Components of a Kindergarten Reading Program

Transcription

1 Components of a Kindergarten Reading Program Students will enter kindergarten at a variety of levels. Some children can read conventionally the moment they walk in the door, while some children are unable to differentiate between letters and numbers. This means you ll want to know, as quickly as possible, what your students can already do as readers and what they need to know next. It is important right from the start that all kindergartners receive instruction that matches their strengths and needs. You need to meet each child where they are as literacy learners, and to provide instruction from day one that moves them along in appropriate ways. It is also important to recognize the role of play in literacy learning. Play can encourage experimentation in types of reading and writing. Play is often social too, allowing for many literacy learning opportunities to occur. The teacher s choice of materials and classroom layout will also lead student play to include literacy. It is the role of the teacher to purposefully intertwine literacy with play. Allowing students to play without providing a literacy-rich environment is not sufficient. Students need both play and instruction that involves structured modeling, demonstrating, and explaining and fewer tasks that are simply assigned. Researchers have found that experiences that promote motivation offer students: choice, challenge, relevance, authenticity, social collaboration, and success. (Morrow, 7 th Edition, 2012) Component Description Additional Information When teachers and children have eyes on one text, reading in sync with one another Occurs daily (sometimes 2x a day in the beginning of the year) for Read the same text over several days, with the expectation that each time you read it, more children will join and read along with you Shared reading instruction may focus on: o Concepts about print o Phonemic awareness o Phonics Shared Reading o Fluency o Print strategies Vary the types of texts you read with students to include: o Big books o Poems o Nursery rhymes o Songs Once the students know a shared reading text well, you will provide them with the opportunity to read it themselves and to play with the text. These texts will be available in the classroom library in a labeled basket Shared Reading Texts. (Keep small copies of the texts in the basket.) Read Aloud (With Accountable Talk) Read aloud as often as possible in a day Regularly read aloud emergent story books about 5x over the course of days, so that children will know them well enough to read during independent reading Plan the read-aloud to demonstrate a skill or a collection of skills What makes a good emergent story book? Pictures are supportive of the text and move the story along from page to page Emotional content relevant to young

2 Read Aloud (With Accountable Talk) Cntnd. Word Study/Phonics Minilesson Plan for the read-aloud by placing Post-its in the text ahead of time, marking places where you ll either think aloud to model a reading strategy or where you ll ask students to do similar work together by turning and talking to a partner about their ideas Provide several points for children to Turn and Talk for a moment or two about the text Culminate the read aloud with a whole class conversation Explicitly teaching phonological awareness Once you have assessed your students using the district-provided assessment(s) you will want to organize your teaching into whole-class instruction or small-group instruction. NOTE: *Most kindergarten teachers begin with whole class instruction for the first few months as they are teaching routines and concepts all students need to learn as well as a focus on what most students need to learn next Students also need to realize how what they are learning about letters and words fits into the context of reading Balance your instruction so some of the word work occurs in isolation and a larger portion occurs within the context of reading and writing Direct and explicit instruction toward an essential skill pertaining to your entire community of learners Teach readers a skill that they can draw upon that day and any day Create and post a chart of abbreviated teaching points Includes I do (teacher modeling) and we do (active engagement) Revolve around a clear teaching point Lasts about 10 children Text contains dialogue and strong characters Text contains rich language structures and vocabulary Text may have a repeating refrain (Examples include: Caps for Sale, The Snowy Day, Corduroy, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff) (Information based on Elizabeth Salzby s work) An effective word study program covers: o Phonological awareness o Letter/sound relationships o Spelling patterns o High-frequency words o o Word structures Strategies for problem solving words You may want to add another short word study session that you could call word games. (You ll want to be sure to differentiate the games so that children are practicing what they need.) The teacher may pull additional small groups during this time. Resources to Plan a Word Study Curriculum: Treasures Phonics Lessons K by Fountas and Pinnell Words Their Way, 4 th Edition by Donald Bear A Sampling of Possible Minilessons: Try their best to figure out what the words in their books are saying Ways to problem solve when they come to tricky words Working with partners Monitoring for sense Using fix-up strategies when sense falls apart Marking places to share with partners and so forth

