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Mary K&1 - Good Evening, Welcome to our Reading Recovery Meeting. Tonight we'll be discussing Keeping the Program Pure, Keeping it to 30 mins, and Teaching Points.
tyykee - Keeping lessons to thirty minutes and getting everything done is a real trick!
Mary K&1 - Does anyone have any good tips about how to keep the lessons to 30 mins?
Mary K&1 - It is difficult, especially at the upper levels - near the end of the program.
IdahoFirst - Keeping to 30 minutes will be challenging since there are so many interruptions.
tyykee - Remembering that Make and Break is only suppose to take a short time helps.
IdahoFirst - Simply getting kids in and started in a timely manner is a trick
Mary K&1 - Idaho, what kind of interruptions?
IdahoFirst - Phone and other teachers with questions.
tyykee - I heard that you can drop the cut up sentence late in the lessons when the stories are longer. Anyone do this?
Mary K&1 - What do you do to get the slow moving kids to move faster?
IdahoFirst - Even a STOP sign won't deter them. I'm thinking of locking the door.
Mary K&1 - Idaho, I know what you mean. I've given up using the do not disturb sign - it didn't work.
jen - I have tried to teach doing things quickly this year during roaming We'll see how that works
tyykee - Limiting the choices for familiar reading helps. Also shorter stories is sometimes a necessity for the slow moving child.
jen - oh yeah you're not supposed to teach in roaming I tried to model doing things quickly
IdahoFirst - My kids are so passive that many are physically slow too.
Doug - I like to look at the lesson as a 10-10-10 thing and when i go over I usually can see where
tyykee - About how many minutes is each portion of the lesson suppose to take?
Doug - I also try to keep to 1 teaching point.
Katy/Ca. - I agree Doug. when i go long it's usually because I don't keep to one focus in a lesson.
Doug - many of my friends at school are working on fluency and phrasing very early in levels....I am trying to say "read the punctuation" more often
Mary K&1 - Writing is the slowest part of the lesson for most of my kids. They move so slowly - I really have to push for faster and more fluent writing and handwriting.
tyykee - 10-10-10 is good but exactly what goes into each ten?
IdahoFirst - At this time of year many don't know letter formation fluently
Doug - Mary do you show them to write quickly in roaming?
Katy/Ca. - Familiar rereads and rr - make and break and writing - intro and first read 10-10-10 tyykee.
jen - i do pretty good until we get longer selections I'm working for fluency early this year
Doug - jen- are you talking about the 200 word level 10's from PM readers?
Mary K&1 - Doug, in Roaming there is very little they can write - some of mine can't even write their names, only a few letters. And in RAK we are to work with texts, not isolated words or letters.
jen - Doug, seems like everything i have at level10 and up has 200 words
Doug - Mary- i take sidewalk chalk and right next to the principal's door we have a blast
tyykee - How many of you stop the running record at 100 words? Our TL said no but I have heard that some TL say to do that.
Mary K&1 - For those longer books, do you ever just have the child read around 100 words and then just talk about the rest to get it done sooner?
Mary K&1 - We aren't permitted to write on the sidewalk - have to keep it in the room
Doug - Not to argue but i believe that as children get up in levels so should their fluency and phrasing
Mary K&1 - tyykee, I've heard more than one TL say that that's OK - but not to do it every day
jen - Mary k&1 we were told to do the whole book not to stop after part but how about just talking about the rest of the story might be ok
Doug - I like taking Barbara Watson advice and after the RR write a short note on how the reading sounded
jen - Doug i must remember that
tyykee - Fluency and phrasing, I must remember to emph. that every day!!!
Doug - Mary- do you have any advice on quickly looking at a teaching point after the running record?
Mary K&1 - I've been told that it is OK to spend more time on one portion of the lesson than another - depending upon each child's needs - for example - early on I spend about 15 min on writing - the area where most of my kids are the weakest
Sadie - Doug, I write TP on my rr as we're going so I remember where I want to take the child
Melinda - I'm surprised how much earlier I'm bringing up fluency than I had in the past
jen - i tried to not do the cus last year with one child who wrote easily and quickly to save time but found out that he really needed it He relied heavily on memory and was not attending to details in print
Katy/Ca. - Me too Sadie--even put a star by the passage I want to use
darthy/AL/RR - I was taught to quickly 'star' a reference point for a TP
Mary K&1 - Doug, the teaching point should address the focus
Doug - Mary- that makes sense. Our TL even went further and said that in early lessons some parts can be omitted (such as the cut-up)
tyykee - I put a quick arrow pointed at the error or SC that I want to go back to while doing the running record.
