If you haven't been on this site, please go and take a look.
The homepage has quick links. But if you look at the top, y ou have hot buttons to "high school", "middle school", 'pre-school", "home school", "k-5 Math", etc. You get the idea. Each hot button takes you to a list of links for that particular area. It's a good site to just cruise around.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
phonics and Sunday School
I teach kindergarten through 2nd grade in Sunday School. This past Sunday, there was a fill in the blank activity on their lesson sheets. It gave a sentence, the first letter of the word for the sentence, then the word at the end scrambled. It looked sort of like: I can s____ a song. NIGS
I found myself sounding the letters for them so they could write the fill-in words correctly( I remembered to stretch out the sounds and link them together like you've been doing in class). I even remembered to tell them that WRITE had a vowel-consonent-vowel pattern so the I said it's name.
Just another way to put into practice what we've been doing in class! I just thought I'd share.
I found myself sounding the letters for them so they could write the fill-in words correctly( I remembered to stretch out the sounds and link them together like you've been doing in class). I even remembered to tell them that WRITE had a vowel-consonent-vowel pattern so the I said it's name.
Just another way to put into practice what we've been doing in class! I just thought I'd share.
What happened to the post?
I was so happy I finally got my comments to post. Now the last update about the read-alouds put in the headig without the actual comment. Sigh! I jsut can't win!
Round two!
Round two!
In reading the article on “Revisiting Read-Aloud”, the phrase “preaching to the choir” came to mind.
A few years ago I took a class with Toni Macglasker (don’t think I spelled it right!) who was an assistant principal at Allatoona Elementary at the time. We examined test data, did running records, compiled data notebooks for reading and writing, did student goal setting, and how to do read-alouds.
I have used “making connections” , but not the “alpha-boxes”. Wednesday, after we got back from the library, I had the students review the first four chapters of The Outsiders and complete the organizer for characters, settings, and major events.
Results: They are really getting in to it. It’s more like a puzzle instead of a review sheet to them. I'm doing the organizer with them to let them have a model for how theirs should look. They got a kick out of giving an answer I didn't have and seeing me write it on mine.
I sent the template out to the rest of the school so others can use it in their subject areas. I can see definite subject area possibilities. In fact, I'll more than likely use it to review religions in the Middle East in my Social Studies class.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
reading screening online
http://www.readingscreening.org/index.aspx
This site is open to parents and teachers for kids 5-12 years of age. the cost is $5 to register, then $20 per child to test. I'm not sure schools will want to do this, but a parent might if they suspect there is some difficulty the child is having. According to what I could access, there are several tests the child will be given, and the testing can be paused to give the child a break.It takes 45 minutes to test and the results are available immediately.
THEY DO TEST FOR DYSLEXIA:
This site is open to parents and teachers for kids 5-12 years of age. the cost is $5 to register, then $20 per child to test. I'm not sure schools will want to do this, but a parent might if they suspect there is some difficulty the child is having. According to what I could access, there are several tests the child will be given, and the testing can be paused to give the child a break.It takes 45 minutes to test and the results are available immediately.
THEY DO TEST FOR DYSLEXIA:
Dyslexia is defined as a learning disability marked by an inability to read well. Dyslexia essentially means difficulty reading words. Researchers have now furthered the definition to include not only reading difficulties, but impairment in areas of language development that is observed when the individual begins learning to read. These skills are measured in the Reading Screening assessment.
The testing is apparently administered by CARRD - Center for the Assessment and Remediation of Reading Difficulties
I'm not sure how I feel about this...On one hand, it's accessible by parents. On the other hand, I wonder just how good the tests are....
The testing is apparently administered by CARRD - Center for the Assessment and Remediation of Reading Difficulties
I'm not sure how I feel about this...On one hand, it's accessible by parents. On the other hand, I wonder just how good the tests are....
Screening Tests To Identify Children With Reading Problems Are Being Misapplied, Study Shows
Screening Tests To Identify Children With Reading Problems Are Being Misapplied, Study Shows
This is a facinating article. If you go past the headline and get into the depths of the piece, you see they are advocating oral and silent reading along with evaluating how much the child comprehends through re-tellings. they are NOT advocating - as might be implied from the title - getting rid of oral reading tests.
