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Mary/PA - Greetings
Michelle - Hi this is my first time chatting here I'm a RR teacher in the northeast this is my fifth year
Ellen - This is my first time as well.
Mary/PA - Hi there kinderkate
meg - Hi Mary. First time visitor also. I'm an ele. school counselor
Ellen - I am a language arts teacher
Mary/PA - Michelle, are you coming close to the end of the school year?
kinderkate - Hi Mary and all
Mary/PA - meg, what is your interest in Reading Recovery?
Michelle - We are stopping lessons the second week in June, school ends the 19th of June
kinderkate - Our last day is July 19 - year round.
Mary/PA - Michelle, so you have a bit more time then
Mary/PA - We only have a little less than 4 weeks to go.
meg - I think I clicked on the wrong room. Have a good night !
Mary/PA - You are welcome to stay, meg
Michelle - Yes, we have had a nice long stretch with our second round, these kids will get 13 weeks which for us is pretty good, they are reading levels 13, 14, 15
Mary/PA - I didn't mean to scare you off
meg - I might stay awhile. It's always interesting to hear teacher's perspectives.
Mary/PA - Michelle, what is the average in your first grade classrooms?
kinderkate - My second round will get 16 weeks. That is because most of the kids (and all of the RR students) go to school 4 extra weeks at my school.
Ellen - Is anyone using Houghton Mifflin version of Reading Recovery Soar To Success?
kinderkate - ???????? Ellen - I've never heard of it. I didn't think RR associated itself with any whole class program.
Mary/PA - Ellen, there really isn't any other version of Reading Recovery. Reading Recovery is Reading Recovery. It is trade marked and it is what it is
Michelle - We are involved with the Literacy Collaborative, the expected goal for the end of first grade is level I, I would say the average child is reading H-I .
kinderkate - What is that in numbers, Michelle.
Mary/PA - Michelle, how does that convert to RR levels?
Ellen - Because Reading Recovery is so expensive, Hougton Mifflin came out with their version
kinderkate - Is it a one on one program?
Mary/PA - Ellen, is it one on one?
Michelle - I think H is level 13-14 and I is 15-16 RR level
kinderkate - lol, mary. Great minds....
Mary/PA - oopskinderkate and I are thinking alike
Ellen - No it is small group
Ellen - but based on the same principles
Ellen - I have a sample packet from the rep
Mary/PA - Michelle, well then your RR kids are average or close to it, right?
Ellen - A few districts in our area are using it
kinderkate - Thanks, Michelle. Our level 16 is considered "at grade level" at the end of our school year.
Mary/PA - Michelle, have all the kids who need the program had the opportunity to be in it?
kinderkate - Sounds good, Ellen, but there will probably still be kids who need one on one, and that's where reading recovery comes in.
Michelle - Yes, they are coming along but often the success I see is not always translated back to the classroom and I worry about these little guys in second grade
meg - Anyone using Scott Foresman reading series? My son is in grade 2- seems to have been doing the same material all year. Very slow pace.
Mary/PA - Hi didi
didi - Hi everyone
Mary/PA - meg, we don't
kinderkate - I'm only familiar with the Scott Foresman assessment packet.
Mary/PA - Michelle, is your school fully implemented?
didi - We have some very old class sets
Mary/PA - Maybe you or another RRT can keep an eye on them next year
meg - Thanks. Have a great night.
Michelle - THis is our second year of full implementation which has made a huge difference. Unfortunately the selection process got a little muddy this year and I did not service a little girl who was like a sponge however I have been working one on one with her but she really has not progressed very far.
kinderkate - I always meet with the second grade teachers at the beginning of the year. Many of our RR students are great manipulators and I make sure their new teachers know what to expect out of them. I also want the students to know that they need to perform.
Mary/PA - I wish I had some of the really old Scott Foresman books....the Dick and Jane ones...they are selling for a small fortune now!
didi - I have started sending running record back to the class teacher once a week which keeps them up to date with where the kid is and helps their record keeping
Michelle - Kinderkate, that's so funny that you say that because I was discussing this very same performance issue with a student that I am about to discontinue who is on the lazy side. I think I'll visit his class during the literacy block to see how he's doing
Mary/PA - The building that I am in is not fully implemented. The others are...in fact, a couple of them are over implemented. But our admin. staffs each school the same regardless of the need. The building I am in has a much higher need than the others.
kinderkate - Good idea, didi. At least half of my students are always behavior problems in the classroom. THe teachers sometimes have a hard time getting past that.
