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Mary/PA - Good evening. Welcome to tonight's Reading Recovery Meeting here at Teachers.Net. Tonight we will have an open chat. We can discuss anything pertaining to Reading Recovery that is of interest to you.
Mary/PA - Hello tyylee
tyylee - Have you started school yet? children start Friday, we teachers started today
Mary/PA - We haven't started yet, not until the 26th
Mary/PA - Kids start the 28th
Mary/PA - tyylee, do you start testing the first day?
tyylee - How soon after school starts do you start giving the OS? For who we know from Kindergarten we will probably start within the second or third day of school,.
tyylee - funny, we were thinking along the same lines
Mary/PA - We are suppose to start the first day, but I feel that's just not right to do that to those kids, they are so nervous about their first day as it is!
tyylee - I meant that we were both thinking about testing with the os
Mary/PA - I'd like to start before school starts, but I don't know if everything will fall into place for that
Mary/PA - I knew what you meant, tyylee
tyylee - We won't do any the first day but soon after. I agree that they should have a few days to settle in but they pressure us to start testing as soon as possible
Mary/PA - That was suppose to be Hi Karen, I don't know where my H went
Karen/VA - Hey guys, first day back teacher workday--kids start next week
Mary/PA - Karen, do you start testing on the first day?
Mary/PA - You know, giving the OS?
Karen/VA - Within the first week-hopefully
Karen/VA - found out at Continuing Contact Marie has a new OSS book!
Mary/PA - I may do some the afternoon of the first day...depending upon the confidence level of the kids.
Mary/PA - One I know I will have to test I had in kindergarten the year before last. He repeated kindergarten but is still in trouble
tyylee - How many kids do you test? We wind up doing a text level on most of the class and then doing the whole OS on about two thirds of them. If we have time we try to do the whole os on as many as possible so we have the scores for later if needed.
Mary/PA - He knows me, so I might start with him
tyylee - Is the new book a revision of the old or does it have a lot of new information? I heard that they are revising the way we do the random samples this year.
Mary/PA - Last year I gave the full OS to 27 or 28 kids
Mary/PA - That's a good third of the total population
Karen/VA - Revision with few changes--only 2 RS per school YEAH
Mary/PA - Karen, Marie said that?
Mary/PA - I haven't seen the new book
Karen/VA - That's what i understand--2 per school, not teacher!
tyylee - what kinds of changes?
Mary/PA - Karen, tell me more please, I'm not understanding this
Karen/VA - The OSS is going to include how the child sounded during the reading of the Easy, Inst, and Hard levels and the CAP form changed slightly
Mary/PA - OH, Random samples ...duh...I thought you were talking about ROUNDS!!
Mary/PA - I'm slow
tyylee - I would like a revision of the guide book with a little more information!!
Karen/VA - Are you guys using the NDEC forms on the computer or still using scantrons?
Mary/PA - We submit at the NDEC site
Mary/PA - We still have to keep all the regular paper forms
tyylee - I have thought we count as successful levels sometimes reading that is labored and not fluent and with little or no comprehension. Has any of that changed
Mary/PA - But not the scantron...bubble forms
Karen/VA - The computer will choose your random samples, not excluding SPED, Repeaters, etc. It is supposed to be a true RS
tyylee - we have done the web site the past two years, I really like it
tyylee - We do have to do all the other usual paperwork though. All except the bubble forms.
Mary/PA - Karen, to where do we submit class lists?
Karen/VA - Tyylee--i totally agree, sometimes it is like pulling teeth listening to them read, this documentation on the Running Record will be helpful!
Karen/VA - Mary, we still submit class list to TL for our student selection, but the computer can pick the RS before school starts, as soon as you get your role sheets! RS have to be tested and entered before the 3rd week of school.
Mary/PA - Karen, that's what I meant, class lists for RS...who enters these in a computer?
tyylee - We take such a large percent of our children and have a large turnover that we may not have any RS children left at the end of the year.
