest, and speeds word recognition.” After the group station students go to one of three stations: literacy work, artwork, writer’s workshop.

            At the literacy station students will rotate through mini-stations based on needs. They will listen to an online version of the story and read along with the tape to build fluency skills, build and play a memory game with color words that will increase their familiarity with these words. The third station is my favorite; it is the word family station. At this station students will choose words from the text to generate word families. The site encourages you to “Direct the students to begin their word family lists by selecting words from the story that they already know. Have them drop the beginning letter (onset) and create a list of new words by substituting different beginning letters to the word ending (rime). Students can then add these words to their personal dictionaries.” The final mini-station at the literacy station is sentence strips. At this station students will pair up and reconstruct the story in the right order. This station “encourages rereading of the story in an alternative format to build word recognition, oral reading fluency, and understanding of story sequencing. The center provides an opportunity for self-assessment as the pairs of students can compare their sequencing of the strips to the actual story.”

            At the second station, students will go to the artwork station. At this station students will re-read the story and as they will recreate the monster with crayons. The final products can be displayed. This is a great station for students who are creative and love to draw and color. It allows for students to show their creative side.

            The third station is writer’s workshop. Students will imagine their own monsters and write about what they would say to the monster. They also need to use color words to describe the monster. They will plan individually and then share orally stressing the correct words.  Finally they will write down their version. From here you could take this lesson in a variety of ways depending on how you teach writing. The editing and finalizing would be up to you as a teacher.  The final stories could be displayed, or turned into a book.

           

            I enjoyed this lesson. I think it focuses on several components of literacy which is good. When you have finite time with students you need to maximize your time. I feel that the literacy stations, especially the word family, will help students learn the phonetic cues associated with certain words. I also like the idea of giving the student scaffolding in learning the sounds of color words.  This lesson may not be the purist phonics lesson; however, I feel that the elements are all there and as an overall lesson, students would be engaged and would love doing the creative parts of the lesson. I especially like the writer’s workshop component. I love teaching writing. It is something that I hang my hat on. I view writing as a “sport” ; it is something you need to practice often. No one wakes up and is good at writing. Writing is really hard, but it can be mastered. And, in my opinion being able to write well really shows a mastery of a subject, so the student’s final stories would help the teacher assess the students and help meet the teacher meet the student’s needs.

Reflection five- Text Complexity/ Leveling Analysis

For this assignment I chose to try to level The Caldecott Medal winning book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. I choose this book for selfish reasons. When I was a kid this was one of my favorite books. I loved the story and I loved the pictures. Every night I would beg my parents to read this book to me over and over again.  In continuing with the selfish theme, my wife and I are about a month away from the birth of our first child, a little boy.  She just had her baby shower and we requested that everyone bring a book as a gift for us to read with our child (go figure, right?).  We got several copies of this text. I guess I’ve been telling people how much I can’t wait to read it as a bed time story.  The version I will attempt to level is the 50^th anniversary edition.  The original book was written in 1963, but this edition is copyrighted in 2013. Where the Wild Things Are is a fiction book in the fantasy genre.  The story is about a boy who is sent to his room and then imagines a world where he is king of the wild things. However, in the end he realizes he misses home and when he returns he finds dinner is waiting and is still hot.  This book is a fantasy book because of the imaginary world he creates and the monsters he interacts with.

In order to level this book I relied on several internet resources including: www.readinga-z.com, www.scholastic.com, and most importantly, www. http://www.chroniclebooks.com/landing-pages/pdfs/Parents/MoreaboutLeveledReading.pdf.  Based on these sites I’ve concluded that this book would be a reading level J. This book would be for “transitional readers” or readers who read early chapter books and longer picture books, silently and fluently, and do not rely on picture for cues.  This book is a longer picture book in my opinion; it is around 40 pages in length. The book has several pages that are just illustrations and no page has more than 30 words per page.  Most of the pages are one or two sentences. Level J is usually first grade readers, which I would think that this book would be appropriate for.  I struggled leveling the book because of its content. I was not sure if a book about monsters might be too scary for a child, but Max tames them and in the end he leaves them and is not afraid of the wild things, so I deemed it appropriate.  I would recommend this book for any reader who has a vivid imagination, and likes playing in the woods. I think that a book like this is relatable to any reader, but especially a kid who can really imagine wild things.  That kid would love this book. Furthermore, the idea that the whole adventure occurs because of some mischief might serve as a gateway for a young student who is always in trouble. He may relate to Max and see himself in the book. Once a reader can empathize with the text they are much more likely to keep reading. 

