Reading program (long...!) By Ally

But when I taught my practicum, before GR became the "it" way to teach reading, we did it with themes. So for instance, I chose the Sea and BC for mine, then I gathered tons of books from the library to use. In LA, I would read a book on topic and have the kids do some sort of writing activity (there are tons of worksheets out there that are kind of blank slates, in the sense you can use them for any book, Predict and Draw, Beginning Middle and End etc.)

We would also use this theme in Socials and Science and Art to meet those learning outcomes so it was all connected for the kids and for me. I even found Music and Drama activites for our theme so it was tied into all our Fine Arts.

For independent reading, I set aside time each day for SSR and would listen to kids individually and work on skills needed. (teaching sounding out, looking for picture cues, using the context of the story to help you figure words out etc) As well, I set up centres for this theme (you can buy those premade theme packages that have cards for centres...LA skills, math, art etc) so while kids were working on these centres, I would take a group or individual kids to working on reading skills.

Once I had this going, I started a Writers Worshop...again I bought a book that laid the whole program out. I could not do it as in-depth as I would have liked as I was short on time, but I really liked the program b/c the kids could work at their own pace. Basically we learned what a story consisted of (charaters, setting plot, problem, solution, conclusion) and each child developed an idea for a story and worked on each element in turn. Then it was edited, typed (I used computer lab time and the kids typed it themselves...but I did finish up some kids as they wrote too much or they were too behind) then it was illustrate, bound and shared with the class. The only time it got overwhelming was when a whole group needed me to edit their work. Since I could only do one editing job at a time, I had the others work on their illustrations or sometimes I had them do peer editing. It did take quite a while for a 'published work' to be completely done but if some get done early, they can always work on another story. I found that those who did not put much effort in to their first work, did try harder on subsequent efforts b/c we shared our stories and the really good ones were "oohed and ahhhed" over by the other kids.

In terms of specific "grade appropriate" skills practice, I picked one per week (started with phonics, moved to punctuation practice, alphabetising, etc) and when the kids came in first thing in the morning, they put their things away and worked on the sheet on their desk. Yet again a resource book called something like "Essential skill for grade 2"....it was kind of expensive but it is just full of stuff so I could pick and choose. Once they are finished the sheet, they can partner read. It gives me time to check for notes and such in the am and do attendance and gives the kids a quick bit of practice on certain skills...I can also use this as an assessment of what they know and can do without help and what we need to focus on.

I know this is super long...I hope it is not just adding to your feeling of being overwhelmed! I would be happy to find the actual title of any of the resources I am using if you would like me to or offer more specific details if I was not clear. I really did enjoy theme teaching as I could pick topics the kids would find interesting, that met many different learning outcomes for my grade and I could concentrate on one main thing for the class for LA, Science, Socials and Art. And one theme, if it is broad enough can cover a reporting period. Which is nice as your bulletin boards do not have to change as frequently.

The GR program we have now, while certainly well laid out, is a bit dry and even though we have the individual books, it takes time to prep different activities for each of my five groups..activities they can do on their own and be challenged.

Good luck...Ally