"This Is How We Do It!" (with Reading)

Okay, now that song is stuck in my head....LOL....

The school I teach at has only been open for 2 years. Previously, most of us taught at one of the other 3 elementary schools in the county, so it was interesting to “come together” with the different (yet similar) ways we did things. This included reading.

At my former school, we had an hour and a half block for reading. An hour of that time, you had an assistant in your room to help you. We split our kids into 3 groups (4 was hard to do, but if you had to, you did). Each group had 30 minutes with you and then, depending on skill level, time with the assistant, then independent time. This sounds great, right? Well, it was….until you had the lower levels and independent time became something more frustrational than successful!

When I was first told how we were going to do reading at my new school, I was very skeptical. First, they told me, I would not have an assistant in my room. At all. Then, I was told, you will only have one group in your room at a time. Hmm. Okay. Definitely see the benefits of that. It was so you could focus on your group, and not have that half an eye on the rest of the classroom for behavior issues.

How do you make this work? Well, first, we are a Title I school. Second, instead of assistants in our room, they now work in a Reading Lab. There are five assistants in the reading lab, and each one takes a group to work with on different strategies.

Hence, you have a rotation where students are out of your room, getting a full hour and a half of reading between your reading group, Title I and reading lab. This is WONDERFUL for the below-level crowd, and even the on-level groups. What then do we do with the above level? Well, they have “independent time” in the room where they can work on different strategies, have literacy center time, or work on reading responses, word study, etc. Last year, I had a LOT of these above level kids, and so the concept didn’t quite work for me with one reading group in the room and no one else. However, the kids I had were pretty motivated and I was able to incorporate Literature Circles for the bunch (at one time, there were 31 of them packed in our room!). It was something I had done successfully while teaching fourth grade and, after a lot of prep work (there is not a lot out there for 2nd grade above level readers for literature circles without it being too “old”), we made it work and the kids LOVED it.

This year, I have the majority of the lower level kids. (Funny how that works out!). So, I do have the ideal situation where my lowest kids get an hour of Title I and 30 minutes with me. My on level kids to slightly below get 30 minutes of Title I, 30 minutes of Reading Lab, and 30 minutes with me.

I think back to how my “old school” did it and immediately start to realize how successful this “new” program really is! Instead of students getting 30 minutes with me, possibly 15-30 minutes with an assistant for an activity, then 30 minutes of independent time (and few Primer readers are very independent!), these students get an entire STRUCTURED BLOCK of PURE READING!

How successful is it? Our students from last year (now in third grade)….there are NONE below grade level with the exception of a few students who have IEPs. They were even able to maintain through the summer (a BIG accomplishment!). Already this year, we’ve seen results where we started with 19% below grade level at the beginning of the school year, and that has already been reduced to 9%!

So, it works! Some of our other elementary schools also participate in this type of program and others are beginning it as well. I think it’s fabulous and well worth the time it takes to “regroup” the students, as necessary, each 4-5 weeks. We use the state PALS assessments and IRIs to assess students for regrouping. Yes, you may “lose” some of your students to other teachers, as well as “gain” students from other classes, but it helps to have a group that is basically at the same level.

So, in a long winding way (sorry, it was hard to summarize!), that is how we do reading groups at our school! If you have any other questions, please comment or email me! Also, if you’d like to see the literature circle jobs/papers I did, they’re available on my TpT store!

Once again, sorry it’s taken me so long to blog about it! Yikes! I’m typing this on Word right now since my internet was acting a little wonky, and I realize I’m on page 2! Thanks for sticking with it! :)

Free Books! :)

Okay, now that I have your attention (because what elementary teacher does not have an insane amount of books that could give hoarders a run for their money!).....have you heard of this great site called "We Give Books"? I was introduced to it this year for "Read for the Record," since our school did not have enough Llama books.


It has real books that are online that you can look at (as in flip pages) and read aloud.

A little backstory....Every Wednesday is second grade ice cream day where kids can purchase ice cream in the morning to eat after lunch. My kids know how fanatical I am about food on our carpet, so it used to be the ones with ice cream got to eat at their desks while the rest got to sprawl (usually a no-no) on the carpet. It was okay, but hard to make sure everyone got to see pictures, paying attention, etc. That's where We Give Books came in. After we read our book (and by the way, best part...each time you read a book, the website donates a book to a designated campaign), the kids feel soooo good we get to donate one to someone else, and they are always asking who's it going to (which is where we then pull up a map and find out...great cross-curricular activity!).

Anyhow, they have now started a campaign where your personal school can earn books! It's called "Read for My School." Of course, when we went to go do our story this past Wednesday, we couldn't even get on the site! (the campaign started that day, or the day before, I think). We then went to Storyline Online (the one where the actor's guild members read...very cool as well!) and got our book fix. I just checked the website and as of this post, it was working fine!

But I am getting myself (and most likely you) distracted....sorry, Friday brain drain.....All you need to do is sign up (you can do it thru a Facebook account, although I have mine thru my school email) and choose a campaign to participate! You can even create your own "library" of books...one of my favorites is "Good Night iPad" (a definite read for us bloggers!).

I hope if you haven't heard of this fabulous resource before, you'll check it out! :) I'm curious to know, though.....what are some of your favorite "animated/online storybook" sites? Those are two of my favorites, and I keep meaning to check out Tumblebooks (thru the local library) when I have time!

Help Needed!

In our school, we have this great Reading Rotation where students are rotated through a Reading Lab, Title 1, and a classroom teacher. There are times (when the planets align just right) that you don't have ANY students in your room unless they are the 5-7 students in your group! How amazing is that!!!

At first, I was reluctant to give up my assistant during that time (they are the ones teaching Reading Lab), but I have seen SUCH results in the past two years we've done this! Last year, I taught mostly above students who had no need for Title 1 or Reading Lab, so I pulled out my reading centers and we were a noisy, but happy group! This rotation, I am teaching more below level students and this is the first time I've had no one in my room except my group. Let me tell you, not to have to constantly glance over and make sure the other kiddos are behaving...amazing!!!

So, whew, now that I have explained all that (and would be more than happy to explain in more detail in another post or email!).......here is my dilemma.

Students are grouped according to level and sometimes we do end up with those who are not our homeroom students. This being said, with this latest rotation of students, I am having some difficulty with Word Study and in particular.....(drum roll) LONG VOWELS!

Now, the students who were with me before, we did a lot of games and centers around this subject, so they are getting it. It's my 5-7 students scattered throughout my three groups that simply have no clue. When they are sorting their words, they are even putting words like "smile" under the header "whale"! Obviously a lack of focus is part of the problem! :) Normally, we focus on one vowel a week, but this is the week where we are reviewing a/i.

So, did a search for free items through TpT (in a serious budget crunch right now!), but just curious...what has worked for your students? While I can go back and revisit the games I did before, I'm afraid my ones who ARE getting it will be bored with a "we did this before" attitude. Just looking for a fresh, new approach!

Looking for any and all suggestions! A HEARTFELT THANKS in advance!!!!!!!!!