If you look along the right side there are several related articles on reading comprehension and phonics, parents reading to young kids, and the connection between reading and writing.
This is a facinating article. If you go past the headline and get into the depths of the piece, you see they are advocating oral and silent reading along with evaluating how much the child comprehends through re-tellings. they are NOT advocating - as might be implied from the title - getting rid of oral reading tests.
If you look along the right side there are several related articles on reading comprehension and phonics, parents reading to young kids, and the connection between reading and writing.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
The Children's Reading Foundation- http://www.readingfoundation.org
I found this site while looking for information on corrective reading for middle school. I seem to find most of my stuff by accident! Anyway....It has pages for parents and educators.
On the parent page, it gives a list of what the average child should be able to do at certain points prior to pre-K. Clicking on "school age" will give checkpoints for K-3rd. It also has a page of ideas for grandparents, typical rhymes (nursery rhymes), etc.
The section for educators is anything but fluff. It's a very to-the-point long list of exactly what the current situation is and what each level - superintendent on down - needs to do to make things better. They were very specific as to what they saw as a lack of emphasis at the system level, board/superintendent attitudes, principals, and teachers.
Just like we were saying in class tonight, some things may have to be cut to give the students the time they need to make necessary gains ( pet projects, social networking, and so forth).
On the parent page, it gives a list of what the average child should be able to do at certain points prior to pre-K. Clicking on "school age" will give checkpoints for K-3rd. It also has a page of ideas for grandparents, typical rhymes (nursery rhymes), etc.
The section for educators is anything but fluff. It's a very to-the-point long list of exactly what the current situation is and what each level - superintendent on down - needs to do to make things better. They were very specific as to what they saw as a lack of emphasis at the system level, board/superintendent attitudes, principals, and teachers.
Just like we were saying in class tonight, some things may have to be cut to give the students the time they need to make necessary gains ( pet projects, social networking, and so forth).
article - boys and reading
I was trying to do a Google search today for leveled reading passages for middle school - couldn't find any - and I ran across a piece from the New York Times written by Robert Lipsyte - He's a writer of books aimed at middle / high boys. It's a really good article on what he sees as the problem connecting boys reading and the current publishing climate. According to him, boys aren't reading because 85% of the books being published lately are aimed at girls. AMEN! I think he's right on the money with this one. If you want to turn a boy off to reading, try to get him to read a "touchy-feely" book! He also points out other things he perceives as problems for boys and books. I'm definitely going be looking closer at my reading choices.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
trouble posting comments
I've been through help menus to no avail. I am reading blog posts, I'm jsut unable to post comments.
Doc - I agree. I was a bit skeptical, but I used "Top Cat" with my 7th graders for literary terms, and they really enjoyed it. I, too, think I'll use them more often.
I really liked the "alphablocks" activity, and can see where it could be used in the content areas as well.
Beth - I was reading your post about DIBBLES - I have had to explain about that to some team mates when they saw it in an SST file. At least I know HOW to explain! The work you do in elementary school certainly gives us middle school teachers good information on our kids. Thank you.
Doc - I agree. I was a bit skeptical, but I used "Top Cat" with my 7th graders for literary terms, and they really enjoyed it. I, too, think I'll use them more often.
I really liked the "alphablocks" activity, and can see where it could be used in the content areas as well.
Beth - I was reading your post about DIBBLES - I have had to explain about that to some team mates when they saw it in an SST file. At least I know HOW to explain! The work you do in elementary school certainly gives us middle school teachers good information on our kids. Thank you.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
website for literacy issues
This URL leads to the University of Connecticut page for Adolescent Literacy, but if you scroll down and look on the left side, there are hot buttons for all grade levels, special needs, ELL, and adult literacy.
At the bottom of the page, there are numerous sites with suggested reading lists for adolescents. I did find one broken link, and another that was an internal site for an organization; but, the majority were working sites with lists and reviews.
In the other sections, many links take you to sites with even more links to articles on literacy and teens - both saying there is a problem, and ways to help. There is an amazing amount of information here! Parents might find the information a bit overwhelming since these articles are directed toward teaching professionals, and not always in "parent friendly" language. You could literally spend hours on this site.