Katy/Ca. - Yes Mary. It helps if you've thought about the focus so you can have echoes across the lesson.
Doug - with some kids (hard to accelerate kids)
Mary K&1 - Try not to get side tracked - too often we try to address too many things - like you said earlier - we must stick to our focus
Melinda - I think that the cut up is very important at the beginning because they are just learning to look at print and this really focuses that.
Sadie - Doug, I don't know if I would omit it but I may spend less time on it. What do you think?
Doug - Sadie- I'm still learning
Sadie - The CUS also helps to teach things like word boundaries and spacing early in lessons.
Katy/Ca. - Me too--after 7 years Doug. It's the worst thing about Reading Recovery--and the best thing. You never arrive.
Katy/Ca. - Yes Sadie. I have one in early lessons that really needs to work with the cut up for 1:1
Mary K&1 - Early the CUS can and should be in phrases - helps to get the fluent - phrase reading idea across and takes less time to put together
Melinda - You never arrive - but the journey always stays fascinating
Katy/Ca. - Too true Melinda--keeps you interested.
Doug - the cut up is also a great place to model reading in phrases
jen - I think I am over anxious this year to get the kids going we are being put on a 20 week discontinue schedule and that has been hard in the past with kids starting at very low scores
Melinda - Mary - I hadn't really thought about getting to the phrasing that early
tyykee - In the early lessons, once 1-1 is established, do you have the child reading familiar books without pointing? I'm not exactly sure when to remove the pointing.
Mary K&1 - Teaching Points should address strategies - we have to remember to keep item knowledge in M&B and writing
Sadie - Once 1-1 is established I would pull the finger especially if you are teaching for fluency
Doug - tyykee- yes drop the finger as soon as possible say "point with your eyes"
jen - We are on lesson 3 and when i cut phrases today one boy looked at me like "what are you doing" but he did it, it can be more difficult to reassemble for some kids
Melinda - I remember from last year that we tried to stop pointing at level 7 or 8
Mary K&1 - tyykee, yes - get the finger out as soon as possible
Sadie - Melinda... I heard level 4
darthy/AL/RR - Doug, always being alert to "head pointing" when you say that
jteach - Sadie...I've heard level 4 also
Sadie - ...but allow the child to bring the finger in if necessarily to get to a tricky part.
Mary K&1 - Melinda, pointing with the finger is used only to get 1-1 under control - as soon as the child understand 1-1 - get the finger out
jen - Melinda i am trying to get the finger out at around 4 or 5 this year i have let it go way too long in the past my focus this year is 30minutes and fluency my time schedule will force me to keep the lesson moving
Melinda - Sadie - I guess it depends on whether the child needs his finger to make him look at the words.
darthy/AL/RR - Melinda, you have to stay with the child, some may be ready to stop pointing before Level 7, others may have to go to a higher level
Mary K&1 - Sadie, yes - they should know to use the finger only when needed
Doug - Darthy- you are very right
Mary K&1 - What are some powerful TPs?
darthy/AL/RR - jen, my schedule is very tight this year, and I am working so hard to keep moving along
Mary K&1 - Tight schedules are great for helping to keep the lessons to 30 mins!
tyykee - For some children reread and get your mouth ready (make the first sound) works like magic to integrate msv.
jen - Mary k&1 i hope you are right and i guess it's true necessity is the mother of invention
Mary K&1 - jen, I'm living it - there is just no way I can go over in time - the time just isn't there!
Mary K&1 - tyykee, that is a good TP
Melinda - How do you all use the alphabet books. I'm still roaming - lesson 8- and started today by putting in the letters that they already know. Do you use it into a few lessons?
Mary K&1 - Doug, what can you tell us about Teaching Points? What do you find to be powerful?
jen - every year and his is my 3rd i seem to have a focus i need to address my schedule in the past allowed me some flexibility this year's gives me none and to quote the TL you are not doing the child any favors by taking more than 30 minutes
IdahoFirst - I'm doing 6 RR students and 4 small lit groups(alternating days) and time is a concern to me.
tyykee - Melinda, when writing and they can't remember a letter or sound referr to their ABC book
Doug - Friends- i am having trouble getting Sergio to search. i constantly go over sounds right makes sense and looks right and I feel he is nodding his head and not really checking. Do you guys know what I mean? (Not to get away from your question Mary)
Melinda - Tyykee - Do you prepare the book ahead of time or do it with the child?
Mary K&1 - Melinda - I'm not doing the alphabet book during RAK this year - two reasons - my kids don't know enough letters, and the GB says to only work with texts (reading and writing) during RAK - I guess this is part of keeping the Program Pure
Doug - For me- I have a big sign saying is it a strategy or just item knowledge- this reminds me to
Melinda - Mary - I've been doing it during part of the writing time.