Michelle - i like the idea of sending back the running record!
didi - I came up with that idea last year when there was a large difference between where I had the child and where they were working in class
Michelle - I have had this issue with teachers who are surprised to hear that some of these students are reading g-h, when they have them reading d-e.
didi - What kind of word vocab do you build up I am at W11 and find the words aren't easy to use for M&B
Mary/PA - Are any of the children you worked with this year going to be retained or referred for further testing and possible placement in a long term program?
Mary/PA - What is W11?
Mary/PA - Oh, week 11?
didi - Because of the disruptions to my kids with mum sick I can't say yet about my current 4
Michelle - I have had three students tested, 2 possible codings but in other areas beside reading
kinderkate - remember, make and break time can be used for letter id. Sometimes I do a letter book with a digraph (sh,ch,th)
kinderkate - I had 3 discontinue first round. The 4th went 20 weeks, 99 lessons and ended with level 8. We are taking him to student study team.
didi - I haven't done that before Kinderkate. Do you take the blend or digraph from a fluency word
Mary/PA - didi, word vocab is so hard for me to keep organized. I use what each particular child has shown a need for. The most difficult children are so limited in their own oral vocabularies that they often can't relate a many of the words they come to in their reading. These are the most difficult children for me.
didi - My problem was when I went to do endings I was lucky to have one word that could be easily used.
didi - We were told at our last behind the screen when the child couldn't write their fluency word that we must make sure we spent time on bringing it to fluency but mine still don't remember them half the time
Mary/PA - Most of my kids can't say the 'ed' and 'ing' endings and another leaves off all 's' ending in her normal talking. Her speech teacher says they will work on that next year as soon as the child is readyThat doesn't help now with her reading.
Michelle - Goodnight all.
kinderkate - We would see it in reading first, then treat it as though I were teaching a new letter.
Mary/PA - didi, we have been told that the fluency word before the lesson starts should be done a bit differently. We ask the child to "Write a work you know." Then if day after day they write the same word, we tell them that tomorrow I want you to write a different word you know.
didi - We are meant to take a word from their writing each day to fluency for them to come the next day and write it up
kinderkate - All the time Mary?
didi - We are supposed to take a word they have been able to get partially correct but that can be hard to find too
Mary/PA - for the first thing they do, yes...if they write one word quickly, and we are sure that they know another, we can ask them to write it....I'm told that Marie wasn't happy about how we were doing it before...she doesn't want to see any teaching during that time. We have to be sure that the child writes something he really can write without any trouble
kinderkate - That isn't really part of the lesson. Probably teachers were spending too much time on it.
didi - So you don't tell the child what word to write
didi - Do you take a word to fluency as part of the writing section
Mary/PA - During the writing portion of the lesson, words that are partially known can be practiced and hopefully taken to fluency, but not during the time before the lesson starts...that's what we've been told.
kinderkate - same here, mary.
didi - and you don't look to see that word as known next time
didi - that would be less stressful for everyone
Mary/PA - didi, I don't tell them very often. Most of the time I tell them to surprise me, write a word you know that you think I don't know you know. After a time most of the kids do this well. The kids that don't I'm sure to do more fluency work with during writing
kinderkate - I feel that sometimes the students need to practice it at home, so I tell them if they can write it the next day I'll give them a sticker. (OH NO - here come the RR police!!!!!!)
didi - I use stickers all the time
Mary/PA - Every word they write correctly, I put on their known list. I will revisit those to be sure they are still known
didi - I think I'll try that Mary
didi - At present they get a sticker if we finish before the clock gets past 30. It's helped speed things up.
kinderkate - Mary, I like that "surprise me, write a word you know that you think I don't know you know."
JennyBC - hello
didi - I underline the word on their envelope but as homework is rarely done that's not much help
didi - Hi Jenny
JennyBC - hi didi
Mary/PA - Most of the kids make a point to pay attention to a word in their regular classroom so they can have a new word for me. It also gives me an idea of what they are working on in their classes.
JennyBC - is reading recovery the system used for leveling books?
kinderkate - Now I give each child a bookmark. When I get a discussed behavior I stamp the back. The behavior depends on the child: Getting through before the bell, bringing your folder/books, not whining, etc.
kinderkate - What do you mean Jenny? Reading Recovery does level books, but that isn't what RR is.
didi - I got mine a sticker book to put theirs in as they get a sticker when their home reading folder is signed
kinderkate - Mary, I can see how that would be very helpful.
