Reader's Theater Website

Here is a great link that has a variety of reader's theater scripts and plays....hope you enjoy them! : )

http://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm

one minute fluency assessment....good or bad?

While reading the article on One-Minute Fluency, my mind was trying to take in all of the information the author gives about fluency. Deeney brings to our attention that until we get a universal definition for fluency we are always going to have problems with the assessment for it. The One-Minute Fluency test is good in some cases, like in the cases for the children who are average or good readers. I do not think that it is the most accurate measure of fluency when it comes to struggling readers. Deeney talks about how it does not measure some children accurately, for instance: the child that will do okay for the one minute of reading, but then if he continues to read his accuracy and the amount of missed words will decline. On the other hand, you might have a child who does not do well in that one minute, but given more time he or she will progress as he/she continues. The One-Minute Fluency measure does not help this children, it just puts them in a certain category and sometimes the wrong category at that.  I found this article to be very informative, but it really points out the flaws of the fluency measures now. We need to think of ways to better test for fluency and also come up with a definition that we might all go by.

Can you think of any other ways to test for fluency?

**This article also talked about how rereading is a great way to increase fluency. Here is a video I found that tests that theory.

all are different and everyone is responsible...

While reading the position statement this week it became very clear to me that all children are different and all come into school with different backgrounds. We as future teachers must recognize that we will have kids from many different backgrounds in our class. We will have some kids who come into our class with many experiences with reading and writing but we will also have some that have not been exposed. We must provide a variety of ways for all children to learn, as well as model good reading and writing habits. When it comes to reading, we must read a loud to children in a group setting as well as let children read to us. The classroom must also have a wide range of books for the children to look at and read. Modeling good writing habits is also very important and understanding that children will experiment with letters is normal. We are not only responsible for educating our children, we are also responsible educating the children's families as well. We must educate the families on how to incorporate reading and writing in the home. Overall, we must be able to work with all children. We must not only teach children how to read and write, but make it enjoyable for them.

Here are some fun ways to introduce new words in the classroom (some are for the higher elementary grades, but still some good ideas):

*Sight words in a puzzle. Children must match the words on the pieces to the words on the board.

 *Pockets full of pronouns. Lift the flaps to see different pronouns.

 *Contraction cupcakes, must match the top with the correct bottom.

 *Pair of Pears...examples of homophones

 *Paint chip word game. Can be used with vocabulary words...must match the first part of the word with the corresponding slip. Also a good way to help children make different words.

 *Letter recognition with clothespins. Good for younger children, helps them match letters and exposes them to letters and words together.

helping children recognize that they read every day...

When children first enter a Kindergarten class they assume they do not know how to read and that it must be taught to them. However, this is not the case. Children are exposed to words all throughout their lives and we as teachers need to help them connect those words to learning in the classroom. In the article by Bell and Jarvis we learn that letting go of the plain "letter of the week" strategy is probably the best thing you can do. Instead have children associate each letter with things they already know. I think this is a great way of introducing the letters to children because it makes it fun for the kids and it also allows them to see that they really know more than they think they do. Another thing that really stood out to me was how this "environmental print" way of introducing the letters really helped the ELL students. In Donna Bell's case, her student Pedro could not identify what letters were what, but he could make sentences and comprehend what he was reading by associating the words with the kids names in his class. Here are a few examples I found of ways to use environmental print in the classroom.

Here you can see that the letter 'C' is being represented by many different artifacts from a child's daily life. I am sure most kids have Capri Sun if not on a daily basis, at least once a week. If they can say Capri then they can make the 'ca' sound, and if they can make the sound and recognize the letter, then they can apply it to other words that they will come across.

Just another way to prove to children that they do know how to read and they can already say some words, like their favorite cereal. 

Environmental print, word walls, and the basic letter of the week approach are all ways to introduce children to reading, writing and the alphabet. Are there any other ways you can think of to teach the alphabet and reading to children?