3 Independent and Partner Reading Most important part of the literacy block is the actual reading time Stretches of time to read emergent storybooks, shared reading texts, interactive and shared writing texts and just right books (10-12 texts to read in bin, box, or baggie) Students read their collection of books over and over throughout the week Students leave the minilesson with book bags or bins in hand and either go to their tables or find a special spot in the room to read Reading time will also include partner reading (sitting hip-to-hip, sharing a book, taking turns or reading in unison) Before students are ready for conventional reading, the students will read out of bins/baggies that hold their shared reading texts, emergent story books, and any other texts they are working on reading When students are ready to read conventionally their bins/baggies will include books at their just-right level, and ones that are a level easier, texts from shared reading and/or shared writing and emergent storybooks. As children read, you ll be conferring with individual students in addition to leading small groups and, when appropriate, guided reading groups. Small-Group Instruction (once routines are in place the small-group instruction can take place during independent/partner reading time) Small-Group Continued Small-group instruction should happen as often as you can, right from the start, for all children Any teaching you do as a whole class can also be done in a small group Your small group work will be shaped especially by your assessments o You may have a group of conventional readers whom you gather to do guided reading, but you ll likely start the year with other groups that you ll meet for strategy lessons on topics such as: One-to-one matching Phonemic awareness Letter recognition Letter-sound relationships Phonics and so on Small groups need to be flexible, need-based, and quick, lasting no more than approximately 10 a group Small-group work can be used to reteach, enrich, or preteach Possibilities for Small-Group Instruction Support retelling what their books are about Support moving to the next level with book introductions, and you may do guided reading with them Small group shared reading lessons Small-group interactive writing Small-group phonics\word work Small-group read-aloud and accountable talk and so forth

4 Kindergarten Writing Expectations Lesson components Time Expectations Options Unit Objective Daily Objective Preplanned Post and identify common core over-arching objectives throughout the unit Post and identify the daily learning objective Explain how the daily objective connects to the unit objectives Objectives include words, symbols, and pictures Minilesson (Teaching) 5-10 Read/write to demonstrate a skill or strategy Whole class mini lesson, modeling a new strategy or skill (learning objective) Teacher talks/students listen - I Do Students briefly use or discuss the strategy or skill, using student to student discourse We Do as part of gradual release of responsibility Teacher listens in on discussions and provides support to students Teacher shares a meaningful student discussion Novels/picture books/other texts to model writing craft Modeled and guided writing of teacher/whole class experiences Turn and talk with partners Create charts summarizing current and previous objective procedures with student input Teacher guidance/scaffolding Independent Practice (and conferring & small strategy groups) Students apply their understanding of current and previous strategies or skills independently at their own ability level You Do Students should be given daily opportunities to orally share their stories as emphasized by the Common Core State Standards. They should rehearse their stories prior to any pen to paper application. Small groups and conferring allow the teacher to assess and differentiate instruction to match the needs and goals of individual learners. This is accomplished daily by: - conferring with students 1:1 using set structure* - pulling small strategy groups based on specific needs Teacher s daily goal is to lead 2-3 minute conferences with about 2-3 writers/partnerships and coach 1-2 small strategy groups Student accountability/assessment based on oral rehearsals, pictures, written words (or semblance of letters/words), materials management, independence, stamina Writing partners to practice speaking and listening skills Scaffolds and extensions available * Teacher research of student work (data gathering), compliment, teaching point, teacher observation of transfer to student work Share 5 Opportunity for further student to student discourse, closing point, celebration of student work Students choose their best work and reflect on it