JennyBC - ok I'm not sure.....i share a classroom with a "veteran" teacher, and she has all her classroom books leveled with a little "RR 19", etc......so I guess that's part of reading recovery?
kinderkate - That's a good idea, didi. That way they don't get in trouble back in the classroom by showing off or playing with the sticker.
kinderkate - We use leveled books in RR, Jenny. However, RR is a first grade intervention program where the children who are the lowest 20 percent of the class are taught one on one with a trained RR teacher for 30 minutes every day.
Mary/PA - Most of my kids don't read or write at home, they always have some sort of excuse. The ones who do make much better progress. The parents are so unbelievable! They say they get tired of telling the child to do the same thing every day. Or they say they tell the child to do his/her homework and then go off and do something and don't sit with the child to see what he/she does or if he/she does anything
kinderkate - The leveled books are to help us teach strategies using texts the students can read.
Mary/PA - I can't change the parents.
kinderkate - But isn't that the case, Mary. Our program kids are absent and tardy the most, have parents that don't come to conferences, don't do homework - ours or classroom, etc. Well, not all of them - but most.
JennyBC - oh, ok.....the teacher i work with has the kids read at their level every day, and she moves them up a level when she listens to them read, and they are fluent....I'm just not sure about her methods, that's all.......so i understand that it's supposed to be used for learning assistance, not in the classroom?
Mary/PA - Well, folks, I have to go now. It was nice chatting with you, I'll see you next time.
didi - Jenny there are some things that are useful in class
kinderkate - Absolutely, Jenny. Leveled texts are great for classroom use. Every elementary class in our district is supposed to have a leveled library, in addition to leveled guided reading books.
JennyBC - I'm just not sure about the way that she's using it....they aren't allowed to read books that aren't at their level
JennyBC - it seems to turn reading into a chore, when they can't choose any book that they want
kinderkate - Well, Jenny, they wouldn't be able to read texts that are too hard. Are they allowed to revisit easy , familiar texts?
JennyBC - i think at certain times of the day, but i think that usually they must read the books at their level
JennyBC - this is grade 2
kinderkate - We do have a time each day that students can "browse". That means they can get any book in the room and read/look at the pictures, discuss, etc. I think this is very important.
JennyBC - i think the levels are a great way to see if the child is reading at grade level
kinderkate - using a 'just right' leveled text is important to have students progress. However, I agree that sometimes students have to be able to read what they want.
JennyBC - yes, whenever i say, reading at any level, they all cheer
kinderkate - Are you familiar with the book by Fountas and Pinnel - "Guided Reading"?
JennyBC - i think it's party a resources issue...i don't think we have enough books at the levels
JennyBC - no, but I've heard about it
kinderkate - You said you work 'with' this teacher. What is your position?
JennyBC - partly not party
JennyBC - i teach 2 days a week in the classroom
kinderkate - Is the other teacher there?
JennyBC - no, we share, she's 3 days, I'm 2 days
JennyBC - it's my first time teaching primary
kinderkate - Books, books, books are a must. Guided Reading = a new leveled just right book each day. After reading that book goes into each students individual book bag. They read books from this bag during INDEPENDENT reading time.
JennyBC - ok...yes she has book bags, but they're for home reading
kinderkate - Students are also able to choose a new book from the leveled library. THese are books not read with the teacher. Students are taught to pick a just right book.
JennyBC - so you must have sets of books for guided reading then, or do you use basals?
kinderkate - Students also get browsing time. During this time they may read anything they like. THey may read alone or with a partner. It is free and easy and the kids love it.
kinderkate - No basals here. We are fortunate to have many books.
JennyBC - yes that sounds good...we do that too
JennyBC - yes, it's my first time at this school, but i can't see that we have any little sets of books for guided reading...maybe they're in the learning resource room........i think ppl use basals, but I'm not sure.....i didn't teach guided reading this year
JennyBC - I'd like to try 4-blocks next year if i have my own class...i was just curious about the leveling
kinderkate - I'm not familiar with 4 blocks - but there are many on this site that are. That book I mentioned has a list of leveled books in the back. Look into it the kids like the little books.
kinderkate - Take care, I have to go eat. Hope to see you again.
JennyBC - ok thanks kinderkate....see you next time
