Tricky Words

I am pretty excited to report that my first grade reading groups are making tremendous progress this year. We've spent the past month learning how to say the sounds in words and being able to put those sounds back together! A few days ago they started to realize that some words are trying to "trick" us! We stumbled across the word "away" and it didn't sound right! 

I created two posters (below) in which we've been adding, "Words We Can Sound Out" and "Words We Know by Sight". (Please excuse the font selection on these posters, as I was in a hurry and don't have much to select from on my computer at school!) I spent some time talking to them about how those "tricky" words are going to be the focus of the rest of first grade and that I'd teach them tricks to figure out those words. Every time we come across a new word, they get pretty excited to write it on a Post-It...

Today I wanted to see how they did when we talked about these tricky words a little bit further. I read aloud to them, "The Two Greedy Bears" by Mirra Ginsburg...Which happens to be one of my favorites! I told them there was a "fancy" word in the story that we were going to figure out the meaning. (The word was 'sly').

If you haven't read this story before, two bears argue over how to divide their food into equal parts. A fox comes along and purposely divides the food so that one piece is bigger than the other. In order to make the pieces equal, she takes an unequal bite...until two small tiny pieces are left.

The kids realize that the fox was trying to trick the two bears...she was being sly!

I told my kiddos that many times words we come across are sly. We can't always say each sound in a word...someone decided to make reading tricky!

We took a Post-It off of one of our charts and tried to determine if each letter was saying their sound. If they did say their correct sounds (like in frog /f/ /r/ /o/ /g/) then it is NOT a sly word. If they didn't say their correct sounds like in my, then the word is sly and we determined the letter or letters that were making it tricky.

Next week we will be generating a list of words that contain the sound /oe/ as in home. My goal for them next week is to see that there are many different ways to represent that sound. (If you'd like to see more on how I teach this, head on over to ReadingResource.net!) I will be posting our progress over the next few months!

The first quarter is almost complete and I couldn't be more proud of my first grade groups!

Syllable Types Posters (Freebie)

I finally got my new "Syllable Types Posters" up on ReadingResource.net...Just scroll all the way to find them! I purchased cheap frames at Ikea for them and plan to hang them in my room as soon as I can get back in to school. (I'll update this post with pics of them!) 

I'm also working on some activities to go with them, which I will also be posting soon!

The Amazing Race (Literacy Version)

A few weeks ago my teaching colleague had a great idea to create an "Amazing Race" for our reading intervention students. She's an avid watcher of the TV show and helped me get some ideas to make this come to life! We decided to pick five big ideas we've worked on this year with our second graders, which includes, determining author's purpose, reading fluency, characteristics of non-fiction, retelling, and parts of speech. Since we are at a STEM school, we decided to throw in some engineering and math tasks too! We started small this year to see how it goes, but would love to make it a school-wide end-of-the-year activity. 

Here's the pdf, but if you'd like to tweak it for your kiddos, I'd be more than happy to send you the editable "Pages" (for Mac) template.  

I tried to color-coordinate each reading task so that it was easy to prepare. Instead of using yellow envelopes for clues, I used manila folders. I placed the directions on the outside and the materials needed in the inside (and laminated). Since there are roughly six to seven kids in each reading group I created four of everything (figuring that they'd be working with a buddy). Here's a picture of what it looks like when it's put together:

So when I started working on this, I had to bribe some of my colleagues to participate...I only needed five "stations" or "legs" so it wasn't too hard to get the help. Although it's pretty lengthy, here's what we came up with... 

AUTHOR'S PURPOSE

Students started out in the Reading Intervention Room where they read a selection to determine the author's purpose. (For this, I found a persuasive letter that I retyped). Depending upon their answer, they had a clue to tell them where to go next. (These clues are located in the "Tracking Sheet"). The next clue was located in the gymnasium which told them to find a 1st Grade teacher with an odd classroom number.

TIMED FLUENCY READ

Once they located the correct teacher, they received a reading passage and a timer. One student had to be the reader and one was the timer. Their goal was to increase the number of words per minute for three trials. If students were able to do this correctly, they were given a simple engineering task. If they weren't able to do this correctly, they were given a more complex engineering task. Upon completion, that teacher would provide them with the next clue!

CHARACTERISTICS OF NON-FICTION

Students were given a non-fiction story (pulled from Reading A-Z) to read and be able to list four characteristics of non-fiction. Depending upon how many they were able to get correctly determined how many rulers they were given for the next task. Students had to measure the length of the hallway...so the more rulers, the better! Once students successfully completed the hallway measurement task, they were given a clue to find a teacher with only one short vowel sound in her name.

RETELLING A STORY

Students worked together to read a story (also pulled from Reading A-Z). Students had to identify the beginning, middle, and end...while making sure they also addressed the characters, setting, and plot. Students received 1-3 clues for their next task based upon how well they were able to retell the story. 

NOUNS, VERBS, AND ADJECTIVES

Students read a passage and had to sort the nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Once the teacher ok'd their work...They were finished!

Class Pics

Most people post pics of their classroom at the beginning of the school year, which seems like the logical thing to do...But seeing is how I'm FINALLY getting around to adding stuff to my walls, I thought I'd share what I've done so far (with three months remaining). This year my reading intervention room is in what is supposed to be the music room. I don't really have "bulletin boards," rather I have six large sound-proof boards...When I was a classroom teacher I would have KILLED for these boards, but this year am having a hard time coming up with boards that work for all my K-4 students AND getting things to not fall down is a super challenge.

I realize the pics aren't the greatest, but I'm going to blame Steve. He finally gave me back my camera...with an uncharged battery and no charger. Fail.