5 Components of a First Grade Reading Program Lesson Components Time Expectations Additional Information When teachers and children have eyes on one text, reading in sync with one another Read the same text over several days, with the expectation that each time you read it, more children will join and read along with you Shared reading instruction may focus on: o Phonics o Fluency o Print strategies o Phrasing o Prosody o Difficult vocabulary Shared Reading o Comprehension (i.e. coaching readers to envision, infer, and synthesize) Shared reading revolves around big books, songs, nursery rhymes, short poems or enlarged texts written on chart paper, with the teacher pointing under words as the class reads in sync Once the students know a shared reading text well, you will provide them with the opportunity to read it themselves During shared reading you will want to support students with transferring what they are learning in word study to their reading. Read Aloud (With Accountable Talk) Read aloud as often as possible in a day Plan the read-aloud to demonstrate a skill or a collection of skills Plan for the read-aloud by placing Post-its in the text ahead of time, marking places where you ll either think aloud to model a reading strategy or where you ll ask students to do similar work together by stopping or jotting their thoughts or turning and talking or to a partner about their ideas Students will have read-aloud partnerships Provide several points for children to Turn and Talk for a moment or two about the text and/or a Stop and Jot or Stop and Sketch Culminate the read aloud with a whole class conversation These longer conversations will probably happen at least twice a week During these whole class conversations, children will direct their comments to each other and carry on a talk in which one child responds to what another has said Your read-aloud work will sometimes foreshadow work that the whole class Why do we read-aloud? Create a sense of community Teach children vocabulary Teach children higher level comprehension skills To provide opportunities for accountable talk Teach children discipline-based concepts that are integral to social studies and science Prompts for getting children to turn and talk: Turn and tell your partner what you think will happen next Let s think about what s going on

6 Read Aloud (With Accountable Talk) cont. Word Study/Phonics each day of explicit, direct phonics instruction Minilesson will be on soon Explicitly teaching phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics The purpose of word study is to build upon students knowledge of features of words and high-frequency words to help children become problemsolvers of words in both reading and writing Once you have assessed your students using the district-provided assessment(s) you will want to organize your teaching (You may want to spend the first few weeks on whole group instruction focusing on what MOST students need next) Once you differentiate your class into 3 groups for word study, you ll want to begin by teaching students the routines and procedures to several word study activities such as sorting, word hunts and making words with magnetic letters. Then they can work in partnerships as you are working with one group Balance your instruction so some of the word work occurs in isolation and a larger portion occurs within the context of reading and writing Right away, you will also want to create a word wall to which children can add three to five high-frequency words a week. Direct and explicit instruction toward an essential skill pertaining to your entire community of learners Teach readers a skill that they can draw upon that day and any day Create and post a chart of abbreviated teaching points Includes I do (teacher modeling) and we do (active engagement) Revolves around a clear teaching point and often includes a picture book for teaching and modeling the essential skill/teaching point Create anchor charts that anchor or hold our learning that we can refer back to Lasts about 10 here. Turn and tell your neighbor what you think is happening in this part An effective word study curriculum covers: o Phonological awareness o Letter/sound relationships o Spelling patterns o High-frequency words o Word structures o Strategies for problem solving words Resources to Plan a Word Study Curriculum: Treasures Phonics Lessons 1 st Grade by Fountas and Pinnell Words Their Way, 4 th Edition by Donald Bear A Sampling of Possible Minilessons: Try their best to figure out what the words in their books are saying Ways to problem solve when they come to tricky words Use the beginning, medial, and ending letter sound/s and think about what would make sense based on what is happening in the story Working with partners Monitoring for sense Using fix-up strategies when sense falls apart Marking places to share with partners and so forth

7 Independent and Partner Reading Small-Group Instruction (once routines are in place the small-group instruction can take place during independent/partner reading time) Most important part is the actual reading time Students will select about books a week to store in their book bin. They may swap bins mid-week with a same-level partner, doubling the number of books they read in a week. Students read their collection of books over and over throughout the week Students will read one kind of text for a chunk of time that include books at the text level you ve assessed as their just-right level and ones at levels that are easier than that level. Students leave the minilesson with book bags or bins in hand and either go to their tables or find a special spot in the room to read Independent reading time will grow as children s skills grow (For example: 15 of reading alone and then 15 of reading in partnerships hip-to-hip) *Students who read level J books or above should read for longer stretches of time independently (20-25 ) and then talk but not read with partners at the end of the workshop for While students are reading independently, they can Post-it places they are dying to talk about: funny parts, important pages, places where they grew a big idea or learned something surprising. As children read, you ll be conferring with individual students in addition to leading small groups and when appropriate guided reading groups. Small-group instruction should happen as often as you can, right from the start, for all children Any teaching you do as a whole class can also be done in a small group Your small group work will be shaped especially by your assessments Small groups need to be flexible, need-based, and quick, lasting no more than approximately 10 a group Small-group work can be used to reteach, enrich, or preteach Ways to Read a Book in a Partnership Echo reading Choral reading Assigning Roles Readers who are reading at levels C and above are encouraged to maintain reading logs. This allows the students to see how much they ve read as well as be used as an instructional tool for teachers to track: Reading volume Reading rate Reading habits Possibilities for Small-Group Instruction Support retelling what their books are about Support moving to the next level with book introductions, and you may do guided reading with them Small group shared reading lessons Small-group interactive writing Small-group phonics\word work Small-group read-aloud and accountable talk and so forth