Doug - This reminds me to stick to deep knowledge
Mary K&1 - Doug, maybe you should just focus on one of those - maybe Sounds right OR makes sense - get him attending to one before expecting all
tyykee - We were told to start the ABC book as soon as the child knows___( The exact number escapes me right now, check the guide book) and to only put in the ones he/she knows during roaming. Once you start lessons add a letter when you are working on it.
Doug - I am also reminded by what a university trainer told my TL once. "that was wonderful but what new knowledge are you teaching?"
Doug - Mary- you are right
Doug - not to risk repeating myself but Sergio I am afraid is just nodding his head rather than really searching...show me sentences makes for long lessons also
Mary K&1 - tyykee, I know that we have been told to do that, but I'm not this year - I'm trying to stick with the GB - I think that we have been told a lot of things that maybe aren't PURE RR according to Marie Clay
Mary K&1 - Doug, does he have weak language skills?
Doug - Mary Clay tells folks at conferences that she is not responsible for anything she says
Katy/Ca. - I'm trying some more explicit teaching with my hardest to teach child. Multiple ways to know and remember.
Mary K&1 - If so then sounds right and makes sense are going to be very difficult for him - you may have to focus upon looks right
tyykee - Doug, perhaps getting your child physically involved by running his finger under the word in question while saying the word slowly and seeing if it matches would get him more involved. Some children need that physical component first.
Doug - Mary yes. Lots of syntactic word order problems...not a bilingual kid......
jen - Katy when do you do this explicit teaching
Mary K&1 - Doug, does he get speech and lang. help?
Katy/Ca. - For one thing, even though she has only 10 known words (most not useful) I've put her into PM 3's quickly. Jen all thru the lesson. Constantly showing her how to make connections.
Doug - Katy- any interesting sequences for bringing a word to fluency?
Doug - Mary no- speech lady said no artic problems and that unfortunately is what she looks at
Mary K&1 - Doug, that's a shame - I can get Lang help for those who are very low - it does help
Katy/Ca. - We're constantly building, writing, finding in text. Showing her a book she knows that word in. leaving the mag. letters where she's built it up. Asking her where she's going to check if she needs to "help herself"
jen - speech offers little support for artic because of the range of normal when kids are expected to make certain sounds
Melinda - I wanted to know if we could have a mailring so that we can help each other all the time and not just once a month? Is that a possibility?
jen - we do get language help for lots of our kids
Doug - Katy- sounds great....are you hitting good 30 min lessons?
Katy/Ca. - I think she doesn't understand that the process she's built for the few words she knows, she can use to learn other words. She showed me some good stuff today--I've been doing this the last 4-5 lessons.
Mary K&1 - Melinda, there is a mailring through gsn - it's very active. You can find it here - http://gsn.org/lists/ There's lots of support there
tyykee - What is gsn?
Katy/Ca. - Yes--so far Doug. She's early on--but I make each TP a way to show her a connection.
Doug - Melinda not that teachers.net isn't great (it is ) but global school network is another mailring with much more activity
Melinda - GSN sounds great! I'm so glad I asked.
Mary K&1 - gsn = Global Schoolhouse Network - I think - http://gsn.org/
Doug - Mary- i have been following your comments on gsn and I love reading them The questions about the OS have been great. Dr. DeFord will actually answer you
Katy/Ca. - Is this the only Reading Recovery chat you've found?
Mary K&1 - Doug, it's almost funny how you can find out that I've been confused about things that I didn't even know I was confused about until a question comes up.
Doug - anihome has a site with a chat but very little activity. There is a site in London that is interesting but it is still under construction
Mary K&1 - Did that make sense?
Doug - Katy- if you have AOL then we can make a room for chatting
Mary K&1 - Katy - yes - this is the only RR chat that I have found also
Doug - Mary yes
Doug - http://www.readingrecovery.com/ is now a search engine called ELSiE - The Early Literacy Search Engine
Mary K&1 - What do we want to talk about next month?
Katy/Ca. - How many teachers at your site? How about the writing portion of the lesson--getting the most out of it
tyykee - How about acceleration next month since we will all be further into the lessons
Melinda - Acceleration sounds good to me.
jen - acceleration sounds great
tyykee - yes, I would love to have a RR chatboard on teachers.net
Katy/Ca. - OK by me too tyykee
Mary K&1 - tyykee - that is what I was thinking - especially accel. of the very hard to teach children
Mary K&1 - Good night, and thanks for coming
Doug - good night