All of my kids LOVE to read non-fiction books, but most of them don't understand how to use the information appropriately to deepen their understanding. Each time we talk about a characteristic, we copy a page from the book we found it in and hang it up on the board with a "label". If you'd like to use the this template, you can download it here! (I just printed the pdf on cardstock, laminated, and cut them out).

I've realized that many of my 3-4 students don't understand why they are reading. I usually get the response, "Because my teacher makes me." I decided to back track a little and help out my K-2 students. Each week I select a short story to read aloud, and together, we determine the author's purpose. It's hard to see, but I stapled three pie pans to the board. Under each pie pan, there is a definition...After reading a book, I copy the title page and place it around "persuade, inform, or entertain". You can download them here!

Each year I've had to make new comprehension posters to fit in the classroom space I have...I am hoping this is the last time I will have to redo them...Everytime we talk about a strategy, we add words or pictures to represent what it means. For those of you who aren't familiar with Tanny McGregor's book, "Comprehension Connections," I highly suggest reading it...It's where I got most of my ideas for teaching comprehension. Download them here!

If you have any pics of boards in your room, please send me the links...I still have three more to go!

Student Accommodations Checklist

Yes, it's Friday night and I'm sitting on my computer working on school stuff...which, after this L...O...N...G school week, it's a miracle I'm even able to sit up...let alone be able to type. I guess I just love you all that much (coupled by the fact I haven't blogged much here in the past few months). Either way, I hope you'll find this freebie beneficial!

A few days ago I was sitting in a RTI meeting with my colleagues and realized how many accommodations they make for their students...I wondered how many of those accommodations aren't reported to the next year's teacher AND how many times parents don't really see that we are doing what we can for their child.

I grabbed a 504 checklist and asked a couple of my peers (who I will discretely refer to as Batalie Nall and Jegan Menkins) for help. And you'll find the final product below! I realize it's not an exhaustive list, but should cover the basics. Now you'll have something to show parents and teachers for all the hard work you do.

Click and Download!

If you download and use this template, let me know what you think..I'd be happy to make any additions and modifications!

DIBELS Next Checklist

Being responsible for DIBELing 200-300 kids every other week is a task in itself...but sharing the results (not just the scores) with teachers has been challenging. I made a quick little checklist for Phoneme Segmentation, Nonsense Words, and Oral Reading Fluency. I'll print a sheet off for each teacher and give it to them after I've completed the assessment. Hopefully this will be a helpful tool for teachers! 

I'm working on a new "Student Accommodations Checklist" I hope to have finished and posted in the next couple days!

DIBELS (NEXT) Download Freebie!

Random Freebies

When I taught vocabulary in the classroom setting, I had a plethora of posters that I'd use to teach synonyms, antonyms, homophones, contractions, and compound words. To see these posters, head on over to ReadingResource. 

This year is a bit different...I find myself having to tweak things that I used in the past to fit my multiple groups. This week I will continue talking about homophones with my first graders. I love reading "Eight Ate: A Feast of Homonym Riddles" and having kids come up with their own..."A Pair of Pears" is a great template to use to help students create their own riddle.

Download Freebie!

Another activity I will be doing with my intervention kids (the day before Thanksgiving Break) was taken from Pinterest. Launi from Gracious Rain made these "Sweet Acorns".

I am going to send home a note with my intervention students this week asking for any donations. I've attached my letter, as well as one that you can use in your classroom by filling in the missing info. 

Download Letter to Parents

To take it a step further, students will be creating a "Super Tasty Treats" Recipe Book where they will be writing in the ingredients, writing the steps, and illustrating their creations. At the end of the school year, they will have some recipes they can share at home with their families.

Download Recipe Book

I'll take some pics and let you know how it goes...Have a great week bloggers!

This Week in Intervention

A few people have asked me to post a sample of my lesson plans for reading intervention this year...My groups have continued to change and I am finally working with just two grade-levels (instead of five)! I'm trying something a little bit different and trying to document each student (everyday) so that I can share these insights with the classroom teachers. I've revised these plans a couple times, but I think I've got it the way I want it! 

Download This Lesson Plan

Each reading intervention group has a color designated to it. At this time in the year, we are working on "Phonemic Awareness, Basic Code, and Advanced Code". I also have a place for "Other" which allows me to document any attention and/or behavior problems. If you have any ways to document intervention groups...Please send them my way!

Someone with a beard told me not apologize for not writing a single post in the past two months...so I'm not going to. But I will tell you, I've been knee-deep in running RTI & pulling reading intervention groups...250 kids a day to be exact! Yes, I feel like a first-year teacher all over again, only I'm in bed every night by 8:30. Not joking.

One of my biggest challenges was working with a group of third and fourth grader boys who struggle with just about every aspect of reading. By this point they have given up on learning to read...I knew my approach needed to be different than their last three years of school. I was given the book, "I Hate to Read," by Rita Marshall from another co-worker and created a "time capsule" sheet to accompany the book. We spent a week of reading intervention reading books that we hate...I was able to get some very honest opinions out of these kiddos and have based my group time working on their reading "frustrations". 

"I Hate Reading" Download

We wadded up these pieces of paper and threw them in a box that we will open at the end of the year. (We wrapped this box in foil and the boys turned it in to a robot). 

I promise I will continue to add more freebies from my intervention room (and post more!) now that I finally feel like things have settled. Here is a copy of one of the graphs I've used for reading homework with my second graders. It's something I created last minute, nothing fancy.

Fluency Progress Chart Download

If you haven't already done them...Happy Report Carding and Parent Conferencing...See you soon.