I struggled leveling this book, because I am still having a hard time distinguishing between all of the acronyms, and taking into account the content.  As a secondary teacher it is hard for me to pick up a picture book and just know what age could read this book.  It is a skill I will have to work on as I continue through the program. 

Reflection number four- Commercially Produced Literacy Instruction

1.       http://www.readinga-z.com/books/leveled-books/

As a teacher understanding how students grow as readers is essential. One of the most important ways students can grow is through independent reading.  They should have access to plenty of books in their classroom (about 7 per student). Something I’ve found extremely motivating to students is to recommend texts to them that I know are interesting and appropriate for their reading level.   I do not want a student to feel that they are inadequate readers because they struggle with reading; and more importantly I do not want students to feel that reading is childish, and that they’ve mastered all there is to know about reading.  I’ve formed this perspective as a secondarily certified teacher; however, I feel that it would still hold true as a reading specialist or a literacy coach. I would need to find books that match the level of student, and are engaging. If a book doesn’t match the student he or she will not have success. There is no one book fits all approach to reading.

The second aspect of the leveled books that I found very interesting was how the site gives you access to such a variety of worksheets and evaluations. From Running Record forms to discussion formats and other higher order thinking questions. Having these forms and guides already tailored to the text would be extremely helpful to any teacher. I think that the more resources a teacher has at their disposal the more influential they can be in teaching a child to read.

I think having many books at a variety of levels in a classroom would be amazingly positive. I feel that if I were a classroom teacher with these resources I would love the challenge of trying to help students select books, that are challenging reads. I think watching students conquer a challenging text is incredibly rewarding.  A few minor drawbacks to needing so many texts is storage, and making sure the texts were rotated throughout the year. However, I feel that this would be a minor inconvenience compared to the rewards of having all these texts available.

2.       http://www.readinga-z.com/phonics/

Phonics is an essential building block of good reading.  According to the site “Phonics instruction is greatly enhanced when it provides ample opportunity for students to practice the sound/symbol relationships they have been taught.”  I think two the great things that this site offers teachers for phonics is Read-Aloud books, and Phonogram flashcards.

Read-Aloud books, are an amazing way for students to understand sounds and associate them with pictures or ideas. I think if I had a student who was a visual learner a book like “The Walrus and Whale” would be a great book to teach the consonant /w/ sound because a student could see the word “whale” see the picture of a whale and hear the “w” sound and begin to connect that letter to that sound. These books would be very helpful.

My second discovery in phonics was Phonogram flashcards.  I have many students who are very tactile and they need to physically work with something in order to learn it. They cannot just hear or see something and pick it up. They need to play with it, and practice it. I think by having these cards available you can create so many games and practice opportunities that students who are tactile learners will really enjoy working with these cards.

A positive and a negative to these books and cards is that students may have trouble associating the sound to other words or real world use. For example a student may recognize “whale, waitress, and walrus” are all /w/ but if the word “watermelon” is not in the book they may not make that connection right away. However, having both of these resources will reinforce the sound and I think that with practice students will learn the sounds in no time.   

3.       http://www.readinga-z.com/fluency/readers-theater-scripts/

One great way to use the leveled text would be to incorporate readers-theater into lessons. According to the website “By using Reader's Theater Scripts, you encourage students to read with expression and to practice important fluency attributes, such as pause, inflection, and intonation.” Furthermore the website discusses how Readers Theater helps students with listening skills and with understanding literary elements such as motivation and characterization.  I think having these pre-written scripts would be helpful because you could pull from them for a variety of subjects and leveling.

I think that these scripts would be tremendously helpful to have. I think it is important for teachers to recognize that students learn in a variety of ways, and any time you can have engage students in a technique that teaches several things at once, I count that as a win. So for example with Readers Theater if a student is having trouble learning verbal cues she may benefit from this lesson even though she may have above average fluency. Meanwhile in the same class you may have a student who is the opposite, but this material helps the teacher reach both students. It maximizes your time in the classroom. 

Another great teaching aid for fluency is the Fluency Practice Passages.  I think that these pages would be a great assessment for students to really show how fluent they are as readers. I think by having such a variety of texts for each level they students will be able to find something they are interested in and can advance quickly through the leveling. I think that these are great resources that could be used in a variety of ways.

