Reading Thoughts

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Home : 2005 : March : 30

Reading Thoughts
By Jaime

It is great to start thinking for next year! Lots of my thoughts come from Debbie Miller, but also Lucy Calkins. Lucy Calkins is a big mentor to the Tufts LRR model (Learn to Read by Reading) which my school uses. So my
ideas are "borrowed" from lots of places!
An individual conference for me is about 5 minutes. It starts with a research piece (reading with the child and deciding on a teaching point), teaching the point, and leaving the child to continue to work on that teaching point. Quite often my conference might be checking in on the comprehension strategy from my focus lesson, using a strategy

from word work, or focusing on a basic reading strategy that they need.

Partner talk-based on the theory that reading should be a social activity (Lucy Calkins). I set a timer for 5 minutes at the end of independent reading time each day and my children talk with the same partner about the reading they are doing. This is a chapter in Lucy Calkin's The Art of Teaching Reading.

During Independent Reading time I do pull strategy groups using poetry or books as well as doing conferences. During this time I use multiple copies of a book to teach a point that a group of children might need (short vowels, asking questions, how to read a chapter book...) At this point in the year I am getting ready to start book clubs since almost all of my children are in chapter books. I consider this different then a strategy group because with a strategy group I am demonstrating a teaching point and have the children sit and read and I go around the table and when I am kneeling beside them they read to me in a whisper voice, I am not looking for a discussion when doing a strat. group.

We have set benchmarks for our children based on DRA levels. For grade two we expect them to enter on a level 18 (J GRL) and leave on a level 28 (M GRL). I base my report cards on where they are based on the expectations in terms of accuracy, comprehension, and fluency.

Let me know if you have more questions. I am due with a baby in 16 days so I sit with my feet up surfing the internet at night, right now anyway