Settling Down

Well, after the BIG birthday weekend, I am finally settling down and getting into the routine at work. I have spent all the grant money. Some of the new materials have come. I am pleased with the leveled science readers. I'm going to use them with first and second graders. Most of the groups have settled into a routine. Today the second grade group read for about twenty minutes. We have been working on stamina and reading for longer periods of time. I complimented them for their progress. I think I have found a combination of materials to use with the two kindergarten groups that will accelerate their understanding and get their interest.

Too Much , Too Many

Once again I have too much to do. All testing has to be done by Friday. The first 30 days of school will be over. Schedules are still in conflict-tutoring, OD, ESL, Dyslexia, Specials. Two schools' paperwork to worry about and one sick friend who would be helping with the paperwork. I need to have a conference with teachers and explain what their ELLs Can Do but I have to go to a meeting tomorrow. That leaves Thursday to get paperwork done and meet with four grade levels. I should just cancel classes like some other folks do. But I won't. I'll just worry and lose sleep about it.

In the meantime there are too many things I would rather be doing. Like reading a new magazine from IRA and a new ebook. I am reading the second 'secret' book. It is a newish kids' series. The Name of This Book is Secret is the first book. At school the older two groups are listening to a couple of great books-The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Because of Winn-Dixie.

IRA has changed Reading Today from a newspaper to a magazine. I like the change so far. Newspaper pages were hard to copy and they tore easily. Back to the kid books-I got the sequel to Lawn Boy. It seemed like it ended so I wonder what happens next to the main character.

Continuing the Daily 5

Even though I last posted some weeks ago, I wanted to continue writing about The Daily 5. I have been working with students for 2-3 weeks now. I have a large bulletin board dedicated to CAFE: Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanded Vocabulary.
I only have 45 minutes per group, so I have modified the lessons from the book. Each day I have introduced a strategy with a read aloud picture book. The groups are first grade ESL, second grade ESL, third grade ESL, and fourth/fifth grade ESL. Some days I read the same book with all four groups and some days I pick a different book according to the group's interest and grade level.
After I model the strategy with the group, they take their zip bags of five or six books and practice independently. The older groups are doing better at this than the younger groups.
The strategies have included how to choose a good fit book, three ways to read a book, check comprehension, tune in to interesting words, and back up and reread. The goal is for the students to continue reading while I have conferences with individuals and small groups.
The Daily 5 has five components as the title suggests. I don't think I am going to be able to do all 5 in the short time I have each day. One way I may use other parts is to have a writing day and a working with words day each week. I may do partner reading but haven't decided.
Anyway, this is how far I have gotten with The Daily 5 and The CAFE Book.

If I were going to teach 5th grade reading

As I may have written in another post, I really liked the Daily 5 and the CAFE Book. They are both so helpful, well-written, and comprehensive that I wish I were teaching a reading class again. If I were teaching reading I would try to follow the lessons as written in the book.

The problem is how to get grades when everything is individualized. So, one way I would get grades would be to give a weekly reading test in the format of MCT2. To get a starting point for reading grade level, I would give the Cloze comprehension test. If the students had very different reading levels, I would give several versions of the weekly tests. Hopefully, students would be successful and show progress as they read more in class.

To encourage reading more at home, I would assign a weekly homework reading log. Students could choose their homework grade by how much they read at home. Thirty minutes four times a week would be a 75, five times a week would be an 85, six times would be 95, and 7 times a week would be 100. Parents would have to sign off on the reading log and students would have to list the title of the book(s) and how many pages read each day.

Vocabulary would come from the read aloud and classroom word collector. If the students were older, like 5th or higher, I would use WordGeneration and the five weekly words in the program.
I have some other ideas but will have to write about them another time.

July-Busier Than Expected

July has been busier than usual. Last year in July we went to Prince Edward Island by way of Bar Harbor and other points of interest. This year we spent a few days at the beach because I didn't have much time off between summer school and a new bridge into kindergarten program.

So far in July I started a new quilt and almost finished a lap quilt, worked on an ELL handbook for JPS, wrote the Title III grant rough draft, went to the pool every day possible, put together a proposal for IRA, and ordered and organized materials for the bridging program. Oh, I don't want to forget handling things for mom and dad, as well as listening to mom's complaining song. I enjoyed a visit from my cousin who has recently retired and become a grandmother. I played for three church services for my friend Sylvia. I think I actually got better at it-practice helps! Almost forgot, we helped with painting at Emily and Ben's and went to Memphis to see Joey and Jessie's work in progress.

This is kind of obnoxious to read over but I don't want to forget why I don't feel rested this year. I think I will be glad to get back to school. Tomorrow I have to get a treasurer's report and budget together for the MRA retreat, print out my check stub, balance our checkbook, and get clothes ready for the weekend. I would like to go to the Canton library to get some books by Caroline Graham but may not have time. I am looking forward to relaxing at Smoak Salon next Tuesday.

Friends are retiring or planning to retire soon. Some look so rested; I am envious. But I can't let go of my to-do lists.

Summer Research

At Emily's suggestion we gave a pre-test and post-test to the students who came to summer school. I have analyzed the scores of the older group's tests and found encouraging results. Of the students who took both the pre- and post-tests, 66% improved a half year in reading comprehension; 27% improved one year or more in reading comprehension. 27% had no change and 6% regressed a half year. The students had completed grades 2-5 and attended 16 or more days of summer school. The method used to improve reading comprehension was sustained silent reading of 30 minutes per day and shared read aloud of 60+ minutes per day. One group also wrote about what they had read each day in their journals and had informal discussions as books were being read aloud. Students were encouraged to follow along silently with the recording of the book. Grades 3-5 completed at least 3 shared chapter books in the four week summer session. They also read 5 more books independently.
One thing I will change next year is how the first and low second graders are tested. The reading comprehension test was too difficult for them and did not accurately show what they learned in summer school. It may be better to take a running record or administer the SORT for this group.
I have not figured out how to analyze the kindergarten group's pre- and post-tests. My first impression is that they improved in alphabet knowledge and number sense. I hope after six weeks at home they will remember what they learned. I observed improved language usage and improved behavior with the kindergarten group.
We will definitely have to share what we did in summer school. Now I feel more confident that silent reading and read aloud do make a difference in reading comprehension.

Wrapped up summer school

This year it seemed that ESL summer school went by in a flash. The older group got along well, enjoyed playing some new games like 'Spot It', and read lots of books. Two Chinese girls, four Hispanic girls, one Chinese boy, and three Hispanic boys laughed and teased and had fun together. They were so funny taking photos of each other with their cell phones before they left today.
The other four teachers did a great job engaging their groups with interesting, enriching activities. They were much more patient with the younger students than I am. I loved talking about the kindergarten group with my daughter. She's a natural teacher, observing and adjusting instruction to fit the students. I'm grateful to friends like Karen and Vicki who gave up their summer to help a group of kids that needed their expert teaching.
Sandra, the other ESL teacher, and I sent a survey about the length of summer school home with some of the students. We were thinking about shortening summer school to two or three weeks instead of four. Surprise! The students and their families chose four weeks of summer school. A couple of parents even asked if we could go for six weeks.