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Second Grade Teachers Chatboard

Reading

by Worried teacher

Oct 16, 2014

Good day I would like to know what I can do in my situation. I studied for Highschool education Biology and Geography, but I am currently a Grade 2 teacher in South-Africa. I am really struggling to teach these children reading. The problem crept in at Grade 1. Where the teacher (that left the school) did not teach the children properly and put them through to grade 2. Now I sit with a class of 23 children and 15 of them is going to fail, mostly due to reading or more occupational therapy problems. The parents do not want to take their children to the OT. I have explained phonics and did spelling and sight words and revised all of them again. If I give them short sentences with a picture they can "read"... But if I ask them without the pictures they don't know any of the words. I have gone through the alphabet countless times and some of them still don't know how to spell the words. If I have a reading period with them most of them are playing so much and being so naughty not even my t...See More

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Vet Teacher On 10/16/14, Worried teacher wrote:

It would be very unusual - quite remarkable even- for any class of second graders in the U.S to master the concept of time in a single day. Is that commonly done in S.A? That's impressive if so. Time is an abstract concept that is taught over the course of a school year here and with digital clocks every...See MoreOn 10/16/14, Worried teacher wrote:

It would be very unusual - quite remarkable even- for any class of second graders in the U.S to master the concept of time in a single day. Is that commonly done in S.A? That's impressive if so. Time is an abstract concept that is taught over the course of a school year here and with digital clocks everywhere, teaching time has gotten harder not easier.

And while we do have many children reading now by the end of Kindergarten, we have just as many still learning to read in 2nd grade. What's their first language? If they are not reading in their first language or home language, it takes much longer to learn to read. That fish eyed look you describe them as having when asked yo read sounds like fear or shame to me. Children want yo be able to do what their teacher asks of them.

This is late October and you say all last year they were not taught properly. So they are very beginning readers still. Why do you think they should be able to read comfortably by now? Phonics takes time - it's not automatic.

If they don't do homework there's no point in assigning it. Read aloud to them if you are a good aloud reader. The more they are read to the better. It helps their reading to be read to.

We have a very wide gap here between our social classes and the children from the poorer neighborhoods struggle in school. The parents' lives are usually so burdened they are not of much help.

Talk yo your building colleagues. They'll have the best advice.

> is going to fail, mostly due to reading or more occupational therapy > problems. The parents do not want to take their children to the OT. I > have explained phonics and did spelling and sight words and revised > all of them again. If I give them short sentences with a picture they But if I ask them without the pictures they don't know any of > the words. I have gone through the alphabet countless times and some > of them still don't know how to spell the words. If I have a reading > period with them most of them are playing so much and being so > naughty not even my top learners can concentrate. I have tried one on > one reading with the same outcome. As soon as I ask some of them to > read they get this distant look in their eyes and give me "the fish" > (stare in front of them and open and close their mouth). As soon as I > try to give personal attention to the children and my full attention are > not on the trouble makers they go out of control. We had their eyes > tested and the parents did not even take them to the optometrist for > free spectacles. I am sitting with my hands in my hair. Parents do not > even help them with homework or reading we sent home. Homework > is seldomly done. Detention does not work, parents complain about > that too. I truly feel that nothing I am teaching them sinks in. Example > : It took me a whole day just to get some of my learners to understand > time, when they were assessed most of them had it wrong in any case.

Oct 23, 2014

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Babs On 10/16/14, Worried teacher wrote: > Good day > I would like to know what I can do in my situation. I studied for > Highschool education Biology and Geography, but I am currently a > Grade 2 teacher in South-Africa. I am really struggling to teach these > children reading. The problem crept in at Grade 1. Where the teacher > (tha...See MoreOn 10/16/14, Worried teacher wrote: > Good day > I would like to know what I can do in my situation. I studied for > Highschool education Biology and Geography, but I am currently a > Grade 2 teacher in South-Africa. I am really struggling to teach these > children reading. The problem crept in at Grade 1. Where the teacher > (that left the school) did not teach the children properly and put them > through to grade 2. Now I sit with a class of 23 children and 15 of them > is going to fail, mostly due to reading or more occupational therapy > problems. The parents do not want to take their children to the OT. I > have explained phonics and did spelling and sight words and revised > all of them again. If I give them short sentences with a picture they can > "read"... But if I ask them without the pictures they don't know any of > the words. I have gone through the alphabet countless times and some > of them still don't know how to spell the words. If I have a reading > period with them most of them are playing so much and being so > naughty not even my top learners can concentrate. I have tried one on > one reading with the same outcome. As soon as I ask some of them to > read they get this distant look in their eyes and give me "the fish" > (stare in front of them and open and close their mouth). As soon as I > try to give personal attention to the children and my full attention are > not on the trouble makers they go out of control. We had their eyes > tested and the parents did not even take them to the optometrist for > free spectacles. I am sitting with my hands in my hair. Parents do not > even help them with homework or reading we sent home. Homework > is seldomly done. Detention does not work, parents complain about > that too. I truly feel that nothing I am teaching them sinks in. Example > : It took me a whole day just to get some of my learners to understand > time, when they were assessed most of them had it wrong in any case.

My class this year also struggled with reading all year. Like your students, my kids did not get the basic reading rules/tips in 1st grade. I had to do two things in order to make any progress at all. First, I used "Daily 5" with my students. This is an AMAZING program which I will using for the 3rd year this fall. This program helps you train children to be on task and work independently at reading/writing/spelling so that you can work with small leveled groups without interruption. Second, I spent the first 8 weeks of school teaching my 2nd grade class 1st grade pre-reading rules. By the end of the year every student had shown growth - were they all reading on level - no, but they were all reading fluently.

Jun 22, 2015

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