Sound Pictures

If you follow our website ReadingResource.net you know that Katie and I use the term "Sound Pictures" often to refer to letters because technically, letters are "pictures" for sounds and the term "sound pictures" cues kids into the nature of what letters do...they stand for sounds. 

We also use the terms "Advanced Code" & "Code Variation" to describe when two or more letters represents a sound and when one sound in our language can be represented more than one way.  (For further info on advanced code and code variation, visit our Reading Activities II Page at ReadingResource.net)

Here is a one pager that demonstrates what I am talking about: Vowel Code Variation

The power of using controlled word lists that are organized by sound to improve reading decoding is undeniable. 

I'll demonstrate with two quick videos...

Video #1: Cold Read

This is my second grade friend Aaliyah working on words that contain the Long E sound. Watch her first attempt at these words and then read on...

 

Video #2: After Highlighting the Advanced Code

You can see in Video #1, Aaliyah truly struggles to read accurately.  Her word attack strategies were poor, she often guessed and I certainly did not prompt her to read the words from left to right. I gave her no corrective feedback at all.  Now watch what happens no more than 5 minutes later after I highlight the advanced code and all the code variation (spelling patterns) for the Long E sound.

Big difference huh?  By simply using a controlled word list and highlighting the advanced code, her accuracy goes up, her word attack skills improve and her confidence is higher!   

That is what we like to see. 

Remember...

The advanced written code causes more reading problems than you can possibly imagine.  By teaching it explicitly and systematically to your students  you can truly can see remarkable reading gains in a short amount of time. It also helps to have such a hard worker like Aaliyah.  I heart her!

To learn more about teaching the advanced code and to download the FREE Advanced Code Word Lists I used with Aaliyah (one for every vowel sound), head over to the Reading Activities II Page  at ReadingResource.net. 

We hope our resources help some of your students too!

Bunny Whisker Engineering

Each month I try to have some type of engineering/following the directions activity for my reading intervention kids. Translation: Trying to get kids to focus before a long break is impossible.

I found this pic on Pinterest and had most of the materials needed...So I thought I'd be perfect for my K-2 students. 

I created a following the directions passage that K-2 students will be able to read.

I am just going to have my kindergarteners read the passage and create the whiskers, but my firsties will read the passage and have to list the steps in sequential order from the second page of the PDF. (This skill was something that most of them had difficulty on during an assessment last week).

For my second graders, who are LOVING learning about parts of speech by doing Mad-Libs...I created a short story for them to practice with a partner.

I'm sure most of you are already on spring break right now, but if you're like me...You might need something to keep their attention towards the end of the week. I'll snap some pics and try to get them up here. For now, you can download this for FREE!

Not Sure What To Call This Post

If you've been a frequent visitor of the blog, you might just notice a little change. Well, it's actually a big change! I'm sure you're disappointed that you won't be seeing this mug on the opening screen anymore...

Our designer, Ainsley thought we'd get more followers if we took it off our blog. She's probably right. For those of you who are interested, you can head over to her blog to see her other masterpieces...Or if you are looking for a designer, she's your girl.

Check out her blog!

I haven't been able to post for the past few weeks while she was making changes so this post is going to be rather random! Let's see...

A few weeks ago I made a "Hard Day Survival Kit" for a first-year teacher that I've been mentoring...I pulled some items together that I had {laying around} in my classroom and made something that looked like this:

I took an empty container and placed this card in it, along with a bear, some hand sanitizer, a candle, some M&Ms, and some stickers...I could kick myself for not taking a pic of the basket...But I'll leave you with a printable in case you'd like to pass it along to a colleague who's having a rough day {or week, or month, or year!}

A few days ago I came across quite possible one of the best apps I've ever seen! It's a classroom library organizational app that allows you to keep track of all the books you own by simply scanning the ISBN bar code. Genius! I'm not sure how many times a teacher has come up to me asking me if I had a specific book...My response is usually something like, "Ummm, I'm not sure. What does the cover look like?"

It's also got a neat feature where you can have students "check out" books to take home and it will send them e-mail reminders when it's due. My goal is to have all of my books scanned by spring break, but I'm sure I'll still be working on this over summer vacation!

Speaking of apps, Steve and I are working on creating an app that looks very similar to our Advanced Code Flash Cards. We are about 85% of the way...be sure to check back soon for the finished product.