8 Elementary Reading Expectations (Grades 2-5) Lesson components Time Expectations Options Unit Objective Daily Objective Minilesson (Teaching) Preplanned Post and identify common core over-arching objectives throughout the unit Post and identify the daily learning objective Explain how the daily objective connects to the unit objectives Read-aloud to demonstrate a skill or strategy (additional read aloud time that includes whole-class conversations should occur outside this block of time) Whole class mini lesson, modeling a new strategy or skill (learning objective) Teacher talks/students listen - I Do Students briefly use or discuss the strategy or skill, using student to student discourse We Do as part of gradual release of responsibility Teacher listens in on discussions and provides support to students Teacher shares a meaningful student discussion Novels/picture books/other texts to model at appropriate text complexity level Turn and talk with partners Create charts summarizing objective procedures with student input Teacher guidance/scaffolding Independent Practice (and conferring & small strategy groups) Students apply their understanding of current and previous strategies or skills independently at their own ability level You Do by Nose in book reading with stamina for approximately 30 and jotting on post-its or in a reading notebook as they read (further release of responsibility) Small groups and conferring allow the teacher to assess and differentiate instruction to match the needs and goals of individual learners. This is accomplished daily by: - conferring with students 1:1 using set structure* - pulling small strategy groups based on specific needs - working with a guided reading group to support progression to the next level Teacher s daily goal is to lead 4-5 minute conferences with about 2-3 readers/partnerships and coach 1-2 small strategy/guided groups Student accountability/assessment based on notebooks, response journals, sticky notes, graphic organizers, etc. Scaffolds and extensions available * Teacher research of student work (data gathering), compliment, teaching point, teacher observation of transfer to student work Share 5 Opportunity for further student to student discourse, closing point, celebration of student work Students choose their best work and reflect on it

9 Elementary Writing Expectations (Grades 1-5) Lesson components Time Expectations Options Unit Objective Daily Objective Minilesson (Teaching) Preplanned Post and identify common core over-arching objectives throughout the unit Post and identify the daily learning objective Explain how the daily objective connects to the unit objectives Read/write to demonstrate a skill or strategy Whole class mini lesson, modeling a new strategy or skill (learning objective) Teacher talks/students listen - I Do Students briefly use or discuss the strategy or skill, using student to student discourse We Do as part of gradual release of responsibility Teacher listens in on discussions and provides support to students Teacher shares a meaningful student discussion Novels/picture books/other texts to model writing craft Modeled writing of teacher/whole class experiences Turn and talk with partners Create charts summarizing objective procedures with student input Teacher guidance/scaffolding Independent Practice (and conferring & small strategy groups) Students apply their understanding of current and previous strategies or skills independently at their own ability level You Do by process writing with stamina for approximately 30 (further release of responsibility) Small groups and conferring allow the teacher to assess and differentiate instruction to match the needs and goals of individual learners. This is accomplished daily by: - conferring with students 1:1 using set structure* - pulling small strategy groups based on specific needs Teacher s daily goal is to lead 4-5 minute conferences with about 2-3 writers/partnerships and coach 1-2 small strategy groups Student accountability/assessment based on writer s notebooks, discussions, graphic organizers, checklists, rubrics Scaffolds and extensions available * Teacher research of student work (data gathering), compliment, teaching point, teacher observation of transfer to student work Share 5 Opportunity for further student to student discourse, closing point, celebration of student work Students choose their best work and reflect on it

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