Karen/VA - We only count the total # of Sts in the first grade class and enter the # on the NDEC and they will randomly pick numbers to tell us who the RS will be. TL isn't even involved in this process. We have to have 2 alternatives in case one moves soon after the school year begins.
Mary/PA - Oh, it's done by numbers...that's smart
Karen/VA - Oh yea, and RS can be one of our RR students as well. We will have to enter data for them twice.
Mary/PA - That will be interesting
Mary/PA - Anything to keep me confused :-$
Karen/VA - Hey guys gotta go--just food for thought, you can be smart when you have your CC meeting. Good Luck. May you have many Discontinuations!!!!
Mary/PA - Thanks Karen
Barbie/K/WI - Gotta question...do any of you work with the kindergarten teachers in your school?
tyylee - We dont' have our first cc meeting until a month or more into the year so it will be interesting if we have to submit names and test in the first three weeks. Our TL is getting married in two weeks so she won't be in the mood to get the information to us very fast.
Mary/PA - I used to be one, but I don't work with them now
tyylee - I work with K. as a Title teacher, RR is just for first grade.
Mary/PA - Our kindergartens are not in our title program...yet
Amy/CT - I really tried getting in with our kindergarten teachers this past year. It was my objective for the year, but it wasn't easy!
Barbie/K/WI - ok, I was just wondering what would be the best way for me to utilize our RR teacher in my classroom a few times a month
Barbie/K/WI - pulling kids or working together?
Amy/CT - I would think working together is the way to go, especially during the first half of the year when no one really knows the kids yet.
tyylee - I think Title for K is very important. We work on those readiness skills, letter and sound recognition, one to one match, book knowledge, write simple books and teach a few words to those who are ready. The K teachers would be upset if we didn't take their students
Mary/PA - Barbie...maybe a little of both...as the need arises
Barbie/K/WI - ok
Barbie/K/WI - she is really good and I looked forward to having her in my room
Mary/PA - tyylee, I know. This has been a big problem for many years. The Central people say they are working on it.
tyylee - We pull groups of children. The K teacher keeps a group and works with that small group while we work with other small groups. We mix and match the children and teachers often.
Barbie/K/WI - this is all helpful, thank you
Amy/CT - That's great! Sounds like you will make a great team! Some of our K teachers felt threatened by the RR presence. It was really too bad. Are you doing GR in K?
Barbie/K/WI - my 13 month old is crying and won't go back to sleep, gotta go
Barbie/K/WI - Bye and thank you
Barbie/K/WI - I will try it this year
Barbie/K/WI - along with the Building Blocks
Amy/CT - Good luck!
Barbie/K/WI - thanks again!
Mary/PA - Amy, if Barbie is doing true Building Blocks, she won't be doing guided reading in small groups
tyylee - We do some Literacy Group things in K but it is modified to include lots of letter work. Literacy groups are similar to GR. What we do is more like what we do in roaming. We try to make at least one book a week in the second semester.
Amy/CT - That's true, although I'm not that familiar with the blocks model.
tyylee - We are starting Building Blocks too, but plan to keep our Title time separate from the Guided reading time and continue to do what we have been doing. Of course it helps that out Kind. is full day.
Mary/PA - tyylee, that is a BIG help..full day...it is so difficult to get much done in a half day program
tyylee - Our full day program is a two year grant and this is the second year. We saw great progress last year. We don't know what will happen when this grant runs out after this year.
Amy/CT - Out of curiosity, do your K's nap during the full day? Ours do and they want to get rid of it this year to make more time for academics.
tyylee - They have a '15 minute rest time after lunch recess. I am not sure how many 'sleep' but they are suppose to rest.
Mary/PA - We don't have the space for full day programs. We would need 11 more classrooms in the district...it'll be many, many years if ever before we have the space
tyylee - I was never in their room at this time so I am not sure how much resting actually got done and how much it was needed.