One concern I would have, is that the teacher and the student are limited to these pages, and it would feel like a “test” and not an organic reading experience. I think having a student select a leveled text and reading it aloud would be a much more accurate way of assessing fluency.

4.       http://www.readinga-z.com/assessments/retelling-rubrics/

The site had numerous assessments available for teachers. Two that I found particularly useful were retelling rubrics and benchmark passages. 

The retelling rubrics interest me because I am a very big stickler for rubrics in my classroom. I feel strongly that student should know exactly how the assignment is to be graded, and how they can achieve maximum points.  As an English teacher it is very difficult to grade writing without a set rubric. I find that if there is not a rubric in place the grading does not have the same validity as grading with a rubric. Rubrics provide the structure and rigor that students need.

The second assessment that I found useful was the benchmark passages with the running record. These assessments would be essential for teachers to give to students as they progress. I think that by having they readily available a teacher could have progress a student quickly and not need to take time to create their own assessment.   

The positives to these are that they are already done for you. I think a negative (especially with the rubric) would be that you really have to follow that rubric. As a teacher you would have not interpretive control. I think that if you design your own rubric before the lesson is taught, it helps you align your lesson, but it also helps you feel as though you are in control of your room.

5.       http://www.readinga-z.com/vocabulary/

According to the website “Reading comprehension depends upon the meaning readers give words. Word meaning is arguably the most important key to reading comprehension.”  I could not agree more. As a secondary teacher I am always trying to push students to learn to decode words and discover their meanings as they read. I think this is an essential reading skill that does not go away. It is something that students too often forget how to do and students have learned to rely on googling a word to find its meaning.

One of the discoveries I’ve made is that of the vocabulary graphic organizers. I am a giant fan of graphic organizers. I think that they are such a helpful way for students to learn and remember information. I feel strongly that a graphic organizer is effective when it can be reproduced quickly by students and used correctly.  One of my favorite graphic organizers is a KWL chart. I think that these are great for a variety of things including vocabulary. I think it helps students think about what they need to know, which is extremely powerful. When a student takes ownership of their work they will work much more diligently and effectively.

The second discovery I made was the word sorts. I think that the variety of topics makes these lists extremely helpful to students, and that they could be used frequently.   One thing that I like about this list is that they are not extremely long, therefore after a few minutes of discussing the list students could make their own list, or add to the class list.

I think that a positive of these vocabulary tools is that teachers can pull from such a variety which keeps class fun and engaging for students. However, a negative might be that with such a variety students never truly master an organizer that could help them decode word meanings in the future, and they are just dependent on teachers giving them the tools needed to discover the words meaning. 

Reflection number three- Find the Standard

Notation	Standard	Grade Level	Essential Question (min. 1)	Objective (min. 1)
For this reflection I created a chart. I am a very visual person and charts and other graphic organizers help me tremendously.    1.1.1.B	Use word recognition techniques: ·         Demonstrate phonological awareness through phoneme manipulation. ·         Demonstrate knowledge of letter sound correspondence (alphabetic principle) to decode and encode words.	1st
1.2.K.B	Identify facts from informational text	K
1.3.2.C	Identify literary elements (characters, setting, and plot) in selected readings	2nd
1.9.2.A	Use media and technology resources for directed and independent learning activities.	2nd
R3.A.2.2.1	Identify how the meaning of a word is changed when an affix is added; identify the meaning of a word from the text with an affix. Note: Affixes will be limited to prefixes: re-, pre-, in-, un-, dis-, mis-, non-; suffixes: -ful, -less, -ble, -ly, -or, -ness, -ment. Target words should have either a prefix or a suffix, but not both. If a target word has a prefix, it will not also have an inflectional ending (-ing, -ed).	3rd
1.5.1.D	Write using adjectives, precise nouns, and action verbs.	1st	How do you use action verbs to describe movement?	Students will describe a simple action using action words (ex. Throwing a ball)
1.6.K.B	Speak clearly enough to be understood by all audiences using appropriate volume. Share stories, familiar experiences and interests, employing gestures where appropriate.	K
1.5.3.F	Use grade appropriate conventions of language when writing and editing. Spell common, frequently used words correctly. Use capital letters correctly. Punctuate correctly. Use correct grammar and sentence formation	3rd
R3.A.1.1.1	Identify and/or interpret meaning of multiple-meaning words used in text.	3rd
1.4.2.A	Write organized, detailed descriptive poems and stories that include literary elements.	2nd