Last, but not least...Some readers have been asking to see my sub plans for when I'm out. This year has been nice because when I'm out, I don't have to get plans ready. {Huge benefit of not having a regular ed classroom!} So here are my sub plans from last year when I taught first grade. I tried to keep them as simple as possible so that my super-fantastic teammates could fill them out if there was an emergency.  Most of the time I would type everything in and send them to the sub before I was out.

That's it for now. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

March Madness (Prefix & Suffix Game)

It's tourney time! Check out our new Prefix and Suffix Basketball Games aligned to the new Common Core.  A fun way to practice reading decoding and fluency with multi-syllabic words, especially in March.  The games can be used with both small and large groups.   

Included in this download are THREE games to help students hear prefixes and suffixes and games to practice reading the common prefixes and suffixes, directions included.

Game #1 BINGO: A multi-syllabic twist to the classic Bingo game. The teacher reads a word aloud and the players must determine which prefix or suffix it has. Players place a game marker over the word until someone gets a BINGO.

Game #2, GAME TIME: Divide the players into two equal teams. Each team takes turns drawing a Foul Shot (easy words), Two Pointer (more difficult words), or Three Pointer (the toughest multi-syllabic words). Players may decide which card to read so everyone experiences success. If the word is read correctly, they tally their points on the score card sheet. After the 4th Quarter, players add up their totals. The team with the most points, wins!

Game #3, HORSE: A classic head to head HORSE game.  Each player receives a “Horse Game Mat” found on page 17. The first player draws a Foul Shot, Two Pointer, or Three Pointer card. If they are able to read it correctly, the next player MUST draw from that same pile. If they are able to read it correctly, it becomes the next player’s turn...but if they do not read it correctly, they must color in a letter on their “Horse Game Mat”. The first player that has to color in all their letters loses the game!

Get into the spirit of March and practice reading those all so tough multi-syllabic words. 

To preview and/or download our game, head on over to our TpT Store! Please make sure to leave us some love and GO BUCKS! (Yes, we're from Columbus, Ohio!)

Fluency Game FREE Download

I've been meaning to post this for a week or so, but finally sitting down to do it! For the past few weeks, I've been working on fluency with my first and second graders. Most of them are having trouble using punctuation to dictate their expression...so, I made this little game for them! Using words off of our district's high frequency word list, I came up with {simple} sentences, and left off the end marks. Students take turns pulling out the cards to determine if it needs a period or question mark. Once they read it the way it should sound, they graph their results on the "Punctuation Graphing" Record Sheet. The first one to color all five hearts, is the winner!

Head on over to my TpT Store to download this for FREE! Enjoy.

On a side note, Steve and I are working on a blog makeover...Here's a sneak peak of what it's going to look like:

Classroom Behavior Observation

Part of my role as the RtI Coordinator is making behavioral observations on specific students. If I had a nickel for each student I've observed in the past few weeks...I'd have at least $2. My school's instructional coach gave me a form to use (which was very helpful to get started) but decided I needed to tweak it! Mainly because I needed more space to write down additional comments...

Download It!

It looks pretty complex, but it's actually quite simple...and quick! 

When I went in the classroom to observe, I had the teacher select a "comparison student" that I'd also monitor. The "comparison student" and "referring student" received a (+) if they were on-task and a (-) if they were off-task for each 30 second increment. (I used the "Stopwatch" on my iPhone to keep track of the time). I placed X's in the appropriate boxes to denote the problematic behaviors of the "referring student". At the end of 15 minutes, I'd count how many off-task behaviors each student received and placed it in the "Totals" boxes at the bottom of the page. 

It's really an effective tool for parents to see during RtI meetings and parent conferences! If you have any other observational forms you use, please send them my way!

HELP for Reading Fluency

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a nice little intervention for Reading Fluency and Progress Monitoring, called HELPS. Once you have created a FREE account (all you need is your e-mail and a password) you instantly have access to 100 FREE fluency passages available for download. The passages are quite nice.  

 

To download the passages(did I mention they are FREE?)after you've created an account, go to the HELPS home page HERE and click the materials tab. There you can download the entire curriculum, fluency passages and teacher manual. They even have a training manual and training videos. This program is a nice little resource and the price is right!

Hope this post helps some of you stumble upon the HELPS site yourself.   

If you are looking for more ideas for improving Reading Fluency be sure to check out our Reading Fluency and Reading Fluency Activities pages at our website ReadingResource.net. 

Update: I used the passages today for repeated reading with my 3rd and 4th grade intervention students and they worked great.  So even if you do not use the entire HELPS program, setting up an account is certainly worth the access to extra instructional materials.