Reading Assessment

Rog and Burton's article Matching texts and readers: Leveling early reading materials for assessment and instruction described a book leveling system that was created for a school district in Canada. It varies from level 1 books that contain 1-2 words per page to level 10 books consisting of full pages of words. I found this article to be very informative and enjoyed reading it because I've always wondered how to choose books for particular students. Everyones reading levels vary so much so it was helpful to see books categorized based on specific characteristics. The article also characterized each level by the reading strategies accomplished by the student in order to reach the next reading level. "Just right" books were also addressed and the authors explained how important those types of books are for students because it's the best way to receive reading instruction. Below is a way one teacher decided to organize her students' "just right" books- each numbered bin is for one of her students and she helps them decide which books should go in their bin.

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Will you use student bins to organize children's "just right" books?

Do you remember your teachers picking books for you to read or was it all free choice?

Guided Reading Article

The article on guided reading that I chose to read this week was "Exploring the Value Added of a Guided, Silent Reading Intervention: Effects on Struggling Third-Grade Readers' Achievement." This article summarized a study done on a group of 3rd graders who were struggling with reading. It has been found that struggling readers often choose not to read during silent reading time in school. The researchers then incorporated a guided silent reading fluency intervention, Reading Plus, to see if this improved their fluency. Reading Plus is an online program that involves sessions of daily activities that vary based on the child's reading level. Rather than letting children sit on their own with no guidance or scaffolding during silent reading, the program promotes children to read and comprehend what they're reading. The results were that those who used Reading Plus during time given to silent reading had improved fluency when compared to students who did not.

Do you think incorporating computer programs in the classroom is a good idea?

Would you prefer silent reading time to be spent alone with a book of your choice or using a computer program that promotes reading?

Building a Child's Vocabulary

Chapter 6 of Classrooms That Work focuses on the importance of building the vocabularies of children. This chapter states that providing real-life experiences for children helps them build vocabulary because we all learn best when we have real, direct experiences with whatever we are learning. One way to do so is to bring real things into the classroom and attach words to them, such as different types of balls- tennis, baseball, basketball, etc. Another way is to utilize unexpected events as opportunities to introduce new vocabulary. The example in the book describes an unfortunate student breaking their leg and the teacher uses this as a chance to allow students to share their experiences with broken bones to expand their knowledge and vocabulary of the matter. Also, using media and technology to introduce vocabulary that children otherwise might not be able to have contact with. For example, showing images and videos of things like monkeys, space probes, or mountains allow kids to expand their vocabulary without the items being present. After spending some time on Pinterest, I found a great vocabulary wall that showed students new vocabulary words in the books they had been reading in class.

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What is a fun activity that you learned from this weeks readings that helps expands a students vocabulary?

What do you think personally helped you expand your vocabulary both as a child and an adult?

Real-Life Reading Inquiry

For my real-life reading inquiry, I decided to observe a reading classroom environment. I visited a preschool classroom, ages 3-5, to observe how emerging readers react to and interact with books. After visiting this classroom, it was obvious that building the children's' literacy is a top priority to the teachers. A lot of time throughout the day is dedicated to read aloud, quiet reading, and practicing writing their own names. During their group time, the teacher picked out a book that the class would connect to and take a lesson from. Today's reading was "It's Mine" by Leo Lionni because students had been struggling with sharing. While reading aloud, the teacher was very interactive with the students throughout the entire book. In Richard Allington's article "What I've Learned About Effective Reading Instruction" he stressed the importance of the teacher or reader having a conversation with the students while the book is being read. Posing questions and sparking conversation is extremely important so students learn how to comprehend the story.

Another thing I observed in the classroom is how print-rich it was. On every object, such as the small refrigerator in the imaginary play area or the materials in the science area, there were labels. The labels consisted of an image of the object, the word printed in English, and the word printed in Korean because one of the students first language is Korean. In chapter 3 of Classrooms That Work, the importance of a print-rich classroom is expressed because it gets children familiar with print and increases their desire to learn what the words around them say. It confirmed to me how important it will be to have labels throughout my future classroom because the children referred to them so often. For example, when putting pretend food into the refrigerator, the kids referred to the images of "fruits" or "vegetables" so they knew which shelf to place each object on. This assignment was so helpful because I was observing many of the things that we've learned about in class. It also allowed me to realize things that I need to do as a future teacher such as being a conversational reader and making my classroom print-rich.

Comprehension in the Classroom

The article "What every teacher needs to know about comprehension" gave me a lot of a great tips for aiding comprehension in my students. Some tips include teaching decoding skills, help build fluency,  help activate prior knowledge, build vocabulary, motivate students, and encourage students to personally respond to the text. I felt that these tips were extremely helpful and made me realize how many factors contribute to a child's comprehension. Pardo also explained how important a student's use of schema, or grouping of ideas, is to their comprehension. The use of schema helps students gain fluency and read through texts quickly so they are able to focus more on the ideas and thoughts behind the words rather than the words themselves. 

