What text and materials do teachers have in their classroom that supports student development of fluent reading? : In the classroom I'm observing in, the students participate in a reading program called IRLA. There are colored bins with different reading levels and students choose from their designated level. Students read first to thems lives, then to a teacher, and then at home with a parent or family member. This allows for repeated reading of the same text to help improve fluency.
How to select vocabulary to teach in the classroom: The teacher I'm observing chooses vocabulary based on their unit of study. She does not cover words they already know, but focuses on words they may have seen before and will see in the text, but don't know the meaning.
Time to allocate word study: In this particular class word study is woven into all aspects of the curriculum. Whether it is word recognition during morning meeting or reading time, vocabulary is strongly focused on throughout the day. There are also specific times when all the students focus on is vocabulary.
Word study routines: One of the routines I like in this class is the news reporter activity. Students are responsible for finding local, national, and world news. The teacher uses the presentation of the news as a time to help students with working on deciding skills. Students work on sound to letter correspondence and chunking unfamiliar words to figure out meaning. The news gives them access to words they have seen before but may not know.
Differentiate instruction: Based on student need in this class, the students are broken up into small groups based on ability. The teacher uses this time to focus on individual needs within the group. This teacher is differentiating instruction using a modification of process. Depending on the students she has, she will adjust the way she instructs.
I really like the News Reporter activity! Sounds like a lot of fun and a great way to make lessons very meaningful and relevant!
ReplyDeleteI also liked the news reporting! It's a great way to keep the students aware of what is going on in the world, as well as learning new vocabulary. However, depending on the age it could be overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you both! The classroom that I'm observing uses current even articles which is similar to the News Reporter activity Brandy mentioned. It's great seeing how teachers support students' literacy skills while keeping them up to date on the world they live in.
ReplyDeleteThe News Reporter activity reminds me of a daily current events activity that my sixth grade history teacher utilized. I agree that the news articles can help them see words in 'real-life' context and develop their fluency.
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