Please take a few moments and browse through. I think everyone int he class will be able to find something here, regardless of grade / area.
Judy McPherson
Monday, August 15, 2011
Learning to read words: Linguistic units and instructional strategies. Juel, C., & Minden-Cupp
I've started plowing through this VERY long article.
In the opening, the researchers start by discussing various theories of teaching phonics, infering specialists are not sure HOW to go about teaching phonics. Everyone does at least seem to agree it should be taught.
One problem mentioned by Juel and Minden-Cupp is that there are so many variables it is difficult to say exactly which instructional format is best for each child. They listed four basic strategies: 1. traditional phonics approach; 2. identifying unknown words with analogy to known words; 3. emphasize meaning level of the text; and 4. self-teaching hypothesis.
For the exeriment they used 4 first grade classrooms somewhere in the SE United States. Two schools were close, all were 70% free/reduced, 60% Black, 36% White, and 4 % other ethnic groups. All four teachers were white females with no more than 10 years experience (at least 5 of which were at the test school) The goal was to follow the teachers through a school years, making observations in Language Arts classes of 1 hour per week. Each classroom had 3 reading groups: low, middle, and high. At the end of the year, all the data collected was compaired and conclusions drawn.
The article is very detailed and tells exactly how the data was collected, what they were collecting, and how each teacher taught their groups.
The results are summarized, and one finding that stood out was that lower levels students who enter with few skills proceed best with intensive instruction in sounds and blending. Only one class used intensive instruction in these areas, and they scored the highest. The lowest class used memorization of patterns with no emphasis on sounds and blending. The teacher must provide LOTS of instruction in phonemes and blends; peer tutoring is not enough with delayed students.
The researchers freely admit this is a limited study and more investigation is needed. (I really appreciated their openness in that respect)However, the results do require a thoughtful evaluation. As students are progress monitored, we must be willing to change our approach if the results are not headed to the approapriate end-of-year goals. These teachers "stayed the course" in the lower achieving rooms, even when it was very obvious the results were less than stellar.
In the opening, the researchers start by discussing various theories of teaching phonics, infering specialists are not sure HOW to go about teaching phonics. Everyone does at least seem to agree it should be taught.
One problem mentioned by Juel and Minden-Cupp is that there are so many variables it is difficult to say exactly which instructional format is best for each child. They listed four basic strategies: 1. traditional phonics approach; 2. identifying unknown words with analogy to known words; 3. emphasize meaning level of the text; and 4. self-teaching hypothesis.
For the exeriment they used 4 first grade classrooms somewhere in the SE United States. Two schools were close, all were 70% free/reduced, 60% Black, 36% White, and 4 % other ethnic groups. All four teachers were white females with no more than 10 years experience (at least 5 of which were at the test school) The goal was to follow the teachers through a school years, making observations in Language Arts classes of 1 hour per week. Each classroom had 3 reading groups: low, middle, and high. At the end of the year, all the data collected was compaired and conclusions drawn.
The article is very detailed and tells exactly how the data was collected, what they were collecting, and how each teacher taught their groups.
The results are summarized, and one finding that stood out was that lower levels students who enter with few skills proceed best with intensive instruction in sounds and blending. Only one class used intensive instruction in these areas, and they scored the highest. The lowest class used memorization of patterns with no emphasis on sounds and blending. The teacher must provide LOTS of instruction in phonemes and blends; peer tutoring is not enough with delayed students.
The researchers freely admit this is a limited study and more investigation is needed. (I really appreciated their openness in that respect)However, the results do require a thoughtful evaluation. As students are progress monitored, we must be willing to change our approach if the results are not headed to the approapriate end-of-year goals. These teachers "stayed the course" in the lower achieving rooms, even when it was very obvious the results were less than stellar.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
picture book
Our first unit, as per the county, is Characteristics of Literature. I was reviewing a few terms required for the lessons with them: plot, setting, conflict, climax, plot maps, antagonist, and protagonist. to reinforce the terms, I read the picturebook Top Cat. At first I think the kids thought I was crazy; but they quickly saw the elements in somehting as simple as the picture book. It was so unexpected in a 7th grade classroom, I think it will stick with the majority of them.
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