What are some tools or activities that can promote reading comprehension?

Do you ever feel as though you are not comprehending the text you're reading? If so, how do you ensure that you are understanding it?

Improving Fluency in Children

"Creating Fluent Readers" by Timothy Rasinski conveyed how important fluency is to developing readers. Rasinski expresses that there are three dimensions of reading fluency; accuracy in word decoding, automatic processing, and prosodic reading. The purpose of successfully making it to the third dimension is so students can easily read the surface text so they can focus on finding the meaning behind the words. One way that fluency can be improved is to model fluent reading. Another way is to incorporate texts that are meant for performance such as poetry, speeches, and riddles. The article also introduced the idea of transforming a corner of the classroom into a performing area. Here is where students can perform their assigned readings which improves their fluency and allows them be creative at the same time.

What are some of your favorite children's poetry books?

What is a fun way to incorporate fluent reading into your classroom?

Making Words

Making Words is a fast-paced game that incorporates guided invented spelling. Studies have shown that invented spelling plays a crucial role in students' reading, writing, and spelling acquisition. However, it's more important that a student's invented spelling is guided because without instruction it doesn't promote phonemic awareness. I think that this activity is an excellent way to get kids excited about spelling and could see myself using this in my future classroom. While the article was very thorough and detailed, I had a difficult time putting each step together and imagining how the lesson would play out. I found a short video that helped bring the article to life.

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Will you practice the Making Words activity in your future classroom?

Is there anything about Making Words that you would alter?

Word Families and Paint Chips

Clark's article about techniques teachers can use when helping readers sound words out was extremely helpful. The article also reminded me of strategies my past teachers had used on me as an elementary school student. I was reminded about "word families" and how helpful referring to them while reading was. It's a great way to associate particular letter groupings with the sounds they make. It's also a helpful way to break a word into pieces, sound each piece out, and then put each piece together again to make a word. I found an exercise that would be very helpful to students and something I will use in my future classroom. 

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Will you emphasize "word families" in your future classroom?

What are some fun activities that can incorporate "word families?"

Literacy in Young Children

In the joint position statement, it's made clear that the single most important way to improve a young child's literacy is reading aloud to them. In order for this activity to improve their literacy, children need to be active participants in the reading as well as comfortable and secure with the choice in book. Great ways to enhance the experience is to ask questions, describe the pictures, predict what's going to happen next, and retell the story. As an early reader I remember my parents reading stories aloud to me and then retelling it back to them. I think that because my parents enjoyed reading aloud to me I was fully prepared to learn how to read in kindergarten.

I really enjoyed reading "Letting Go of 'Letter of the Week.'" I found it interesting to read all of the strategies that the teachers incorporated into the kindergarten classroom. I really loved that on the first day the teacher asked if the students could read and then introduced to them logos such as McDonalds and M&M's. That exercise got the kids excited about reading and raised their confidence.

The article about phonemic awareness explained how important poems, songs, chants, and nursery rhymes are to young children. These types of literature contribute highly to young children's sensitivity to sound structure. In elementary school I remember always singing songs and favoring rhyming books. My favorite were always Dr. Seuss books because they rhymed and were always goofy.

Do you remember your parents or teachers reading aloud to you?

What were your favorite rhyming books to read as a child? As an adult?

Keeping Up With The Joneses

The article "The Jones Family's Culture of Literacy" emphasizes the importance of family involvement in a student's literacy. The Jones family is made up of African American women who know the importance of literacy and have raised their family with that in mind. This article made me think about what my family did to help me excel at reading and writing. As a child I remember my parents writing notes to each other, Mom writing grocery and to-do lists, reading for pleasure, and writing checks. Observing them doing these things increased my desire to be literate so I could join their world of letters and words. What are some things vivid in your childhood that promoted your reading and writing skills?

In Chapter 3 of Classrooms That Work, one thing I found interesting is the importance of labels inside and outside of the classroom. In the preschool classroom that I work at, everything is labeled and children are encouraged to refer to the labels. This taught me that my classroom needs to be print-rich and filled with labels so children are encouraged to read throughout the day. What are some ways that your teachers have encouraged you to read?

Exemplary Teachers

"What I've Learned About Effective Reading Instruction" emphasized the importance of exemplary teachers in the classroom. One point I found very interesting is the need for teachers to give students options. When students are reading something they enjoy and are interested in, they are found to become much more successful readers. My favorite language arts teachers in the past had always given students choices on what books to read each day and always gave us a lot of reading time. What is a good amount of time to spend reading in the classroom each day? Classrooms That Work addressed the importance of reading aloud to the class, another fond memory of mine from elementary school. Read aloud is a great way to start class discussions and go over things like comprehension, main ideas, and details.