Amy/CT - Our district is coming down hard on K, but the students are doing really well. I may be out of a job soon if they keep it up!
tyylee - We had extended day programs for the other half of the Kind. day before so we took the room they were using. There are only two school in the districts 13 that are having the full day program. As I said it is paid for out of a state grant.
tyylee - Amy, our K children improved greatly last year but we have so much turnover that I am sure I will have plenty of new first graders to fill my RR times. Last year none of my first round children had been at our school for Kind. and most of them were also new to the district.
tyylee - Some things I need to do so I must run. Goodnight!
Amy/CT - Since we're all starting fresh soon, can we talk a little bit about roaming? I've been rethinking things a bit, and I'm looking for some new ideas & opinions.
Mary/PA - tyylee, do your K kids hold their edge through first grade or do they start to slide?
Mary/PA - Sure Amy
Mary/PA - What have you been doing and what would you like to change?
Amy/CT - I didn't mean to change topics so abruptly! Sorry!
Mary/PA - Amy, it's OK, don't let it bother you...we often jump around with different topics
Mary/PA - What are your thoughts about RAK?
Mary/PA - Amy, are you still here?
Amy/CT - I've been doing a lot of research on phonological awareness. So many of our K students come to us without being able to rhyme and hear sounds in words. Research shows it's so important for them to be able to hear sounds before we jump into print. I'm wondering if I should be doing more activities that support and strengthen these basic skills.
Mary/PA - Amy, I think it's a very good idea to do that
Mary/PA - In what ways are you thinking to work with PA?
Amy/CT - We do clapping syllables, and pushing sounds in the absence of letters during RTK. I'm thinking of reading more patterned books with them and incorporating more activities in the absence of print. What are your thoughts?
Mary/PA - PA is about HEARING, so there has to be a lot of oral work...saying words slowly, saying onsets and rimes in a segmented fashion, rhyming, word play
Mary/PA - The child needs to be able to hear the words that are said slowly and be able to say them slowly as well
Mary/PA - He needs to recognize words that are "broken" and be able to break them by himself
Mary/PA - He needs to recognize rhyming words when he hears them and supply rhymes too
Amy/CT - We do naturally address PA throughout the lessons, especially in writing. I guess it was addressing the rhyming and word play kinds of things more directly.
Mary/PA - There should be a lot of conversation during RAK so you can pick up on how the child says words and how he hears them as well
Amy/CT - How do you feel about him jumping into a book from day 1, though?
Mary/PA - Often I find that these children are hearing words wrong and thus saying them wrong.
Mary/PA - There has to a lot of in the ear and out the mouth practice
Amy/CT - I completely agree. That's a great way to put it.
Mary/PA - Amy, I think you can and should get into books on the first day, but also spend time on talking and listening and repeating and generating
Amy/CT - I've always gotten into books from the first day, and Clay obviously recommends at least 25 during RTK, doesn't she? I just need to rethink the rest of my time and how it's spent.
Mary/PA - We have to do all we can to get the child to talk as much as possible while we note the way he says words. eg. if he says "da" for the, we have to help him to understand that most people don't talk clearly and that the word is actually said "this way" and then model and have him practice in isolation and in sentences
Mary/PA - We want them to learn to look at print, but if the print doesn't match the way they talk it is confusing to them
Mary/PA - We have to start as soon as possible to make them aware that talking is very important and saying words correctly is just as important
Amy/CT - Thanks, Mary. You've been a great help. Unfortunately I need to get a few more things done before bed. Are there always such few people?
Mary/PA - Yes, lots of books...these books can generate many opportunities for talking and learning to say words the grown-up way...at least become aware that there is a different way to say them
Mary/PA - Writing activities are a good opportunity to say words slowly and broken...a good time to model
Mary/PA - Thanks for coming, Amy I hope to see you next time
Amy/CT - I look forward to chatting again soon!
